How We Got the Bible

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How We Got the Bible

• Lesson 9
• The Canon of Scriptures

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• a study of Neil R. Lightfoot
• How We Got the Bible, 3rd ed.

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2 Timothy 316-17 All scripture is given by
inspiration of God Scripture a writing
that was authorized by God and as such it is
characterized as the voice of God.
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What is a canon?
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What is a canon?
Greek kanon a norm, a rule a standard Hebrew
qaneh a measuring rod or reed English canon
a rule of faith, a catalogue or list and hence,
the divinely inspired and authoritative
collection of sacred writings the scriptures
the Bible
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The Canon of the Scriptures

• Thus, Canonical writings are those regarded as
  having Divine Origin/Authority
• However, one thing has to be clearly understood
• While Canonicity and Authority are closely
  linked,
• They are not the same thing.
• Canonization refers to the process by which
  books were accepted as scripture.
• This process might take many years.

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• But inspired writings had authority from the
  moment they were penned, 1Cor.1437.
• A book then first has divine authority based
  upon its inspiration, and later attains
  canonicity due to its general acceptance as a
  divine work.
• The Point?
• Men may establish canonicity based upon
  perceived merits, but authority is inherent in
  the book itself based upon its origin.
• Men dont make the books of the Bible
  authoritative- God does!

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Initial Observations-
• -There is a certain criteria which must be met
  for books to be accepted as scripture.
• -But, understand that these criterion were
  largely formed after the fact of acceptance of
  most of the Bible.
• -People contemporary with the writings
  themselves largely determined the canon by the
  acceptance of some works and rejection of others.
• -Canon was largely formed to explain what had
  for the most part already happened !

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Internal Claims of Inspiration.
• -Obviously, claiming inspiration doesnt make it
  so.
• -But, any work which doesnt even make the claim
  of being inspired by God, certainly should not be
  assigned such a position by an external source.
• -For instance, note a few notable passages which
  claim inspiration 1Cor.210-13 1437
  2Tim.316-17 Eph.33-5.
• -The Writings Apostolic Fathers (a collection
  dating from 80-180 AD) were mostly letters
  written to edify and encourage Christians during
  persecution. They never claim inspiration though
  others have sought to assign it.

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Unity/Harmony/Consistency.
• -Any document that contradicts itself, or other
  scripture, fails to harmonize all passages (on
  the subject under consideration), or is
  inconsistent on its treatment of some subject,
• Must be rejected as being inspired and therefore
  cannot be proper for canonization, 1Cor.1433.

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Scientific, Historic, Geographic Accuracy.
• -No work with known errors in these fields could
  be counted as inspired.
• -But, the Bible has certainly out-paced human
  knowledge in these fields. For example,
  Scientific foreknowledge
• Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873) noted that
  Psalm 88 spoke of the paths of the sea. He
  investigated and discovered the circulatory
  systems of our oceans seas as well as the
  interaction between wind and water. His text on
  oceanography is still considered a basic text for
  studies of this sort. Psalms was written mostly
  during the tenth century B.C. Mans knowledge
  sometimes has to catch up!

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Agreement/Harmony with, and Recognition by,
  other Accepted or inspired works.
• -This was a major factor in the formation of the
  OT.
• -Luke 2444 where Jesus recognized the Law of
  Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms.
• -There are also other clues, Luke 1151
  Mt.2335 where Jesus chronicles the history of
  the biblical text by its martyrsAbel-Zachariah
  2Chron.2420-21
• -It must be remember that 2 Chronicles is the
  end of the Hebrew-arranged OT text (the books are
  located between Gen. 2Chron.).

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Acceptance as Inspired by Contemporaries or
  Near-Contemporaries.
• -As per Peters recognition/acceptance of Pauls
  writings, 2 Peter 315-16.
• -Or as historians such as Josephus and Philo of
  the first century or Origen and Jerome 400 A.D.
• We have not 10,000 books among us, disagreeing
  with and contradicting one another, but
  twenty-two books which contain the all the
  records of all time, and are justly believed to
  be divine. (Jospehus, Against Apion, I.8)
• (22 books of the Heb. OT correlate directly to
  39 Eng. OT)

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Absence of Obviously Fictitious or Legendary
  Accounts.
• -This is be more obvious when dealing directly
  with the Apocrypha.
• -So much of the Bible can be verified from
  external sources that this becomes a source for
  determining inspiration and therefore canonicity-
  especially with regard to historical accounts
• -The Hittite nation (Gen.237 2Kings 76) were
  for a long time used by skeptics to try to
  discredit the Bible. Eventually, archaeology
  verified their existence.

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Fulfilled Prophecy.
• -This is a great source of confirmation of
  biblical books.
• -When specific prophecies made (and historically
  verified) hundreds of years in advance and often
  against all logical assumptions can be shown to
  be accurately fulfilled, the veracity of the text
  is mightily demonstrated.
• gtCyrus was named by Isaiah 4428 - 451 as the
  deliverer of Judah from Babylonian captivity.
• gtBoth Isaiah and Cyrus can be confirmed from
  history to have lived approximately 150 years
  apart!

