Canon

Canon and the New Testament

Canon of the scripture is the set of books in the Bible that are considered to be authoritative by the Christian community . The final list of the books to be included in the Bible were the result of debates and arguments among the Christian community as to which of the books were really inspired by the Holy Spirit to provide guidance for His people . For a biblical book to be included in the canon , the criteria for inclusion should be carefully established and adhered to by the New

br Testament book concerned (Metzger , 1997

The canons are considered as closed by most Christian groups because they consider revelation from God as already completed and can no longer be amended . But there are also other groups such as the Quakers and other Pentecostal Christian communities , which hold that there is a process of continuous revelation from God even to the present day (Souter , 1954

The books in the New Testament were collected together in a canon after a lengthy and complex process . The books included in the New Testament canon were usually considered to have originated from the original apostles of Jesus Christ or to their apprentices and close associates The books should also have gained wide acceptance in Christian communities all over the world at the time that the canon was being finalized . Usually , the books were also read publicly by the Christian communities in celebration of their weekly worship sessions . Lastly , the books should be consistent with the theological message or outlook contained in most of the accepted Christian writings during the time Although Church councils may seem to have determined the New Testament canon , it would be more correct to say that the Church councils simply recognized and collated the books that were already being used and recognized as divinely inspired by Christian communities at the time (McDonald , 1995

The canon of the New Testament arose as a response to the challenge posted by alternative writings and theologies that ran contrary to what was popularly accepted by Christian communities in the first three centuries of Christianity . Marcion 's attempts to accept only the book of Luke and several letters of Paul to support his own theology was instrumental in the canonization of New Testament books as it appears now (Gamble , 2002 . The writings of the Church fathers and the widespread usage of the books in the New Testament canon by mainstream Christian communities constitute some of the evidences for the books divine inspiration (Palmer , 2007

The most important criteria in the canon , in my opinion , is their derivation from the apostles and /or their close associates . During the first centuries , the gospels provided the link to the historical Jesus Christ to the early Christians . Perhaps the least important is the liturgical use of the books by Christians in their liturgy . Although the liturgy is central to the faith , the transmittal of the faith through the books as they are read by the Christians in...