M07a
The New Testament Canon
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Introduction Video
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Introduction
For approximately sixteen centuries, Christians of all traditions have been agreed that the twenty-seven writings that compose the New Testament are sacred scripture. Although many of these writings were authoritative for Christians from very early on, the final ratification that these twenty-seven writings constitute the official collection, or canon of scripture, took place in 397 CE at the Council of Carthage. The membership of the Council consisted of bishops who represented their jurisdictions from all over the Christianized Roman Empire. Their decision to close the canon, and not allow new writings to be added or existing writings to be excluded, has remained firm ever since.
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The road that led up the canonization in the late fourth century, however, was far from smooth and linear. Opinions varied especially between the East and the West. Various lists were drawn. All of them included select writings which are today in the New Testament. Many of the early lists also included writings that most people today have never heard. Some lists were long. Others were fairly short. One of the only consistent factors in the drafting of these lists over almost 300 years was that they were usually reactionary. In other words, lists of authoritative Christian writings emerged because they functioned as responses to those lists that were promoted by opposing Christian groups.
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The most elementary definition of “canon” in antiquity was a “norm” or “standard,” from the earlier use for “measuring rod” or “ruler.” In earliest Christianity the term was not applied to a collection of writings. It was instead used metaphorically as a reference for a standard of living (e.g. 2 Cor 10:13-16). It primarily had an ethical nuance. In the late second century, the term took on another meaning. It was now applied to the “rule of faith” or the “rule of the Church”, which was the summarized form of standard belief and teachings, against which all competing expressions of Christian belief were to be evaluated. It was not until the middle of the fourth century that the term was applied by St Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, to a list of authoritative Christian writings. This use of the term has remained unchanged in the context of Christianity.
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The First Hundred Years: From 30 CE to 130 CE
It is very difficult for historians to ascertain when Christianity began. While there is no doubt that Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith, many historians are reticent to see his ministry in the late 20s of Galilee as the beginning point of a new movement. As far as we know Jesus’ teachings were oriented toward the kingdom of God and its manifestation in Israel (e.g. Matt 10:5-15; 15:24). Jesus was fully Jewish, immersed in the politics, social problems, and religious fervor of the Judaism of Palestine. He did not set out to found a new religion, but to reform his own. After his death, his followers began to proclaim that Jesus was seen alive. The message of Jesus’ resurrection began to spread initially within Jewish circles, but was met with mixed results. Some came to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, and hence was the messiah who was vindicated by God. Whereas others were vehemently opposed to this message since it violated every expectation of a messiah. For those Jews who did not accept the message, messiah was believed to be a deliverer of the Jewish people from the Romans and the corrupt Temple establishment. He was supposed to come and defeat Rome militarily. He was to be crowned king in Jerusalem, and not crucified and mocked as a royal pretender outside the city gates. As the Apostle Paul would later write, a crucified messiah is a stumbling block for the Jews (1 Cor 1:23). Peter shares the common Jewish belief about messiah when he cannot accept that Jesus must suffer and die (Matt 16:21-23).
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Historians usually point to the period after Jesus’ death, when his followers began to spread the message of his resurrection, as the beginning of Christianity. Although the Apostle Paul is sometimes hailed as the father of Christianity since he is the first to articulate in writing the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection in relation to traditional Jewish teachings, the beginning of Christianity should probably be located earlier, somewhere between the death of Jesus around 30 CE and the first Christian writing in approximately 50 CE, which may be either Galatians or 1 Thessalonians. In the first twenty years of Christianity, itinerant prophets spread the message about Jesus, traveling from village to village, initially in Palestine, and then extending their mission outward, primarily to Asia Minor.
