Canonicity:


Determination and
Discovery of God's
Word
 Inspiration

 What would inspired text look like?
 How do we know that ALL Scripture is inspired?
 (2 Tim 3:15-17, 1 Cor 2:11-16, Jn 14:26, 1 Thess. 2:13, Rm 15:4,
Is 40:8, Matt 5:18, Ps 138:2, 2 Pet 3:16, Ps. 12:6-7)
 Autographs v. Transmission
 Ps. 119:27,34,125
 Theories of Inspiration

 Four Basic Inspiration theories:
 1. The neo-orthodox view of inspiration
 Transcendence of God, Bible not Word of God, but can be used by him
 2. The dictation method of inspiration (Jer. 30:32)
 Explains some parts, but not most of the time (Lk 1:1-4)
 3. The view of limited inspiration
 ~Opposite of dictation,
 doctrinally sound, maybe some historical/factual errors
 4. The view of plenary verbal inspiration
 "Plenary" = full/complete, "Verbal" = very words of Scripture
 2 Tim 3:16-17 - theopneustos, Grk - "God-breathed", 2 Pet. 1:21, Matt.
5:17-18
Inspiration v. Canonicity

 = authority v. acceptance
 Significance " If the Scriptures are indeed inspired by
God, then a significant question arises: Which books
are inspired?“
 Canon - Grk word kanon - a standard for
measurement
 God determines the canon
 Distinction between determination and discovery
 False views

 Old age trumps
 (Bk of Jasher (Jsh 10:13), Wars of the Lord (Nm 21:14))
 Many canon bks quickly received into canon, Pentateuch, Jer,
Paul's
 Hebrew language, Agreement with the Torah (Law)
 Religious Value, The Church determines
 J.I. Packer "The Church no more gave us the New Testament
canon than Sir Isaac Newton gave us the force of gravity“
__________________________________________________
 They were canon immediately (author of book series
example)
 Hebrew Bible (OT)

 24 books (corresponds exactly to our 39 books)
 The Law, The Prophets (Jsh, Jdg, Sam, Kgs, Is, Jer, Ez, 12), The Writings
 Traced back to 200 BC, Jesus referenced in Lk 24:44
 Growth and Formation
 Book of Covenant (Ex. 20:1-23:33), Ex 24:3-8
 Deut. 31:24-26 (Bk of, by Ark), 2 Kings 22:8 - (Law in Temple)
 Bks of Moses cited from Jsh 1:7 to Mal 4:4
 Judges (1:1; 20-21; 2:8), 1 Chron 2:12-13, Neh. 9, 1 Kings 4:32, Dan 9:2,
Ez. 14:14,20

 Prophetic Continuity, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Nathan, Ahijah, Iddo (2

Chron. 9:29), Shemaiah, Jehu(2 Chron 20:34), Isaiah, Unnamed prophets
(2 Chron 33:19), Jeremiah (prior & during exile), Daniel and Ezekiel,
Ezra (after exile Ezra 6:18, Neh 9:14, 26-30), Nehemiah
 OT Canon

 Factors contributing to canonicity
 Tradition – From Moses and Prophets
 Spiritual authority of the books
 Unity, Prophecy, Power
 Recognition in the Temple as sacred
 Conviction of leaders and people
 Jesus and the Apostles - referred to Jewish scriptures
and individual books as having the authority of God
(Beckwith, p. 100)
 OT Finished

 End of OT era
 Malachi, written around 430 BC
 OT era: 1445 BC to 430 BC
 evidenced by: Josephus (no more after Artaxerxes,
Against Apion I.8.), Jewish Talmud, NT
 Luke 11:51, Matt 23:35 (martyrs of OT)
 Council of Jamnia, AD 90, Reaffirmed canon
 New Testament Canon

 Twenty Seven Books
 Gospels (Matt, Mk, Lk, Jn)
 History (Acts)
 Epistles(21); General: Heb, Jm, 1,2 Pet, 1,2,3, Jn, Jd; Pauline(13)
 Prophecy (Revelation)
 Time Period - Unlike OT (~1000 yrs), entire NT written
within 50 yrs
 Geographic region - much wider than OT, contributed to
length of time for full recognition
 Early use of "New Testament" - Tertullian (early 200 AD),
also 190 AD – unknown author
 NT Canon, Cont.

Reasons for collection
 Access to inspired books, Guidelines for faith and
practice
 Defense against other religions and philosophies
(authentic expression and preservation)
 Persecutions (Diocletians AD 303-306)
 Heretical Threats
 AD 140 Marcion, heretic with his own "canon", excluded
most
 Gnostic groups
 Gospel of Thomas, etc.
 Phases of NT Canon:

 Creation and Spread (AD. 50-95),
 ( 1 Thess. 5:27, 2:13; 1 Cor 14:37; Rev 1:3; 1 Tim 5:18 - Deut 25:4 and Lk
10:7; 2 Pet 3:15,16 - before AD 70)
 Oral Tradition, Clement of Rome (AD 95 use of NT)

 Growing Recognition and collection

 AD 96-150, All of Gospels, Pauls letters recognized
 smaller letters took more time, usually for confirm. of author
 Polycarp (disciple of John, AD 110), Ignatius (Ad 115, Epsitle of
Ignatius) - incorporated most of NT into writings
 Papias(70-163), Epistle of Barnabas (130), Gospel of Truth (140),
Marcion Canon (140), Justin Martyr (140), Pseudo Barnabas (70-130)
 Summary: By mid 2nd century, every NT book referred to as canonical
by at least one of the fathers (Geisler and Nix, p. 288)
 NT Phases Cont.

