The Canon of the New Testament comprises
the four Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the
Apostles, the 13 Pauline Epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistles of other
Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. The recognition of the canonical status
of several books in the New Testament is a long and gradual process. During the
process, the occurrence of issues and heretics in the early Church, the
citation from certain books by the early Church Fathers in their writings, and
the public reading of Christian documents in Church services of divine worship had
a profound effect on the selection of books for inclusion into the Canon. The
influence of early Church Fathers also explains why the development of Canon differed
between the West and the East and some other books outside today’s Canon
enjoyed temporary and local authority. This paper summarizes the book “The
Canon of the New Testament” written by Bruce M. Metzger, which provides an analysis
on the various factors leading to the finalization of the Canon.
The canonization process can be traced
back to the “early Apostolic Fathers” who had personal knowledge of some of the
apostles, but were not the apostles themselves. Their writings span the period
from about 95 CE to 150 CE. These writings seldom make express citations from
the New Testament (Metzger 39-40). The Epistle of Clement of Rome, written in
around 95-96 CE, contains extensive quotations from the Old Testament. It seems
that Clement might have knowledge on several Pauline Epistles but it is unsure
on whether he had access to the Synoptic Gospels as he urged his readers to
“remember the words of the Lord Jesus” and there are no exact parallels between
his work and the Gospels. (40-43).
Ignatius, the second bishop of Antioch,
wrote seven epistles, which demonstrate great originality. The quotations in
the epistles are few in number, brief in content and made primarily from
memory. Nonetheless, one can still observe certain parallels between his
epistles and several Pauline Epistles, and plausibly also Hebrews and 1 Peter.
It is also possible that Ignatius was acquainted with the Gospels of Matthew
and John (43-49). Polycarp, bishop of
Smyrna, had made the most quotations and reminiscences from the New Testament
in his epistle among the early Apostolic Fathers. There are about 100 from the
New Testament with only a dozen from the Old Testament. These include at least
eight Pauline Epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews, 1 Peter and 1 John. He also
cited sayings of Jesus that can be found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. His
extensive citations from the New Testament displayed respect for these
apostolic writings which were lacking in other writings of his contemporaries
(e.g., Ignatius) (59-63).
One of the most famous books produced in
the early Church was the Shepherd of Hermas, which was frequently quoted and
for a time regarded as inspired. The book is characterized by its high moral
value and had served as a textbook for early catechumens. Despite that no
quotation is made from either the Old or New Testament, there are reminiscences
from the Gospel of Matthew and John, and the Epistles of Ephesus and James
(63-67). The various writings of the early Apostolic Fathers show that despite their
knowledge on many of the New Testament books and epistles, they did not regard
them as “Scriptures” and there is no conception of the duty of exact quotation
from these books as they were yet in the full sense “canonical”. Nevertheless,
there is an already implicit authority of such books, particularly in the words
of Jesus, which would require to be preserved in a set of Christian writings
(and not just oral transmissions as advocated by Papias[1])
so as to inspire confidence among the believers (72-73).
Several issues in the early Church had
bearings on ascertaining more exactly which books are authoritative in matters
of faith and life. One of the major religious movements during the early Church
period is Gnosticism, which is a syncretistic religion and philosophy that
flourished for about four centuries alongside early Christianity[2].
While the Gnostics claimed that they were Christians and recognized some of the
books adopted by the Church, they also had a number of “apocryphal” Gospels,
such as the Gospel of Thomas and Gospel of Peter, and other texts in which the
apostles report what the Lord had secretly communicated to them, particularly
during the period between His resurrection and Ascension into heaven[3].
To counter the development of Gnosticism, the Church Fathers attacked the
heresies and in doing so, helped to ascertain more clearly the books and
epistles which conveyed the true teaching of the Lord, while rejecting those
false sacred books. In this way, the early Church scrutinized those books which
were in line with the expression of its faith for inclusion into the Canon
(75-90).
Another development which is of
significance during the early Church period is Marcion, who was a respected
member of the Christian community in the middle of the second century, but was
later excommunicated because of his extreme views in the total rejection of the
Old Testament[4]. To counter Marcion’s
teaching, the Church began to consider more seriously the full set of books and
epistles that conveyed truly the Word. One common criterion used was whether
the book is in connection with one particular apostle[5].
The four Gospels recording the deeds and words of Christ formed the core and
“opening collection” of the New Testament. The rest could be judged in light of
this opening collection. In this regard, the Marcion’s heresy had accelerated
the process of fixing the Canon of the New Testament (91-99).
While the Marcion development had
prompted the Church to recognize the full breath of authoritative writings, yet
another development was Montanism that broke out in the second half of the
second century, which claimed to be a Christian religion of the Holy Spirit
marked by ecstatic outbursts. The Montanism development resulted in reactions
from the Church which eventually cut off Montanists from communion.
