The New Testament’s 27 books are the leftovers, or precipitate, from a larger body of literature from the 1st and 2nd centuries CE that was revered by certain Christian communities. The early church passed on its traditions in these texts, including its experience of Jesus, its knowledge of who Jesus is as the Christ, and its sense of identity as a church. This brief essay discusses the issue of ‘cannon’ in the light of the New Testament and explores what the word ‘cannon’ really means and how it applies to the New Testament.
The word “canon” refers to the criteria by which the early Church decided which books were holy scripture (Gundry, 2012). Many of the New Testament passages were first transmitted orally before the New Testament existed (Gundry, 2012). Some people may only be familiar with certain passages from the New Testament since they were never taught that they belonged to a larger whole. Similarly, the New Testament writings were written and copied several times before they were compiled into their present form (Gundry, 2012). Over a lengthy period, many educated early Christians contested whether books should be included in the New Testament’s canon (Gundry, 2012). Criteria such as apologetic authorship, edifying moral influence, and consistency with Old Testament passages were essential (Gundry, 2012). As stated in 2 Timothy 3:16, every scripture is God-breathed, and God alone is responsible for the New Testament as we know it today (ESV). 2 Peter 1:21 refers to the prophetic word of God as “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (ESV).
Much of what was discussed in this chapter was familiar to me because I had also read about the canon of scripture in the Old Testament course. After reading this chapter, I now know what it means when people talk about “textual criticism”. I was aware of variations in punctuation, word choice, and writing style, but I was unaware of the technical term for this phenomenon. While reading this, I realized that I had no other questions about the topic. God’s word is, without a doubt, inspired by God. It makes no sense for me, as a Christian woman, to reject the veracity of the whole of the Bible. To say that I believe in a God who created the universe out of nothing and sustains it by the power of His word (Hebrews 1:3) without also believing that God can keep His word to me is a contradiction.
References
English Standard Version (ESV) – Version Information – BibleGateway.com. (2015). Biblegateway.com; BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/English- Standard-Version-ESV-Bible/
Gundry, R. H. (2012). A survey of the New Testament (5th ed.). Zondervan.
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