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How did we get the New Testament?

Paul Veerla

There are many popular theories on how the New Testament (NT) came into existence. One of those theroies is that a Church council was held in AD 325 (The council of Nicea) and the Christian leaders at that time voted on which books to keep and which books to discard; if only during those debates and voting sessions, other christians won, we would have had a different NT bible.

Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to the question of how we got the completed NT Canon. To begin with, there is no evidence that church leaders disucssed anything about the formation of Biblical canon at this council1. The council was primarily held to resolve a dispute about the nature of Christ. Furthemore, the Church had a fully formed/recognised canon prior to the council of Nicea!2

Before proceeding any further, let me define the word ‘canon’. No, we are not talking about the company that makes printers and cameras. ‘Canon’ literally means a “reed” or a “rod” which could be used as a measuring stick. With time, it came to mean “a standard”. In the context of biblical books and its origins, the word ‘canon’ is used to mean “the authoritative list of books that make up the bible”. So, when we talk about the OT canon or the NT canon, we are talking about the authoritative list of books that make up either the OT or the NT.

Here are some theological truths and historic evidence to help you understand how the NT canon formed:

1. Biblical canon is formed by God through his inspired writings.

Let’s consider an example that Dr. James White often uses:

Imagine that I am an author. If the definition of Biblical Canon is “an authoritative list of all the books that were inspired by God”, then, my canon will be an authoritative list of books that I author.

The moment I write my first book, my canon gets eastablished. When I finish writing my last book, my canon will be closed.

Therefore, a canon is always determined and developed by the author of those canonical writings, NOT the readers or some third parties.

In the case of the Bible, then, God is the one who formed the biblical canon. Not the Jews and the Christians. This is quite important. Often, when discussing about how we got the Bible, people think of the formation of the Biblical canon as a purely historical issue. Their main questions are “Which church council decided the books?” or “Which year was the canon determined?” This is a wrong way to approach the question “How did we get the Bible?” The question of canon formation is primarily theological, not historical.

The Biblical Canon is determined by God, not men. God formed the canon and enabled us to discover it or recognize it.

“A book is not the Word of God because it is accepted by the people of God. Rather, it was accepted by the people of God because it is the Word of God. That is, God gives the book its divine authority, not the people of God. They merely recognize the divine authority which God gives to it.”

Geisler and Nix

2. God has a purpose for giving the Scriptures, and he always achieves his purposes.

“but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16)

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Rom 15:4

From these verses, it is clear that God gave the Scriptures to

  • Help people to get to know him and his Son Jesus Christ.
  • Enable Christians to teach, correct, and train other christians.
  • Encourage Christians to endure sufferings and hold on to hope.

If God does not help his people to clearly recognise the complete Scripture (Canon), then, He cannont achieve these purposes. But, as Isaiah 55:11 says, His Word always accomplishes its purpose and none can thwart the will of God.

Therefore, we can be confident that God who created the Canon also helped the Church to clearly recognise it. We do not have to worry about whether or not we managed to recognise it correctly.

3. God used seemingly ordinary means to help the Church recognise the Canon.

Let’s go back to the example I used above. As an author, I know the books I have written. I know my Canon. But how can others know my Canon? I may have written 10 books and decided to stop writing, therefore, closing my Canon. How can my readers know if my Canon is indeed closed or if a new book may be released in the future? What if there are other people publishing books in my name? How can they tell which books are part of my Canon and which are “extra-canonical” or “non-canonical” books? One option is for me to make a public announcement saying “these 10 books are the only ones I have written. I will not be writing any more books. Do not believe any other book that is attributed to my name.” With our modern technology, I can even create a sophistacted website where people can check the authenticity of a book.

What about the early Christians? How could they have discovered or recognised the NT Canon? After all, God never made a public, supernatural annoucement from heaven, with an audible voice, saying, “here is the list of all the books I inspired to form the New Testament. There are no further books to be revealed. Do not believe in any other writings.” There were several books written (in the name of apostles) in the first 2-3 centuries that are not included in the Biblical Canon. So, how did early Christians know which books to accept and which books to reject?

The answer is that God used seemingly ordinary and less-than-spectacular means to help his Church reconise the Canon. This method of using simple means, instead of spectacular supernatural means is in keeping with his Character.

4. “Apostolic Authority” was the test for inclusion of books into the NT Canon.

The Apostles of Jesus Christ were his spoksemen on earth after his departure. The spoke as they were empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit in them, just as the prophets of the Old Testament were. To prove to the hearers that those men were indeed speaking on behalf of Jesus and that God approves their message, he enabled them to perform miracles, signs, and wonders.

“And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.” Acts 2:43

Therefore, as it says in Acts 2:42, the early Christians devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and the fellowship. Hence, from the very beginning of the Church, God made it clear to the Christians that the teaching of the apostles is authoritative ‘Word of God’ and that they must devote to it. Consequently, from the very start, Christians followed the teachings of the apostles.

