The Canon of Holy Scripture is the divinely authorized collection of
writings—no more and no less—than are indeed God’s Word revealed to
humankind for God’s gracious purposes, through the supernatural agency
of the Holy Spirit.
Now. How did Canon come to be?
III. The Canon Decided
Was there one big meeting in history when the Canon of Scripture was
set?11 No. While there were essential councils of both the
Hebrews and the early church fathers, no single gathering of
representatives of the Church issued the final Word on the Word of
God.
”After the Maccabean persecution, the history of the
formation of the Canon is merged in the history of its contents. The
Old Testament appears from that time as a whole. The complete Canon of
the New Testament, as commonly received at present, was ratified at
the Third Council of Carthage (A.D. 397), and from that time was
accepted throughout the Latin Church” (”The Canon of Scripture,”
Smith’s Bible Dictionary).
The reason is apparent. The Church did not create the Holy Bible.
The Church, in both the Old and New Covenants, was revealed by the
Bible.
The matter of ”who decides what is in and what is out” leads the student
of Canon to a perennial debate within the Church. The division of
thought could be characterized as the ”Community or the Received”
debate\cite{peckham2016canonical}.
Is the Canon of Scripture a Product of the
Community?
In this view, held by many Roman Catholic believers and some in
Protestant denominations, the Canon of Scripture is set, not by one
gathering of church leaders on a specific date, but, instead, is
authorized by its usefulness and acceptance in the churches. Here is a
description of the view by a Roman Catholic source, set forth, in my
opinion, in the most gracious way, allowing room for both sides of the
argument:
The Early Church Fathers understood the Canon of Scripture was set by
God. They also knew that God communicated this fact through the Catholic
Church. Many of them lived during the period when this was done. There
was no consensus, as some seem to think. Eusebius tells us that the book
of 1 Clement was read in the churches from the early days until his own
time (Church History 3:16 [A.D. 325]) (Farma, The
Early Church Fathers on Church Canon) \cite{kruger2012canon}.
This via media view has much to commend. However, this
explanation stops short of affirming the miracle of the Canon of
Scripture.
Is the Canon both created and received through the work of
the Holy
Spirit?
Yes. The Canon of both the Old and New Testament developed through time,
in localities, by mortal writers, yet all by the supernatural
work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible was and is received as the
Word of God because it is the Word of God. This is the message of those
(I am among them) who confess Scripture because we believe that the Holy
Spirit in a believer (or the Spirit working upon the heart of an
unbeliever) recognizes Himself in His Word. There is a supernatural
connection that is not a nebulous ”burden in the bosom” of Latter-Day
Saints, but, relatively, a Spiritual power from on high that converts,
convinces, condemns, corrects, and, in all ways, glorifies Jesus Christ
as the Word of God. No Reformed confessional document espouses the
miracle of the sixty-six books of the Holy Bible any better than the
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) \cite{carruthers1897shorter}.
The following is from the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) , 1:IV:
IV. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be
believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or
Church, but wholly upon God, (who is truth itself,) the author thereof:
and therefore, it is to be received, because it is the Word of
God.
Some have argued that this is circuitous reasoning and, therefore, a
logical fallacy. Others have called it biblicism. The charges
would be credible but for one immovable and incontestable reason:The Person of Jesus Christ. If Christ Jesus is the resurrected,
ascended, and reigning Lord of Lords and King of Kings, then the origin,
Canon, and purposes of Holy Scripture are altogether divine: ”And
beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27 ESV).
The believing community did not select the books of the Bible for their
purposes. God brought forth the books of the Bible for His
intentions (I owe the concept of ”intentions” concerning the definition of Canon
to Dr. Michael Kruger in his Michael J. Kruger, “The Definition of the
Term ‘Canon,’“ p, [Kruger, 2012]).
IV. The Canon Defended
The canonicity of the Bible does not need me or any other to defend its
divine nature. The heavenly essence of Holy Scripture is its citadel.