Can we rest assured that the writings of the New Testament are accurate, and do we know for certain that the canon of the New Testament is complete? The question is profoundly significant, and it bears eternal consequences, because in order to trust and obey God, it’s imperative that we are one-hundred percent certain that we have God’s words.
The Biblical canon can be defined as follows: “The canon is the list of all the books that belong in the Bible” (Grudem, 54). Moreover, the New Testament canon begins with the apostolic writings, because the apostles were given special help by the Holy Spirit to recall and interpret the sayings and teachings of Jesus (John 14:26; 16:13-14). Thus the holders of the apostolic office claimed to possess the authority to speak and write words equivalent to the Old Testament, meaning that there words were the words of God. Peter, for example, claimed that lying to an inspired apostle was equivalent to lying to the Holy Spirit and God (Acts 5:3-4). Peter also stressed committing to memory the words of the Lord and Savior as spoken by the apostles (2nd Peter 3:2). Additionally, the apostle Paul claimed the genesis of his revelations was the Holy Spirit, and that he conveyed them in, “not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (1st Cor. 2:13). Similarly, Paul stated that his writings were the Lord’s commandments (1st Cor. 14:37).
Peter also testified that Paul’s writings were divinely relayed, “as also in his letters, speaking in them of these things, which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2nd Peter 3:16). The word translated “scriptures” here is graphe, and it is used 51times in the New Testament, and it refers to the Old Testament every time. Thus, Peter is placing Pauline writings on par with the Old Testament graphe.
Likewise, Paul employs the same logic when advising his young apprentice Timothy about the double honor of elders, “For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,’ and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages’” (1st Tim.
Scholars of the Pauline writings have divided them into the following categories: (1) those unquestionably by Paul: Romans, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, I Thessalonians, and Philemon; (2) a letter that was probably written by Paul, but has had serious questions raised about its' authorship: II Thessalonians; (3) letters that were not actually written by Paul but were developed from his thought: Colossians and Ephesians; (4) letters that bear Paul's name but clearly come from another time and different set of circumstances in the church: I and II Timothy and Titus (the so-called Pastoral Letters); (5) a letter not bearing Paul's name and which evidences a wholly different thought and religious vocabulary from that of Paul: the Letter to the Hebrews (Kee, 5th Ed. 224).
First of all is a warning to Timothy against false teachings within the Church. The teachings it is a mixture of Jewish and non-Jewish doctrine based on the belief that the universe is evil, and salvation can only be acquired if people had knowledge of the secret, and comply with regulations such as the regulations should not be mated, the abstinence of certain foods and others.
form known as tradition. Sacred scripture also passes Revelation onto us. It can be best described as the “speech of God”, that is written under the process of the Holy Spirit. The apostles did the process of sacred scripture in three different ways, through preaching, the examples they gave, and by the institutions that were created.
It was deemed that the books of the New Testament that are authentically apostolic in nature were included in the Bible. This strict appraisal process used by the church fathers to determine the legitimacy of certain books in the bible is the reason why scripture, once it becomes part of church canon it is incorruptible. Furthermore, because tradition stems from scriptural interpretation that it can be corruptible as it relies on the judgment of human beings, whose interpretations may be driven by internal
There is much debate over the accuracy and the inerrancy of Scripture. Pertaining to this debate there exists an underlying question as to whether or not the New Testament is considered part of the canon or for that matter if it is actually given by the inspiration of God. How did the books that are in the New Testament get there? Who decided which books should be added or taken out? Do we have all the books that we should have? Many ask these questions, but Christians are ill equipped to give an answer. For centuries, Christians have claimed that they have the absolute truth, are saved only by faith, and claim the Scriptures as inspired by God. In spite of these claims many Christians are not able to clarify the origins of what they place all of their faith upon. The questions asked above are profoundly significant since they have eternal consequences. They have consequences because in order to trust and obey God there must be certainty in the accuracy of God’s Word. This testament will attempt to answer the question: How Do We Know The New Testament is God’s Word?
Metzger, B. (1997). The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance. New York.
The letter of Ephesians is the tenth book in the New Testament, its authorship is attributed to Paul after his conversion from a persecutor of Christians to apostle. The legitimacy of his authorship is still debated by scholars. Harold Hoehner in his book “Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary,” lists a number of reasons why many scholars reject Paul as the author. But, for the purposes of this exegetical Paul is considered the author of the letter.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and useful for teaching, for conviction, for correction and for disciplined training in righteousness in order to fit and fully equip the man from God for every good task. (2 Timothy 3:16,17)”16,17
The Bible: The Holy Canon of Scripture is an essay by J. Hampton Keathley, III that aims to justify the canonicity of the Bible. Keathley first defines canonicity as a word used to describe books that are recognized as inspired by God and then gives a brief history of the term. In essence, the word can be derived from Greek, Hebrew, and Akkadian words denoting a standard of straightness and was used first to describe accepted doctrines of the Church before it became widely used as a description for the list of sacred books that fit the modern definition. The article then addresses the need of a canon and justifies the canonicity of the Old and New Testaments.
People for years have been debating against each other to prove the Bible to be inherent or to be errant. Errancy is a deviation from the truth or what is right. There are many different types of errors expressed throughout the Bible such as transational errors, doctrinal errors and contradictions. How could any book be without error? That would be practically impossible, so in this paper I will prove the Bible to be very errant because of many facts shown.
According to Merriam-Webster, authority is defined as “a power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior.” In the New Testament, the Greek word exousia sometimes translated as power means to exercise a power held by right. This ‘right’ has its foundation in God himself for “there is nothing outside him on which his authority is founded.” 2 Timothy 3:16 states, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (ESV). Therefore, Scripture has authority based on God’s chosen approach to reveal himself to man and interrelates with inspiration.
The historical reliability of the Bible is the first matter that needs to be discussed. There are three criteria that the military historian C. Sanders lists as principles for documentary historical proof: the bibliographical test, internal evidence test, and the external evidence test (McDowell 43). The bibliographical test is the examination of text from the documents that have reached us. The reliability of the copies of the New Testament is tested by the number of manuscripts (MSS) and the time intervals between the time in which the piece of literature was written and our earliest copy. There are more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and 10,000 Latin vulgate manuscripts, not to mention the other various translations.
Bacon, Benjamin W. "The Canon of the New Testament" The Biblical World, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Feb., 1903), Published by: The University of Chicago Press. Web. Available at:
In today’s society, many people question the authority and inerrancy of the Bible in search of unquestionable proof to ascertain the acute accuracy and trustworthiness of it’s writers. When the Bible is referred to as authoritative, we as believers, must demonstrate where the authority was originated. By definition, authority is the right and power to command, enforce laws, exact obedience, determine or judge (Elwell, 2011,pg 153). Authority may be bestowed or inherent as demonstrated in our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, were both aspects are combined.
Revelation is God’s self-communication to humanity naturally, through creation, Biblically, through Jesus, and through apostolic teachings. Tradition is the living transmission of the message of the Gospel in the Church, which is passed on through the apostolic succession (laying on of hands). It is distinct from Sacred Scripture but closely connected to it and, makes present to the mystery of Christ. Revelation and Tradition are go hand in hand; Revelation is God self-communicating himself to the world and Tradition is sharing these occurrences with the world. Tradition preceded Scripture because oral tradition came before writing things down. In other words, story telling was very popular and stories of God were spread around before people began to keep track of these stories, not necessarily as historical documents though. Even though Tradition preceded Scripture, they are honored with equal reverence and respect.