“The use of ‘canon’ for a list of books that are canonical in the defined sense is secondary and derivative. The church has always known, more or less clearly, that it did not create a canon by discretionary fiat but received the canon that God created for it.”[1]
Like Jake and Elwood above, the Bible claims to be on a mission from God. What’s more, it claims to be the very word of God:
We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:19-21, NIV
Regrettably, just as Bart Ehrman’s “copies of copies of copies” argument has unnecessarily undermined confidence in the Bible’s divine origin, so have popular fictions like Dan Brown’s 2003 The Da Vinci Code. Dr. Timothy Paul Jones observes, “The bestseller itself wasn’t the cause, of course. It was a… thriller that regurgitated claims made many times before. What The Da Vinci Code did was articulate a skeptical view of the history of the canon for a popular audience—and at a particular moment that struck a chord in the culture.”[2] The basic perception popularized by Brown about the Bible is that a bunch of sinister patriarchs, associated with the power-hungry Roman Catholic Church, got together in a room and decided which books should be in and which should be out. Now fifteen years later, Brown’s misrepresentation is hard to dismantle as many don’t like to read books or bother with details.
Given that the real story is far more convoluted, less nefarious, and also, admittedly, less attention-getting than an episode of Game of Thrones, here’s my best attempt to show the facts of the transmission and canonization of Scripture in a way that strengthens faith and simplifies complexities.
Transmission is a term used to describe the process whereby authors, inspired by God, first wrote down an original autographed text (of which we have none), and then came the “copies of copies of copies” (we have over 6,000), finally ending in what we now hold in our hands. Moreover, scholars estimate, that the Bible in its current form is 96% without corruption compared the original manuscripts.[3]
Canonization is a term used to get across the concept of a ruler, a set, or limit, and—in this context—a limit on the books officially designated as the holy word of God. Canonization has as its root “canon,” which is derived from a Hebrew and Greek word denoting a reed or cane. “Hence it means something straight, or something to keep straight; and hence also a rule, or something ruled or measured. It came to be applied to the Scriptures…”[4]
Again, contrary to The Da Vinci Code and in synch with the quote we opened this piece with, the recognition of the Christian canon was a slow, careful, and pain-staking process involving about 400 years. As you can see by looking at the chart below: in 367 there was an exact list from Athanasius, in 397 (at the Council of Carthage) a final list, and in 435 the N.T. Canon was officially closed.
The basis of the recognition of which books were in and which ones were out was and still is:
- Apostolicity—Apostolic authorship or authentication
- Orthodoxy—Christ-honoring doctrinal content, in line with the known teaching of other apostles
- Catholicity—continuous acknowledgement and spiritually fruitful use of the books within the church from the apostolic age on[5]
Here is a chart showing the chronology of the acceptance and closing of the New Testament canon.[6]
| Source | Gospel | Paul | Other |
| Justin Martyr (165) | 2-4 | Citation or allusion to some | Citation or allusion to some |
| Marcion[7] (160) | Luke | 10 | -rejected OT |
| Murarorian[8] fragment (170-200) | 4 | 13 | 1,2, &3 John, Jude, & Revelation |
| Irenaeus- Rome (200) | 4 | 13 | Acts, Revelation, 1 John, Hermas |
| Tertullian- Africa (220) | 4 | 13 | Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John, Jude, Revelation |
| Clement of Alexandria- Egypt (215) | 4 | 13 | 1 Clement, Barnabas, 1 Peter, Acts, 1&2 John, Jude, Hermas |
| Origen (254) | 4 | 14 | Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John, Revelation; Disputed: James, 2&3 John, Jude, 2 Peter |
| *Athanasius’ Easter letter[9]– 367 | 4 | 14 | All plus none |
| Jerome’s Latin Vulgate- (386) | 4 | 14 | All plus none |
| Council of Carthage | 4 | 14 | All plus none |
| 435 NT Canon Closed | 4 | 14 | All plus none |
For further study, see: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/do-you-know-how-we-got-bible-interview-timothy-paul-jones/
[1] New Dictionary of Theology edited by Sinclair B. Ferguson, David F. Wright, J.I. Packer (IVP, 1988), 628.
[2] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/do-you-know-how-we-got-bible-interview-timothy-paul-jones/
[3] Bruce Metzger’s The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration is the classic work on this.
[4] https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/canon/
[5] New Dictionary of Theology edited by Sinclair B. Ferguson, David F. Wright, J.I. Packer (IVP, 1988), 628.
[6] Primary research and chart by Dr. Harold Songer, Professor of NT at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY (2-3-88); expanded by Dr. Greg Austen in 2011.
[7] The “heretic” Marcion was the first to specify a NT canon. Interestingly, his butchered collection was a catalyst for church-wide consensus on a closed canon of Scripture.
[8] L.A. Muretori was an Italian historian. The Muratorian canon was confirmed by Tatian and Irenaeus
[9] First time all 27 were mentioned.