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Ratio Christi at Texas A&M
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New Testament Canon
Ratio Christi at Texas A&M
Zachary Lawson
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
Canon is central and
definitional to
Christianity, indeed any
position

Best historical
information concerning
Jesus of Nazareth

Source of authority for
the Christian
Importance

Sola Scriptura
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What is the New
Testament Canon?

The NT canon is
comprised of 27 books

4 Gospels (3 Synoptics +
John)

1 History (Acts of Apostles)
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13 Pauline Epistles

8 General Epistles

1 Prophecy (Revelation)
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6
Roadmap
Reason for Canon
Definition of Canon
History of Canon
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When?

How?

Where?

Who?
Starting Point
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Common Conception
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Extrinsic Model - “Ecclesiastical
Product”

The canon is retroactively
imposed hundreds of years
later by the church

Books become canon; not
written as canon
Implications

Affects interpretation of
historical evidence

Scholars come up with
alternative theories to explain
origin of canon (e.g. the
Marcion controversy)
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Organic Canon

Three Theological Reasons
for an Organic Canon
1. Eschatological Nature
of Early Christianity
2. Covenant Relationship
with God in Jewish
History
3. Authority of the
Apostles
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Definition of Canon

Defintion determines date

Three Definitions

Exclusive (Albert Sundberg)
 canon is declared by being
closed
 ‘Canon’ vs ‘Scripture’ distinction
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Functional (Childs)
 books used by community as
authoritative

Ontological (Kruger, Warfield)
 canonicity is an intrinsic
property of the books
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Examining Definitions
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Exclusive
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Positives: captures the fluid edges of
the canon
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Negatives: Scripture vs Canon seems
anachronistic; ambiguity in “closed”;
ontology of church unaddressed
Functional

Positives: captures role of books as
Scripture in the early church; less prone
to hyper inflate role of official
declarations/councils
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Negatives: fails to address ontology of
canon i.e. recognition vs existence.
Ontological

Positives: directly identifies the
essential properties of canonical works
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Negatives: does not capture the role
that church has in the canon
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Integrated Definition
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All three definitions have benefits

Integrate rather than choosing one
definition to the exclusion of others
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Self implying and self correcting
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Working backwards: if a book has
ecclesiological endorsement
(exclusive), we expect to find evidence
of it being used as authoritative
(functional) and having divine qualities
(ontological)

Working forwards: if a book seems to
have divine qualities (ontological) then
the early Church would use it as
authoritative (functional) and later
codify it ecclesiologically (exclusive).
Rather than “date” of canon, more
apropos to say “stage” of canon
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Historical Evidence
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Early

Stable

Widespread
15
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Muratorian Fragment
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Muratorian Canon
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Named after its discoverer, Father
Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672–1750)
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Dated around 170 AD
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Possibly oldest explicit list of NT canon
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Accepts 22 books
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4 Gospels
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Acts
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13 Pauline Epistles
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3 General Epistles (Jude + 1&2 John)
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Revelation
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Against Heresies (around 180
AD)
 Canonical
 4 Gospels
 12 Pauline Epistles
 5 General Epistles
 Useful
 Shepard of Hermas
 I Clement
 Heretical
 Gospel of Truth
 Gospel of Judas
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Considered the Four Gospels
built into creation.
 4 principle winds
 4 zones of the world
 4 creatures around the throne
Irenaeus
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Justin Martyr
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Writing 150AD - 160AD
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Cites all Four Gospels,
referred to as Memoirs of
the Apostles
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Uses the “it is written
formula when citing from
the Gospels
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Describes worship
services where Gospels
read alongside OT
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
Writing in around 125AD
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Friend of Polycarp and heard
John preach
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Received information about
the Gospels by
eyewitnesses
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Cites from Matthew, Mark,
and Luke
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Highly likely familiar with
John’s Gospel
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Strongly suggests the
tradition of a fourfold Gospel
by 150 AD
Papias
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Polycarp
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Writing in around 110 AD
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Disciple of John
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Alludes to 8 Pauline
Epistles
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Draws on Synoptic
tradition
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Supports the trend that NT
books were functioning as
authoritative Scripture
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Writing around 110 AD
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Alludes to Matthew, Luke,
and John
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Extensive knowledge of
the Pauline corpus
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Strongly emphasized the
authority of the Apostles
such that a mention of an
epistle was equivalent to
calling it Scripture
Ignatius
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Wrote I Clement in 95 AD
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Key Quote: “Take up the epistle of
that blessed apostle, Paul. …To
be sure, he sent you a letter in the
Spirit concerning himself and
Cephas and Apollos.”
Clement
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Affirms apostolic authority
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References I Corinthians
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Rest of epistle alludes to
Romans, Galatians, Philippians,
Ephesians, and Hebrews
Knows Paul’s letters and ascribes
authority to them
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Contenders for the Canon
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Shepard of Hermas and Epistle of Barnabas regarded as the
closest
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Manuscript tradition + Patristic citations indicate apocryphal
Gospels were not all that popular

