On The Bible: Why These Books?: Canonicity of Scripture

Page 1 of 5 J.C. Andrews Why These Books?: How We Got The Canon Of Scripture Connecting the Dots Series 11/3/21 Connecting the Dots: 1.) God reveals himself through General Revelation (namely creation and history) and Special Revelation (namely prophecy, Scripture, and the incarnation). 2.) If God has revealed himself in Scripture, then Scripture is inspired or “God-breathed.” 3.) If the Bible is inspired by a perfect God, then it too must be perfect, inerrant, and infallible. 4.) If God has created such a work (inspired, inerrant, infallible) then there must be a limited and discernable scope to it, unified in purpose and content.1 What is Canonicity? Κανών, “Kanon”: (1) a reed, (2) a rule, standard, (3) a list “…biblical canonicity [is defined] as a document’s having characteristics that evidence its being composed under divine inspiration.”2 John S. Feinberg What does the Bible say about Canonicity and Preservation of the Scriptures? • ___________ _________ God’s words was God’s idea (Exodus 32:16; 34:1, 27) • ____________ God’s words was God’s idea (Deuteronomy 31:24-26; Joshua 24:26) “The implications of scriptural inspiration for the discipline of biblical theology are legion. To begin with, if all Scripture is breathed out by God, then Scripture cannot be an anthology of human literature, nor can it be a mere collection of human religious experience about God. Rather, the whole of Scripture stands united by a single and primary author: God. Rather than a collection of man’s highest thoughts about God, the Christian Scripture is God’s self-communication to humanity about who his and what he has done to redeem the lost race in Adam. Inspiration guarantees that the canon’s many stories tell one story; there is a single story to be told because there is a single divine author, who has declared himself to be the architect and creator.” (Barrett, 2). 1 2 Feinberg, 469. Page 2 of 5 • J.C. Andrews God has _____________ the recording and preservation of His word throughout the history of His people (Isaiah 8:1; Jeremiah 36:2) • God __________ the apostles to recall the teachings of Jesus and record them through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13). • The preservation and circulation of the letters of Paul speaks to the _______ ________ of them (1 Corinthians 14:37; Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27; 2 Peter 3:15-16). • There are approximately 682 claims of divine authority in the Pentateuch, 1,307 claims of divine authority in the prophets, 418 claims of divine authority in the histories, and 195 claims in the poetry.3 The New Testament likewise speaks to its divine authority. How Did We Get Our Collective Bible? Two Premises: 1. The Church __________, God __________(Catholic Position) 2. God __________, The Church ___________ (Protestant Position)4 Old Testament Canon Process: • Over time the Jewish Canon was accepted, in three general sections: o The Law o The Prophets o The Writings • Jesus recognized the Jewish _______ of _________ (our present protestant Old Testament) - Luke 11:49-51; 24:44 • See pages 1-2 of Info Packet for more New Testament Canon Process: 3 Byers, 38. “The only human role in the making of the canon was recognizing and receiving texts that God had already established. And so, the question isn’t, ‘Who created the canon?’ The correct question is, ‘How and when did God’s people recognize the texts that God had already established as authoritative?’” ( Jones, 52). 4 Page 3 of 5 • J.C. Andrews Over the first four centuries, the church universal affirmed which books were in the official canon of inspired Scripture. • The apostles recognized various works of the apostles as Scripture (2 Peter 3:14-16) • The early church affirmed the canon of Scripture o 1 Corinthians referred to in 1 Clement 47, as well as Paul’s letter to the Romans (1st Century) o Sayings of Jesus from the gospels are referenced in 2 Clement (1st Century) o The Muratorian Fragment (circa 180 AD) included a canon list which had 22 of our 27 books listed. (Missing: Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, either 2nd or 3rd John). • Measures of _______________ o Does it bear the marks of _____________? o Was it written by or under the authority of an __________? ▪ Examples of books that did not match this: 1 & 2 Clement5 and the Didache6 o Is the book __________ consistent and __________ consistent with other books? ▪ Example of a book that did not match this: The Shepherd of Hermas. o Was it accepted and used by the ________? • See pages 3-5 of Info Packet for more “The Canon of Scripture…is the list of writing delivered to us as the divinely inspired record of God’s self-revelation to men—that self-revelation of which Jesus Christ our Lord is the centre.” F.F. Bruce So…What about… 5 Clement of Rome, later named the Bishop of Rome, wrote his first letter to the church in Corinth in the late 1 century (likely the 90s AD). His second letter is formatted more like a sermon. Clement at no point claims apostolic authority, while recognizing the inspired authority of the letters of Paul and the gospels including the words of Jesus. st 6 The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (About 70 AD) gives guidelines for order within the church almost like a 1st century pastor manual. Like Clement’s letters, the Didache never claims inspired or apostolic authority. Page 4 of 5 J.C. Andrews …the length of time which elapsed between when Jesus lived and when the NT books were written? • The Timeline: o Jesus died between 30 and 33 AD o The first gospels were written at least 30 years later. o Witnesses were still alive • Every book of the NT was written in the first century (within 70 years of Jesus’s Death) …The Difference in Biblical Texts? • The Byzantine Line used to translate the KJV/NKJV vs. other textual lines • See pages 5-6 of Info Packet for more …Named Texts That We Don’t Have? • Example: Paul’s other two letters to the church in Corinth • See pages 6-8 of Info Packet for more …Referenced Texts That Aren’t Scripture? • Acts 17:28: “…for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”7 • Titus 1:12 “One of them, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’”8 • Jude 14-15: 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”9 7 Aratus (flourished c. 315–c. 245 BC, Macedonia) from the Phaenomena opening invocation to Zeus. 8 Epimenides (Flourished: c.600 BCE - c.501 BCE), seer and philosopher of Crete that invented the “paradox of the liar” 9 1 Enoch 1:9: Behold, he comes with the myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to destroy all the wicked, and to convict all flesh for all the wicked deeds that they have done, and the proud and hard words that wicked sinners spoke against him. Page 5 of 5 • J.C. Andrews See pages 8-12 of Info Packet for more …New Revelations? • Hebrews 1:1-2 - God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; What Does The Canon Mean For Us? 1. Scripture is complete 2. Scripture is sufficient