"Third." Trey said, holding three fingers up, "The first-century Christians expected the immediate return of Christ. Because of this, they didn't plan for the long-term future of the Church.
"Fourth. No one church or leader bossed all the others. There were strong and respected leaders among the churches, but Christianity had no supreme bishop who dictated to all the others which books belonged to the canon and which did not.
"Fifth. The early leaders assumed the authority of the Gospels and the apostles. It was considered sufficient to quote the Gospels and apostles, since their authority was self-evident. They did not need a list—inconvenient for us, but not significant for them.
"And, finally, sixth. Only when the heretics attacked the truth was the importance of a canon appreciated. It was not until the mid-second century that the Gnostics and others began writing their own pseudepigrapha (false writing); this prompted orthodox leaders to become alert to the need for stating which books had been recognized across the churches."
"Which was clearly intended by God," Meredith noted in a whisper beside me. "He wanted his Word recorded. He knew how evil the world would be like today. We needed a record of His truth."
"Indeed," was all I could say.
Trey noted, "In the light of all this, the marvel is not how long it took before the majority of the churches acknowledged a completed canon of the New Testament, but how soon after their writing each book was accepted as authoritative."
"God controls everything," I said, nodding.
"So," Trey said, his voice rose. "Let me give you some fun facts about the New Testament Canon."
"There were only ever the four Gospels used by the churches for the life and ministry of Jesus. Other pseudo-gospels were written but these were immediately rejected by the churches across the empire as spurious.
"The Acts of the Apostles and 13 letters of Paul were all accepted without question or hesitation from the earliest records.
"Apart from James, Jude, 2 and 3 John, 2 Peter, Hebrews, and Revelation, all other New Testament books had been universally accepted by A.D. 180. Only a few churches hesitated over these seven.
"Well before the close of the first century, Clement of Rome quoted from or referred to more than half the New Testament and claimed that Paul wrote 'in the Spirit' and that his letters were 'Scriptures'.
"Polycarp, who was martyred in A.D. 155, quoted from 16 NT books and referred to them as 'Sacred Scriptures.'
"Irenaeus of Lyons, one of the most able defenders of the faith, around A.D. 180 quoted over 1,000 passages from all but four or five New Testament books, and called them 'the Scriptures' given by the Holy Spirit.
"Tertullian of Carthage, around A.D. 200, was the first serious expositor and used almost all the NT books. They were equated with the Old Testament, and he referred to 'the majesty of our Scriptures.' He clearly possessed a canon almost, if not wholly, identical to ours.
"By A.D. 240, Origen of Alexandria was using all our 27 books, and only those, as Scripture alongside the Old Testament books. And these are just examples of many of the church leaders at this time."
The crowd listened eagerly now. No one gave snide remarks. No one stood to oppose. Not even Calum or Mark. Mark now had his eyes glued on Trey, his eyebrows arched together. Calum's eyes were downcast, but it was evident he was listening intently.
"So, you may be wondering, what made a book 'Scripture'?" Trey began.
"No, we weren't wondering that," Mark said.
YOU ARE READING
There Must Be Something More
SpiritualCharlie Borlock thought he had everything. That is, until new country girl Meredith Caraway arrived. She says she has a God who can do far more than what he has, and she says life is so much more than school, or girlfriends, or friends, or even fami...
