THE FOUNDATION OF THE CANON
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The editorial focuses on the key events and movements that were influential in the recognition of the canonical books. It also gives a deep insight of the methodology employed by the applicable individuals and councils that deemed the books as an inspiration of the word of the living God. A biblical canon also referred to as the canon of the scripture refers to a list of books which bear an authoritative scripture by a certain religious community. The development of the canons has seen its development through vigorous debate and mutual agreement among many religious authorities with relation to their respective faiths. Believers of Christianity make viable considerations that the canonical books are a direct inspiration from the Almighty God. They also believe that the books are meant to express an authoritative message of the relationship between God and his people.
The canonical books are a collection of Holy Scriptures namely the Old and the New Testament. God is the divine author of the set of books, songs, narratives and letters contained in the canonical books. All these were written as a way and means to draw man closer to the lord through His loving son Jesus Christ. The New Testament canon saw the rise of many movements. The Marcionism movement took place in the year 140. The Marcion who was a native of Asian Minor rejected the Old Testament because he regarded that the God depicted in the Old Testament as an inferior being. He claimed that Jesus had come to give liberation to mankind as a direction of authority from God depicted in the Old Testament. He also claimed that Jesus had come to reveal the superiority and mercifulness of God, the Father. Marcions views were dangerous and widely spread. Thus the Marcionites thus are termed as the first to clearly define a canon.
The Gnosticism movement came into place later. The movement raised the idea of esoteric knowledge bearing its source from the questions concerning traditions and authority which engaged the apostolic fathers. They gave the Gospel of Thomas which is a book of the sayings of Jesus thus were proposed to give a reliable source about traditions about the history of Jesus. They also gave the Gospel of Truth. The gnosis true was beyond scripture. The Gnostics portray their writings of apocrypha to different apostles; at times they portray the apostles as deficient in knowledge.
The Montanism movement took action in the second century. Its source is in Asia Minor, a place called Phrygia. The leader, Montanus believed that the Holy Spirit promises by Christ had been fulfilled. Montanism gave a strict concern on the gifts of prophecies. They also claimed that the Holy Spirit supernatural manifestation was through prophets and prophetesses. The understanding of authority by the church was challenged by the holy spirits claim to inspiration.
Debates on the canonical books also were on the work of two German scholars who were in opposition of the other. Adolf von Harnack was on the liberal side while on the conservative side was Theodor Zhan. In the views of Adolf van Harnack, Christianity was termed as a religion of the spirit. Oral tradition was supreme and that written documents validity was questionable.Thoedor Zhan, the conservative scholar based his work on the interaction of the church with those heretics who came up with the alternative canon. He also works on the churches reaction in accordance to the challenges posed by the heretics Zhan’s position is favored by some factors. One is that the expression of fathers themselves in relation to the canon gives no evidence as far as Harnack’s theory is concerned. The local churches still bear autonomy thus not in a state church.
The Eusebius development marked the distinction between the recognized books and the disputed books. According to him, the recognized books are gospels, acts and the epistles of Paul and revelation. As per the disputed books, he divides them into two: those that should be included in the canon namely James, Jude, 2nd Peter and 2nd John and those that should not to be included. The Festal Letter of Athanasius gives the books of the New Testament which clearly coincide with the modern New Testament. Athanasius give a clear distinction between canonical writings and those that are worthy of reading.
Theological reflections also give an insight to the development of the canonicity. Significance of the history marks a reflection in the development of canonicity. The virtual unanimity in relation to the state in which the church received the writings in the New Testament is depicted in the special guidance and the profound providence of God. This was depicted as evidence by Louis Gausssen. The canon was neither imposed by the leaders of the church nor the apostles. The gradual process with which the canon was formulated gives a conclusion that the church gave rise to the bible. Nicolaus Appel, a Catholic Scholar depicts the canon as a decision of ecclesiastic which was made in the age of postapostolic. The extent of the infallibility of the canon is dependent on the infallibility of the church. The church did not extend its authority to the canon. It just gave recognition to the canon. Accordingly, the idea of canonicity is contained in the book itself as something that saw it source from God. It is not depicted as a favored status conferred by the church.
The internal testimony of the Holy Spirit also marks a key event in the canonicity. The Roman Catholic theologians believe that the canon authority was guaranteed by the church. According to them, the authority of the canon was dependent on a self-aunthetification basis and firmly sealed to the hearts of the people of God by the Holy Spirit’s witness as opposed to being dependent on the church. According to them also, the scripture is of divine character, origin and perceived authority. It bears the marks of divinity. This evidence clearly affirms that it is of the make of God. The testimony also holds that man is not able to perceive that it is of God thus he needs the internal testimony from the Holy Spirit
The criteria used to deem which books were inspired by God was based on different methodologies. One of those criterions was the apostolicity. This criterion was operative in the early church. Application of this criterion saw the acceptance of some books. These were the books of Revelation, James, Jude and Hebrews. This criterion is also given modification in the cases of the books of Luke and Mark. The other writings not included in the canon could not have claimed apostolic authorship. Apostolicity however has a limitation of being an all embracing methodology for determining canonicity.Gamboe defines apostolicity as the trait of the earliest church. He however neither does nor overrates apostolicity as a criterion.
Public lection was also another criterion which was used to validate the canonical books in the New Testament. According to Zahn, the main factor in the development of canonical books was the utilization of the writings contained in the New Testament in the worship of the church. Because of its suitability of the writings for use in the church, this gave them a position in the canon. Gamble accepts public lexion as a criterion .However; he claims that the criterion was not definitive in that many documents which met the requirement adequately were not part of the canon whereas other writings which do not have longstanding and broad currency at last did gain canonical recognition.
Christological recognition was another criterion which was used. It was referred to as Luther’s criterion of validating canonicity. In this criterion, Luther uses the motto of that which promotes and preaches Christ. A canon within a canon came up as result of this practice. Luther put four books into a secondary position. These were the books of Hebrews, James, Revelation and Jude. This criterion tends to destroy the terms of the canonicity based on traditions. The criterion on Christological recognition varies depending on the extent that the individual using the criterion thinks on what urges Christ.
Evaluation as a criterion was also utilized in validating the canonical books. Further criteria for canonicity based on terms of catholicity, antiquity and inspiration However, such criteria have failed. Canonicity is unique. This is neither because it coincides with neither what is apostolic nor with what is of Christological order in nature Evaluation as a criterion of approach is heavily presuppositional. The scripture itself is self –authenticating. Historical development of the concept of canon is in line with our understanding about the nature of the authority it has.
REFERENCES
“The Belgic Confession,” The Book of Forms – Reformed Churches of Australia, Geelong: Reformed Churches Publishing House, 1991.
L.Morris, “Canon of the New Testament,” in The Encyclopedia of Christianity: The National Foundation for Christian Education, 1968.
Ridderbos, The Authority of the New Testament Scriptures, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1963, 18.
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