However, in the earliest days, the teachings were all verbal and not written down. However, as the church spread from Jerusalem to the rest of Judeah, samaria and the ends of the world, and many local churches were established, there arose a need for the apostles to communicate with those churches via letters. It is therefore, not surprising, that the earliest NT writtings are the letters of the apostle Paul (AD 48-67). Shortly thereafter, the four gospels were compiled (AD 56-96). It is also worth noting that the early Christians were expecting an imminent return of Jesus Christ, within their life time. Thereofre, in the initial days, they may not have seen the need to write the gospel down for future generations. However, as persecution increased, and the Lord hasn’t returned yet, it may have played a part in prompting them to write the gospels down and preserve them for future generations until the Lord returns.

Given the Church devoted to the teaching of the apostles from day 1, they received each letter and each gospel account from the apostles as the Word of God and circulated it among the churches.

“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” 1 Thess 2:13

The early christians accepted not only the works that were written by the apostles directly but also those that were written by their close associates, who received the mark of approval from the apostles. Therefore, the test of whether a book was scripture, was simply, “was it written by an apostle or an associate of an apostle who is in the inner circle of the apsotles and is known to be approved by them?”.

“If it was believed that an apostle wrote a particular book, that writing was acepted and treated as Scripture. There is no doubt that all of the books of the NT were placed in the canon because majority believed that they were written by apostles or members of the apostolic community”

McDonald, BC, 409

The following statements from Ignatius (AD 50-115) in his letter to the Trallians show us that the early Christians were quite clear that the words, writings and teachings of the Apostles came with an authority that no one else possessed (not even the immediate next generation disciples of the Apostles):

“I do not issue orders like an apostle,” and “nor am I such a disciple as Paul or Peter”

Ignatius, IET, 192, 194

Notice that the early church did not have to wait until the council of Nicea in AD 325 to decide which books are scripture. They knew from the very beginning! However, it took a while for the ealry Christians to get the full list right. Here are a couple of reasons why:

  1. You cannot have a complete canon while the authors are still writing. So, naturally, it took until early to mid second century for the church to recognise the full canon. As stated earlier, they recognised canonical books from the get go but, it took until mid second century to get to a complete, closed canon.
  2. The early church was quite decentralised. Peter wrote to the Christians he sheperded. Paul wrote to the churches he founded. James and John wrote to their own target audiences. Many of these believers and churches were geographically separated from one another and did not always have the means to communicate and share well. Do not forget, they did not have internet and a website for the “official christian church” where people can go to watch apostles sermons and download the official writings of the apostles. What this meant was that some churches had some letters/books that others were unaware of and vice versa. therefore, naturally, there were various lists that formed in the early days, each of them with a lot of common books but also missing some books.

5. A need arose for the collection and compilation of those canonical books.

This is an obvious truth. If in the initial days, not everyone had all the books, something must have prompted the early christians to compile all of them together. In fact, there were a few different reasons that prompted the compilation of these books:

  1. Rise of Heretics: With time, heretics began to form in the Church. In fact, heresies began within the lifetime of the apostles and some of the letters were written to counter those heresies. With time, heretics grew and therefore, there was a need to have the full councel of God’s word to strongly refute those heretics.3
  2. Circulation of Spurious Writings: From the second century AD onwards a number of spurious writings began to circulate. Unknown authors began producing works in the name of the apostles. Therefore, there was a need for the Church to know with certainty which books are actually written by apostles and which ones are counterfiets.4
  3. Missions: The early Church was quite mission focussed. Early Christians actively took the Gospel to surrounding nations. This gave rise to a need for translating the scriptures. This also meanth that they needed to know clearly which books are part of the Scripture, so they could focus on them.5
  4. Persecution: Early Christians endured much persecution. Edict of Diocletian (AD 303) called for the destruction of Chrstians’ sacred books. Christians needed to know which books are scripture and which are not, with complete clarity. Otherwise, they could die trying to protect what is not Scripture.6

We can find several other reasons but these are some of the key reasons that lead to the early Christians wanting to consolidate the books they already knew to be scripture, and compare their lists with the lists from other churches in other parts of the world.

