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It took time for the recognition of the New Testament canon to bring us confidently to the 27 books of the NT. This document goes through early church history, focusing on the recognition by key Christian leaders and key Christian documents.

** This information before is adapted from The Formation of the New Testament Canon by Richard Carrier and other scholarly and online sources.

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The First Epistle of Clement of Rome (written 95-96 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • Clement never refers to any Gospel, but frequently refers to various epistles of Paul. Yet he calls them wise counsel, not Scripture, he reserves this authority for the Old Testament, which he cites over a hundred times. 
  • On a few occasions, Clement quotes Jesus, without referring to any written source. But his quotations do not correspond to anything in any known written text, although they resemble sayings in the Gospels close enough to have derived from the same oral tradition. 
  • The church historian Eusebius states that Clement’s epistle was read in many churches. (Eusebius, History, 3.16)

Letters by Ignatius (written 110 A.D.) 

Its importance: 

  • Ignatius wrote while on the road to his trial in AD 110 and it is important to note that he appears not to have had references with him, thus any allusions or quotations in his work come from memory alone.
  • He borrows phrases and paraphrases from many Pauline Epistles, yet never tells us this is what he is doing (he probably could not recall which letters he was drawing from at the time).
  • Likewise, he borrows phrases or ideas which are found in Matthew and John, and on one occasion something that appears to be from Luke, but again he never names his sources or even tells us that he is drawing from a source at all. 
  • In no case does he name, or precisely quote, any New Testament book. 
  • Of greatest note is that in his letter to the Philadelphians, Ignatius recounts a debate he held with Judaizing Christians in which it is clear that only the Old Testament was regarded as an authority. Instead of referring to any New Testament writings as evidence, he simply says that Jesus Christ is the witness to the authority of the tradition. 

Didakhê (did-a-KAY)—A manual of Christianity (written around 110 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • It does not name any written sources, but quotes exactly the Gospel of Matthew as just the Gospel of Jesus. 
  • No references are made which show any clear connection with the epistles, but the Old Testament is quoted a few times. 
  • It is also worth noting that this text was regarded as canonical scripture by Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and perhaps in the Egyptian churches for quite some time.

Epistle of Barnabas (written between 70-130 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • The epistle cites many Old Testament books by name and uses many phrases which appear in the Gospels, but never names any New Testament book and the allusions are of the sort that could merely reflect common oral traditions.
  • It was for a long time actually a part of the New Testament canon itself, appearing at the end of the oldest surviving complete Bible, the Codex Sinaiticus.

Papias (written between 110-140 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • What he wrote has not survived, apart from fragmentary quotations in other works of his Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord, which purported to be a collection of things he had actually heard said by the students of elders who claimed to have known the first disciples. 
  • Papias recorded outlandish claims, such as the fact that Judas head bloated to greater than the width of a wagon trail and his eyes were lost in the flesh, and that the place where he died maintained a stench so bad that no one, even to his own day, would go near it.
  • Papias claims that the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew.  
  • Papias’ account of Mark is stranger still. He says that Mark was Peter’s secretary, and though he had never known Jesus, he followed Peter around and recorded everything he said, leaving nothing out and changing no details. 

Letters of Polycarp (written around 120-140 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • Polycarp was a bishop of the early church, a disciple of the apostle John, a contemporary of Ignatius, and the teacher of Irenaeus. According to Irenaeus, Polycarp “was instructed by the apostles, and was brought into contact with many who had seen Christ.” Polycarp was martyred by the Romans, and his death was influential, even among the pagans.
  • In Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians, he continues Paul’s tradition of warning against false teaching in the church, namely the heresies of Gnosticism and Marcionism. 
  • He also quotes or paraphrases from many books that would later be recognized as part of the New Testament canon. Polycarp’s letter includes phrases from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 John, and Jude. 

Shepherd of Hermas (written 95-154 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • One of the first written texts to become universally popular and an object of praise among Christians is none other than the Book of Hermas, a.k.a. The Shepherd, an unusual collection of visions, mandates, and similitudes. 
  • It was so popular that it was widely regarded as inspired, it was actually included, along with the Epistle of Barnabas, as the final book in the oldest New Testament codex that survives intact, the Codex Sinaiticus (ca. AD 300). 
  • The book of Hermas never names or quotes exactly any New Testament text. 
  • It contains many statements which resemble those in various New Testament books, but this could just as well reflect a common oral tradition. 
  • It is noteworthy that the only book actually named by Hermas is an apocryphal Jewish text, the Book of Eldad and Modat. In contrast, it is notable that none of the Gospels or canonical Epistles ever name any book of any kind apart from Jude which cites another apocryphal text, the Book of Enoch (vv. 14-15).