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60 manuscripts of Four Gospels from 2nd century (18 from
John)
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17 of apocryphal (3 of Thomas)
Use does not imply authority
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Sources
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Canon Revisited by Michael J. Kruger (2012) [Amazon]
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The Question of the Canon by Michael J. Kruger (2013)
[Amazon]
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The Canon of Scripture by F.F. Bruce (1988) [Amazon]
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A Lecture on the Historic Evidence of the Authorship and
Transmission of the Books of the New Testament by S.P.
Tregelles (1852) [Google Books]
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Introduction to New Testament History and Literature from Yale
University [iTunes] [OpenYale]
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New Testament History and Theology from Covenant
Theological Seminary [iTunes] [Covenant Seminary]
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New Testament Introduction from Dallas Theological Seminary
[iTunes]
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Sources
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The Canonization of the New Testament from Reformed
Theological Seminary [iTunes]
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The Origins of the New Testament Canon from Reformed
Theological Seminary [iTunes]
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History of Christianity I from Reformed Theological Seminary
[iTunes]
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Bonus Slides
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Organic Canon
+Eschatological Nature of Early
Christianity
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Jewish Background
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Jews viewed themselves in
spiritual exile
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Expectation of God fulfilling
OT promises in a special way
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Expectation of a Messiah
(John 1:41)
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Expectation of a redeemed
Jerusalem (Luke 2:38)
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Expectation of the
consolation of Israel (Luke
2:25)
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Expectation of restoring the
kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6)
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Early Christians
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Christians believed that these
things were fulfilled in the person
and work of Jesus!
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Implications
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Incomplete Old Testament
anticipates new corpus of
books (e.g. Matthew and
Chronicles vis-a-vis Davidic
genealogies)
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Old Testament shows pattern
that God provides new written
word revelation after major
redemptive acts
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Deuteronomy 18:18 predicts a
new word revelation with the
coming of redemption
+Covenantal Relationship with
God and His People
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Hebrew Bible was born into a
world full of textual covenants and
patterned after treaties in the
surrounding ancient world - ALL
HAD WRITTEN TEXTS
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When God established a covenant
with Israel, it was in written text +
put into a temple + read publicly +
inscribed with a curse
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“Covenant” and “text” almost
synonymous
 Exodus 24:7
 2 Kings 23:2
 Deuteronomy 4:13
 Exodus 34:28
 Deuteronomy 29:21
Jewish Background
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Early Christians
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Christians understood Jesus as
an inaugurator of a new
covenant
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“…Jesus the guarantor of a
better covenant” - Hebrews
7:22
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“…ministers of a new
covenant” - 2 Corinthians 3:6
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The Lord’s Supper - 1
Corinthians 11:25
Implications
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New Covenant means a new
corpus of books
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Apostolic Authority
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Authority of Apostles
Christians viewed the earliest
apostles as representatives of
Christ
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“…it is not you who speak, but
the Spirit of your Father
speaking through you” Matthew 10:20
Apostles were on par with the
prophets of old
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“…remember the predictions
of the holy prophets and the
commandment of the
Lord…through your apostles”
- 2 Peter 3:2
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Apostolic Writings
The written words of the apostles
carried the same authority as the
spoken words
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“…hold to the traditions that you
were taught by us, either by our
spoken word or you our letter”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:15
Why not stick with oral tradition?
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Old Testament Covenant Model
 Exodus 17:14
 Isaiah 30:38
 Jeremiah 30:2
 Habakkuk 2:2
 Revelation 1:11
 Luke 1:2
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Practical - the Christian message
was global and needed to be
permanent
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Notes
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Orthodoxy is not the only criterion; Epistle of Barnabas and 1 Clement are
orthodox but their apostolic authority is rejected (Cov Theo Sem)
3 Categories: legomma (all agreed upon), anti-legomma (debated), extra biblical
(apocrphya); regula fide (rule of faith); 367 AD Athanasius festal letter, 382
Synod of Rome, 397 Synod of Carthage; Gnostics, Marcion, and Demontinus
(Liberty University)
Point out the importance of the definition of canon; the date for the canon keeps
getting pushed further and further back despite relative stagnation in the
historical evidence. Thus, rehashing the historical evidence won’t really help the
situation since it wasn’t the historical data that informed the date of the canon in