6. Canon Recognised and Confirmed!

  1. Polycarp and His Contemporaries: Polycarp (AD 115), Clement of Alexandria (about AD 200), and other early Church fathers refer to the Old and New Testament books with the phrase “as it is said in these scriptures”. This is within some 20 – 30 years from the time of the writing of the last NT book!
  2. Justin Martyr: Justin Matry (AD 100-165) in his First Apology 1.67 mentioned that when Christians used to gather on Sundays, they used to read either the writings of the Apostles or the Prophets.7 Also, in his Dialogue with Trypho, he uses the phrase “it is written”, when referring to the Gospels.8 This indicates that both of them recognised the Gospels as Scripture.
  3. Irenaeus: Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, who in turn, was the disciple of the apostle John! He became the bishop of Lyons in Gaul in AD 180. His writings show us the canonical recognition of the fourfold Gospel, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy and TItus, 1 Peter, 1 John and Revelation!9
  4. The Muratorian Fragment: “An early list of New Testament Books, drawn up in the Church at Rome towards the end of the second century, is called the Muratorian Fragment… The fragment is mutilated at the beginning, but seems to have mentioned Matthew and Mark, becuase it goes on to mention Luke as the ‘third’ Gospel; then it mentions John”.10 The fragment also mentions “Acts, the Epistle of Paul, Jude, 1 and 2 John, of the General Epistles, and two Revelations, those of John and Peter (some did not want the latter to be read in the church, he says). He recommends the reading of the Shepherd of Hermas in private, and lists the Wisdom of Solomon. Missing are 1 and 2 Peter, Hebrews, 3 John, and James”.11
  5. Origen: In Homiliae Josuam 7.1 (c. 249) Origen lists Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, two epistles of Peter, James, Jude, John’s epistles and Revelation, Acts, and the fourteen epistles of Paul (including Hebrews).12
  6. Athanasius of Alexandria: Athanasius (AD 367) gave a list of New Testament books that is exactly like our present New Testament. In his festal letter to the churches, he wrote:
    • “Again it is not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Afterwards, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, viz. of James, one; of Peter, two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; after those, to the Galatians; next to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians, and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly, that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John.”13
  7. Jerome and Augustine: Shortly after Athanasius circulated his list, Jerome and Agustine also published lists, defining the New Testament Canon of twenty-seven books.14
  8. Church Councils: Finally, a Church Council, namely, the Synod of Hippo in AD 393, listed the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. This ruling from the Synod of Hippo has been re-affirmed four years later by the Third Synod of Carthage.15

As this list shows, the Church councils’ proclamation of the New Testament Canon was not done in a vaccum. The Church councils did not give to the Canonical books any authority they did not already have. The Canonical books have been recognised from the very start. The Church councils merely, formally recognised and affirmed their status as Canonical.

Note: Much of the content for this post (and others in this series) has been taken from two books, “New Evidence That Demands a Verdict” and “A Popular Survey of The New Testament”. Most of the references provided below are taken from those books.

  1. Ehrman, Bart (2004), Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-1-280-84545-1 ↩︎
  2. McDonald, Lee Martin; Sanders, James A, eds. (2002), The Canon Debate, Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, ISBN 978-1-56563-517-3 ↩︎
  3. Geisler, Norman L. and William E. Nix. The Bible: From God to Us. Walnut Creek, CA:ICBI Press, 1987 (page 132). ↩︎
  4. Earle, Ralph. How We Got Our Bible. Grand Rapids, MI:Baker Book House, 1971 (page 43). ↩︎
  5. Geisler, Norman L. and William E. Nix. A General Introduction to the Bible, revised and expanded edition. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1986 (page 278) ↩︎
  6. McDonald, IS, 417 ↩︎
  7. Martyr, Justin. “Apology”, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989 (page 186) ↩︎
  8. Martyr, Justin. Dialogue with Trypho. Translated by Thomas B. Falls. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2003 (pages 29, 151, 157, 166) ↩︎
  9. Bruce, F.F. The Books and the Parchments: How We Got Our English Bible, rev. ed. Old Tappan, NJ: F.H. Revell, 1984 (page 100) ↩︎
  10. Bruce, F.F. The Books and the Parchments: How We Got Our English Bible, rev. ed. Old Tappan, NJ: F.H. Revell, 1984 (page 100-101) ↩︎
  11. Ewert, David. From Ancient Tables to Modern Translations: A General Introduction to the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1983 (page 126) ↩︎
  12. Kruger, Michael J. “Origen’s List of New Testament Books in Homiliae Josuam 7.1: A Fresh Look”, in Mark, Manuscripts, and Monotheism: Essays in Honor of Larry W. Hurtado, ed. Chris Keith and Dieter T. Roth, 99-117. London: T&T Clark, 2014 (page 108) ↩︎
  13. Athanasius, Letters, no. 39 (Easter 367), in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, vol. 4. Edited by Philip Schaff. New York: The Christian Literature Company, 1888 (page 552) ↩︎
  14. Bruce, F.F. The Books and the Parchments: How We Got Our English Bible, rev. ed. Old Tappan, NJ: F.H. Revell, 1984 (page 103) ↩︎
  15. Bruce, F.F. The Books and the Parchments: How We Got Our English Bible, rev. ed. Old Tappan, NJ: F.H. Revell, 1984 (pages 103 -104) ↩︎
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