Reliability of New
Testament Canon
Michael Goheen
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada
Starting with two texts
O John 5.31-47: “These very
Scriptures testify about me,
yet you refuse to come to me
to have life.”
O John 10.22-42: “My sheep
hear my voice.” v.27
New Origins of Christianity
O Many documents about Jesus, some
recently come to light, that gives us real
Jesus
O Four documents later and were canonised
to give power to church
O Jesus merely a religious teacher
O Orthodox Christianity a mistake; time to
give it up
O Myth of neutrality, fairness, broadminded
scholarship
Jesus and the Old Testament
O Old Testament is a story waiting for
an ending
O Luke 24: Jesus interprets story with
him—his life, death, resurrection—as
key
O Christ-event fullest revelation of God
and his purpose for world
O First choice: Belief or unbelief in
Christ
It’s about faith in Christ . . .
O Faith in Jesus means:
O Embrace Old Testament story
and canon
O Adhere to redemptive-historical
setting for emergence of New
Testament canon
God’s Revelation
O God has chosen to reveal himself
most fully in person and
historical events (Heb 1.1ff.)
O Eyewitness is only way historical
events can be transmitted to
those later
O Believe or not—only choices
God’s provision
O Christ himself established
authoritative eyewitness
structure to transmit gospel to
future generations—apostolate
O Role unique and unrepeatable
O Mark 3.14: Be with him
Apostolate
O Chosen by Jesus to give authoritative
testimony (Acts 10.41)
O Commissioned by Jesus for task (Jn
13.20)
O Shaliach: Power of attorney in Jewish
legal system
O Empowered by Spirit to carry out task (Jn
14.26; 15.26-27; 16.13, 15)
O Events and communication bound
together in Jesus’ ministry
Apostolic Tradition
O Oral and written (2 Thess 2.13)
O Jewish notion of tradition
O Authoritative because of office
(teachers of law)
O Authoritative because of content
(God’s word)
O Language: Pass on, receive, hold
firmly, retain (e.g., 1 Cor 15.1ff )
Nature of apostolic tradition
O Kerygma: Proclamation of events
with call for response (herald)
O Marturia: Witness to events and
true interpretation (law court)
O Didache: Teaching about
significance of those events for
missional life of church (Rabbis)
Apostolic tradition takes
written form
O So it could be accurately
preserved and transmitted
O New Testament indicates this
(1 Cor 15.1-3; Lk 1.1-4)
O Carries divine authority as
word of God (1 Thess 2.13)
God’s authority as canon is not limited to
His great deeds in Jesus Christ but extends
to their communication in the words and
writings of those He specially chose and
equipped to be the bearers and
instruments of divine revelation, and the
written tradition they established, in
analogy with the writings of the Old
Testament, thereby became the foundation
and standard of the coming church.
(Herman Ridderbos)
Distinction
O Theology and history of canon
O How to understand authority of
New Testament and corporate
reception
Initial Reception
O Apostolic tradition has always been
very life of the church
O Majority of books recognised
immediately early and widely used
O Not conscious of questions of
canon; recognised voice of Christ in
these books (faith)
Astonishingly early, the great
central core of the present
New Testament was already
being treated as the main
authoritative source for
Christians.
- John Barton
Witness of Holy Spirit
We can know the canonical books
because of ‘the witness of the Holy
Spirit given corporately to God’s
people and made manifest by a
nearly unanimous acceptance of
the NT canon in the Christian
churches.’ (Roger Nicole)
‘The Bible constitutes itself
the Canon. It is the Canon
because it imposed itself upon
the Church.’
- Karl Barth
Historical Process
O We can expect the process to take
some time
O We can expect disagreement,
diversity, difference of opinion
O We can expect normal historical
processes—decisions of key
leaders, church deliberations,
heretical challenge, various events
Four categories
O Recognised books: 4 Gospels, 13
Pauline letters, Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John,
[Hebrews, Revelation]
O Disputed books: James, Jude, 2 Peter,
2, 3 John
O Rejected books: e.g., Shepherd of
Hermas
O Heretical books: e.g., Gospel of
Thomas
Consensus
O Ultimate consensus around 27
books
O How did this happen?
O Ecumenical ties between world
church
O Powerful influence of
undisputed, recognised books
Some historical factors
prompting closing canon
O Montanists: Addition of
prophetic books
O Marcion: Reduced canon to
Luke and 10 of Paul’s letters
O Gnostics: Heretical “forgeries”
Gnostic gospels
O Books discovered at Nag
Hammadi, Egypt 70 years ago
O Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code
(Gospel of Thomas)
O Discovery of Gospel of Judas
O Work of radical scholars like Bart
Ehrman, Elaine Pagels, etc.
Gnostic Gospels
O Demonstrably late
O Demonstrably derived from
canon
O Demonstrably different from
Jewish worldview and
apostolic tradition
Gnostic Belief
O World is a wicked, dark place
O Created by evil and capricious god
O Salvation is to escape the evil
world
O Salvation comes by special
revelation of secret knowledge
from ‘revealer’
Apostolic Tradition
O World is good: Creation is very good,
incarnation, bodily resurrection,
O Salvation is restoration of good
creation: Bodily resurrection on
restored earth
O Gospels: Narratives of events and
teaching
O Jesus: Fulfilment of OT story
Conclusions
O Jesus is the fullest revelation
of God and his salvific
purpose for world
O Accomplished in life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus
O Apostles appointed to testify
authoritatively to these
events
Conclusions
O Church lived out of written
apostolic testimony as it
received life from Jesus
O ‘Self-attestation’ of books
and ‘testimony of Spirit’
enabled church to hear voice
of Shepherd
Conclusions
O Early consensus around most
of books
O Resolution came by
ecumenical dialogue and
power of gospel in
recognised books
O Taste and see