The Canonicity of the Bible

Joshua Aguilar

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Intro: Good evening, We are glad you have come out tonight, I hope you leave here with more knowledge about the Bible than when you arrived. I also hope you leave here wanting to learn more, because what we are going to do here tonight will just scratch the surface on the topic of the canonicity of the Bible. My goal here tonight for us, is that we leave here with a better understanding of what we mean when we say

The canonicity of the Bible, what do we mean when we say canon?

Look at the canonicity of the Old Testament and the books included in the Old Testament Canon.

Look at the canonicity of the New Testament and the books included in the New Testament Canon.

We have some time tonight, I am hoping to spend 15 min on point 1, 30 min on point 2, and 30 min on point 3 and then if we have time we will open it up for questions and hopefully between me and others we can get your questioned answered tonight, if not we will research.

I. What do we mean when we say canon?

A. The meaning of the word “canon”

The word “canon” comes form the Greek kanōn, which is derived from the Hebrew qāneh. It originally meant a reed and came to mean something firm or straight. In Greek it was used for a rod or a stick for drawing a straight line, or measure, what we would call a level or a ruler. This word took on a metaphorical meaning, which is a standard or rule.

B. Metaphorical Meaning

Through the years, culture, and usage the word took on more of a metaphorical meaning as the standard or rule of measurement, the early Christians would use the term “rule of faith”. Canon became the term we use to describe the books which are inspired by God which should be distinguished from all other writings. We read in 2 Tim 3:16

2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Toda Escritura es inspirada por Dios y útil para enseñar, para reprender, para corregir, para instruir en justicia,

All Scripture “πᾶσα γραφὴ”, pasa - all, graphe meaning writing/scripture is inspired by God. As the church grew books started to be recognized as inspired by God and were functioning as Scripture in the church, just like the Old Testament was used by Jesus and the Apostles and the first disciples, the early Christians were using and viewing the books of the New Testament as Scripture, on the same level as the Old Testament.

2 Peter 3:15–16 (ESV)

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

y considerad la paciencia de nuestro Señor como salvación, tal como os escribió también nuestro amado hermano Pablo, según la sabiduría que le fue dada. Asimismo en todas sus cartas habla en ellas de esto; en las cuales hay algunas cosas difíciles de entender, que los ignorantes e inestables tuercen—como también tuercen el resto de las Escrituras—para su propia perdición

Here is Peter, referring to Paul and putting him on the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures.

C. A Multi Dimensional Approach to the Canon. (Michael Kruger)

When we talk about canon, there are two different ways of thinking about the canonicity of the Bible. The first is establishment, and this school of thought says the canon was established by the church, the church through the various councils throughout church history has established the canonicity of the Bible.

The second school of thought would say the church doesn’t establish the canon, but recognizes the canon. This school of thought would say the church doesn’t necessary establish the canonicity of the Bible, but they recognize the books which are inspired by God which should be in the canon. This school of thought is how most protestant Christians think, when it comes to the canonicity of the Bible.

There are different approaches to the canon of the Scripture. Here are three we will refer to tonight.

1. Exclusive Definition - This idea originated from AC Sundberg in 1968

He pointed out that there is a sharp distinction the terms “Scripture” and “canon” and based on this made the case that we cannot make speak of the canonicity of the Bible until the fourth century, when the canon was discussed at the council of Carthage AD 397. Even though Scripture existed, the exclusive definition would argue that the idea or terminology of canon should not be used until the process has been closed. In this view the list of canonical books must be formulated and closed so that nothing can be added or taken away.

This view helps us see the process and captures the reality of the amount of time it took to solidify a canon and helps us see the church’s role in recognizing books that were canonical.

For me, there are a few problems I have with this view, the main problem is the distinction it makes between the idea of Scripture and canon, almost as if there was a stage of Scripture and a stage of Canon, and what happened at the Council of Carthage in AD 397 represents a profoundly different stage, especially in the development of the New Testament.

