THEOLOGY THURSDAY | The Right Books?
A bite-sized lesson in doctrine: 1 Concept, 2 Definitions, 3 Passages...
Welcome back to Theology Thursday!
This is a series where I seek to deliver a bite-sized lesson in orthodox, Biblical doctrine in 3 simple steps:
ONE concept explained
TWO concise definitions that must be kept distinct
THREE Scripture passages to meditate on
Concept: The Canon of Scripture
The canon (From the Greek term Kanōn meaning “rule” or “measuring rod”) refers to the list of inspired books that are received as divinely authoritative for the covenant community.1 The 66 books of our Bible set the limits for or “measure” the deposit of inherently authoritative writings. Contrary to popular teaching, nobody chose what books would be in our Bible (Neither Constantine nor the Council of Nicea). These books became canonical the moment they were written. Like miners identifying gold, the Church merely recognized and received these books as uniquely inspired by God.
Definitions/Distinctions:
The Old Testament Canon: The 39 divinely inspired books that were settled from the time of the Persian King Artaxerxes (465-423 B.C.) and received by Christ and the Apostles as canonical.
The New Testament Canon: The 27 divinely inspired and apostolically approved books that were written during A.D. 45-100 and received by the church as canonical.
Passages:
“… as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”
2 Peter 3:15–16
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
John 15:26–27
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
John 16:13
I borrowed language from Dr. Greg Lanier. Please see A Christian’s Pocket Guide to How We Got the Bible.