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• II. Proofs of Inspiration Canonical Tests.
• Generally, these are the tests used
• gtInternal Claims of Inspiration
• gtUnity / Harmony / Consistency
• gtScientific, Historic, Geographic Accuracy
• gtRecognition Acceptance by other Inspired
  Works
• gtAcceptance as Inspired by Contemporaries or
  Near-Contemporaries.
• gtAbsence of Obviously Fictitious or
  Legendary accounts.
• gtFulfilled Prophecy.

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• III. Conclusion
• While all that weve mentioned helps to
  bolster our confidence in the text we now have
  and helps explain why some works are excluded, it
  can all be boiled down to 2 primary factors
• Was its claim of inspiration accepted by the
  early church?
• Was it written in the first century by either an
  Apostle or close Disciple of Jesus Christ?
• The other seven tests are really by subdivisions
  of these primary two.

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Canonization
From The Greek word kanon and the Hebrew word
qaneh. Its basic meaning is a reed. It came to
refer to a standard or rule. Biblically, it
refers to the list of books which are received as
Holy Scriptures
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Canonization

• Canonization/Authorization
• Canonization Of The Old Testament...
• Canonization Of The New Testament...

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Inadequate views of canonicity of O.T. Age -
antiquity does not make it a part of the
canon Hebrew language - Many other books in
Hebrew Religious book - many religious books not
in canon
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• Five Principles of canonicity
• Is it authoritative ?
• Is it Prophetic?
• Is it authentic?
• Is it dynamic?
• Was it received?

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The O.T. Canon
The Canon of the Old Testament

• By the time of Jesus, the canon of the Old
  Covenant had been established.

• Jesus and the writers of the New Testament
  quote from what was recognized as a distinctive
  body of authoritative writings.

John 738 Acts 832 Rom.43
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Luke 2444 And he said unto them, These are the
words which I spake unto you, while I was yet
with you, that all things must be fulfilled,
which were written in the law of Moses, and in
the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning
me. Law of Moses Prophets Psalms
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Luke 1151 asv from the blood of Abel unto
the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the
altar and the sanctuary Abel first book -
Gen. 4 Zachariah last book - 2 Chr. 2420-21
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The Divisions of Hebrew Scripture
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshu
a Judges 12 Samuel 12 Kings Isaiah Jeremiah Ezek
iel The Book of the Twelve
Psalms Proverbs Job Song of Solomon Ruth Lamentati
ons Ecclesiastes Ester Daniel Ezra Nehemiah 12
Chronicles
Law
Writings
Former Prophets
Latter Prophets
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The Latter Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel
The Twelve (Minor Prophets) Hosea Joel Amos
Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk
Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi
The Writings Psalms Proverbs Job Song of
Solomon Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Esther
Daniel Ezra-Nehemiah Chronicles
The Torah Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers
Deuteronomy The Prophets The Former
Prophets Joshua Judges Samuel Kings
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Canonization of Old Testament
Canon set in time of Josephus Only 22 books of
Scripture 3rd century writer - Origen 22
books total Jerome 22 books
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Canonization

• Canonization/Authorization
• Canonization Of The Old Testament...
• Canonization Of The New Testament...

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• The New Testament books are written.
• 51-100 AD
• But during this same period other early Christian
  writings are produced
• The Didache (ca. 70)
• 1 Clement (ca. 96)
• The Epistle of Barnabas (ca. 100)
• 7 Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 110)
• The Shepherd of Hermas (ca. 100)

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Earliest Groups of Christian Writings Justin
Martyr on Sundays in the Christian worship
assemblies the memoirs of the
apostles the writings of the prophets
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Bible of the Earliest Christians Not all Books
accepted immediately. Early Lists Murtorian
Fragment Origen Homilies of Joshua Eusebius Athana
sius
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Internal Evidence

• Peter states that Pauls writings are scripture
  (2 Pet 315-16).
• Paul quotes from Mark, Luke, and the Moses and
  call them all scripture (1 Tim 518)...
• Deut 254
• Luke 107

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Internal Evidence

• Paul said his Colossian epistle was to be read
  circulated (Col 416).
• The Book of Revelation known and read to 7
  churches of Asia Minor (Rev 2-3).

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Canonization
External Canonization
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Questions for review

• Does authority of a book depend on its canonicty
  or does canonicity of a book depend on its
  authority ?
• How does Jesus refer to the canon of the Old
  Testament ?
• How doe the Jews twenty-two books compare to our
  thiry-nine books?

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Questions for review

• Why were some books of the New Testament
  questioned as to their authority ?
• Does the church control the canon, or does the
  canon control the church ?

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Next week

• Lesson 10
• The Apocryphal Books