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Justin Martyr (his writings from 135-161 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • Justin Martyr of Rome composed his first Apology to an emperor in AD 150, the second around AD 161.
  • He also wrote a Dialogue with Trypho [the Jew] which relates what purports to be a debate held around AD 135. In the first of these works, Justin describes Memoirs of the Apostles, which he says are called Gospels. 
  • He quotes Luke, Matthew and Mark, and uses distinctly Johannine theology. 
  • Justin calls Mark the Memoirs of Peter, perhaps influenced by Papias (or both are following a common oral tradition). 
  • Justin also tells us that services were conducted by reading from these books, followed by a sermon, then communal prayer, demonstrating the rising interest in and use of written texts in the churches. 
  • Finally, Justin quotes a lot of additional oral tradition outside these Gospels, including the belief that Jesus was born in a cave outside Bethlehem (Dialogue with Trypho, 78.5). 
  • He also refers to the Revelation to John, but never mentions or quotes any Epistles. 

Tatian (his writings around 160 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • Curiously, the first orthodox Christian move toward canonization begins outside the Roman Empire, in the Syrian church. Moreover, this canon was ultimately not in Greek, but was a Syrian translation.
  • The single man responsible is Tatian, who was converted to Christianity by Justin Martyr on a visit to Rome around AD 150, and, after much instruction, returned to Syria in AD 172 to reform the church there, banning the use of wine, the eating of meat, and marriage.
  • At some point in all this (it is suggested ca. AD 160) he selected four Gospels (the four we now know as the canon, and which no doubt supported his own ideology and that of his tutor, Justin) and composed a single harmonized Gospel by weaving them together, mainly following the chronology of John. This is called the Diatessaron (That Which is Through the Four) and it became for a long time the official Gospel text of the Syriac church, centered in Edessa. 
  • The Syriac Doctrine of Addai (ca. AD 400) claims to record the oldest traditions of the Syrian church, and among these is the establishment of a canon: members of the church are to read only the Gospel (meaning the Diatessaron of Tatian), the Epistles of Paul (which are said to have been sent by Peter, from Rome), and the Book of Acts (which is said to have been sent by John the son of Zebedee, from Ephesus), and nothing else. This tradition is traced back to Tatian. 

Theophilus of Antioch (his writings around AD 180)

Its importance: 

  • Theophilus was raised in a pagan household and received a Greek education. He converted to Christianity as an adult, became familiar with the Jewish Scriptures, and eventually became the sixth Bishop of Antioch, likely around 168-9 A.D.
  • Theophilus is important for a variety of reasons. He explicitly mentioned the Trinity may have composed his own harmony and commentary on the four Gospels chosen by Tatian; and he wrote books against Marcion and other heretics. 
  • Theophilus seems to have known a collection of Pauline epistles which included at least Romans, I and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and the three Pastoral Epistles. He regarded them as inspired, though not as authoritative as the Old Testament.
  • But most of all, he routinely treats Tatian’s Gospels as holy scripture, divinely inspired, on par with the Hebrew prophets. He also refers to John’s Revelation as authoritative. 

Athenagoras of Athens (his writings around 177 A.D.) 

Its importance: 

  • In AD 177, Athenagoras of Athens composed a lengthy philosophical essay, Defense of the Christians, addressed to the emperor Marcus Aurelius in which the first articulation of a theory of the Trinity appears. 
  • He quotes the Old Testament and New Testament several times but does not name his sources from the New Testament. The quotes or paraphrases that he uses happen to come from a few Epistles of Paul, and from all the Gospels in a mishmash, suggesting a harmonic source like the Diatessaron. 

Irenaeus (his writings around 177-180 A.D.)

