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Adam GonnermanIgneousQuill.com
The Canon Of Scripture:Inspired by God, Collected by the Churches
Adam W. Gonnerman © 2002; 2005
This paper may be freely copied and used for scholarly and educational purposes without the direct consent of thewriter, so long as this copyright notice is included in its entirety.
IntroductionSomehow, even after nearly two millennia of debate and study, a pernicious notion has persistedwithin Christendom. The monarchial episcopacy by way of church councils, so we are told, put thecanon of Scripture together. Therefore, the church has authority over the Scripture. The RomanCatholic Church has long made this claim, one that was taken up – though with other motives – in the19th century by some higher critics of the Scriptural text. A related but distinct doctrine held byOrthodox churches is that the episcopacy (with apostolic succession) and the Scripture belong to oneholy tradition. Even in this latter view we can see the Scripture put at a certain disadvantage. In thisbrief paper it is this writer’s intention to explain in as clear and simple a fashion as possible theerrors connected with a canon of Scripture subordinate to human authority, and how history does notdefend such a position. Above all, the intention herein is to affirm the authority of God over Scripture,and the Scripture over the church.Inspired by God To begin, whether a text of writing is sacred Scripture or not, inspired by God, is a fact independent of any human agency.“
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke fromGod” 
(2 Peter 2:20-21 Updated NASB). To any honest student of Scripture, the above passage should make the issue rather clear. No trueprophet ever wrote of his own will or dependent upon himself, but rather was “moved by the HolySpirit” to speak the oracles of God. Thus, even before or without being recognized by men as sacredand from God, it is still God’s Word. Furthermore, it is by this Scripture that we are to recognize thetruth and identify error.“
 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training inrighteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” 
(2 Timothy3:16-17 Updated NASB). The Scriptural Method
 
Adam GonnermanIgneousQuill.com
In the first century church, Christians did not have the luxury of leather bound, gilt-edged Biblescomplete with maps and concordances (or even chapters and verses). The Old Testament canon was available in a limited fashion, and the apostolic epistles and other writingscirculated between the local churches. Often one copy was made by hand for the congregation andthe letter was then passed along to another. Aside from these hand-written epistles, those earlyChristians also had prophets among their number that spoke, from time to time, the word of God tothat congregation.In the case of local prophets, there appears to have been a divinely ordained system in place tosafeguard the church from false doctrine spoken by alleged prophets:“
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment” 
(1 Corinthians 14:29 NASB).Whenever a supposed prophet spoke to a congregation the others judged his teaching. Presumablythis judgment was based on what the church already knew to be the apostolic teaching. As theapostolic epistles circulated and accumulated in the churches the basis for evaluation increases, butthe need for the prophetic office diminished. After all, once the body of Christian teaching wascompletely delivered (Jude 1:3), what further need could there be for prophets?In any case, in this process of judging the words of prophets we can see perhaps what was intendedto happen over time within the church with regard to the canon of Scripture. As has already beenmentioned, religious writings of a wide variety were making the rounds of the churches. Someclaimed apostolic origin, others made no such claim but seemed scriptural, and in general someconfusion existed as to which writings were authoritative and which were not.Recognition Happened NaturallyInto the scene now steps a man named Marcion. A wealthy young merchant of Pontus, Marcionfellowshipped with the church in Rome until 144 A.D. when his Gnostic beliefs become publicknowledge. At that point he was excommunicated.“
To substantiate his claim to represent pure apostolic teaching, Marcion drew up a list of canonical New Testament books that weregenuine Scripture” (North 56).
Marcion’s intention was clearly not merely to identify many Scriptural writings in a definitive fashion,but also to limit claims of inspiration and authority only to those books on his list.
“This list [of Marcion] was fine, except it suggested that they were the only accepted Christian Scriptures. To defend the authority of otherwritings as well, the Roman church had to come up with its own list to counter the list of Marcion” (North 57).
 
Adam GonnermanIgneousQuill.com
In order to advance personal theological agendas, heretics generally realize that the most directroute is to attempt to hijack the Scriptures. Joseph Smith, Jr. tried as much with his Book of Mormonand later “prophecies.” The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of the Jehovah’s Witnesses took adifferent but similar route to corrupting the Scriptures by mistranslating specific passages that reflectpoorly on its present doctrine. These and other modern examples are repetitious of what has beendone since ancient times. The reaction of the early church to this challenge was relatively prompt. The church at Romecomposed its own list, one that did not include all 27 of the books that we generally acceptnowadays, but certainly one that was more complete than that of Marcion. In fact, it actually includedthree books that the present canon does not: Revelation of Peter, Wisdom of Solomon and TheShepherd of Hermas (though this last book was indicated for private use and not public worship)[Shelley 67].“
This development [Marcion’s list and that of Rome] led to the creation of numerous lists, as Christians in various places began theserious task of coming to a consensus as to which books were to be considered scriptural” (North 57).
Someone once commented that were it not for error, believers could be lax in their study of the truth.Whether or not this is correct, it is clear that the threat of falsehood has frequently and fortunatelyspurred believers to action, forcing them to think deeply on the faith they claim. The early churches – local congregations – undertook the daunting but necessary task of perceivingwhich writings were truly of divine origin, and which were not.“
The NT canon was formed spontaneously, not by the action of church councils. The inspiration and intrinsic authority of each individualbook were the determining factors in their eventual recognition and canonization. By A.D. 200 the NT contained essentially the samebooks as we have today. These were regarded with the same authority and finality by Christians then as they are now” (Unger 684).
Possibly someone might argue that this process of recognition constitutes the church as a whole“creating” the canon. Certainly there seems to be someone willing enough to defend even the mostunusual positions these days. On the contrary, that groups of Christians spread far apart from oneanother, living in an age without rapid communication or travel, could reach such a close consensuson which books belong in the canon only demonstrates the correctness of the universal recognition. The evaluation and listing of scriptural books by individual, autonomous churches (prior to theproclamation of any church council) bear witness both to the veracity of the present canon and thesanctity of the independent congregation.“
In one sense, of course, Christians created the canon. Their decisions concerning the books were a part of history. In another sense,
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