Canonicity

The word canonicitycomes from the Greek word “kanon,” meaning a measuring stick. In other words, canonmeans a norm or standard. In the case of the Canon of Scripture, it is God’s divine norm or standard for a collection of books, which form one book, our Bible.

Origin and Inspiration

We will examine the history of and formation of the Bible, which throughout its pages claims to be the written Word of God. As believers in Jesus Christ, it is necessary to have confidence in our Bible as the true Word of God because in it is contained God’s plan for salvation and the Christian Way of Life. The writers of Scripture were often themselves aware that what they were writing was by inspiration of God the Holy Spirit.

Peter gives us an excellent synopsis of the origin of the Word of God in II Peter 1:16-21. Remember that much of what Peter wrote was taught to him directly by Jesus Christ. Peter was an eyewitness to Christ’s ministry on earth. Peter was at most major events recorded in the Gospels. (Matthew 16:28; 17:1-8) In II Peter 1:20, Peter reveals the fact that all Scripture originates with God and is not someone’s private inspiration or interpretation. This means that God the Holy Spirit so directed the writers of Scripture that without changing their personalities, their literary style, their vocabularies or their personal feelings, God’s complete and coherent message was permanently recorded, with perfect accuracy, in the original languages of Scripture. (II Timothy 3:16)

The Bible is the recorded “mind of Christ,” which existed in eternity past before it was reduced to writing. Before the written Word of Scripture came into existence through Moses, God the Holy Spirit revealed it to certain people in the Old Testament. Revelation of Scripture also came through the spoken word of prophets and others, through dreams and visions, and through angels (often the Angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ). In this dispensation God speaks to us only through His Word. (Isaiah 6:8-10; Daniel 10:9; Isaiah 1:1; Psalms 68:17)

The Bible records many events from eternity past that cannot be substantiated by man, but are, nevertheless, true and accurate statements of those events. Ancient historical facts in the Bible, that were not found in any other writings of old, were unconfirmed by mankind for thousands of years until the recent past when many of the facts were found to be true, despite earlier skepticism from the scientific community. We also find Laws of Divine Establishment for the entire human race, not just a chosen few. These laws express God’s desire for His creation. Some portions of Scripture are direct quotes from God or times when He spoke directly to man. The Bible is a book not only of doctrine but it also contains devotional literature, such as is found in Psalms and Proverbs. The Bible is soaccurate that it even records falsehoods or lies of man and Satan. What we have been given by God is a record of His Divine Viewpoint Thinking – His plan, His purpose and His will for each of us. And He has made sure that it has been preserved throughout the centuries.

Manuscripts

Manuscripts are commonly classified into four types.

The very oldest of these is called Uncial and was written on parchment. These manuscripts were written in all capital letters without punctuation and without spacing between letters, words or paragraphs.

(Example:FORGODSOLOVEDTHEWORLDTHATHEGAVEHISONLYBEGOTTENSONTHATWHOSOEVERBELIEVETHINHIM…..)

The second type is Minuscule and dates back to the 10^thcentury B.C. The Minuscule was written with lower case cursive type letters. The Minuscule was developed by a group of monks and is the basis for modern Greek and Roman small case letters.

The third type of manuscript is called Lectionaries. These are actually copies of various passages from ancient manuscripts. Copied by pastors for use in sermons or Bible lessons, these copies predate many of the manuscripts available today.

The fourth type of manuscript is called the Papyri. This type of manuscript was written on very delicate material and if folded would simply fall apart. It was, therefore, rolled and in this way preserved, having been stored in a hot, dry climate. Some Papyri date before 200 A.D.

Codex Sinaiticus

A codex is another word for manuscript. This particular manuscript was discovered in 1844 by a German named Tischendorf in a Greek monastery in the Sinaitic Peninsula region near Mount Sinai. This manuscript contained the entire Greek New Testament and other Christian writings not included in the Canon of Scriptures.

Codex Vaticanus

This manuscript predated Codex Sinaiticus by about fifteen years, written around 325 – 350 A.D. It is called Vacticanus because it was a part of the Roman Catholic Pope’s library housed at the Vatican. It was not allowed to be copied or taken from the library though some scholars were allowed to examine it in six-hour intervals only. One German scholar named Tregelles actually memorized a portion of the manuscript each day and upon return to his home would record the Scripture.

Codex Alexandrinus

This Greek language manuscript was written in Alexandria, Egypt about 450 A.D. Its value was discovered by a Greek Orthodox scholar in 1621 and presented to King Charles of England in 1627.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The most significant finding in modern Biblical archaeology was in 1947 in a cave near the Dead Sea by a shepherd boy. These manuscripts were written around 125 B.C. and contain all the same Scripture as the previous oldest known manuscript, the Massoretic Text. The Dead Sea Scrolls predate the Massoretic Text by 1,000 years. These are the proof many skeptics demanded for authenticity and age of writing of the Old Testament.

Preservation of the Canon

It should be obvious to everyone that God has had a hand in the preservation of the Canon of Scripture down through the ages. Why do we need a canon? I believe that God’s desire is for mankind to have His revealed plan and purpose. The Canon of Scripture does just that; in it is contained God’s thinking, His will for mankind in every dispensation, man’s relationship to God and his relationship to Satan (and Satan’s world system) and the principles of doctrine necessary to operate successfully in this world. Since the absolute authority, Jesus Christ, is no longer on earth, He has given us a written standard of authority, the Bible. (I Corinthians 2:16) During the first two or three centuries after Christ, there was a massive amount of writings, many which claimed to be inspired (even to the point of assigning Paul as the author of some).

There had to be a standard or canon by which these books could be judged to determine if they were or were not inspired by God. The New Testament writings were being circulated throughout the early Christian churches, but it was not until around 96 A.D. that they were completed. By the middle of the next century, the Canon of Scripture was pretty much what we have today (there was still some controversy over certain books, that were eventually included).

The Criteria for Inclusion

The Early Church Fathers, leaders and pastor-teachers of the early church, determined the criteria for the inclusion of a book into the Canon. These criteria were as follows:

The Old Testament

1. Inspiration – Was the book of divine origin, written by an acknowledged messenger of God?
2. Internal evidence – Was there evidence within the book itself and did the writer claim inspiration?
3. Public readings – Was the book read publicly by a prophet or priest? They would have known which ones were inspired and which ones were not.
4. Writings – Was the book quoted by a prophet or a priest or referred to in another book?
5. Extra-Biblical – Was the teaching of the book adhered to by it’s readers, were there other historians that refer to a book or its teaching?

The New Testament

1. Apostleship – Was a book written by an apostle or someone close to him, perhaps writing on his behalf?
2. Received by the local churches – Did the local body of believers believe the book to be inspired?
3. Inspiration – Internal and external evidence must exist for each book that it is divinely inspired. (Colossians 4:16; II Peter 3:15-16)
4. Recognition – Was the book used for teaching by a church father or pastor-teacher?
5. Internal – Does the writer believe the book is inspired?

(I Thessalonians 5:27)

As early as the second century, the Canon, as we know it today, had been confirmed by numerous sources (some Christian, some not). God has miraculously preserved His book, the Biblefor us today. I hope that are you are beginning to see what God thinks of His written Word. (Psalms 138:2)