Alex Arevalo

Dr. Foster

RELI 4080

19 September 2023

Chapter IV of Metzger’s “The Canon of the New Testament” begins by establishing the

close of the second century as the period in which what is now known as the New Testament was

coming to be formed. The chapter delves into the influences that put pressure on the early

Church in regard to which books should carry authority over others, beginning with Gnosticism.

Gnosticism gained influence around the same time as early Christianity and promoted the idea

that souls can achieve salvation by gaining knowledge of their destiny and origin. Many Gnostics

rejected the value of the Old Testament and subscribed to ideas written in their own set of

Gnostic gospels. One of the biggest implications that Gnosticism had on early Christianity was

the devaluation of oral tradition in order to prevent the misinterpretations of the Scriptures.

Gnostics of note that influenced this form of thought include Basilides, Carpocrates, and

Valentinus. Another large influence on early Christianity was Marcion, a once respected member

of the Christian community who was excommunicated for spreading a new perspective on the

religion that would eventually become a legitimate threat to the mainstream Christian Church.

His “Antithesis” rejected the Old Testament, argued that Jesus’s apostles misunderstood his

teachings and falsified his words, and that the only Gospel that can be trusted is that of Luke.

Marcion’s implications on early Christianity are that of increasing the speed of establishing the

Church’s canon (a process which was already going on), and forcing the Church to state more

clearly what they already believed. Another factor in the solidifying of the canon of the New

Testament was Montanism, a prophetic sect of Christianity that produced written oracles.
Montanism made way for an extreme distrust of apocalyptic and prophetic literature among the

Church, as well as the production of new scriptures. Montanism caused the Church to emphasize

the absolute authority of apolistic writings as the rule of faith. Through the persecution of

Christians, the importance of texts was established through which books were the first to be

given up when confronted by imperial police and other similar forces. Other possible influences

on early Christianity were the adoption of the codex as a replacement for the roll, as well as the

listing of canonical authors and books by Jews and pagans in the early centuries of Christianity.

It’s really interesting to read about the continuous progress towards canonization over

time and the large number of influences and interests there were in regard to which books gained

authoritative power over the others. The Apolostic Fathers did a good job of disseminating the

early Christian writings through things like gospels and epistles. However, it gets pretty muddy

after that. It becomes somewhat hard to discern what should or should not be considered canon

when the early Church’s decisions on this matter were partly based on socio-political and cultural

pressures rather than simply what should be considered canon and why. This context allows for

an interesting perspective as to why certain texts begin to emerge and why others fall off, as well

as which texts modern Christians cling to and which ones they more so reject or ignore.