While there was a broad concensus in the 4th century and the boundaries of the canon began to solidify. It is wrong to assume there is a difference between Scripture and canon. We have already pointed out where Peter speaks of Paul on the same level of the Old Testament. All of the OT and the 4 Gospels and Pauls letters were recognized as authoritative for centuries before the ad 397. What this view implies is that the Council of Carthage increased the authority of these books when they were accepted as canonical and it also implies that there can be no canon without the official action of the church.

2. The Functional Definition -

Someone, by the name of Childs came along and said, I disagree with the exclusive definition. He said the term canon should not only refer to the final closed list, but it should refer to the whole process of canonicity. Childs would say as soon as a book is regarded as or functions as Scripture by the early Christian churches then the term canon should be applied. Childs would say there is very little difference between the idea of Scripture and canon, they are mostly identical.

While this view goes further than the previous, there are issues we have to consider before its full acceptance. There were books the early church used which functioned as Scripture in their communities, but those books are not part of our NT. Books like the Didache, The Shepherd of Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter. The functional view can lead to problems because these books functioned as Scripture, so should they be canonical?

the greater problem with the functional and exclusive view is they fail to speak to what the canon is, by nature. The functional tells us what it does in the church and the exclusive tells us that the canon can not exist it it is closed and the church has given its final approval.

3. Ontological Definition

Ontological describes what something is by nature, while the functional view tells us how the Scripture functioned in community and the exclusive view points out the importance of the final, closed list of the canon. The ontological approach focuses on what the canon is by nature, which is “the authoritative books that God gave his corporate church.” What his view does is looks at canon through a theological lens vs an ecclesiological lens. This view would state that books do not become canonical based on how a church uses them or approves of them. Books are canonical because God has given them as a permanent guide to the community of faith. This view would state as soon as a book of the Bible was written, it is canonical because it was inspired by God.

Michael Kruger points out that the ontological view doesn’t argue that it should be the only view of canon, but that we should have a multidimensional approach to the canon. That all three of these views make important claims about the canon and they should be integrated because it provides a better balanced and complete view of the canonicity of the Bible. This multidimensional approach would look like this;

(1) The canonical books are written with divine authority;

(2) The books are recognised and used as Scripture by early Christians;

(3) the church reaches a consensus around these books.

II. The OT Canon

Before we start, let me just point out, we as Christians refer to the first 39 books of the Bible as the Old Testament, Testament means covenant, so we refer to it as the Old Covenant and because we believe Jesus is the messiah who establishes a new covenant. Jewish people do not refer to the the first 39 books as the Old Testament, that is a distinctly Christian idea. WIth that said lets talk about the Old Testament Canon.

A. Canon Formation

Our knowledge of the formation process of the OT is limited because we do not have ancient documents from the scribes which give us the details concerning the process of the OT canon. While we do not have details we know it was long process, covering about a 1000 year history. This process took place in stages throughout the centuries.

Stage 1 - Authoritative Utterances

Much of what we read in the OT, was first spoken to the Hebrew people and passed along orally, throughout the generations. Countless times we read “thus says the Lord” or hear the word of the Lord”

Stage 2 - Formal Written Documents

Sometimes what was spoken was immediately put into writing.

Exodus 24:3 (ESV)

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

Y Moisés vino y contó al pueblo todas las palabras del Señor y todas las ordenanzas; y todo el pueblo respondió a una voz, y dijo: Haremos todas las palabras que el Señor ha dicho.

Other times the writing transpired later.

Joshua 8:32 (ESV)

And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

Y escribió allí, sobre las piedras, una copia de la ley que Moisés había escrito, en presencia de los hijos de Israel.

Stage 3 - Collecting the Documents

This process was long and comprehensive because the OT is covering over a 1000 year history, the book of Psalms covers 500 years itself, comprehensive given the number of ancient sources cited in the OT

Numbers 21:14 (ESV)

Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,

Por tanto se dice en el Libro de las Guerras del Señor:

Vaheb que está en Sufa y los arroyos del Arnón,

Joshua 10:13 (ESV)

And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,

until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.

Y el sol se detuvo, y la luna se paró, hasta que la nación se vengó de sus enemigos.