the first place
Definitions: exclusive - the canon is a complete, finalized list of books, nothing
added nor taken away. Albert Sundberg 1968. Canon vs Scripture. functional as soon as a community uses a book as Scripture, it can be considered as
canonical.
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Notes
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Exclusive
 positives: catches the fluid edges of the canon
 negatives: Scripture vs Canon seems anachronistic; Christian in library
example. Ambiguity in “closed”; what constitutes closing? Was the canon so
very different in the 4th century? Not really since the fourfold gospel + 13
Paulines remained authoritative for centuries earlier. Big bang theory of
canon. fails to address the ontology of church.
Functional
 Childs, Harnack
 positives: catches the role of books as Scripture in the early church; less
prone to hyper inflate the role of official Church declarations/councils
 negatives: fails to address the ontology of church. existence vs recognition of
canon.
Ontological
 focuses on what the canon is in and of itself. B.B. Warfield
Multi Dimensional integration
Definition determines date.
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Notes
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Rather than date of canon, discuss the stage of canon. Tree growing example.
Speech-Act philosophy
 locution, illocution, perlocution.
Intersection of fields of study: NT studies, patristics, text criticism, Sys Theology
Number of manuscripts of each text left; tells what was popular. The NT was far and away most popular.
Numbers:
 60 extant manuscripts
 John - 18, many from 2nd century
 Matt - 12, many from 2nd century
 17 Apocraphya
 Thomas - 3, mostly fragmentary
 Against Heresies by Iraneaus was found in Egypt
Baur’s thesis*
Use and popularity not necessarily canonical
Early manuscript collections
 Gospels - P75, P4 + P64 + P67: controversial, but may have been the first 4 Gospel codex, P45: all 4
Gospels + Acts, P53 matt and acts, O171, P66: title to Gospel of John “according to John’s account”, *not
a single instance where the canonical Gospels and an apocryphal gospel are linked together in the same
manuscript
 Pauline - P46, P30: page numbers, P49 + P65: likely from same codex, P92, structure of titles: based on
addressee and not author and titles were numbered
 Other - P72 from many scribes
NT books linked and grouped together
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Notes
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Early Christian use of the codex: almost all used codex instead of scroll. Why?
Everywhere else preferred scroll until around the late 4th century. Cultural
history and surrounding environment. Suggestion: a codex could hold all 4
Gospels in one volume which is something no scroll could ever do. Or all of
Paul’s letters. Two functions: first, link multiple books together and safeguard
them; other books couldn't be added to a codex. J.K. Elliot - canon and codex
go hand in hand. Codices were being used in the 1st century, long before
Marcion or councils or anything.
Occasionally still used scrolls, mostly for less important works. POXY405:
Against Heresies by Iranaeus. PMichigan 130: Shepard of Hermas, PVG2325:
The Phyune Gospel, POXY655: Gospel of Thomas. 1/3 of non-Scriptural books
copied onto scrolls.
2 Timothy 4:13 - “books” and “parchments”. Parchments means codices. Likely
copies of Paul’s letters. Cicero kept copies in a codex. hints at a two part protocanon
1 Timothy 5:18 possibly quotes from Luke
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Notes
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1934 - Walter Bauer “Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity”, 1971 translated into English
The diversity argument - there was disagreement amongst the earliest Christians therefore the canon
cannot be known. However, this doesn’t follow. Any disagreement on any position would lead to such
agnosticism.
Expectations about the canon which is why these presuppositions need to be put on the table.
Would the canon have no disagreement? Unlikely. Reasons to expect dispute.
 God chose to deliver books through historical channels.
 Scriptures warn of false teachers e.g. 2 Peter 2:2; wouldn’t canon be included in that?
 Spiritual forces opposing the church. (?)
 Not all people who claimed to be Christian are actually Christian e.g. Valentinian Gnostics.
Extent of disagreement is exaggerated
 First, don’t want to sanitize the account of canon.
 Flawed strategies
 use of apocryphal literature - useful vs scriptural, Clement and Origen wrote about this specifically
 disagreement over canonical books - implies that we have to have absolute unanimous assent to
a Gospel to be a part of the fourfold canon but that is totally untenable even by today’s standards.
 key refutation: established core canon very early, likely by the 2nd century. This means that the
canonical disputes were over a handful of books which largely deflates the literary free-for-all
perspective that the argumentum ad diversity posits. If there was a core, then the theological
trajectory had already been established. The direction of Christianity wasn’t going to be
changed by these smaller books.
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Notes
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Iraneaus quote
 The Gospels could not possibly be either more or less in number than they
are. Since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal
winds, while the Church is spread over all the earth, and the pillar and
foundation of the Church is the gospel, and the Spirit of life, it fittingly has four
pillars, everywhere breathing out incorruption and revivifying men. From this it
is clear that the Word, the artificer of all things, being manifested to men gave
us the gospel, fourfold in form but held together by one Spirit. As David said,
when asking for his coming, 'O sitter upon the cherubim, show yourself '. For
the cherubim have four faces, and their faces are images of the activity of the
Son of God. For the first living creature, it says, was like a lion, signifying his
active and princely and royal character; the second was like an ox, showing
his sacrificial and priestly order; the third had the face of a man, indicating
very clearly his coming in human guise; and the fourth was like a flying eagle,
making plain the giving of the Spirit who broods over the Church. Now the
Gospels, in which Christ is enthroned, are like these. (3.11.8) Adversus
Haereses, 180AD