Nevertheless, the development also triggered deeper thoughts on whether and
which books and epistles of an apocalyptic nature, including the Apocalypse,
should be included in the Canon. As a result, the Church took the first step
toward the adoption of a closed canon of Scripture (99-106).
After
the era of the early Apostolic Fathers, the four Gospels and the Pauline
Epistles were widely accepted by the Church as authoritative Christian Scriptures.
They were generally recognized as suitable to be read in public worships. By
the close of the second century CE, lists began to be drawn up of these authoritative
books (191). Among them the two most prominent are the Muratorian Canon which
classified books under four different categories based on the level acceptance
by the Church; and the Classification of the Church historian Eusebius who
classified books into canonical (recognized) books, canonical (disputed) books,
uncanonical (spurious) books and uncanonical (fictions of heretics) books (205).
Interestingly enough, Eusebius included all the 27 books of the New Testament
as canonical books (22 recognized and five disputed) and put the Apocalypse under
two separate categories (canonical (recognized) and uncanonical (spurious)) to
acknowledge the fact of the extravagant use of the book by the Montanists resulting
in its rejection by some Christians. Eusebius did not name it the canon but a
“catalogue” (Brown, Fitzmyer, Murphy 1035). Nonetheless, the closing of the Canon
of the Hebrew Bible by the Jews in the second century, consciously or
unconsciously, provided a model to prompt the exclusive selection of sacred
Christian books on Jesus which were authoritative and divine (Souter 149).
The
process of development and closing of this “New Testament Canon” differs
between the Eastern and Western churches. In the East, there was considerable
doubt concerning the authority of the most of the Catholic Epistles. For
example, Clement of Alexandria (150-215 CE), a representative figure of the
Eastern Church, cited extensively from the books of the New Testament except
Philemon, James, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John (131). Origen, another authoritative
figure of the East in the third century, regarded the canon of the four Gospels
as closed, and accepted the 14 Pauline Epistles (including Hebrew), Acts, 1
Peter, 1 John, Jude and Revelation, but expressed reservation on James, 2
Peter, 2 and 3 John (141). The situation remained until Athanasius, Bishop of
Alexandria wrote an Easter Letter in 367 CE to declare that all the 27 books of
the New Testament were fountains of salvation and only in these alone the
teaching of godliness was proclaimed. It marks the first time that the scope of
the New Testament is declared to be exactly the 27 books accepted today as
canonical (210-212). Yet, as discussed below, not all the churches in the East
readily accepted the opinion of Athanasius.
The
churches of Eastern Syria composed the “Diatessaron” in the second half of the
second century CE, in which the four Gospels were woven together into a single
Gospel (114). It was in widespread use in Syria until the early 5th
century. After then, the four Gospels were “revived”, and together with the
Acts, the Pauline Epistles, Epistle of the Hebrew and the three longer Catholic
Epistles (James, 1 Peter and 1 John), formed 22 writings of the Syrian New
Testament (Peshitta), which is still in use today as the official lectionary of
the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Chaldean Syrian Church. The four shorter
Catholic Epistles (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John and Jude) and the Revelation are
excluded (220). For the Armenian Church, while its New Testament contains all
the 27 canonical books, an apocryphal Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians[6]
is included in the appendix. In the Coptic Church, although the Epistles of
Clement are outside the Canon, they may nevertheless be read. As for the
Ethiopian Church, there is a “wider canon” which includes 35 books[7],
i.e., eight additional books on top of the 27 canonical books in the New
Testament (218-228).
Unlike
the East, the Latin Church generally felt that there was a need for a sharp
delineation with regard to the Canon (229). Since the middle of the second
century CE, various Christian writers of the West, notably Justin Martyr, Hippolytus,
Irenaeus, Tertullian and Cyprian of Carthage quoted from the books of the New
Testament and regarded them as Scriptures. In Irenaeus’ work “Against the
Heresies”, he had a closed canon of four Gospels; he also put the Pauline
Epistles on par with the Gospels, though the canon for the epistles was not yet
closed. For the apocalypses, he had the Apocalypse of John and the Shepherd of
Hermas[8]
in his canon. Irenaeus may be the first to use the title “New Testament” of a
collection of books (Lienhard 27). Two men in the West, Jerome and Augustine,
call for special remark in their contribution to closing the Canon. Jerome is famous
for his revision of the competing Latin translations of the New Testament. He
delivered the Gospels to Pope Damasus in 384 CE. Jerome’s New Testament
contained the 27 books that we currently use, which generally became the books
accepted by the Western Church. Nevertheless, he occasionally cast doubts on a
few books, for example, in the case of 2 and 3 John, Jerome reported that they
“are said to be the work of John the presbyter” (and not John the apostle). He
also considered the Epistle of Barnabas[9]
“almost if not quite” a New Testament book and the Shepherd of Hermas a useful
book that many ancient writers quote from it as authority. Nonetheless, they
were not included in the Latin Vulgate (234-236).
