The Tests for Canonicity

Now, it is important to remember that certain books were canonical even before any tests were put to them.

No church nor church council made any book of the Old or New Testament canonical or authentic.

The book was either authentic or it was not when it was written.

Ancient Israel and the church or its councils recognized and verified certain books as the Word of God, and in time those so recognized were collected together in what we now call the Bible.

What tests did the church apply?

Dr. Ryrie lists these tests: 1. There was the test of the authority of the writer. In relation to the Old Testament, this meant the authority of the lawgiver or the prophet or the leader in Israel. In relation to the New Testament, a book had to be written or backed by an apostle in order to be recognized. In other words, it had to have an apostolic signature or apostolic authorization. Peter, for instance, was the backer of Mark, and Paul of Luke. 2. The books themselves should give some internal evidences of their unique character, as inspired and authoritative. The content should commend itself to the reader as being different from an ordinary book in communicating the revelation of God. 3. The verdict of the churches as to the canonical nature of the books was important. There was in reality surprising unanimity among the early churches as to which books belonged in the inspired number. Although it is true that a few books were temporarily doubted by a minority, no book whose authenticity was doubted by any large number of churches was later accepted.[1]

Dr. Chafer writes “The authority of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments which gives to them their canonical preëminence is attributable to at least seven different sources. (1) The Scriptures are authoritative being God-breathed. (2) The Scriptures are authoritative being written by chosen men who were “borne along” by the Holy Spirit. (3) The Scriptures are authoritative being accredited by those who first received them. (4) The Scriptures are authoritative being attested by the Lord Jesus Christ-the Second Person of the Godhead. (5) The Scriptures are authoritative being received, delivered, and attested by the Prophets. (6) The Scriptures are authoritative being the Word employed by God the Holy Spirit. (7) The authority of the Bible is seen in the fact that without the slightest deflection it vindicates and satisfies its every claim.”[2]

J. Hampton Keathley III writes “Specific tests to consider canonicity may be recognized. (1) Did the book indicate God was speaking through the writer and that it was considered authoritative? Compare the following references: (a) God was speaking through the human author—Ex. 20:1; Josh. 1:1; Isa. 2:1; (b) that the books were authoritative—Joshua 1:7-8; 23:6; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6; 21:8; 23:25; Ezra 6:18; Nehemiah 13:1; Daniel 9:11; Malachi 4:4. Note also Joshua 6:26 compared with 1 Kings 16:34; Joshua 24:29-33 compared with Judges 2:8-9; 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 compared with Ezra 1:1-4; Daniel 9:2 compared with Jeremiah 25:11-12. (2) Was the human author recognized as a spokesman of God, that is, was he a prophet or did he have the prophetic gift? Compare Deuteronomy 18:18; 31:24-­26; 1 Samuel 10:25; Nehemiah 8:3. (3) Was the book historically accurate? Did it reflect a record of actual facts? There are a number of important historical evidences drawn from the ancient writings that give support to the Old Testament canon as we have it in our Protestant Bible. 1. Prologue to Ecclesiasticus. This noncanonical book refers to a threefold division of books (namely, the Law, the Prophets, and hymns and precepts for human conduct) which was known by the writer’s grandfather (which would be around 200 B.C.). 2. Philo. Philo (around A D. 40) referred to the same threefold division. 3. Josephus. Josephus (A. D. 37-100) said that the Jews held as sacred only twenty-two books (which include exactly the same as our present thirty-nine books of the Old Testament). 4. Jamnia. Jamnia (A. D. 90), was a teaching house of rabbis who discussed canonicity. Some questioned whether it was right to accept (as was being done) Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. These discussions concerned an existing canon. 5. The church fathers. The church fathers accepted the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. The only exception was Augustine (A. D. 400) who included the books of the Apocrypha (those “extra” books that some Bibles include between the books of the Old and New Testaments). However, he did acknowledge that they were not fully authoritative. The books of the Apocrypha were not officially recognized as part of the canon until the Council of Trent (A.D. 1546) and then only by the Roman Catholic church.[3] New Testament Evidence for the Canonicity of the Old Testament: (1) Old Testament quotations in the New. There are some 250 quotes from Old Testament books in the New Testament. None are from the Apocrypha. All Old Testament books are quoted except Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. (2) Old Testament quotations by Jesus Christ. In Matthew 5:17-18, the Lord declared that the Law and the Prophets, a reference that includes all of the Old Testament, then summarized as “the Law” in verse 18, would be fulfilled. This declared it was therefore God’s authoritative Word. Christ’s statement in Matthew 23:35 about the blood (murder) of Abel to the blood of Zechariah clearly defined what Jesus viewed as the Old Testament canon. It consisted of the entire Old Testament as we know it in our Protestant English Bible. This is particularly significant in view of the fact there other murders of God’s messengers recorded in the Apocrypha, but the Lord excludes them suggesting He did not consider the books of the Apocrypha to belong in the Canon as with the books from Genesis to 2 Chronicles. The above evidence shows the books of the Old Testament, as we have them in our Protestant Bible, were God breathed and therefore authoritative and profitable the very moment they were written. “There was human recognition of the writings; normally this was immediate as the people recognized the writers as spokesmen from God. Finally, there was a collection of the books into a canon.”[4][5]

As we can see from these authors, one of the tests used to determine whether a book was part of the canon of the Old and New Testaments was inspired authorship.

