Facts about Bible VII : The Canon

continued from Facts About Bible VI : Autographs, Manuscripts and Translations

If one is to believe the Bible is the Word of God, certain reasonable questions must be addressed to satisfy the curious nature in us all. Why are these books inspired by God and others not? Who decided this? How did they come to this decision? Asking these questions does not have to weaken ones faith, but answering them will certainly strengthen it.

Basically the Old Testament (as we know it today) was accepted by the early church for at least two reasons: 1) Hebrew tradition endorsed those books. 2)The apostles and other New Testament writers implicitly endorsed them by quoting from almost every OT book. If one believes in the authority of Christ, one should not have difficulty in trusting the endorsement of His closest disciples.

The history of the canon of the New Testament, however, is a bit more complex. Early on the decision as to which books would be accepted or rejected was made locally by elders or bishops. Lists of approved books were published at different times as the New Testament writings became available for examination. Though churches made these decisions independently, by the year 170 A.D. most churches were in agreement as to which writings were inspired. These became known as the "canon" of Scripture (Canon being the Greek word for "ruler" or "rod"). The New Testament canon would become the rule of faith for Christians.

With the proliferation of heretical doctrines and small church factions, christians became weary and doubts were raised about a few New Testament books that had been previously accepted. Athanasius c. 296 accepted all 27 NT books. The Revelation of John, accepted at first, was later rejected by a great number of churches in Asia Minor. Origen c. 185 accepted all 27 books with the exception of James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John and Jude. Irenaeus c. 130 rejected the same books Origen did plus Hebrews.

Why were these books doubted? Hebrews was doubted because its author was unknown. Eventually it was later judged as having at least apostolic authority if not the authorship of an apostle. James appeared to contradict Romans' message. This is solved though in light of works being the natural fruit of genuine faith. 2 Peter had a different style than 1 Peter. It later became clear that Peter had used a scribe (1 Pet. 5:12). The author in 2 and 3 John calls himself elder and not apostle. This was evidently okay since the apostle Peter calls himself an elder as well (1 Pet. 5:1) Jude cites two non-canonical books. This is justified when one observes Paul quoting pagan poets (Acts. 17:28, Titus 1:12) The author of Revelation does not call himself an apostle. This doesn't prove he didn't write it. Furthermore, this book meets other criteria for canonicity.

Despite these minor disagreements, the majority of churches still accepted the 27 New Testament books and firmly rejected all others.

These were the criteria for determining which books should be accepted as canonical:

1) Was the book written or endorsed by a prophet or apostle?
2) Is the book authoritative?
3) Is the book in agreement with prior revelation?
4) Does the book have a transforming effect on its readers?
5) Was the book accepted by the people of God?

Facts About Bible VI : Autographs, Manuscripts and Translations

continued from Facts About Bible V : Date and authors

The Bible was and continues to be under assault. In times of persecution it was confiscated and burned. In modern times, while we have the freedom of religion, atheistic academia monolithically charges Scriptures as being irrelevant, barbaric or contradictory. How do we respond to these accusations in a way that sheds light on the truth of the Bible and prepares the way for the gospel? We must acquaint ourselves with the truth and an understanding of where our bible has come from to lay the foundations for trust on its reliability.

First there are a few terms that must be defined:

Autographs – These are the original texts penned by the author himself or an assistant.

Manuscripts – Until the printing press (1456) any text that was copied was done so by hand. These copies are called manuscripts.

Translations – Any copy of the Bible that is not in the original Greek or Hebrew is a translation. Anyone who does not read ancient Greek or Hebrew reads a translation of Scripture into their own language. Common practice is to translate from the original languages and not from another translation.

Manuscripts
We have no autographs of any book of the Bible. What we do have is an abundance of manuscripts.

Here are the manuscripts still in existence of the Old and New Testaments:

Dead Sea Scrolls: 200 B.C. - 70 A.D. Contains the entire book of Isaiah and portions of every other OT book with the exception of Esther.

Geniza Fragments: 400 A.D. Has portions of the OT in Hebrew and Aramaic. Discovered in 1947 in Cairo, Egypt.

Ben Asher Manuscripts: 700-950 A.D. Copies of the OT based done by many generations of the Ben Asher family.

P 52: 125 A.D. The oldest surviving New Testament manuscript which contains a small portion of John 18

Bodmer P 66: 200 A.D. A papyrus manuscript that contains a large section of John.

Chester Beatty Biblical papyrus P 46: 200 A.D. Pauline letters and Hebrews.

Bodmer papyrus P 75: 225 A.D. Gospels of Luke and John.

Chester Beatty Biblical papyrus P 45: 250 - 300 A.D. Portions of the four gospels plus Acts

Codex Sinaiticus: 350 A.D. Contains the entire New Testament and almost the entire Old Testament in Greek.

Codex Vaticanus: 350 A.D. An almost complete New Testament.

Translations
Aramaic Targums: 400 B.C. - The Old Testament began being translated in Aramaic.

Septuagint: 250 B.C. - Translation of the Old Testament into Greek. Used by the apostles and the early Church.

Old Latin: 195 A.D. - The first translations of OT and NT into Latin from the Greek.

The Old Syriac: 300 A.D. - Translation of the NT from Greek into Syriac.

The Coptic Versions: 300 A.D. - Translation into language spoken in Egypt.

The Latin Vulgate: 380 A.D. - Translated by Jerome from the original Hebrew and Greek. The official translation of the western Church until the reformation. After the protestant reformation many translations appeared into the common languages of the time.

The first English Translation: 1380 A.D. - Translated by John Wycliffe from the Latin Vulgate.

King James Version: 1611 A.D. - Translated from the original Hebrew and Greek.

New American Standard Version: 1971 A.D. - Used older manuscripts in Hebrew and Greek that were not available in the time of the KJV. This translation follows the original in a more word-for-word style.

New International Version: 1983 A.D. - Like the NASV made use of the older manuscripts but follows a more thought-for-thought style of translation. (ex. Hebrews 9.25)

Go to the next post in the series - Bible : The canon

Facts About Bible V : Date and authors

DATE AND AUTHORS

continued from Facts About Bible IV : Inspiration

All 66 books of the Bible were written over the course of approximately 1500 years by over 40 authors. In the table below, you will see dates and authors of biblical books as determined by the research of reputable scholars'. Naturally, the question of date and authorship is frequently subject to debate and differing views. There are different degrees of certainty when it comes to historical information varying from very certain to educated guess. Without digressing into controversial issues, this table displays the widely accepted views on dates and authors. (Click on image to view)

Go to the next post in the series - Bible : Autographs, Manuscripts and Translations