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Xenos Christian Fellowship
Christian Principles Unit 3: Provisions for Spiritual Growth

Biblical Canonicity

Instructors

Overview

Introduction

Satan knows the power of the Word, so he attacks it. LAST WEEK: inspiration . . .

Why are some books in the Bible, while others were excluded?

Unless we are able to answer the above kinds of questions, our confidence in the Word may erode, and we won't be able to answer those who raise these questions (1 Pet. 3:15). If Satan introduces doubt regarding the integrity of the canon, he dilutes and corrupts the authority of God's truth. This is what is at stake in the subject of canonicity.

"Canon" comes from both a Hebrew word and a Greek word that denotes a "measuring rod" or ruler. Canonicity is the study of the recognition and acceptance of the books given by God's inspiration.

This is the first thing we need to understand. The criterion of canonicity is inspiration. "God gives divine authority to a book and men of God receive it. God reveals and His people recognize what He reveals. Canonicity is determined by God and discovered by man." (Norman Geisler and William E. Nix, From God to Man: How We Got Our Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), Page 66.)  Let's see how this process occurred in the Old and New Testaments.

The Old Testament

Modern liberal theory states that the canon of the Old Testament was gradually recognized in a series of three steps:

Our evidence will show, on the contrary, that the canon was known and immediately recognized as scripture as it developed in each generation.

CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION IN THE CANON

The criteria used to determine whether a book was part of the canon of the Old Testament was prophetic authorship. During Old Testament times, God inspired the prophets as his official spokesmen. An inspired prophet could be identified using the two prescribed tests for prophets in Deuteronomy. The context is that they are about to go into the Promised Land and Moses will not be with them. They are not to appeal to diviners, sorcerers, etc. (Deut. 18:9-12) for direction. Rather, vs 15,18 imply that God would raise up a succession of prophets through which he would speak to Israel (Jer. 7:25). He did this for about 1000 years, from Moses (1400 BC) to Malachi (400 BC).

How would they know who God's spokesmen would be?

Test #1 for Prophetic Authorship

Accurate short-range predictions.

Deut. 18:18-22 "'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' "And you may say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him."

Deuteronomy 18:15-22 requires that prophets validate their claims by giving short-range, detailed predictions (implied in v. 22). The penalty for any inaccuracy in these predictions was death. Many subsequent passages show that the Israelites applied this test (1 Samuel 3:19,20; Ezek. 33:33; Jeremiah 28:7-9; Jeremiah 44:29,30).

Test #2 for Prophetic Authorship

Content agrees with previous revelation.

Deut. 13:1-5 "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you."

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 states that in addition to accurate prediction of future events, prophets' theological and ethical teaching must also agree with what God revealed through Moses.

Because God safeguarded his revelation through these two tests, God held the Israelites culpable for following false prophets and their gods (see Isaiah 41:21-29; 44:24-28; 45:20,21; 46:5-11; 48:1-8).

BIBLICAL EVIDENCE FOR PROPHETIC AUTHORSHIP OF OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS

OLD TESTAMENT EVIDENCE

      1. Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Exodus 17:14; 24:4-7; 34:27; Deuteronomy 31:9,22,24; Ezra 7:6; Psalm 103:7; Joshua 8:31, 23:6; 1 Kings 2:3).
      2. The Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), except for Daniel, identify themselves as prophets. They stated that they were ordered to write (Jeremiah 30:2; Ezekiel 43:11; Isaiah 8:1) because they were aware that they were communicating revelation. This would account for the books by their names plus Lamentations (by Jeremiah).
      3. All of the 12 Minor Prophets identify themselves as prophets.
      4. 1st and 2nd Samuel, and 1st and 2nd Kings were written by prophets (1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 9:29; 12:15; 13:22; 20:34; 32:32; 33:19).
      5. Joshua (Joshua 1:1; 5:13-15), Solomon (1 Kings 3:5ff.), and Daniel (Daniel 7:1) all received revelation from God, either directly or through dreams and visions, which squares with God's description of a prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1; Numbers 12:6-8). Joshua was the first fulfillment of Deut. 18:15—God’s promise to raise up another prophet after Moses. This accounts for Joshua, Daniel, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.
      6. David and Asaph, the two main authors of the Psalms, are identified as prophets in Nehemiah 12:24,36 ("David the man of God") and 2 Chronicles 29:30 ("Asaph the seer"). 

      Therefore, only Judges, Ruth, Chronicles, Job, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther lack internal evidence for prophetic authorship. This represents less than one-sixth of the Old Testament. But since Israel used prophetic authorship as the determining principle of their canon, we are safe in assuming Israel included these books because they ascertained their prophetic authorship. (See "EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE" for more on this.)

