How the Biblical Canon of the New Testament was Formed

The Biblical canon of the New Testament was officially established late in the 4th Century, but these New Testament writings were considered Scripture by the majority of believers long before they were officially canonized. Scripture has always been a strong part of the church. It started with the foundation Jesus laid in holding the Old Testament Scriptures in high regard. He was an avid student of Old Testament which can easily be seen from his teachings. The strong dedication Jesus had to the Old Testament was passed down to his disciples. They used them to develop their doctrines and teachings which they wrote down to teach other believers. These additional writings penned by the apostles, or by those directly connected to the apostles began to have enormous significance. These writings were so cherished by the early believers that they were accepted at the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures. The early church believed and followed the teachings in these early writings wholeheartedly as if it was Scripture.

These writings were very significant and were foundational in developing the doctrine and beliefs of the early church. However, there were many other books and writings floating around that claimed to have the same significance, but were not fully accepted by the early church. In order to sort out the good from the bad and determine which writings were sacred and which were not, the early church developed a standard for which to judge these writings.

The highest of these standards was that it had to be directly connected with the apostles. Either an apostle himself, or a direct disciple of one of the apostles must have written it. Other standards that were used in determining whether a writing was sacred enough to be holy Scripture was its ability to edify and build up the people of God when it was read publicly, and its agreement with deep held beliefs and rules of faith that the early church held strongly to.

Several people in early church history developed biblical canons of the New Testament that were very similar to the twenty-seven canonical books of the New Testament that we have today. The Muratorian canon is believed to have been established around A.D. 180, and it includes twenty-two of the twenty-seven canonical books of the New Testament. Eusebius, in the year 324, held a canon that included twenty of the books of the New Testament. Athanasius, in the year 367, listed the same exact twenty-seven books of the New Testament canon that we have today to be authoritative and worthy of being called holy Scripture.

The church councils that officially approved the New Testament canon, such as the council at Carthage in 397, did not create this list of books on their own, but rather, just approved of what was already accepted by so many believers.

The reason a canon was firmly established by church councils came about for several reasons. As mentioned earlier, there were many books and writings floating around, other than the twenty-seven canonical books of the New Testament we have today. The church was constantly facing heresies that sprang up as a result of some of these writings. In order to officially combat these false views, and take an apologetic approach to prove the truth, the church needed a firm and established foundation of truth to stand on. During the time that the biblical New Testament canon was established, the church also was developing creeds of faith and monarchial bishops in order to stand against the heresies and internal schisms of the church.

The Biblical Canon of the New Testament is the foundation for faith and doctrine in Christianity today. It was also the foundation for the faith and beliefs of the church all through the ages. The formation of its canon leaves us with no room to doubt that these books were indeed held sacred, even from the very beginnings of the church. Although the biblical canon was not officially established until the fourth century, we know through the traditions and writings of the church fathers that the books of the New Testament were universally accepted by most Christians. There have been different approaches at translation of the Scriptures - some have been beneficial, some have been detrimental. However, the New Testament has withstood the test of time and has been a pillar of truth for Christians to stand upon through all the ages.