How and why did the early church develop a canon of scripture?

Answer 1

The effort was to develop a list of those documents which were thought to be authentic or authoritative. There were MANY, hundreds or even thousands of individuals, documents which SOME people CLAIMED were authoritative, BUT which were penned in an effort to support a particular BIASED or HERETIC teaching. Many of these documents are broadly classed as PSEUDOPIGRAPHA, or "false author." The writer would "sign" the letter AS some PROMINENT first century Christian in an effort to have it accepted... In other words, these are forgeries which were then copied and distributed along with the "writings of the apostles" as Justin Martyr (writing in 156 A.D.) described the documents which were LATER assembled into the canon of scripture. The gnostics wrote several "gospels" trying to support their twisted version of Christian doctrine.

Methods and criterion (how): The scriptures, at the beginnings of Christianity, consisted of a handful of letters, most from one of the apostles, which were copied by hand (1400 years before the printing press) and distributed so Christians around the world could have access to their teachings. Since there were BOTH authentic, inspired letters and pseudopigrapha in circulation, it became essential to identify those documents which MOST agreed were authoritative.
Christians gathered as representatives of the various congregations several times during the first few centuries of Christendom for a variety of reasons.
[The first of these was the "council" described in Acts 15 where the apostles and elders in Jerusalem met at the request of Paul and Barnabas to jointly correct the teaching of some JEWISH Christians claiming that ALL Christians had to obey the Law of Moses in order to be saved.]

Several of these meetings considered the large body of documents in circulation and attempted to reach a consensus as to which were "real." Here are several of the things they considered:

Antiquity -- It had to have originated during the first century. There were several men, like Justin Martyr, who were Christians during the second century and wrote about Christianity, the church, and the teachings and QUOTED FROM the documents that THEY considered to have come from the apostles... It would be impossible for Justin to quote a third century document.

Apostolic origin -- It had to be penned (or dictated as noted in Romans 16:22) by an apostle or a companion of the apostles. Mark and Luke were both contemporaries of the apostles and accompanied some of them in their travels.

Unique -- The selection was a PROCESS. As the BODY of TEACHING was established, some documents were considered authentic, but included only MATERIAL which was ALREADY in the canon, and thus would be additional copy work with no significant value.

-- It could NOT CONFLICT with any document already accepted.

Answer 2

Actually, most of the canon just came around on its own. As Christianity grew, there was more and more contact between the individual churches and there was a gradual acceptance of what was viewed as "holy". At first the individual churches might have had one gospel and an epistle or two. Gradually, with their early contact with other churches, they were able to piece a Bible together.

Many works were rejected because they didn't fall in line with the established (or orthodox) teachings or were not believed to have been written by who they claimed to have been written by. Some of the early church fathers (known as the "Apostolic Fathers"), laid down what they felt was canonical, and this was similar to the modern New Testament.

There was, however, some dispute over the canon still, mainly over six books: Hebrews, Revelation, the Didache (or Teachings of the Twelve Apostles), the Epistle of Barnabas, the (First) Epistle of Clement, and the Shepherd of Hermas (apocalyptic). A church council in the Fourth Century finally decided on these last six, accepting Hebrews and Revelation, and rejecting the rest.

Answer 3

During the first three centuries of the Christian faith, it was a "banned" religion. Anyone caught practicing it was imprisoned and often executed. Because of persecution, communication between the different churches was often difficult. Different groups, as the popularity of Christianity increased, began to produce their own "gospels" and other writings. This was causing division and error within the churches.

So once the Emperor Constantine lifted the ban on the Christian faith aroun 325 AD, one of the chruches first acts was to establish an offical list on books (a canon) that they accepted as scriputre.

They looked at what books were already in common usage in all the churches, as will as "list" of accepted books compiled by earlier church leaders. This list often included rejected books that appeared during the time of the complier.

They also looked at other early church literature, to see would books were quoted, etc. by those church founders. This helped them to establish when different books were written. (You can't quote a book before it is written).

The list of New Testament books that they accepted matches the earliest know complete New Testament manuscript (dated from about 150AD), as well as the list by three earlier church leaders. The four gospels, the writings of Paul, Acts, 1 Peter, James, Hebrews and Revelation of John were accepted and in use by all the churches of that time. The smaller letters of John, Jude, and the letter of 2 Peter were debated and included.

The letters of a second generation leader, Clements of Roman, were rejected because he was not an original aspotle. The poetry/adventure "The Shepherd of Hermes" was rejected because the author was, again, not an original apostle - third generation. And a book called "The Revelation of Peter" was rejected because, while very popular, the earliest quotes or references to the book only dated back about 50-75 years, not the 300 needed to be authentic. Beyond those books, the council did not debate or reject any others.

The first official "New Testament" was published in 350AD (a total of 50 copies). The canon of the New Testament has remained unchanged since that time.

Answer 4

That is basically lost to history. There are no extant records of the proceedings, and as a consequence, Biblical scholars have proposed many theories. There were many different early Christian sects with very divergent beliefs about Jesus. Historians and Biblical Scholars have no idea why one became to be considered the Orthodox view. If you would like to read more about it, you could read the work of Bart Ehrman or a book called The Cannon Debate by McDonald and Sanders. Have a great day!

Answer 5

John 5:39 - Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

2 Timothy 3:16 - All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

2 Peter 1:20 - Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

2 Peter 3:16 - As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Answer 6

Because the judge no one, love everyone all of the time message that Jesus left us was just to difficult to control people with. So they felt the need to confuse his message with something that would induce guilt and make people easier to control.

Ancient Jewish scripture was perfect for the job so that is what they used.

If you compare the rest of the bible with the words tha Jesus actually said you can't help but notice that they are near polar opposites.

These diametrically opposed ideas have little in common and seem out of place together unless your goal was to confuse and dilute the true meaning of the teachings of Jesus.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 7

How: through a series of councils to determine what to include and what not to include.

Why: because without a written document, anyone can claim to be the owner of the true word. With a generally accepted canon, the meaning can be debated, but the word itself cannot.

Answer 8

Because there was lots of false doctrine going around just as there is today and a collection of those books that were inspired by the Holy Spirit was neccesary.

Answer 9

The how is detailed in the link below. As to why, it is to separate the authentic from the inauthentic. That which is undeniably born of God and that which is historic or inaccurate.

Answer 10

How - Council of Nicea (minutes for which are available online) and various other Councils called together by the early Christian churches.

Why - To combat the various heresies being taught such as gnosticism.