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The First Christian Writings
The Christian prophetic movement extended well into the next century. Alongside these missionary activities, Christian writings began to emerge, usually out of necessity. As early Christian communities began to form, they were confronted with immense challenges both from within and from without. Internal challenges included divisions about belief, religious practice, and leadership. External pressures usually came from rival Christian groups or Jewish groups. Founders of early Christian communities, such as Paul, found it necessary to respond to problems that threatened the beliefs and practices of these vulnerable communities. The Gospel writers, called evangelists, also confronted problems that their congregations were facing. The evangelists were probably pastors who were themselves engaged in deep conflicts with rival groups who advocated alternate ways of thinking. For instance, Mark wants to curb his congregation’s anxiety that Jesus had not returned. Even though his congregation is experiencing the horrors of war, Mark assures them that it is not yet the end of the age. John is responding to rival groups who claim that Jesus is not the messiah. And Matthew is probably confronting hostile Jewish opponents in the Pharisaic tradition. The challenges facing the early Christian communities can be multiplied many times over. But through it all, it is important to remember that the writers wrote to confront very real problems that posed a threat.
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By the end of the first century, all of the New Testament writings had been written. What is astonishing, however, is that they did not remain in the communities for which they were intended. They began to be copied and sent to other Christian communities. For instance, Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia eventually made its way to Corinth and eventually Rome. Although some writings were intended by their authors to be circulated among congregations, like the letter to Ephesians, most were not. In the first two decades of the second century, many of the New Testament writings were circulating all over the empire, from Rome to Egypt, and maybe even beyond. It is important to be reminded, however, that these were not the only Christian writings that were circulating.
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As the copying, distribution, and popularity of the writings increased, they began to be used for teaching and in worship with more frequency all over the empire. One of the effects of this popularity was the emergence of new Christian writings, representing a variety of teaching. The second and third centuries were especially conducive to the escalation of Christian literature.
Paul’s letters were probably the first writings of the New Testament that were copied and circulated, not as individual texts, but as a collection. There is debate among scholars why Paul’s writings were collected and circulated after his death. It has been suggested that this collection may have been the first unofficial list of a canon, but this is not the only explanation. It is equally possible that after Paul’s death, his letters were largely forgotten, but with the publication of Acts, Paul’s popularity grew and his letters were in demand.
Another possibility is that the collection is attributed to the early disciples of Paul (called the Pauline School) who promoted Paul’s teachings. Another reason still is that Paul’s writings were collected in an effort to combat the growing tide of Gnostic Christianity in the first half of the second century. Finally, despite acknowledging their collection, some scholars do not see Paul’s letters being used all that much in the late first and second centuries.
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Info Box 7.1: Why Were Paul’s Letters Collected?
The collection and distribution of Paul’s letters after his death is a fascinating event. Debates range from this being a first unofficial canon to a simple act by devotes who wanted to keep the memory of their teacher alive. Whatever the motivation to collect, copy, distribute these letters, there is not indication that they were regarded as scripture at this point. At the same time, this does not discount the view that they were being recognized as authoritative teachings in at least some communities, even if not on par with the Jewish scriptures.
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The First Christian Canon
For approximately the first hundred years of Christianity, there was no need for canonical writings beyond the received Jewish scriptures. It would have been impossible to envision the twenty-seven writings in the New Testament as the second part of a biblical canon. A new canon was neither necessary nor self-evident. Moreover, there is no indication that the writers of the New Testament believed they were writing canonical literature. Apart from maybe Rev 22:19, there is no indication that the writers themselves believed that they were writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Many writings are simply silent on this. Some, however, do speak to their authority. For example, Paul claims that his authority resides in the apostolic commission that he received from the risen Christ (2 Cor 13:10). The author of John implies in chapter 14-16 that the Spirit guides the church in the remembrance of what Jesus said. And Luke relies on past narratives and testimonies (1:1-4).
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For the writers of the New Testament, and their disciples, the canonical scripture was for the most part what Christians today call the Old Testament. Though it was a little different from today’s Catholic and Protestant Old Testaments. It is difficult to speak of a closed Jewish canon in the first century. Over several centuries, the cultural and linguistic shifts in Palestine and the Diaspora gave rise to at least five different versions of the Jewish scriptures that were either completed by or were emerging in the first century CE. Scholars have referred to these as the Masoretic text, the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Targums—these are discussed in Chapter 4.
