1.B 13. The Final Completion

The Final Completion

We must now move on to the final step in the completion of the canon of the New Testament. In this we are fortunate enough to have excellent evidence, for two of the greatest scholars of the early Church made deliberate investigations into the status of the various New Testament books in their day, and the results of these investigations have come down to us. jQngfinp.(A.D. 182-251), who was the greatest scholar the early Church ever had, investigated the matter, and his conclusions are passed down to us by Eusebius (The Ecclesiastical History 6:25:7-14). The following books he regards as beyond question part of the New Testament the four Gospels, the letters of Paul, including Hebrews, i Peter, I John, the Apocalypse. He says that Peter may have left a second letter, "but this is doubtful." Of 2 and 3 John he says that "not all consider them genuine". Acts he does not actually mention in his catalogue but he certainly accepted it. Jarnes and Jude he does not list at all. He thinks that Hebrews has some connection with Paul, and he never doubts the excellence of its thought and its right to a place in the New Testament. He may well have known the opinion of Clement of Alexandria that Paul wrote it in Hebrew and that Luke translated it into Greek; he hands down the opinion of some that Clement of Rome wrote it. But his own verdict is: "Who wrote the letter, God alone knows."

(A.D 270-340) made a similar investigation. He divided the books into three classes the homologoumena, which are accepted by everyone; the antilegomena, which are disputed; and the notha the word means bastard which are spurious and to be definitely rejected (The Ecclesiastical History 3:25). The universally accepted books are the four Gospels, Acts, the letters of Paul including Hebrews, i John, and i Peter. The Revelation is in an intermediate position. Eusebius lists it with the accepted books, with the comment, "If it really seems proper," and notes that some reject it. The disputed books are "the socalled" letter of James, Jude, 2 Peter, "those that are called 2 and 3 John, whether they belong to the evangelist or another person of the same name." Elsewhere he is more definite about 2 Peter (The Ecclesiastical History 3:3), for he says: "We have learned that Peter’s extant second letter does not belong to the canon; yet, as it has appeared profitable to many, it has been used with the other Scriptures." He is also elsewhere (The Ecclesiastical History 2:23:25) more definite about James. In his notice on the life of James he says: "James is said to be the author of the first of the so-called Catholic Epistles; but it is to be observed that it is regarded as spurious, at least not many of the ancients have mentioned it," and then he goes on to include Jude under the same verdict.

Sajfe!^ e i ta! 3 i t^L^k? Jii^^ contained the followin^jndispiitable books the four Gospels, Acts, fourteen letters of Paul including -Hebrews,.i Peter,.1 John, andjhe Revelation jmdij^^tinge^of doubt. Still on the fringe pf the New Testament were James X,A Peter; ja.and 3 Johft, Jude, although Jude was included as^eady as the Muratorian Canon. We must be quite clear about these books against which there was a question mark. Their usefulness for life and doctrine is not in question; they were freely used and freely quoted; there is no question of their rejection. Eusebius supplies a list of books which were definitely rejected the Shepherd of Hernias, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Letter of Barnabas, the so-called Teaching of the Apostles. Although Eusebius and Origen list these books as disputed, they never suggest discarding them.

What, then, was the real trouble about these books? The real trouble was that the test of the Church for any book, as we have seen, was apostolicity, and no one was quite sure who had written these books. No one, for instance, questioned the value of Hebrews, but the trouble was that no one knew who had written it, although Tertullian states as a fact that it is the work of Barnabas (Tertullian, Concerning Modesty 20). That is why in the end Hebrews was attributed to Paul, although it was clear enough that Paul did not write it, why James was attributed to the brother of our Lord, Jude to another of Jesus’ brothers, 2 Peter to Peter, 2 and 3 John to John. These were of a value which no one disputed, and the only way to bring them fully into the canon of Scripture was to shelter them, under the wing of an apostle. And it is certainly true that, even if they are not the work of the apostles whose name they came to bear, they are certainly apostolic.

We have very nearly come to the full-grown New Testament. There are still two steps. Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 315-386) in his lectures to those being prepared for membership of the Church lists the books of the New Testament the four Gospels, the Acts of the Twelve Apostles, the seven catholic epistles, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude, and lastly "as the seal of all" the fourteen letters of Paul (Catechetical Lectures 4:36). Here the list is complete save only for the Revelation. And so we come to the final step. In his Easter Letter of A.D. 367 Adhajnsius^ finally lists ^^J^ such a landmark that the relevant passage of it must be quoted in full: must be no hesitation to state again the books of the New Testament, for they are these: Four Gospels, according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, and according to John. Further, after these also, The Acts of the Apostles, and the seven so-called Catholic Epistles of the Apostles, as follows: one of James, but two of Peter, then three of John, and after these one of Jude. In addition to these there are fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul put down in the following order: the first to the Romans, then two to the Corinthians, and after these the Epistles to the Galatians and then to the Ephesians: further, the Epistles to the Philippians and to the Colossians and two to the Thessalonians, and the Epistle to the Hebrews. And next two letters to Timothy, but one to Titus, and the last the one to Philemon. Moreover also, the Apocalypse of John.

There stands our New Testament, and, apart from the fact that the Catholic Epistles are placed after Acts, as they are in all early manuscripts, not only the list but the order of the books is the order we possess to-day. The Canon of the New Testament is complete.