How Was the Canon of Scripture Formed?
Question 1073
How did we get our Bible? Who decided which books should be included? These are fair questions, and the answers reveal something wonderful about God’s providence in preserving His Word for His people. The formation of the biblical canon wasn’t a matter of church councils imposing authority—it was the Church recognising what God had already given.
Understanding “Canon”
The word “canon” comes from the Greek κανών (kanōn), meaning a measuring rod or standard. When applied to Scripture, it refers to the collection of books recognised as authoritative—the standard by which all doctrine and practice is measured.
Here’s something essential to grasp: the Church did not create the canon. The Church recognised the canon. A book didn’t become authoritative because a council voted for it. A council recognised a book because it already carried divine authority. The difference is significant. God inspired certain writings; the Church’s role was simply to identify what God had given.
The Old Testament Canon
By the time of Jesus, the Old Testament canon was essentially settled among the Jews. Jesus Himself referred to the entire Old Testament using the standard Jewish divisions: “the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). This threefold division—Torah (Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings)—gave us the Hebrew acronym TaNaK and corresponds to our 39 Old Testament books arranged differently.
Jesus also referred to the span of Old Testament Scripture from “the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah” (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51). In the Hebrew arrangement, Genesis (containing Abel’s story) was the first book and Chronicles (containing Zechariah’s story) was the last. Jesus was essentially saying “from Genesis to Chronicles”—the whole Old Testament.
The Jewish historian Josephus, writing in the first century, confirmed that the Jews recognised 22 books (equivalent to our 39, as several books were combined) and that nothing had been added since the time of Artaxerxes (roughly the time of Ezra and Nehemiah). The Jews understood that prophetic revelation had ceased after Malachi, awaiting the coming of Messiah.
The Council of Jamnia (around AD 90), often cited as the moment when Jews “fixed” the Old Testament canon, was actually a discussion about books already universally accepted. The rabbis weren’t deciding the canon; they were clarifying what was already recognised.
The New Testament Canon
The New Testament canon developed through a process of recognition rather than selection. From the earliest days, Christians recognised that the apostolic writings carried divine authority.
Peter, for instance, placed Paul’s letters alongside “the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15-16)—treating them as equal in authority to the Old Testament. Paul himself distinguished his authoritative teaching from mere opinion (1 Corinthians 7:10, 12) and expected his letters to be read in the churches and circulated (Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27).
Several criteria guided the Church in recognising canonical books:
Apostolicity—was the book written by an apostle or someone closely associated with an apostle? Matthew, John, and Peter were apostles. Mark was closely associated with Peter, and Luke with Paul. This criterion explains why the Church rejected later works like the Gospel of Thomas, which claimed apostolic authorship but appeared far too late.
Orthodoxy—did the book’s teaching align with the apostolic faith already received? Gnostic writings, for example, were rejected because their theology contradicted the apostolic message.
Catholicity—was the book universally received by churches across different regions? A book accepted only in one locality raised questions. The four Gospels, Paul’s letters, Acts, 1 Peter, and 1 John were accepted everywhere from early on.
Traditional use—had the book been read as Scripture in the churches from ancient times? This distinguished genuine apostolic writings from later forgeries.
The Process of Recognition
By the end of the second century, the core of the New Testament was universally recognised. The Muratorian Fragment (c. AD 170-200) lists most of our New Testament books as authoritative Scripture. Early church fathers like Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian quoted the New Testament books as Scripture.
Some books—Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation—took longer to achieve universal recognition, primarily because of questions about authorship or limited circulation. But by the fourth century, the entire 27-book New Testament was universally acknowledged.
The Council of Carthage (AD 397) and the earlier Council of Hippo (AD 393) formally listed the 27 New Testament books—not as a new decision, but as confirmation of what the churches had long recognised. Athanasius had already listed the same 27 books in his Easter letter of AD 367. These councils didn’t create the canon; they ratified what the Holy Spirit had already made evident to the Church.
God’s Providence in Preservation
The formation of the canon displays God’s providential care for His Word. He inspired the original writings, ensured their preservation through copying, and guided His people to recognise them as Scripture. This wasn’t a haphazard process or a political power play—it was God keeping His promise to preserve His Word.
Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). The formation and preservation of the canon is the historical outworking of that promise. We can trust that we have the books God intended us to have because God Himself superintended the process.
Conclusion
The biblical canon wasn’t decided by committee vote or political manoeuvring. It was recognised through a Spirit-guided process as the Church identified the books that bore the marks of divine authority. The same God who inspired Scripture preserved Scripture and guided His people to recognise it. When you open your Bible, you hold what God intended you to hold—His complete, sufficient Word for faith and life.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