¿No está esto escrito en el libro de Jaser? Y el sol se detuvo en medio del cielo y no se apresuró a ponerse como por un día entero.

Compiling these written records of the Hebrew experience with Yahweh into books was a matter of convenience for theIsraelite community because it provided easy access to their history an preservation of their history. But more importantly these books commanded the special attention of the community for religious life and community.

Deuteronomy 31:24–26 (ESV)

When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.

Y sucedió que cuando Moisés terminó de escribir las palabras de esta ley en un libro, hasta su conclusión, 25 Moisés ordenó a los levitas que llevaban el arca del pacto del Señor, diciendo: 26 Tomad este libro de la ley y colocadlo junto al arca del pacto del Señor vuestro Dios, para que permanezca allí como testigo contra vosotros.

Stage 4 - Sorting through the written documents and fixing a canon

As we said earlier we do not have very many details on the process the Hebrews used to fix a canon. While we do not have the detailed process we can discern the basic criteria the Hebrews considered when formulating the OT.

The Hebrews had a fixed canon well before the time of Jesus some ancient documents from Jewish history like Ecclesiasticus and the Prologue to the Apocryphal Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach make reference to the “threefold collection of great teaching” including the law, prophets and other books of our fathers (200 BC). Jesus himself referred to the three fold canon of the OT in Luke 24:44

Luke 24:44 (ESV)

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Y les dijo: Esto es lo que yo os decía cuando todavía estaba con vosotros: que era necesario que se cumpliera todo lo que sobre mí está escrito en la ley de Moisés, en los profetas y en los salmos.

For Josephus, at least, the OT canon seems quite settled:

“For although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured neither to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable” (Against Apion, 1.42).

Philo of Alexandria. Philo hints at a three-fold division to the OT canon:

“the laws and the sacred oracles of God enunciated by the holy prophets … and psalms” (On the Contemplative Life, 25).

B. Attributes of Canonicity

What was the criteria for the OT canon?

1. Was the Divine Inspiration and Authority Recognizable

Could the religious leaders of the Hebrew community through the illumination ministry of the Holy Spirit recognize that the books in the OT were inspires and authoritative.

2. Authorship

Who wrote the book was important in evaluating if a book should be included in the canon. Was the book written by a lawgiver, judge, prophet, king and priest.

3. Content

The content of the books were examined for internal consistency of teaching and the overall unity of themes consistent with the covenant experience in the other books recognized as the word of the Lord.

4. Function and Use

Did the books function and were they used as the word of the Lord in the Hebrew community. Where the books read, studied, copied, and obeyed by the Israelites.

C. Canon History and Order

We have referenced the three fold division of the Hebrew Bible, the law, the prophets and the other books, which are called the writings. To the Jews this is known as the TANAK, T stands for Torah which is the law, N is Nebiim or the prophets and the K is for ketubim or the writings.

The number of books in the Hebrew bible are 24. Now before you have a crisis of faith or freak out because they have 24 and we have 39, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles are counted as 1 book each, Ezra - Nehemiah are counted as one book, and the twelve minor prophets were considered as a unified book, known as the book of the twelve.

Handout Order of the books.

Later on in the 1st and second century, their arose some disputes about certain book in the Hebrew canon, these disputes were mainly about the interpretation of certain books and their use in the religious community. The books were;

Esther - because the name of God is not mentioned in the book.

Proverbs - because the practical nature of the book made the book seem more earthly than divine to some and someone doesn’t necessarily need to fear the Lord to benefit from the book.

Ecclesiastes - because of the pessimistic nature of the book

Song of Solomon - for obvious reasons

Ezekiel - for some of the interesting antics and his visions.

Although these books were talked about, they were recognized as canon and remained a part of the OT. The books of the OT was recognized by the leaders of the Hebrew Community. Later rabinnic and church councils affirmed teh canonicity of the OT and acknowledged them as the word of the Lord.