Its importance: 

  • Shortly after AD 177, Irenaeus was asked to compose an account of the persecutions in Lyons for the churches in Asia, and this letter is preserved by Eusebius. 
  • This text quotes or paraphrases various New Testament books without naming them. 
  • Some years after this he composed a mighty treatise Against All Heresies and a Demonstration of the Apostolic Teaching. In these he quotes exactly almost every book of the New Testament, numerous times, demonstrating that the orthodox canon, though not established officially, was by this time generally accepted in practice. 
  • And in an account of the martyrs of Scillium who were tried in Carthage in AD 180, we find an overt mention of Christians carrying around the books including Paul’s letters. 
  • Furthermore, Irenaeus, whose voice is as close to official as any of the time, has this to say about the selection of the four Tatian Gospels (which he calls the four-form Gospel or one Gospel in four forms): It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are, since there are four directions of the world in which we are, and four principal winds...the four living creatures [of Revelation 4.9] symbolize the four Gospels...and there were four principal covenants made with humanity, through Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Christ (Against All Heresies, 3.11.8). 
  • Moreover, Irenaeus includes the book of Hermas as Holy Scripture, a part of the New Testament. 
  • He does not seem to have had Hebrews in his canon, and there is some uncertainty as to whether he accepted the general epistles (except 1 Peter, 1 and 2 John). He refers to the Shepherd of Hermas as "scripture" but does not include it in the list of apostolic writings.

The Muratorian Canon (written around 180 A.D.) 

  • The Muratorian Canon is a Latin list with brief comments on the books read in the church.
  • Most importantly, this text is never referred to by anyone, and would have remained thoroughly unknown if it had not been recovered in fairly recent times. Even Eusebius shows no awareness of it. Thus, its influence, if any, on later decisions cannot be known. 
  • The list begins with the four Gospels in their present order (the number is clear in the text, but Matthew and Mark can only be reasonably conjectured, the first line of the list is missing). 
  • It may have preserved the tradition that Mark was Peter’s secretary (the second line implies parallels with remarks about this by Papias). But it clearly states the belief that Luke was a physician and Paul’s secretary (based no doubt on Col 4.14, Philem 24, and 2 Tim 4.11), and adds that John was written by the Apostle John and then reviewed and approved by all the other Apostles. 
  • The list also upholds, in addition to most of the Epistles (all but Hebrews, James and 2 Peter), the Apocalypse of John, and strangely, the Book of Wisdom (which the list’s author says was written by the friends of King Solomon). 
  • Curiously, it claims that Luke ends his Acts when Paul left him for Spain, and one wonders what happened to Paul if that was the case and why we have none of his letters from that period of his life. 

Pantaenus and Clement: The Seminary at Alexandria. 

Pantaenus (his writings around 180-190 A.D.)

His importance:

  • The first Christian seminary was established in Alexandria around AD 180 by Pantaenus, whom Eusebius claims had found a Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew in India, or perhaps Ethiopia or Arabia.
  • Although the story is not entirely vouched for even by Eusebius (he presents it only as something that is said), it no doubt contributed to the belief that Matthew had originally been composed in Hebrew. 
  • Pantaenus is also the first to defend the Epistle to the Hebrews as authentic (this had long been in dispute even by his time), on the argument that Paul wanted to compose it anonymously for that particular audience, and this opinion is generally carried as authoritative.
  • Naturally, the formation of a school of Christian teaching is a decisive moment in compelling the selection of a canon, if nothing else as a textbook, and fittingly for this task the next head of the school (in AD 190), Clement of Alexandria, represents the most scholarly Christian to date.

Clement of Alexandria (his writings around 200 A.D.)

His importance:

  • By about AD 200 we find from Clement’s researches that he regarded the Tatian selection as being the primary source of the Gospel tradition, and that he believed that the chronological order of the books was Matthew and Luke, then Mark, and finally John, but he also acknowledged as authentic the Gospel of the Egyptians, the Gospel of the Hebrews, and the Traditions of Matthias, as well as Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Didakhe.
  • The rest of his canon included the fourteen Pauline Epistles, Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation. 
  • Finally, a scholar named Morton Smith, came upon a very late copy of a certain letter by Clement which has something unusual to say about the Gospel of Mark. Though Smith’s scholarship has been questioned, the find has been accepted as authentic.
  • The letter asserts that there are three versions of Mark: a shorter one written in Rome based on Peter’s teaching, a longer more spiritual (more Johannine?), one written in Alexandria by Mark after Peter’s death, and a secret version left by Mark before he died, carrying on a tradition of Christian mysteries initiated by Peter. 

Tertullian (his writings around 200 A.D.)

