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manuscripts, some back to the 2 Century. By comparing the various manuscripts, we can pretty much
see when a variant was introduced and why.

Canonicity – How do we know the right books are in the Bible?

The collection of 66 books were properly recognized by the early church as the complete authoritative
scriptures not to be added to or subtracted from. But how did the early church select the books to
include and which to reject? There were a series of tests they applied to each book to determine
canonicity.

The first test was to answer the question, is it authoritative (“Thus saith the
Lord”)? Next, they asked this question: is it prophetic (“a man of God” 2
Peter 1:20)? A book in the Bible must have the authority of a spiritual leader
of Israel (O.T. – prophet, king, judge, scribe) or an apostle of the church (N.T.
– It must be based on the testimony of an original apostle). Third, they
asked, is it authentic (consistent with other revelation of truth)? Fourth, they
asked, is it dynamic (life-changing)? Finally, they asked, is it received
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(accepted and used by believers)? Basically if a book was to be included in
the canon of Scripture, the church recognized it and simply validated it. It was a God process.

The Old Testament books were selected first. How was this accomplished? It was accomplished the
same way as the New Testament Books. The New Testament refers to Old Testament books as
“scripture” (Matt.21:42, etc.). The Council of Jamnia in A.D. 90 recognized 39 books as the Old
Testament Scriptures. Josephus (A.D. 95) indicated that the 39 books were recognized as
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authoritative.

The New Testament books were then selected in the same manner. The church identified the apostles
claiming authority for their writings (1 Thess.5:27). The apostle’s writings were equated with O.T.
Scriptures (2 Pet.3:2,15,16). The Council of Athanasius (A.D. 367) and the Council of Carthage (A.D. 397)
recognized the 27 books in our N.T. today as inspired. The Apocrypha (other books included in the
Catholic Bible) were not recognized as Scripture. The Apocrypha is never quoted as authoritative in
scriptures.

It is interesting that in Matthew 23:35 Jesus mentioned that the close of Old Testament historical
scripture was the death of Zechariah (400 B.C.) This excludes any books written after Malachi and before
the New Testament.

Canon determined immediately

The books of the Bible became canon the moment they were written. They did not need to wait for the
church’s sanction to become canon. They were canon the moment they were written.
Some factors made it clear which to recognize and which not to. Was the book written by a clearly
acknowledged prophet of God? Does the writing declare its own spiritual authority? Does the book
agree with all other recognized Scripture? Is the book universally recognized by common conviction?

20 Norman L. Geisler & William Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, pp. 137-144.
21 https://amazingdiscoveries.org/S-deception_Bible_Josephus_Moses

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