From what I've heard it was compiled at Nicaea in 325. Was there any formal process for decided what should be a part of Christian Scripture?
2006-07-22 14:48:45 · 7 answers · asked by Nowhere Man 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Before the Council of Nicea even happened, individual churches decided what books they believed were true, the Council just put like a "stamp of approval" on it. Isn't that crazy? Like all the churches picked the same books, by themselves. "People didn't put together the New Testament; God put together the New Testament." These are the three tests for the Word of God that they used to determine about books: 1. Who really wrote this? 2. Does it correspond to the Rule of Faith? The rule of faith is the established teaching. Does this line up with what we already know about God? 3. Do the other churches say this work is authoritative?
2006-07-22 14:55:08 · answer #1 · answered by Samantha 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The bible canon was completed around 400 a.d. the council of Nicea was a rigorous debate of the scriptures with over 300 bishops and Constantine presiding..thus formed the Nicene Creed and formed a single Christian faith> the gnostic gospels were never an option because 1)contained many geographical and historical errors 2) weren't written in the "apostolic era" but, 200 years later by people who never met Christ 3) authors didn't claim to be inspired by God. 4) gnostics taught salvation through "gnosis" aka "secret knowledge" this conflicted w/ Christs teachings of being saved by his blood on the cross and w/ the old testament prophecies of the comming 'messiah"
2006-07-22 21:53:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wrong. It gradually emerged by consensus, and most Christians had unanimously accepted more or less the current Biblical cannon hundreds of years before Nicaea (sometimes they added a few books, but rarely did they subtract any from what we now have). The Council of Nicaea had nothing to do with the formation of the Biblical Canon.
2006-07-22 21:50:48 · answer #3 · answered by koresh419 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it was finally written into church law that only these books could be included as inspired by God. Common usage and acceptance was no long enough. The central bishops wanted to establish their authority over all of the other geographical and political areas. The early church was much more diverse than what we see today. many different forms of thoughts, much more divergent than Catholic to Evangelicals that we have today.
The Nicaea council was an effort to remove diversity from the church and establish a single form of worship. Part of the effort was to agree to a single list of "real" books in the bible.
2006-07-22 21:59:14 · answer #4 · answered by don 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Whatever they decided is being hotly contested due to church creeds (Athanasian and Nicean) that state God is three but you say one.
The "oneness" Christians like me include Swedenborgians, Pentacostals, Born Again, Evangelicals and Messianic Jews who know that God is one in the Lord Jesus Christ and who teach God is one all the time and don't flip flop on the trinity.
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit is like the soul, the body and the works in a single person.
http://www.mechanicsburgnewchurch.org
2006-07-22 21:52:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My guess is that alot of study of the various Gospels had been done to determine which were the most likelie authentic ones, & which resembled the Teachings of Christ which had been passed down the most.
2006-07-22 21:56:40 · answer #6 · answered by clusium1971 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its ver complicated.
Search Wikipedia, or try these links:
http://www.ou.edu/faculty/organizations/ouchrfas/reed11.htm
http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/canon.html#61
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/apo/index.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20030201215521/http://solo4.abac.com/echoes/museum/canonsew.htm
2006-07-22 21:58:56 · answer #7 · answered by sweetie_baby 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