His importance: 

  • Tertullian, a highly-educated lawyer, converted to Christianity in AD 195, and was an avid proponent of orthodoxy in Carthage, until AD 206 when, as Jerome reports (On Famous Men, 53), distressed by the envy and laxity of the clergy of the Roman church, he became a leader of the Montanist sect of Christianity. 
  • Tertullian is our authority for Africa. He appears to have had 22 books in his canon — the four Gospels, Acts, the thirteen epistles of Paul, 1 Peter, 1 John, Jude and Revelation. He did not treat Hebrews as canonical.

Origen: The Seminary at Caesarea

Origen (his writings around 245 A.D.)

His importance:

  • In AD 203 Origen became head of the Christian seminary at the age of 18, a true prodigy. Due to a dispute with the bishop of Alexandria, Origen was expelled from that church and his post around AD 230, and he went and founded a second seminary at Caesarea which stole the spotlight from Alexandria. 
  • Origen is crucial in the tradition because he is known to have traveled widely, West and East, and was a voracious scholar and prodigious writer and commentator on the Old Testament, New Testament and other texts. He is also exceptional in being a relatively skeptical scholar. Even though only a fraction of his works have survived, even those fill volumes. He completes what had already been going on by this point by declaring certain texts to be equally inspired alongside the Old Testament and calling them, as a corpus, the New Testament (De Principiis, 4.11-16). 
  • Origen declared the Tatian four in AD 244 as the only trustworthy, inspired Gospels. 
  • Origin also declares that the Gospel of Peter and the Book of James (the Protoevangelium Jacobi) are also trustworthy and approved by the church, and he puts some trust in the Gospel of the Hebrews, and even calls the book of Hermas divinely inspired (Commentary on Romans, 10.31). Like his tutor, Clement, he also includes the Didakhe and the Epistle of Barnabas as scripture. 
  • Origen doubts the authenticity of 2 (and 3) John and 2 Peter, and in AD 245 admits some doubts about the author, not the validity, of the Epistle to the Hebrews, suggesting that it may have been written by Luke or Clement of Rome, not Paul and for this he uses the evidence of significant differences in style and quality of language; but Origen’s tutor, Clement of Alexandria, suggested it was originally written by Paul in Hebrew and translated into Greek by Luke or Clement.
  • Origen writes at length on the brother of Jesus but he never mentions the Epistles of James as being by him (Commentary on Matthew, 2.17). It appears that, thanks to Origen’s exhaustive scholarship (perhaps tinted slightly by the pressure to remain orthodox and exclude perceived heretics), and received tradition beginning with Tatian, the New Testament was almost entirely accepted in its present form by AD 250, and not much changed from its apparent form in AD 180, though nothing as yet was official. 

Dionysius of Alexandria (His writings around 248 A.D.)

His importance: 

  • Dionysius studied under Origen in Alexandria and later on became the head of the catechetical school in 231 AD. He became the bishop of Alexandria in 248 AD.
  • His most interesting discussion is regarding the Apocalypse, which he attributes to an unknown John, but he does not dispute its inspiration. 
  • Conversely the Epistle to the Hebrews was more insecure in the West than in the East. 
  • In regard to the Catholic epistles Dionysius supports James, 2 John, and 3 John, but not 2 Peter or Jude.

Cyprian (His writings around 250 A.D.)

His importance: 

  • Cyprian follows, and as a convert in AD 246, then bishop and martyr in AD 258, he repeats the superstitious rationale for the four-Gospel tradition: they are four in number like the rivers of Paradise (Epistles, 73). 
  • Cyprian rejected the canonicity of Philemon, Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, and this opinion carried for a while in the West. 

Eusebius of Caesarea (the first historian of the Church—wrote in 324 A.D.)

His importance: 

