INSPIRATION AND INERRANCY OF SCRIPTURES, PART 2.

To answer how and when was the canon of the Bible put together, an audio online source had the following to say: The term ‘canon’ is used to describe the books that are divinely inspired and therefore belong in the Bible. The difficulty in determining the biblical canon is that the Bible does not give us a list of the books that belong in the Bible. Determining the canon was a process conducted first by Jewish rabbis and scholars and later by early Christians. Ultimately, of course, it was God who decided what books belonged in the biblical canon. A book of Scripture belonged in the canon from the moment God inspired its writing. It was simply a matter of God convincing His human followers which books should be included in the Bible. Compared to the New Testament, there was very little controversy over the canon of the Old Testament. Hebrew believers recognized God’s messengers and accepted their writings as inspired of God. While there was undeniably some debate in regards to the Old Testament canon, by 250 AD there was nearly universal agreement on the canon of Hebrew Scriptures.2

Dr. Patricia Meade-Marr in her History I Lecture Notes says: “The tests for canonicity focused on three factors: author, audience and teaching. 1) written by a prophet or prophetically gifted person; 2) written to all generations; 3) written in accord with previous revelation.”3 In the Old Testament , the best example of the books that meet these three criteria is the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Moses, a leader and prophet of the Israelites, writing to the people and building the theology of God from creation provides much structure on which all other scriptures later on would be based! This writer wrote the following in History I class regarding the canonization of the New Testament : “ Sometime in the history of the church, the New Testament came to be considered as an authoritative collection of books. The New Testament canon are those books accepted by the early church as divinely inspired Scripture. An approved writing must be historically accurate, must represent the words and beliefs of Christ, and should also be fee of heretical teachings. Some of the criterion used to determine whether or not something is inspired were the following: 1) the authorship of the New Testament. The apostles are the first logical choice. They were the closes to Jesus , heard from Him directly, and spent most time with Him. Therefore any writing directly from them or their associates, like Mark and Luke, should have primary consideration. 2) the second aspect to look at is the audience to whom each of the author’s wrote. The gospels were circulated as the only words of Jesus penned. Paul wrote to churches and provided them instructions in how to integrate the gospel into their gentile worldview. 3) Lastly, it should be written in accord with previous revelation. In determining which books are part of the canon, it needs to be verified that the gospels built on the Old Testament and that the epistles built on the gospels. Jesus Himself built on the Old Testament teach, (Ving. Paul, drawing from his Pharisee background, connected the Old Testament to Christ in Romans. By the 4th and 5th centuries all of our present day 27 books of the New Testament were recognized while others excluded.”4

NOTES
2. http://addthis_pub = ‘gotquest’ (April 10,2010)
3.Patricia Meade-Marr, Lecture Notes: History I, (Van Nuys: The Kings University, 2010).
4.Nancy J Garcia, Notes: History I, (Van Nuys: The Kings University,2010).