Augustine’s
influence upon the Western Church was even greater than that of Jerome. It was
Augustine who, in three provincial synods in Hippo (393 CE), Carthage (397 CE
and 419 CE), said that, “Besides the canonical Scriptures, nothing shall be
read in the church under the name of the divine Scriptures”. He followed with
the enumeration of the canonical Scriptures including all the 27 New Testament
books[10],
which has become the divine word throughout the Western Church (236-238). From
then on, the Canon of the Western Church was more or less fixed except for the
presence of the Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans[11]
in some manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate. It was not until the Council of the
Florence (1439-43 CE) that the Pope cast his opinion of the Canon. For the New
Testament, it was confirmed to be exactly the same 27 canonical books. One
century later, due to the disrupting influences of opinions about the Scriptures
expressed by Protestant Reformers, Pope Paul III convened the Council of Trent
to consider moral and administrative reforms required in the Roman Catholic
Church. On 8 April 1546, the Council issued a decree to the effect that the
Canon of the Bible in our present form is a matter of faith:
“… following the example of the orthodox Fathers
receives and venerates all the books of the Old and New Testament … and also
the traditions pertaining to faith and conduct … with an equal sense of
devotion and reverence … If, however, anyone does not receive these books in
their entirety, with all their parts … as sacred and canonical, and knowingly
and deliberately rejects the aforesaid traditions, let him be Anathema”.
This dogmatic proclamation at the Council of
Trent essentially ended disputes about the Canon in the Roman Catholic Church
(239-247). Since then, the Church has undoubtedly acknowledged the 27 sacred
books in the New Testament as the inspired word of God, having a regulating
value for faith and morals (Brown, Fitzmyer, Murphy 1035).
Bibliography
Brown, Raymond Edward. An
Introduction to the New Testament. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2007. Print (on
the bibliography at the end of Chapter 1).
Brown, Raymond Edward., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E.
Murphy. The
New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990.
Print.
Metzger, Bruce M. The Canon of the New Testament: Its
Origin, Development, and Significance. Oxford: Clarendon, 1987. Print.
Lienhard, Joseph T. The Bible, the Church, and Authority: The
Canon of the Christian Bible in History and Theology. Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical, 1995. Print.
Souter, Alexander. The
Text and Canon of the New Testament. London: Duckworth, 1954. Print.
[1] Papias is a representative figure of the early oral traditions.
According to tradition, he had heard the preaching of John the apostle and was
a friend of Polycarp.
[2] Its teaching is on the realization of Gnosis for the salvation of
souls from their temporarily imprisoned physical bodies, so that the souls may
return to God.
[3] These apocryphal gospels, despite preserving scraps of independent
tradition, are inferior theologically to the four canonical Gospels and may
even constitute a doctrinal danger (Brown, Fritmyer, Murphy 1044).
[4] According to Marcion’s teaching, only the Gospel according to Luke
and ten Pauline Epistles could be accepted as authoritative. Even then, parts
of these books and epistles, e.g., the first four chapters of Luke and some
portions concerning the Jews and Old Testaments were removed by Marcion.
[5] The canonicity of Hebrew and Revelation was debated preciously
because it was doubted whether they were written by Paul and John respectively
(Brown, Fitzmyer, Murphy 1044).
[6] The Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians is part of the
composite Acts of Paul, which is also an apocryphal that makes arbitrary use of
the canonical Acts and the Pauline Epistles in a legendary manner (Metzger
174-176).
[7] The four Gospels, Acts, the seven Catholic Epistles, the fourteen
Epistles of Paul (including Hebrew), the Book of Revelation, Sindos (four
sections), Clement, The Book of the Covenant (two sections) and Didascalia.
[8] The Shepherd of Hermas was used as Scripture by Irenaeus,
Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen. The Muratorian Canon classified
it as a work that might be read but not proclaimed as Scripture in church
(Metzger 188).
[9] The Epistle of Barnabas was for a time on the fringe of the Canon.
Clement of Alexandria wrote a commentary on it and Origen called it “catholic”,
a term he used for 1 Peter and 1 John. It stands after the New Testament in the
forth-century codex Sinaiticus of the Greek Bible (Metzger 188).
[10] The order of the New Testament books is the
Gospels, Acts, Pauline Epistles (including Hebrew), 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3
John, James, Jude and the Revelation.
[11] The Epistle of the Laodiceans is a patchwork of phrases and
sentences plagiarized from the canonical Pauline Epistles, particularly from
Philippians (Metzger 183).
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