  • He gives three categories of texts: 1) Orthodox, 2) recognized by some, but disputed and 3) heretical. 
  • In this first category are the Four Gospels, Acts, 1 Peter, and 1 John, and all the Epistles of Paul. 
  • Eusebius hints that there were some disputes about the Apocalypse of John, but places it in the first category. 
  • Among disputed, but not heretical texts, he places James, Jude, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John. 
  • He also includes in this second category the Acts of Paul, the book of Hermas, Apocalypse of Peter, Epistle of Barnabas, Gospel of the Hebrews, and a certain Teachings of the Apostles, but also, confusingly, the Apocalypse of John again. 
  • In the heretical category, he identifies the Gospels of Peter, Thomas, and Matthias, and the Acts of Andrew, John, and others. 
  • Two nearly-complete Bibles survive from the fourth century which some believe may be copies of this imperial standard text: the Codex Sinaiticus, which has the four Gospels, Acts, fourteen Pauline Epistles (including Hebrews), seven Catholic Epistles, the Revelation of John, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the book of Hermas. The Vaticanus Codex, which appears to contain the same material in the same order, although both texts are incomplete (Sinaiticus breaks off in the middle of Hermas, Vaticanus in the middle of Hebrews). 
  • Finally, we have another anonymous list (in Latin) of the books included in the Bible, found in a sixth century manuscript, which cannot be dated securely, though ca. AD 300 is most likely, and it confirms the state of confusion met by Eusebius, as well as the esteem still reserved for certain books no longer in the Bible today.
  • The list includes the four Gospels and Acts, as well as the Acts of Paul, only ten of Paul’s Epistles (it excludes Hebrews, Philippians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians), 1 and 2 Peter (curiously, the list says these are letters to Peter), James, Jude, 1, 2, and 3 John, Barnabas, Hermas, and the Apocalypses of John and Peter. 

Cyril of Jerusalem (His writings around 350 A.D.)

His importance: 

  • Around AD 350, for his churches in Jerusalem, Bishop Cyril composed a set of lectures with the explicit purpose of indoctrinating new members of the Church, which explained every aspect of the orthodox faith, including the texts to be regarded as holy scripture (Catechetical Lectures, 4.33- 36).
  • This is the first time anything like this had been done: an official pronouncement from a high-ranking church official on what the Bible was to consist of, enforced on a major diocese by an imperial Church authority. Moreover, Cyril declares that no other books are to be read, not even privately. This was the decree and decision of one man, and we are given no insights into what criteria he employed. 
  • His canon consists of the four Gospels, Acts, and the now-standard 21 Epistles, in short the present Bible, minus the Revelation. 
  • The first synod ever held to decide the official contents of the Bible was the Synod of Laodicea (Asia Minor) in AD 363, consisting of twenty to thirty bishops. 
  • The resulting decree stated quite simply that it was now officially resolved: Let no private psalms nor any uncanonical books be read in the church, but only canonical ones of the New and Old Testament.
  • The list that follows matches what we now have in modern Bibles, minus the Revelation. The influence of Cyril is almost certain. 

Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria (His writings on 367 A.D.)

His importance: 

  • The Bishop of Alexandria was one of the most important men in the Church and was given the responsibility to write the Festal Epistle which was written to the churches in Egypt and it was considered the authoritative statement on the dates of Christian festivals. It was consequently read and employed by the Syrian churches (via Antioch) and the Western churches (via Rome). 
  • In AD 367 Athanasius included in his Festal Epistle of that year what he declared to be the canonical texts: the very Bible we now know (Gospels, Acts, 21 Epistles, and Revelation). 

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Criteria of Canonicity

The basic criterion for recognizing books as being part of the New Testament is whether they were considered “God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16). Books do not become inspired because they are recognized as being canonical; rather, they are recognized as being canonical because they are inspired by God. Thus, the church did not “produce” the canon.

Three principal criteria seemed to emerge which the early church used in recognizing books that had been God inspired and thus canonical: apostolic origin, recognition by the churches, and apostolic content.

Apostolic Origin—The Lord had commissioned His apostles to be His authoritative spokesmen after His ascension. Additionally, the Holy Spirit inspired and gifted these men, enabling them to write inerrant Scripture and teach inerrant doctrine. Therefore, the canonical books were to be related in some way to one of these authoritative, inspired apostles. The early Christians essentially asked, “Is this particular work under question the work of one of the apostles?” Or, “If it is not the work of the apostle himself, was it produced under the supervision of and with the stamp of approval of one of the apostles?”

Recognition by the Churches—This principle asked how the earliest leading churches regarded the book. If the churches at Ephesus, Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, and Carthage for example accepted a book as authoritative, then chances were strong that the church as a whole would give it serious consideration for inclusion.

Apostolic Content—This criterion asked whether a particular book’s content agreed with the doctrine the apostles taught orally or wrote when they were still alive. If anything was contrary to the apostles’ actual teaching, it was considered spurious and not the Word of God. The early church leaders—those who had heard the apostles, or who at least had heard the immediate disciples of the apostles—recognized that as time wore on, these distinctions would become increasingly difficult to determine. This motivated them to determine and delineate the genuine New Testament canon in the earliest Christian centuries. This means the only apostolic doctrine we know today is what we get out of those written Scriptures.