The determination of the Canon of the New Testament was not the result of any pronouncement, either by an official of the Church or by an ecclesiastical body. Rather, the Canon was determined by the use of these books throughout all of the Churches during the first and second centuries. The establishment of the Canon was the process by which formal recognition was given to the writings of Scripture already recognized as authoritative.
Most of the New Testament Scriptures were accepted immediately. For example, in II Peter 3:16, it is taken for granted that the Pauline epistles were Scriptures on a par with the Old Testament.
The early heresies of the Church played an important part in influencing the Christians to make clear determinations as to which writings were authoritative as Scripture. The heretic Marcion had excluded everything except ten Pauline epistles and certain selected portions of the Gospel according to Luke. Moreover, the Gnostics were introducing secret "Gospels," attempting to advance them as authoritative Scripture.
One of the earliest writers to respond to the Gnostics was Irenaeus. His writings assume the authority of the books of the New Testament in common use during the second century, although his citations are from only 23 of the 27 New Testament books. Three of the four books that he does not cite were cited as Scriptures by earlier Christian writers,1 and the fourth (III John) was probably not cited simply because of its brevity; Irenaeus probably simply did not have occasion to use it during the course of his arguments.
An early list of the books of the New Testament (A.D. 170) appears in the Muratorian fragment, found by L. A. Muratori in manuscript form and published in 1740. Although the fragment is mutilated, it attests to the widespread use as Scripture of all books of the New Testament except Hebrews, James, I and II Peter.
However, the Apostolic Fathers had already cited all of these four books as Scripture. The Muratorian fragment also mentions The Shepherd of Hermas as worthy to be read in church, but not to be included with the apostolic writings. Curiously, the Wisdom of Solomon, an Old Testament Apocryphal book, is also included as canonical.
Another early list appeared in the Codex Barococcio (A.D. 206), which included 64 of the 66 books of the present-day Bible.
Esther and Revelation were omitted, but Revelation had formerly been regarded as Scripture by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and the Muratorian Canon.
In A.D. 230, Origen (A.D. 185-254) stated that all Christians acknowledged as Scripture the four Gospels, Acts, the thirteen epistles of Paul, I Peter, I John, and Revelation. He added that the following were disputed by some people: Hebrews, II Peter, II John, III John, James, Jude, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Didache, and the Gospel according to the Hebrews.2 In other words, all the churches by this time were in agreement about most of the books, but a few doubted some of the epistles that were not as well known. Others were inclined to include a few books that eventually did not secure a permanent place among the canonical books.3
By A.D. 300, all the New Testament books we presently use were generally accepted in the churches, although in a few places, James, II Peter, II and III John, Jude, Hebrews, and Revelation were not in use.4 Doubts about these books faded during the next fifty years, so that by A.D. 367, Athanasius listed all the 27 books as canonical in his Easter Letter, which also recommended certain other books for private reading only, such as the Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache.
The Synod of Hippo (A.D. 393) and the third synod of Carthage (A.D. 397) also recognized these 27 books as canonical, as did the highly influential church Fathers Jerome (A.D. 340- 420) and Augustine (A.D. 354-430). They did not confer upon these any authority that they did not already possess; they merely recognized their previously established canonicity.5
1 Ignatius refers to Philemon, while Clement of Rome cites James and II Peter. The Epistle of Barnabas also cites II Peter.
2 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book VI, Chapter 25.
3 F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, third ed. (Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1963), p. 112.
4 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 25.
5 Bruce, p. 113.