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Info Box 7.2: Other Versions of Scripture
If our study into ancient versions were expanded beyond the first century, we would add Jerome’s fourth-century Latin translation of a Hebrew text called the Vulgate (meaning “common”) that is not identical to any of our known versions. We would also include the Syriac version, called the Peshitta (meaning “simple”), whose origins are obscured, but in most cases seems to be dependent on the Targums, which were Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew scriptures—probably used in the synagogues.
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Each one of these has a complicated textual history with varied textual traditions that cannot possibly be tackled within the scope of this chapter. What is important to understand at the introductory level is that during the first century none of these versions represented a standardized text. In other words, unlike today, there was no standard bible with which all the writers were familiar and from which translations were made. The designations that scholars use for the ancient versions refer to textual traditions or families of texts. Moreover, some of the designations are anachronistic, meaning that they have been acquired after the first century.
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Most Jews and Christians in the first two centuries used a Greek version of the Jewish scriptures, called the Septuagint (abbreviated as LXX). The translation history is explained in Chapter 4. After several centuries of Hellenistic influence, it is not surprising that the Greek version of the Jewish scriptures is the most well attested version among both Jews and Christians in the first century. The reason for this is not simply that Greek was spoken in Palestine, but it was the common language of both Jews and Christians in the Diaspora where early Christianity and formative Judaism began to expand in a variety of directions. The variety of Judaisms in the Diaspora can be attributed to the differing social contexts in which the Jewish communities found themselves.
These were Jews who lived in communities of varying sizes outside of Palestine. Three of the largest communities at the turn of the eras were in Rome, which may have had up to 50,000 Jews, Alexandria which produced several prolific writers like Philo and Aristobulus, and Sardis which had one of the largest synagogues of the day. By the first century, Jewish communities were scattered throughout the Roman Empire and had been firmly rooted in the Greco-Roman culture. Their reception and influence among their Gentile neighbors was generally positive. Although a few communities were persecuted sporadically, most were respected and contributed to the vitality of the Greco-Roman culture. In some urban centers, like Sardis, the Jews even attained political influence. The Jewish historian Josephus mentions on several occasions how the Gentiles were attracted to the rituals and the antiquity of the Jewish religion (Against Apion 2.282; Jewish War 7.2.2).
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Info Box 7.3: Paul’s Appeals to Scripture
One of the earliest Christians to use scriptures is the Apostle Paul. His letters are filled with advice and admonitions on “correct” Christian belief and conduct in the face of competing pressures of syncretism.
Some of the early communities, such as the church in Galatia, were pressured by Jewish Christian missionaries from Palestine to conform to Jewish identity laws, called “works of the Law”, especially the practice of circumcision. Paul angrily responds by appealing to the scriptures and arguing that the new gentile converts need not become Jews in order to remain Christian. In the church at Corinth, the pressures came from pagan practices that inevitably found their way into early Christian self-understanding.
Paul needed to respond to such issues as the consumption of meat offered to idols, the nature of the resurrected body, and the dualistic spirituality which affected the Corinthians’ understanding of the Lord’s Supper and their practice of speaking in tongues. He does so by appealing to the Jewish scriptures, correcting and reminding the Christians of the true faith.
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When the New Testament writers consulted the LXX, they would not have found a neatly divided canon whose sequence of writings reflects today’s standards. While the order of writings in the Pentateuch remained fixed, the writings that followed were not found in any consistent order. Unlike in the Hebrew version, the writings that followed Chronicles show no consistent pattern. Likewise, the Twelve Minor Prophets, which were usually copied by Hebrew scribes in the same order, beginning with Hosea and ending with Malachi, are found in a variety of sequences. In addition to the variance in order, the earliest LXX codices contain additional writings, such as Tobit, Judith, and 1-4 Maccabees, extending the dating of the writings well into the Hellenistic-Roman period. By the end of the first century CE there does not appear to be a fixed canon, even though many of the writings were already long regarded as scripture.