 Compiling of Canon (AD 150-190)
 Iranaeus, Tatian (AD 170) - Diatessaron (Gospels)
 Muratorian Canon (170), Old Latin translation (200) -
all exc. Heb, Jm, Peters
 Formation continues
 commentaries by Origen (185-254) on most books,
emphasizing insp.
 NT Finished

 Closing of canon
 Eusebius (270-340), Church History (Universal, Most,
Rejected - Acts of Paul, Didache, Shepherd of Hermas)
 Athanasius - "Let no one add to these; let nothhing be taken
away.", Festal Letter for Easter in 367
 Council of Hippo (393) - laid down limits of canon,
 Coucil of Carthage (397) - Hippo reiterated - CANON
CLOSED

 Council of Nicea – N/A – Focus on deity of Christ, solidify

doctrine/unification of belief by Constantine
 NT Canon Criteria

 Inspiration, as with OT
 Apostolic authority - apostles or close associates
 writer of Hebrews unknown, but associated with
apostles ( Heb 2:3-4)
 Apostolic era - writings of later date not included
(Brusce, The Canon of Scripture), Shepherd of Hermas,
etc.
 Orthodoxy - could not contradict apostolic faith
 Universal Church Recognition
 Textual Criticism

 The attempt to determine what the original text
actually said - "evaluation"
 "Higher Criticism" judgements on the genuineness
(date, unity, author, etc)
 often subjective and low view of Word of God
 Sources:
 Hebrew and Greek manuscripts
 Ancient Translations into other languages
 Quotations made by rabbis and church fathers
 Textual Variations

 Unintentional Errors: hand, eye ear - usually no problem to
pick out, esp. with so many manuscripts
 Intentional errors - well-meaning "corrections", 1 Jn 5:7, Mk
16:9-20, Jn. 7:53-8:11 (likely true, but not in original)
 At worst, ~98.3 % pure, with no impact on major doctrines

 Sir Frederic Kenyon - "The Christian can take the whole

Bible in his hand and say without fear or hesitation that he
holds in it the true Word of God, handed down without
essential loss from generation to generation throughout the
centuries."
 History of English Bible

 Translation - "The process of taking something in one
language and expressing it in another language"
 Precursor was Latin Bible by Jerome (383-405) "Latin
Vulgate"
 Caedmon (d. 680), Aldhelm(640-709), Egbert (c. 705),
The Venerable Bede (674 - 735), Alfred the Great (849
- 901), Aldred (c. 950) - first interlinear NT/earliest
English trans., Aelfric (c. 950-1020), William of
Shoreham and Richard Rolle (1300s)
 History Cont.

 John Wycliffe (1320-84) - First English Bible, using Latin
Vulgate
 Catholic Church burned some copies, then dug up his
remains, burned & threw them in a river
 170 copies still exist
 Gutenberg (1396-1468)
 William Tyndale (1492-1536) - spoke 7 lang., proficient in
Heb and Grk.
 NT, Pentateuch, Jonah, Joshua - 2 Chron, - All direct from
Heb to Grk
 Burned at stake on Oct. 6, 1536
 Translations

 King James Version (1611) - 7 major trans. after Tyndale
 Standard for next 350 years
 Grk/Heb scholarship improved, many translations to learn from,
multiple persons
 Based on Textus Receptus (Grk, 1516)- some scribal errors, based
on Byzantine texts (300 AD)
 English Revised Version (1885) - changes based on new textual
evidence
 Revised Standard Version (1952) - corrected "stiffness" of
reading, recent manuscript findings
 New International Version (1979) - completely new,
international effort, midway between literal rendering (NASB)
and a free paraphrase (such as the Living Bible)
 “Extra Books”

 Apocrypha (Catholic Bible, 11 of 14)
 Never in Hebrew(canon), Josephus “lacking
validity/authority”, Not Prophet written
 Not quoted by Jesus or NT writers, or in use till 400 AD
 Contradictions in history and doctrines/practices
 Gnostic gospels (Thomas, Judas, Peter, etc.)
 Written later, at least 2nd century and beyond
 Gnostic philosophy, “higher truth, secret knowledge”
 Not grace of Christ, and contradicts Gospels account
 Take-Aways

 5 consistent themes emphasized:
 The character of God, judgment of sin/disobedience,
the blessing for faith and obedience, the Lord Jesus as
Savior and sacrifice for sin, and the coming kingdom
and glory
 Written by Prophets and Apostles
 NT 98.3 % pure text (at worst), better than any other!
 Critiques out in open
 Factually accurate, more so each day

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