Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to the Theological Touchpoints podcast. I'm Julian. The focus for this episode is foundations theology for the everyday and a Baptist. We are all familiar with the Bible. Actually, familiar ought to be an understatement. God's written word is fundamental to Christianity. What we believe and how we live are defined by the Bible. We have no starting point for knowing God, for knowing the Gospel, or for being equipped for Christian living without what God has made known to us in the 66 books of the Bible. But there's the question How did these particular writings become a part of God's word? Why these writings and not others? How can we know that we have everything God intends for us to have? These are the questions addressed by the doctrine of the Canon of Scripture.

Speaker 1: 1:02

In the next few episodes we will define what we mean by Canon, look at the principles of Canon, discuss the development of the Old Testament Canon and of the New Testament Canon, review other possible candidates not included in the Bible as we know it, and ask and answer the question of whether or not we should see the Canon as closed. In this episode we'll look at the first issue What does the Canon of Scripture mean? What are we talking about when discussing the Canon of Scripture. In short, we're answering the question of what books should be recognized as a part of the inspired word of God. The Bible, as we know it, contains 66 books. Why not 65? Why not 67? Did we miss any books that should be included, or did we include books that shouldn't be there? God has spoken, but how can we be sure that we have just His words, but all of His words? These are the questions addressed in the doctrine of the Canon of Scripture.

Speaker 1: 2:06

The word Canon comes from the Greek word canone, which originally meant rod or read, but developed to refer to a measuring rod or measuring instrument, and it eventually came to mean standard or authority. The word is used some in scripture, though its use in scripture is not necessarily connected to the concept of scripture's canonicity as much as it is just a general standard or authority. It is used, for example, in Galatians 616, which says as many as walk according to this rule. Rule, there being the translation of the Greek canone. This rule peace and mercy be upon them. The same word also shows up in Philippians 316. To the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Rule, there again being the translation of the Greek word, and both of these texts use the word to refer to a rule of faith or a rule of conduct or rule of doctrine revealed through scripture, and that is a true rule and authority, a standard, but that's not necessarily the rule we are discussing today. I give those simply to help us understand.

Speaker 1: 3:22

The term Canon means rule or authority. The following question, then, is what is the rule, what is the standard we have in mind when we speak of the canon of scripture? What is the canon in the phrase canon of scripture? When you ask someone to define the canon of scripture, you'll probably get one of three responses. Some people apply the term to a list of books, thought to be an authoritative list of which books are and are not scripture. Canon speaks of a catalog of accepted books. In this view, the list of books is canon. The list of books is the authority by which we can know which books are and are not scripture. A second response you might get is some people apply the term canon to the books themselves. The scriptures have authority and are the authority on matters of faith and practice. That would be the concept I touched on already in Philippians 3 and Galatians 6, both of which use the word this way.

Speaker 1: 4:34

The early church too often used canon to speak of the authority of scripture itself. In this view, the biblical books, and especially the content of the biblical books, are canon. They determine what is right and what is wrong. They are the authority for the church, the ruling authority in the church. The third answer you might get is some apply the term to a set of criteria used to determine whether or not a book ought to be considered a part of God's inspired written word. Canon is used of the principles or tests which may be used to gauge whether or not a writing should be considered a part of God's word. In this view, the tests themselves are canon. The tests are the standard by which we determine which books are and are not a part of God's inspired word, and in a certain sense, all three of these capture a part of what the discussion of canon is about.

Speaker 1: 5:35

The canon of scripture is a list of authoritative books, known to be authoritative because they have passed a certain set of standards. To put it another way, it's a canonical list of canonical books the second idea which are included because they have passed a canonical set of criteria, and so we have three different uses of the term canon here, each one emphasizing a different aspect of what scripture is, of the nature of scripture. But our discussion of canon is primarily going to be focused on that third aspect of the criteria by which we can know whether or not a book is a part of God's inspired word, and I'll give some rationale for that in a bit. Canon primarily deals with the question of how are we to know whether or not a writing should be received by the church into the biblical canon. What determines whether a book deserves a place in the Bible? I will argue that this is the central question, answered by a right understanding of the canon of scripture.

Speaker 1: 6:42

Now on the other two ideas. The first approach that the canon speaks of an authoritative list. That is a part of our discussion, but it is not primary. It is important that we have a list, but it is important to distinguish this because if the list itself is the authority, its authority is contingent on those who wrote the list. A definition of canon that primarily looks at church councils or church authorities to determine which books are authentically the word of God places as its ultimate standard the decrees of those councils.