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Were it not for the adoption of the Septuagint in the early Christian communities, its continuous use would have been in doubt because it was not adopted as the standard text in rabbinic Judaism. The Septuagint served as the scriptures for Christians throughout the empire until the adoption of the Vulgate, which was the Latin translation by the famous biblical scholar Jerome (d. 420 C.E.). With the help of a rabbi, Jerome relied on a Hebrew/Aramaic manuscript that was in use in Bethlehem, but he retained both the content and the sequence of the writings as he knew them in the LXX. Nevertheless, the Vulgate became an important textual bridge toward the eventual adoption of the Masoretic Text among the early Protestant reformers of the 16th century. And even then, although the so-called apocryphal writings were appended to the end of the collection, the sequence of the canonical writings continued to be influenced by the Septuagint.
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Info Box 7.4: Josephus on the Jewish Canon
(38) For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another [as the Greeks have], but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; (39) and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of three thousand years; (40) but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. (41)
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It is true, our history hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time; (42) and how firmly we have given credit to those books of our own nation, is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add anything to them, to take anything from them, or to make any change in them; but it becomes natural to all Jews, immediately and from their very birth, to esteem those books to contain divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be, willingly to die for them. (43) For it is no new thing for our captives, many of them in number, and frequently in time, to be seen to endure racks and deaths of all kinds upon the theatres, that they may not be obliged to say one word against our laws and the records that contain them; (Against Apion 1:38–43).
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Oral Transmission and Early Creeds
In addition to the authoritative use of scripture, early Christianity came to identify itself through creeds. These were simple summaries or formulas of religious belief about Jesus that guided early communities. They were positive in the sense that they affirmed a confession and were inclusive, as opposed to modern Statements of Faith, which tend to be negative and exclusive. The brevity of the creeds allowed for their easy memorization and recitation. Scholars have pointed to a number of creedal statements in the New Testament, such John 20:28 (“My Lord and my God!”), Matt. 16:16 (“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”), and 1 Tim. 3:16 (Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory). Perhaps the most well known of all is 1 Cor. 15:3-7, which reads,
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For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
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Alongside the early creedal confessions were tests or criteria that allowed Christian communities to evaluate the preaching of itinerant prophets who came “in the Lord’s name.” Paul and the writer of John’s epistles were especially familiar with these prophets because they were at times competing with them for adherents among the fledgling communities. In their letters, we find tests and appeals for discernment (e.g. 1 Cor 12:3, 10; 16:21; Gal 6:11; Col 4:18; 2 Thess 4:17; Philem 19; 1 John 4:2).
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Most of the communication about Jesus, including the reciting of creeds, was oral. Approximately ninety percent of the population in rural Palestine and Asia Minor were illiterate. What new converts came to know about Jesus and the Christian faith was then retold to others in the same or similar way. This is what Paul and later Church Fathers meant when they spoke about the tradition they received and then passed on to others. This oral tradition functioned as a canon alongside the scriptures and provided a standard against which rival beliefs, especially rival Christian beliefs, were measured.
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The process of communicating stories about Jesus incorporated what scholars call social memory. This refers to the way information is remembered and then retold in an oral culture. In ancient oral culture, as opposed to ours, historical reconstruction was not the chief concern. Events were remembered, and then retold, because they were relevant and communicated meaning to the hearers. The retold stories may have had a high degree of historicity, but they were remembered and then retold because they were believed to be relevant. What we have preserved in the Gospels, for example, is not all of the details of Jesus’ life, but those saying and deeds that the early Christian community found especially relevant and meaningful. Oral communication was not regarded as hear-say or as less accurate than a writing, as might be the case today.
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Info Box 7.5: Papias, Bishop of Hierapois, on the oral transmission of tradition.
I will not hesitate to set down for you, along with my interpretations, everything I carefully learned then from the elders and carefully remembered, guaranteeing their truth. For unlike most people I did not enjoy those who have a great deal to say, but those who teach the truth. Nor did I enjoy those who recall someone else’s commandments, but those who remember the commandments given by the Lord to the faith and proceeding from the truth itself. And if by chance someone who had been a follower of the elders should come my way, I inquired about the words of the elders—what Andrew or Peter said, or Philip, or Thomas or James, or John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and whatever Aristion and the elder John, the Lord’s disciples, were saying. For I did not think that information from books would profit me as much as information from a living and abiding voice. (Fragments of Papias 3.3-4. Translation taken from Michael William Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (updated edition; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999) 565.
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