When did the NT books we know as the Bible come together?

[SomeGuy]

Howdy,

When did the books that we accept as the NT portion of the Bible come together? Does anyone have any interesting reading links for this? I studied it back in the day, but it has been a while.

- for His reward

[Kurieuo]

It was not until 367AD, when Athanasius circulated his thirty-ninth Festal Letter, that we know the twenty-seven books of the New Testament had been officially identified as canonical based upon their widespread use and acknowledgement as authoritative.

Kurieuo.

[SomeGuy]

i'm pretty ignorant as to this stuff, but i thought that it was the work of a council and not just a single man?[/list]

[August]

http://www.bible-researcher.com/warfield2.html

Here is a pretty good essay on the topic.

[bob2010]

i'm pretty ignorant as to this stuff, but i thought that it was the work of a council and not just a single man?[/list]

coming to the descision of the NT canon took a long time. the church fathers were discussing the issue for a couple of centuries. no one council perscribed the NT canon for the entire christian church. there were some local councils that put out lists for their areas. even today all of the churches arent unified on the issue. one of the churches, i cant remember right now, uses the book called Sheperd of Hermas.

[Kurieuo]

i'm pretty ignorant as to this stuff, but i thought that it was the work of a council and not just a single man?

I'm misunderstood—it is within Athanasius' letter that all the 27 books of the NT we have today are identified as being canonical, although the books would have each been recognised in their own right as canonical much earlier.

I'd disagree that any one council decided upon the NT canon, although councils may have formally and clearly established which books had gained wide acceptance within Christianity and so possessed apostolic authority. I'm inclined to agree with the theologian, Morwenna Ludlow, who summarised the situation in these words:

"With regard to most books it was a question of [the church] explaining why it had what it had, rather than deciding on what it should have. No council sat down to choose the texts according to some pre-established set of criteria, just as a selection committee might decide on the sort of person they want to fill a post, before interviewing the candidates. Rather, there is some sense in which the canon chose (or formed) the Church, rather than the Church chose (or formed) the canon… [W]hat seems to be happening… is that the Church is formulating reason or explanations for why it has what it had, not criteria for choosing what it should have in the future."

(Morwenna Ludlow, "'Criteria of Canonicity' and the Early Church" in John Barton and Michael Wolter (eds), Die Einheit der Schrift and die Vielfalt des Kanons /The Unity of the Scripture and the Diversity of the Canon (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003), 69-93)

Kurieuo.

[puritan lad]

It seems as if some of them were considered part of the Canon much earlier. The four gospels were used by the Apostle Paul on numerous occassions.

A.) Paul, who died in 68 AD, quotes Luke 10:7 in his first Epistle to Timothy (See 1 Timothy 5:18).

B.) 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 - “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” One has to wonder what “scriptures” Paul was referring to, unless the gospels were already part of the Canon.

C.) Paul built much of His theology from the Gospels, for ex.

Love Fulfills the Law (Matthew 22:35-40, Romans 13:8)
Water Baptism (Matthew 3:16, Collosians 2:12)
The Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:26-29, 1 Corinthians 11:23-29)

The four gospels were also used by Church Fathers long before the fourth Century.

A.) Clement of Rome (AD 30-100) uses Matthew 25:35 in his epistle to Corinthians.

B.) Polycarp (AD 69-155), in his Epistle to the Phillipians, quotes several passages from both Matthew and Luke.

C.) Eusebius (AD 263—339) quotes Papias (AD 60-135) for the traditional story of the writing of Matthew and Mark.

D.) Ignatius (Martyred in AD 107) refers to passages from the Gospel of Matthew. In his Epistle to the Magnesians, he quotes Luke 5:46 and John 5:30.

"There are four gospels and only four, neither more nor less: four like the
points of the compass, four like the chief directions of the wind. The Church, spread all over the world, has in the gospels four pillars and four winds blowing wherever people live." - Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 2nd century

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

Paul could not have built anything from the Gospels...because he wrote before the Gospels were written.

[puritan lad]

Paul could not have built anything from the Gospels...because he wrote before the Gospels were written.

Says who? What "scriptures" was Paul referring to in 1 Cor. 15:3-4?

[bob2010]

Paul could not have built anything from the Gospels...because he wrote before the Gospels were written.

Says who? What "scriptures" was Paul referring to in 1 Cor. 15:3-4?

He was refering to the OT.

[Kurieuo]

Actually, just like the Apostles creed which is often recited by Christians as a testament to their beliefs, 1 Cor. 15:3-5 is also recognised as an early Christian creed that was said. To add something further, according to Habermas, many critical scholars believe that Paul received it from the disciples Peter and James while visiting them in Jerusalem three years after his conversion. If so, Paul learned it within five years of Jesus' crucifixion and from the disciples themselves. Meaning we have attestation to the fact that Christ died, was buried, and raised appearing to more than 500 people. This is a thorn is the side of those who believe Christ's resurrection should assigned to a developed legend or myth, for obviously is simply not enough time for legend or myth, and people at the time who heard such things could have easily searched out the truth of a) whether Jesus' body was still in the tomb; and b) whether people had actually witnessed Christ post-resurrection.

Kurieuo.

[puritan lad]

Paul could not have built anything from the Gospels...because he wrote before the Gospels were written.

Says who? What "scriptures" was Paul referring to in 1 Cor. 15:3-4?

He was refering to the OT.

Fair enough. Which OT Scriptures?

[bob2010]

Fair enough. Which OT Scriptures?

the ones saying the messiah would be resurrected on the third day.

[puritan lad]

Fair enough. Which OT Scriptures?

the ones saying the messiah would be resurrected on the third day.

Such as???

[bob2010]

Hosea 6:2 for one.