C. What about those books no one wants to talk about, but everyone knows they are there, the Apocrypha Books?

Apocrypha books are books in that were written mostly between the Old and New Testamants. The word apocrypha means “hidden” and this word is applied to these books because

1. They “hidden away” because of their unusual nature

2. or they are “hidden away” because they deserve to be hidden in the sense that they were not recognized as canon by the Hebrews because they did not fit the 4 criteria we discussed earlier.

What is the Apocrypha books?

They are a collection of 14 - 15 books, depending how you number them composed between 200 Bc and AD 100 by pious Jewish writers. These books were written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic and have been copied in 7 other languages, they contain teachings, romance, history, and other forms of writing.

These books were added later on to the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. While these books were separated and not accepted as canonical by the Hebrews, the Jewish scribes did not make any notations to this fact which led to some confusion to the Greek speaking Christians who adopted the Septuagint as their Bible.

Just like today their were conflicting opinions about the Apocrypha in the 1st and 2nd century. For example church father like Iraneous, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria quote the Apocrypha as Scripture . Yet others like Eusebius and Athanasious separate the Apocrypha from the OT.

The issue of the Apocrypha and the OT canon escalated when Pope Damascus in AD 405 commissioned a Latin translation of the OT by Jerome. Jerome opposed the the recognition of the Apocrypha and when he translated the OT into Latin, which we know as the Latin Vulgate, he made notations stating his views concerning the Apocrypha. Later renditions of the Latin Vulgate failed to retain Jerome’s notations and soon most Latin readers understood no difference.

Fast forward to the Protestant Reformation the issue of the Apocrypha came to the fore front again. As the Reformers began to translate the Bile into the common language of the day, they discovered the Hebrew Bible did not have the Apocrypha in it. Which led them to the conclusion that these books were to be considered as separate and inferior collection or excluded all together. The puritans were the first group to remove the Apocrypha from the English Bible all together.

The Roman Catholic response was to declare the Latin Vulgate as the Bible of the true church and pronounced the Apocrypha as canonical at the Council of Trent in the mid 16th century. At the Vatican Council of 1870, the Roman Catholic church said the Apocrypha books should be considered Deutero - Canon, or second canon, meaning they are important but not as important as the Old Testament.

The question is, why is it important for Roman Catholicism to speak of the Apocrypha as canonical, even if it is a “second canon? The reason is because some of their doctrines stem from these books, like purgatory, getting favor from God for good works, and the practice of the prayers for the dead, these doctrines stem from the Apocrypha and are not found in the OT or NT. For them to reject these books would mean they would have to reject important doctrines they have held for a long long time.

The Apocrypha, while not canonical, still are valuable to read and encouraging to read. Like any one of the books I gave away today are. But they are not on the same level as the Bible and anything in them that is contrary to the Bible should be rejected, like any other book.

D. OT Pseudepigrapha

What in the world is this?

These are books written between 200 BC and 200 AD. These books, about 18, were composed by pious Jewish writers but “they were books written under a pen name” These books remained outside the canon, but they were widely read in the early church. I am not sure if you read the book of Jude, it is the book before Revelation, if you blink, you will miss it. Jude quotes two of these books.

Jude 9 (ESV)

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

Pero cuando el arcángel Miguel contendía con el diablo y disputaba acerca del cuerpo de Moisés, no se atrevió a proferir juicio de maldición contra él, sino que dijo: El Señor te reprenda.

Jude 14–15 (ESV)

It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

De estos también profetizó Enoc, en la séptima generación desde Adán, diciendo: He aquí, el Señor vino con muchos millares de sus santos[a],15 para ejecutar juicio sobre todos, y para condenar a todos los impíos[b] de todas sus obras de impiedad, que han hecho impíamente, y de todas las cosas ofensivas[c] que pecadores impíos dijeron contra Él.