An inspired prophet could be identified using the tests for prophets in Deuteronomy 13:1-5; 18:14-22.

Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Ex. 17:14; 24:4-7; 34:27; Deut. 31:9,22,24; Ezra 7:6; Ps. 103:7; Josh. 8:31, 23:6; I Kings 2:3).

Some prophets clearly state that they were ordered to write (Jer. 30:2; Ezek. 43:11; Is. 8:1).

Each of the twelve Minor Prophets call themselves prophets.

The historical books were written by prophets (I Chron. 29:29; II Chron. 9:29; 12:15; 13:22; 20:34; 32:32; 33:19).

Daniel accepted the book of Jeremiah as scripture (Dan. 9:2).

Joshua received Moses’ writing as scripture (Josh. 1:26).

Isaiah and Micah accepted each other’s writings as scripture contemporaneously (Is. 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4).

Solomon, Samuel, Daniel, Isaiah and Ezekiel all had dreams and visions, which squares with God’s description of a prophet (Deut. 13:1; Num. 12:6-8).

The New Testament quotes the Old Testament over 600 times (all of the Old Testament books are quoted except Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon).

Acts 2:30 and Mt. 24:15 identify David and Daniel as prophets.

Melito, Origen and Jerome agreed with the Jewish canon.

Only Augustine and his councils accepted apocryphal books.

So the question is not where a book received its divine authority because that can only come from God.

Rather the question should be how did men recognize that authority?

So canonicity is recognized by men of God.

Inspiration determines canonicity.

If a book was authoritative, it was so because God breathed it and made it so.

A book received authority from God.

How men recognize that authority is another matter altogether.

Therefore, the reason there are only sixty-six books in the canon is that God only inspired sixty-six books!

J. I. Packer notes, ‘The Church no more gave us the New Testament canon than Sir Isaac Newton gave us the force of gravity. God gave us gravity, by His work of creation, and similarly He gave us the New Testament canon, by inspiring the individual books that make it up.”[6]

Edward J. Young writes “When the Word of God was written it became Scripture and, inasmuch as it had been spoken by God, possessed absolute authority. Since it was the Word of God, it was canonical. That which determines the canonicity of a book, therefore, is the fact that the book is inspired by God. Hence a distinction is properly made between the authority which the Old Testament possesses as divinely inspired, and the recognition of that authority on the part of Israel.”[7]

Geisler and Nix write “In a real sense, Christ is the key to the inspiration and canonization of the Scriptures. It was He who confirmed the inspiration of the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament; and it was He who promised that the Holy Spirit would direct the apostles into all truth. The fulfillment of that promise resulted in the writing and collection of the New Testament. As Carl F. H. Henry writes, Jesus altered the prevailing Jewish view of Scripture in several ways: (1) he subjected the authority of tradition to the superior and normative authority of the Old Testament; (2) he emphasized that he himself fulfills the messianic promise of the inspired writings; (3) he claimed for himself an authority not below that of the Old Testament and definitively expounded the inner significance of the Law; (4) he inaugurated the new covenant escalating the Holy Spirit’s moral power as an internal reality; (5) he committed his apostles to the enlargement and completion of the Old Testament canon through their proclamation of the Spirit-given interpretation of his life and work. At the same time he identified himself wholly with the revelational authority of Moses and the prophets—that is, with the Old Testament as an inspired literary canon insisting that Scripture has sacred, authoritative and permanent validity, and that the revealed truth of God is conveyed in its teachings.[8] This ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives and work of the New Testament writers is manifest in several ways.[9]

[1] Ryrie, C. C. (1972). A survey of Bible doctrine. Chicago: Moody Press.

[2] (1938). Bibliotheca Sacra, 95(378), 143–156.

[3] Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1987, electronic media.

[4] Enns, p. 171.

[5] Bibliology, The Doctrine of the Written Word, Biblical Studies Press 1997; www.bible.org. pages 29-30.

[6] J. I. Packer, God Speaks to Man, p. 81.

[7] Edward J. Young, The Canon of the Old Testament, in Carl F. H. Henry, ed., Revelation and the Bible, p. 156.

[8] Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation and Authority, vol. 3: God Who Speaks and Shows: Fifteen Theses, Part Two, p. 47.

[9] Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. (1986). A General Introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded., pp. 207–208). Chicago: Moody Press.