Speaker 1: 7:20

But as we will discuss, canon is not about assigning divine inspiration to an otherwise ordinary book. It is about discovering which books are divinely inspired. Canonicity is an innate attribute of any writing that is truly the Word of God. Any writing that is from God, comes from God to His people, intended by God for His people to have until the end of time. Any book inspired by God and given to His people in this way is a part of the canon, the collection of those writings which are from God the moment it is written. It's not a matter of it sitting around until it was discovered by the church and then given this status as divinely inspired, as canonical, but rather it is an innate attribute that the church can discover, but the church has no authority to define or to ascribe authority to certain books. That is important because, as we think about, for example, the Catholic inclusion of the Apocrypha in their list of the canon, we would argue that, well, maybe the Catholic church views those as canonical, but the church has no authority to ascribe canonicity to those books. And therefore, if those books fail certain objective standards, especially standards revealed in the Word of God, which we will get into later, if these books fail to meet those standards. No church council can change that by adding that book to a list. Just because the book is on a list of canonical books does not make it canonical. So again, the church's responsibility is to discover the books God has given to the church, not to find otherwise ordinary books and elevate them to the place of canonical. Church councils have no authority to define the canon. They can only recognize what is and is not truly God's Word. So the right definition of the Church's canon will include a list of inspired books, but only as an effect of those books being recognized as divinely inspired, not as the determining factor in establishing canonicity. So that would be my push-pack on that first approach in using canon simply to refer to the final list rather than using the term to refer to the process of identifying canonical books.

Speaker 1: 9:49

The second approach I described for you is the idea that the word canon applies to the books themselves, that the books have authority in the church. The books are the rule in the church, and that idea is true, but it isn't the main issue in a discussion of canon. The books contained in God's written word are the authority on all matters of faith and practice. They are the rule, the standard of life and of belief. God's word defines and confines what true Christianity is And in theological terms, that discussion takes place under the authority of Scripture, not under the canon of Scripture. And the word canone, when used in this sense in Scripture or in early church writings is typically referring to the authority of Scripture itself. Again, there's a distinction between that and the discussion we're having now on the canon of Scripture. We're using the term in this sense to refer to the list of criteria by which we can know whether or not a book is a part of the inspired word of God.

Speaker 1: 11:06

But while this discussion of the authority of Scripture itself is not central to the discussion of the canon of Scripture, recognizing the authority of the biblical books should still be a part of our discussion of canon. The question before us is which books must be submitted to as those which speak with God's own words, which writings demand our submission and which ones may be rightly disregarded. Which books are the authority in the church, and how are we to know which books speak with God's authority and which ones do not? If, as 2 Timothy 3.16 says, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, if all Scripture comes from the mouth of God. Which books are Scripture in this sense and which are not? Which must we submit to? as to God himself, the authority of Scripture is important for our discussion, but, again, it is not what the doctrine of the canon of Scripture is centrally about. What we want to know is how do we determine whether or not a writing comes from God and should be a part of his word to his people for all time? So, then, the issue addressed by the canon of Scripture is how do we know what is God's word? That question assumes that we are looking for authoritative books, and it will result in a list of books that are truly God's word.

Speaker 1: 12:35

But foremost in this discussion is the set of principles by which we may identify which writings are part of God's inspired, inerrant, authoritative scriptures. It is an exercise of discovering God's word written. These principles do not assign canonicity to otherwise ordinary writings. God has spoken. He has done so in written form. He has preserved that form for us so we can know Him.

Speaker 1: 13:07

How do we recognize God's word revealed through the human pen? That is the central concern before us. Answering this question rightly is of utmost importance. If we accept anything as God's word that is not divinely inspired, we risk requiring something of others that God does not require. If, on the other hand, we reject a section of scripture that is truly from God, we will not obey God as we ought to, since we will be missing a portion of His word. We should be very concerned about knowing exactly what is God's word. That leads to, again, this discussion of canon. We need a standard by which we can gauge what is, and is not, god's word. Going forward, we'll dig deeper into these principles.

Speaker 1: 14:00

I hope this piqued your interest in this discussion. The canon of scripture is often sidelined as a non-essential discussion reserved for scholars, academics and theologians, but I assure you that it is essential for your own faith. Can you know that you have all of God's word in the pages of your Bible? Should we believe that we truly have God's word collected and preserved for us? We will seek out answers to these questions in the following podcasts. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Theological Touchpoints podcast. This podcast is a production of Sword and Trumpet Ministries. For more information, visit wwwswordandtrumpetorg or theologicaltouchpointscom. If you have thoughts or questions, you can contact us at podcastathéologicaltouchpointscom. Now may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.