III. The NT Canon

While the NT took over 1000 years to solidify a canon, when it comes to the NT Canon, the books were solidified very quickly. There were a few reasons why that is the case for the New Testament, the main reason has a name. Marcion, Marcion was a false teacher, he distinguished the God revealed in the OT from God the Father revealed in Jesus Jesus in the NT. He believed the God of the OT was inferior, to the one described in the NT. Marcion therefore rejected the OT Canon and parts of the NT which referred to the OT because they were infected with Judaism. Marcion put out a list of books, which are known in church history as Marcion’s Canon which contained;

An edited version of Luke

10 Pauline epistles

Another issue which arose is that there were many books being written, some good, others were heresy. When these books began to gain circulation, the question arose are these books scripture or are they just books which can edify the church, but are not on the same level as Scripture. What books need to be rejected as heresy?

There is another list known as the Muratorian fragment, which is dated around 170 AD, this fragment is torn at the beginning, but what we have on this fragment are books that are listed, we assume the first two are Matthew and Mark because Luke is mentioned 3rd.

John

Acts

Pauline letters 9 to the churches

Pauline letters to individuals Philemon, Titus and 2 to Timothy

Jude

Two epistles of John

The Apocalypse by John

Apocalypse by Peter

The Shepherd of Hermas is mentioned as worthy to read but not included in the number with the Apostolic writings.

A. Canon Formation

While the books we have in our NT were being used in the churches as soon as they were being written and sent out. We know they were being used as Scripture, the formation of the list of books which could stand as the word of God, next to the Old Testament started around the beginning of the 2nd

The Gospels, were known as a collection of books called the gospel, and around AD 115

Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, refers to 'The Gospel' as an authoritative writing,

By the time of Irenaeus, a bishop of Lyaons in Gaul about AD180, the idea of a fourfold Gospel Matthew Mark Luke (seperated from Acts) and John became a recognized fact

For as there are four quarters of the world in which we live, and four universal winds, and as the Church is dispersed over all the earth, and the gospel is the pillar and base of the Church and the breath of life, so it is natural that it should have four pillars, breathing immortality from every quarter and kindling the life of men anew. Whence it is manifest that the Word, the architect of all things, who sits upon the cherubim and holds all things together, having been manifested to men, has given us the gospel in fourfold form, but held together by one Spirit.

Acts, now separated from from the Gospel of Luke, was a very revered and important document for the early church, because it connected the Gospels with the letters to the churches. It shows the history of how the Gospel travelled from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world. Acts also gives us the conversion of Paul and his apostolic calling.

The Pauline collection were being recognized fairly early, along the same time as the Gospels, just like the the Gospels were known as “the Gospel” the Pauline letters became known as Apostlos or Apostle, with each letter titled to who they were going to, Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, etc. Hebrews was added as part of this collection of Pauline letters.

The General Epistles were accepted as well and in the second Century, Acts was part of this group of general epistles, along with Peter’s writings, John’s writings and Jude.

Origin writes this around 250 AD concerning the books of the Bible.

“But when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, whose arrival that prior son of Nun designated, he sends priests, his apostles, bearing “trumpets hammered thin,” the magnificent and heavenly instruction of proclamation. Matthew first sounded the priestly trumpet in his Gospel; Mark also; Luke and John each played their own priestly trumpets. Even Peter cries out with trumpets in two of his epistles; also James and Jude. In addition, John also sounds the trumpet through his epistles [and Revelation], and Luke, as he describes the Acts of the Apostles. And now that last one comes, the one who said, “I think God displays us apostles last,” and in fourteen of his epistles, thundering with trumpets, he casts down the walls of Jericho and all the devices of idolatry and dogmas of philosophers, all the way to the foundations,” (Hom. Jos. 7.1).2

While Origen does, mention all he also included the “epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Didache, and the Gospel according to Hebrews, which he mentions were disputed by some.

Eusebius (265 - 340) mention as generally recognized all our NT books except for James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 john, whicch were diputed by some, but recognized by the majority of the churches.

Athanasius, who was the first to use the term canon when it comes to the Bible, wrote a letter and in this letter he wanted to make clear what books were inspired and authoritative. Let me read you some selections from this festal letter.

Read highlighted selections.