      NOTE: Contrary to the "antiquity theory,"

      • The prophets' writings were accepted immediately as scripture.
        Joshua received Moses' writing as scripture (Joshua 1:7,8; 8:32). Isaiah and Micah accepted each other's writings as scripture contemporaneously (Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4). Daniel accepted the book of Jeremiah as scripture (Daniel 9:2-Jer. 25:11). Jeremiah wrote 627-585 B.C. and Daniel was around 537 B.C.
      • Other ancient writings were not accepted as canon.
        The OT authors were aware of other ancient writings such as the Book of Jasher (2 Samuel 1:18, Joshua 10:13) and the Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num. 21:14).  These books were important old documents.
      • "The book of Daniel, which critics have said was written as late as 165 BC was received as authoritative by 110 BC, but a book like Ecclesiasticus, similar in subject matter and also written in Hebrew, and dated about 180 BC was not accepted into the Hebrew canon." (Harris, Inspiration and Canonicity of the Bible, p. 154. 155)

NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE FOR OLD TESTAMENT CANONICITY

      1. Jesus and the Apostles evidently had the same Old Testament we have today. They quote from it over 600 times, and clearly view it as God's Word.
      2. They also quote 1 and 2 Chronicles, and Job—books which lack internal Old Testament confirmation of prophetic authorship (see above).
      3. They explicitly confirm the prophetic authorship of David (Acts 2:30) and Daniel (Matthew 24:15).
      4. The only books not quoted in the NT are Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE FOR PROPHETIC AUTHORSHIP OF OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS

The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS): Discovered in 1947, the DSS contained writings dated largely from the first and second centuries BC. They contain entire scrolls or portions of virtually every Old Testament book, except the book of Esther (R. Laird Harris, Inspiration and Canonicity of the Bible Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1969, p. 139). They also contain writings that reflect this Jewish community's view of the Old Testament. It is clear that the DSS community recognized the same Old Testament canon we recognize.

Conclusion: Long before the Council of Jamnia in 90 AD, the Dead Sea Scrolls quoted from all three divisions as scripture and refer to all three as "the Law and the Prophets" or "Moses and the Prophets." The fact that they referred to all of the non-Penteteuchal books as "the prophets" is additional evidence that they had ascertained prophetic authorship of these books.

Josephus: Josephus, a Jewish historian, wrote twenty years before Jamnia and over 300 years before the Talmud's Tractate Baba Bathra which is used to support the liberal three-stage development theory. Josephus also had the actual Temple scrolls in his possession as a gift from the Roman general Titus. Josephus should therefore be considered more authoritative than the Talmud regarding the first century view of the canon. Josephus' Old Testament was identical to our own.

For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another (as the Greeks have), but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; and of them, five belong to Moses, which contain his laws, and the traditions of the origin of mankind until his death. This interval of time is little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artexerxes king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. From Artexerxes to our own time the complete history has been written but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets." (Flavius Josephus, Against Apion 1:8)

The Apocrypha

The Apocrypha is a collection of writings included in the Roman Catholic Bible which were composed by Jewish authors in the intertestamental period (200 BC to 50 BC). It contains both historical works and wisdom literature. The Roman Catholic Bible contains the apocryphal books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch I & II, Maccabbees I & II) and certain additions to Esther and Daniel. Since these works are the primary source documents for this period of Jewish history, they are very important from a historical standpoint. These books should not be included in the canon for these reasons:

JEWISH EVIDENCE THAT APOCRYPHAL BOOKS ARE NOT CANON

The apocryphal books themselves admit that the prophetic succession ended with Zechariah and Malachi.

And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them. (1 Maccabees 4:46)

And there was a great tribulation in Israel, such as was not since the day, that there was no prophet seen in Israel. (1 Maccabees 9:27)

And that the Jews, and their priests, had consented that he should be their prince, and high priest for ever, till there should arise a faithful prophet. (1 Maccabees 14:41)

Josephus rejected the canonicity of the apocryphal books, apparently reflecting current Jewish thought.

From Artexerxes to our own time the complete history has been written but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets. (Flavius Josephus, Against Apion 1:8)

This view is also reflected in the Manual of Discipline in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Council of Jamnia held the same view.

