The Cannon: How Did We Get It?

Hello everybody, today I want to talk to you about the Bible Cannon. For those of you who do not know, the Cannon is basically the list of books that are accepted as Inspired scripture. In other words, they are the books that are accepted as having been inspired by God. There is a cannon for both the Old and New Testament, yet they both follow the same criteria for being accepted. In this blog I want to share with you the criteria that must be met for a book to have been accepted into either cannon.

The Criteria

1. Author had to be a recognized Prophet or Apostole, or a known associate of theirs.

Basically, the author of the book had to be a recognized man of God (so to speak). One very good reason for this is the fact that God often demonstrated His power through these individuals and made it clear to their hearers that He was with them. So it makes sense that we should accept their writings.

2. Cannot Contradict Another Part of the Revelation

We must remember that the Bible is essentially one book written over the course of about 1,500 years and through about 40 different authors. So in order for a bok to be accepted it cannot contradict any previous revelation. This means that no where in the Bible will you find a contradiction. Often times people will claim that one verse contradicts another. However, claims like these are often based on a misunderstanding.

3. Had to be accepted by the Church

Lastly, the early chuch had to accept the books as scripture. For those of you who may feel a bit uncomfortable about this one, let me remind you that the church has had many scholars and has invested alot of time and energy into making sure that the cannon is sound. With the first two principles in play and a general consensus of the Church, I'd say the cannon is pretty solid.

Answering a quick objection:

Some may have noticed that the first principle is that all the books had to have a recognized author, yet some of the books are annonymous. In these cases the text is so in line with other scripture that it is still accepted. For instance, the book of Hebrews is one book of which we do not know with absolute certainty who the author is. Yet, its teaching is so in line with the rest of scripture that it is still accepted.

In Conclusion

So rest assured, the Bible is a well put together book. Hopefully this has helped to instill confidence in you, and hopefully it has stirred up your curiosity about the Bible as well. It's history is very rich and definitely worth studying. Hope it helps!!

God bless and Jesus loves you!!

-Jon