Shortly after Athanasius, Jerome and Augustine do the same at the turn of the 5th century. One thing we must remind ourselves when studying church history in regards to the canon, while it is important to know the processes, and the why’s the canon was necessary. It is important to remember the church did not make these books authoritative, the books we have are authoritative because they are in spired by God and useful to build us into maturity and for teaching, rebuking, correcting, edifying. The church includes them in the canon because they are divinely inspired

B. Attributes of Canonicity

What makes the 27 books in the NT different, than all the others. What are the attributes that these books have that the others do not. This is where we look at the attributes of the canon and why these books are divinely inspired and others are not.

Providential exposure. In order for the church to be able to recognize the books of the canon, it must first be providentially exposed to these books. The church cannot recognize a book that it does not have.

This idea is important, for example if you study the book of Corinthians, you will discover what we call 1 Corinthians, is technically Pauls 2nd letter to the Corinthian church, and Paul’s 2nd letter is the fourth letter written to the church. So what happened to the other two? That is a great question, we do not have the other letters. Which means we cannot recognize those books as canonical because there is not providential exposure. We do not have them

Attributes of canonicity. These attributes are basically characteristics that distinguish canonical books from all other books. There are three attributes of canonicity: (1) divine qualities (canonical books bear the “marks” of divinity),

What do we mean marks of divinity? Each of the books of the New Testament have certain qualities about them which show they are divinely inspired by God. We can trace the characteristics in the books back to divine origin.

(2) corporate reception (canonical books are recognized by the church as a whole),

We should have an expectation that any book given by God should be recieved by the church for use as Scripture by the church because they see the marks of divinity in these letters.

and (3) apostolic origins (canonical books are the result of the redemptive-historical activity of the apostles).

Is the book written by an apostle or have Apostolic origins. This one has caused some debates over certain books because we have books in our NT that were not written by an apostle, do you know which ones?

Mark

James

Jude

Luke

Acts

Hebrews?

So why accept these books, because they have apostolic origins -

Mark - was discipled by Peter after the split between Paul and Barnabas, and the Gospel of Mark is Peter’s memoirs written by Mark.

James - was the brother of Jesus and one of the main leaders of the Jerusalem church until his death.

one of my favorite verses in all the Bible refrences James, 1 Cor 15:3-7

1 Corinthians 15:3–7 (ESV)

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

3 Porque yo os entregué en primer lugar lo mismo que recibí: que Cristo murió por nuestros pecados, conforme a las Escrituras; 4 que fue sepultado y que resucitó al tercer día, conforme a las Escrituras; 5 que se apareció a Cefas y después a los doce; 6 luego se apareció a más de quinientos hermanos a la vez, la mayoría de los cuales viven aún, pero algunos ya duermen; 7 después se apareció a Jacobo[a], luego a todos los apóstoles,

Jude - same as James

Another one of my favorite verses is in Jude

Jude 20–23 (ESV)

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Pero vosotros, amados, edificándoos en vuestra santísima fe, orando en el Espíritu Santo, 21 conservaos en el amor de Dios, esperando ansiosamente la misericordia de nuestro Señor Jesucristo para vida eterna.22 Y tened misericordia de[a] algunos que dudan; 23 a otros, salvad, arrebatándolos del fuego; y de otros tened misericordia con temor, aborreciendo aun la ropa contaminada por la carne.

Luke/Acts - was the travel companion of Paul and most likely his Dr

Hebrews - We all know Paul wrote that book.

This is the reason that many of the books the church fathers seen as Scripture, like the Shepherd of Hemas, is not included in the scripture because, by the time books like this were written the apostles have already died.

Internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. In order for believers to rightly recognize these attributes of canonicity, the Holy Spirit works to overcome the noetic effects of sin and produces belief that these books are from God.

I think one of the biggest things we overlook when we talk about canon is the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit inspired these books then he will testify to the canonicity of these books. For believers to recognize the books as canon and inspired and authoritative. The Holy Spirit works to overcome the noetic effects of the fall. have you heard that before? Noetic means knowledge, since the fall how we receive knowledge and truth have become distorted because of sin, which is referred to the noetic effects of sin. The Holy Spirit overcomes the noetic effects of sin and produces belief in us that these books are from God.

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