They debated the canonicity of a few books (e.g., Ecclesiastes), but they changed nothing and never proclaimed themselves to be authoritative determiners of the Old Testament canon. "The books which they decided to acknowledge as canonical were already generally accepted, although questions had been raised about them. Those which they refused to admit had never been included. They did not expel from the canon any book which had previously been admitted. 'The Council of Jamnia was the confirming of public opinion, not the forming of it.'" (F. F. Bruce, The Books and Parchments [Old Tappan, NJ.: Fleming H. Revell, 1963], p. 98])

CHRISTIAN EVIDENCE THAT APOCRYPHAL BOOKS ARE NOT CANON

Jerome vigorously resisted including the Apocrypha in his Latin Vulgate Version (400 AD), but was overruled. As a result, the standard Roman Catholic Bible throughout the medieval period contained it. Thus, it gradually came to be revered by the average clergyman. Still, many medieval Catholic scholars realized that it was not inspired.

And the day following Judas came with his company, to take away the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen, in the sepulchers of their fathers. And they found under the coats of the slain some of the donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews: so that all plainly saw, that for this cause they were slain. Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had discovered the things that were hidden. And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of those that were slain. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. (2 Maccabees 12:39-46)

The New Testament

Inspired authorship is again the determining factor of the New Testament canon. Apostolic authorship in the New Testament corresponds to prophetic authorship in the Old Testament. Jesus authorized the apostles as his official spokesmen, which included the authority to write scripture (see Matthew 10:40; John 14:26; 15:26,27; 16:13).

INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF APOSTOLIC AUTHORSHIP

This leaves only Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Hebrews, James, and Jude without direct internal claims to apostolic authorship.

EARLY CHURCH EVIDENCE FOR APOSTOLIC AUTHORSHIP OF REMAINING BOOKS

Conclusion: Therefore, the church did not create or determine the New Testament canon. Church leaders and councils debated apostolic authorship of select New Testament books. After they determined apostolic authorship, they recognized the books as inspired.

"We need speak of no strong intuition of the early church, as does Westcott, whereby these holy writings were distinguished from others. It was not an intuition: It was simple obedience to the known commands of Christ and his apostles." (R. Laird Harris, Inspiration and Canonicity, p. 234)

"By thirty years after the death of John virtually all of them were known and used in all the centers from which our evidence comes. Certain of the smaller books were still, in some quarters, questioned as to their authorship, and therefore as to their authority, for perhaps another fifty years." (Ibid. p.246.)

"What is particularly important to notice is that the New Testament canon was not demarcated by the arbitrary decree of any church council. When at last a church council-the Synod of Hippo in AD 393-listed the 27 books of the New Testament, it did not confer upon them any authority which they did not already possess, but simply recorded their previously established canonicity." (F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, pp. 112,113)

New Testament Pseudepigraphal Writings

New Testament pseudepigraphal writings refer to a large body of literature written from the second century AD into the middle ages. "Pseudepigraphal" means "false writings"-works that are forgeries, claiming apostolic authorship so they will be viewed as authoritative. In general, these writings fall into two categories:

  1. Cheap devotional literature focusing on the miraculous and bizarre, written to satisfy the desire for further information about the life of Jesus and the careers of the apostles,

    EXAMPLE:  The Infancy Gospel of Thomas dates from the middle of the third century. It records various alleged incidents in Jesus' early childhood. For example, Jesus molds clay pigeons on the Sabbath. When people object to this, he claps his hands and the pigeons fly away. When another child disperses a pool of water Jesus made, Jesus calls him an insolent, godless dunderhead and paralyzes him. When another child bumps into his shoulder, Jesus becomes exasperated and kills the child by cursing him. When his parents complain about this to Joseph, Jesus smites them blind.

    2. This account clearly portrays Jesus as an amoral (or immoral) miracle-worker. Furthermore, the canonical gospels indicate that Jesus did not perform miracles until the wedding at Cana (John 2:11).

  2. Attempts to propagate different and heretical teachings (e.g. Gnostic).

Pseudepigraphal literature was written by heretics in an effort to foist their ideas on the church with the alleged endorsement of Jesus or the apostles (which shows that the false teachers had the same criteria of authority: apostolic authority). Some of these writings are historically valuable because they provide information about the post-apostolic church and the doctrinal aberrations it faced. But they are not apostolic and therefore should not be regarded as canonical.

The Gospel of Thomas is the best known writing of this sort. Recently, it has been used by New Age advocates to claim Jesus' support of their views of spirituality. It was written in the early second century, and was discovered in 1945 among the literature excavated at Nag Hammadi. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 alleged sayings of Jesus, many of which are similar to canonical sayings, but many of which (like the following) clearly contradict the canonical gospels.

Memory Verses (COVERED LAST WEEK)

Matt. 5:17,18*- The Old Testament is completely accepted by Jesus.

Matt. 24:35*- Jesus' own words are authoritative.

Matt. 10:40*- Jesus pre-authenticates the Apostles' words.

Assignment

Read handout from Grant Osborne’s, Three Crucial Questions About the Bible (pp. 72-83) and write a 1-page summary.

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