I. The Canon Debated

There are undoubtedly some who are reading these words who might be tempted to believe the study of Canon is dull . Perhaps, you think of the Canon of Scripture as something only academics chat about in dark, book-lined libraries. Maybe you believe that it is of little value to your life as a believer. Well, if that is you, I want to say: draw closer. The doctrine of the God-breathed Word from Another World is anything but dull (“A Word from Another World” was a favorite expression of my seminary professor and mentor, the late Robert L. Reymond, Ph.D.). The phrase conveys, at once, a mystery, a supernatural origin, and a revelation that necessarily transcends Man and yet is mercifully accessible to Man. Yet, an incorrect or absent perception about the Christian (and, in large part, Judeo-Christian) doctrine of the Canon of Scripture is hardly a new threat to the Faith. Nevertheless, few doctrines, once neglected, can have more destructive spiritual consequences. Canonicity represents the activity of God in the Church in giving us his Word, recording that Word, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, distributing that Word to the ends of the earth. There has never been a time when we in the evangelical churches needed a higher view of Scripture. Yet, we all recognize that we are living in a dry land:
”Because God has made himself known in his Word, a commitment to a high view of Scripture is of paramount importance. Yet, sadly, more and more people—not only from outside the Church but also from within—are denying the complete truthfulness of God’s Word” \cite{sproul2016inerrant}.
Knowing the canonical story behind the Holy Bible helps us defend the Faith, and as the Lord opens hearts, it supports the advance of the Kingdom of God. The Christian faith is not, firstly, about a feeling, a religious duty, or a philosophy of life. Christianity is about Christ, who is revealed as the Eternal Word in the flesh and revealed in the supernatural Word written for our salvation \cite{palmergrant}. It is in this sense that one approaches the Canon of Scripture. The Canon of Scripture is a doctrine of divine origin. The Bible is as miraculous as the creation of the heavens and the earth, an iron ax-head floating on top of the water, the dead man Lazarus walking forth in his burial winding-sheet, the Virgin birth, or the resurrection of our God and Savior, Jesus #sChrist. This is how we must approach this critical subject, but approach it we must. For there are priceless pearls of great wisdom in the treasure chest of Canon of Scripture.
As I prepared to write this article for the benefit of the Body of Christ, I imagined a fellow believer sitting before me and asking, ”Precisely what is it about the canon of Scripture that you think I should know, and why?” I want to both posit that question and seek to respond. That is a question that has, indeed, come to me over the years of my vocation. So here are four truths we can know about the Canon of Scripture to help us trust the Bible, defend the Faith, and unleash its reality in our day.

II. The Canon Defined

The Canon of the Old Testament was set by the time of Jesus. \cite{bible1970old}Jesus recognized the canonicity of the Old Testament, that is, the very collection of books that you have in your Bible today. The doctrine of Christ will naturally, effortlessly, cause the believer to develop a high view of Scripture. Infallible and inerrant are just so because Jesus believed it. Please make no mistake about it: Jesus is our ultimate source of knowledge about the Canon of Scripture. Some Scriptures in which Jesus appeals to the Word of God and declares Himself as the authentication for the Canon of Scripture include Matt. 7:24-29Mark 8:38Luke 9:268:21John 8:31475110:2712:47-5014:152123f15:7101417:6817.  No one can deny that the New Testament is replete with examples of Jesus and the Apostles referring to the Old Testament books as the very Word of God. In a similar self-attesting way, the New Testament speaks of itself as on par with the Old Testament Scriptures. By the time of the early Church, the authentic epistles and histories (viz., the Gospels, Epistles, and Acts) written by the Apostles and their aids were used and received as the Word of God. This is because we must not suppose that the early Church received these as divine by Man, but only by the power of the Holy Spirit. We shall address this further as we move forward. This leads me to attend to some essential foundation stones of the canonicity of Holy Scripture before erecting any further points of doctrine.
So, before we go any further, let us make sure we speak about the same thing. Let us begin with definitions.

The Word “Canon”

Our English Word, ”Canon,” is derived from a Hebrew and Greek word denoting a reed or a cane.\cite{kruger2013definition} So we would call it a ”ruler,” like the old wooden ruler you had in your supplies for third grade. Canon , then, grew out of a word that means something straight, or somethingto keep straight , a standard of truth, the measure of reality: “It came to be applied to the Scriptures, to denote that they contained the authoritative rule of faith and practice, the standard of doctrine and duty”\cite{easton1894illustrated}. In this way of thinking, the Canon of Scripture refers to measuring the God-breathed truths revealed to men.

A Defense for of the Canon of Holy Scripture

So, the word ”canon” is the accurate measurement of a thing against the model in the most general meaning. In the case of Holy Scripture, the written Word of God must equate to the Holy Spirit-inspired (”God-breathed”) Word of God. This is the meaning of 2 Timothy 3:16:
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV).
Thus, the Word of God is Inscripturated by God, as the Reverend Jonathan Witherspoon put it \cite{wolfe2016} imminent Presbyterian minister, scholar, public theologian, Princeton president, and only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence gave us solid and valuable work. The eternal Word of God became flesh and became—for us, and our salvation—the Word made accessible. Israel was prohibited from seeking to know God by making images. Instead, we were to think thoughts after God. The People of Israel were to meditate upon God through his Word, which he gave them. Abundant life and eternal life came not from manufactured religious attempts for atonement but rather through the Word of God read, taught, preached, song, and shared with others, beginning with our own families. Scholars such as the late Neil Postman (2931–2003), a Jewish academic, and Jacque Ellul (1912-1994), a French Christian and university professor, considered the age of image and technology (i.e., image divorced from the personal exchange of ideas) as threats to the Word and to postmodern man’s intellectual capacity to read, synthesize different ideas, and make conclusions. Their now-classic works, such as Postman’s Entertaining Ourselves to Death , and Ellul’s La technique ou l’enjeu du siècle ( 1954),The Technological Society (1990) raises the concern that deemphasizing reading, typography, and books, and reverting to image-based communication is a significant regression to pre-Reformation days. For God did not choose an image, but the Word to reveal Himself and His plans. The Bible is God’s message to Man “in the form of the written word.” This is quite different from learning the Gospel by stained glass windows only (the case in the image-based societies before John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, and other reformers. Instead, those sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are measured by an inerrant and infallible standard, the very Word of God. So, we may say,