Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to the Theological Touchpoints podcast. I'm Julian. The focus for this episode is Foundations Theology for the Everyday Anabaptist. In recent episodes we have been discussing the canon of Scripture. In this final episode we will look at the issue of the clothes of the canon. Should Christians today expect personal revelations from God? Should we expect authoritative writings beyond the 66 known and accepted books of the Bible to be composed or discovered? How we answer this question may be more important than you think.

Speaker 1: 0:42

Confusion about the clothes of the biblical canon opens us up to ideas that run contrary to God's will for His people. God is a God who speaks. He has spoken to us through His Word. That Word has come to us through chosen spokespersons. Those were His prophets in the Old Testament and His apostles in the New Testament. So one of the things we need to understand, coming into this question of the clothes of the canon, is that if someone is to speak for God, he must be called by him for that purpose. That leaves us with two possibilities for the origin of a new canonical book. We could either discover a previously unknown canonical book, one that was written by an apostle or a chosen spokesperson but has not been discovered previously by the church We could discover a previously unknown book or a new canonical book could be written, god would call someone from our era, from our generation, to speak again on His behalf. I believe there are good reasons to think neither of these have happened or will happen. It is unlikely that we will find a previously unknown book and it is unlikely that a new canonical book will be written, and we'll look at some reasons why we can be confident that this is true. I hear at the outside.

Speaker 1: 2:01

It's important to understand that the Orthodox Church, the historic church, has believed that the canon is closed. It's true that there's not much in the early church writings to suggest that they definitively believed the canon was closed, but there is also no evidence that they were looking for further revelation beyond what they already had. And again, the understanding of the church in the last 2,000 years has been that the canon is closed. We have everything God intends for us to have and we should be content with that and we should give ourselves to studying and understanding and obeying the word of God that we have today. So, again, looking at the close of the canon, asking the question are there more books that could be written and added to the authoritative word of God, and I'm going to answer that with a no, and I have 5 reasons why I believe the canon is closed.

Speaker 1: 2:58

First is the issue of authority, and what I mean by that is that those who question the close of the canon, those who are looking for a new revelation in addition to Scripture, seem to be the ones who have a hard time submitting to the clear teachings of Scripture. They don't like what God has said, so they're looking for another revelation. And I say this just to point out that the questions about the completion of the canon, about the close of the canon, typically arise from those who are doubting not only the completion of the canon but doubting Scripture as a whole, doubting the inspiration, the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture. And so it's their refusal to submit to the authority God has already given, the revelation God has already given their refusal to submit to that leads them to question whether or not the canon is complete, leads them to look for maybe another word from God that's more palatable, that fits more with the God they would like to have, but really that's nothing more than idolatry. The desire to discover additional revelation goes hand in hand with a stubborn resistance to the authority of the text God has already revealed. And so, first argument that the canon is closed. And maybe it's not strictly about the canon, but just to point out that, again, those who are questioning the completion of the canon often not always, but often are those who are questioning other aspects of Scripture as well, or disagreeing with other aspects of Scripture, and they're looking for a different word that they like better, rather than the word God has already revealed.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Secondly, i believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. Because I believe Scripture is sufficient, i'm inclined to believe that Scripture is also complete. By that I mean the New Testament clearly teaches that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness and that through the Scriptures we can be made complete. And so we have everything we need. And we ask the question why would we look for more writings? Why would we look for more revelation, since we already have more than enough? we already have everything we need, everything God intends for us to have.

Speaker 1: 5:05

Again, this isn't an argument strictly against the writing of more books, but I'm simply pointing out that those additional books would not and could not contain anything that is essential for God's people to have, since God has already given us everything we need in His Word. He has told us He has, and we need to be willing to submit to that and believe it. And so the question is even if God chose to give additional revelation, i wonder what purpose it would serve. God has already provided us with everything we need, and so if we discovered a writing that somehow got lost, or somebody produced a new writing that was truly inspired by God which I don't believe could happen, but hypothetically, if that happened, we would wonder what it's going to add to the body of truth that God has already given us in His Word, since we already have everything we need. So, arguing from sufficiency, and God has told us in the New Testament that, with the inclusion in the New Testament, the Old Testament and New Testament together give us everything we need to live the way God wants us to live.

Speaker 1: 6:09

So general arguments for the close of the canon. One again those who question the close of the canon are often those who have a hard time with What God has revealed. A secondly, we believe God has given us everything we need, and so we're not looking for anything to add To God's revelation, since we have. We have enough, not everything we want to know, but everything we need to know in God's word. A third reason is Prophetic, as we look at the overall timeline of scripture and beginning in Eden and and walking through the history of the world, with the fall, and then the flood and Babel, and then the spreading over the earth, israel being called out as a nation, god working to redeem them, god setting them up in their land, the judgment of Israel because their sin, israel being sent in exile and eventually coming back into the land, christ coming as the Savior from sin, and then the New Testament, of course, being written on the heels of Christ's life and work and ministry, and death and resurrection, and The New Testament.

Speaker 1: 7:11

The Old Testament ends with the expectation of Christ's return. The New Testament ends in revelation with the expectation of final judgment, and we understand from that this final judgment That's being pointed toward is the last judgment, that is, this is the end of the world as we know it. This is the end of history on earth. A Christ return and the event surrounding it is the next big Event, and so scripture is not left blanks that still need to be filled again As we compare the Old Testament to the New Testament. The Old Testament ends with the expectation of Christ's coming. His advent triggers the writing of the New Testament, but while the Old Testament ends with an expectation of Christ's coming, the New Testament ends with the expectation of the final Consumption. That is, the next event on the biblical calendar, is the last event before ultimate salvation, ultimate judgment and the onset of the new creation. And So, since the next event that's been revealed to us is the final event, again We wonder what else is there that we need to know beyond what we've already been given That would be essential for us to live the way God wants us to live between now and that final judgment.

Speaker 1: 8:27

The three of those are somewhat general arguments, i believe, biblically grounded, but not necessarily based on explicit texts. The fourth one is a little more specific and then I think, really the last one We're gonna look at. The fifth one is the strongest argument for the close of the cannon, and we'll get there in a bit. Fourth, then, is the issue of God's providence. God, of course, revealed scripture, he inspired it and he works to preserve it, and it seems strange that God would inspire a text but leave it undiscovered. It's unlikely that this would happen if he intended for the church to have it, he would have seen that the church got it. And so, looking at we talked about at the beginning With, basically, our two options are either an unknown, a previously unknown book is discovered or a new book is written.

Speaker 1: 9:16

Looking at the idea of maybe a previously unknown book being discovered, like Apostle Paul references at one point, the epistle, to the layout of scenes, you know what would happen if we would find that. Well, it's possible that an inspired text has been left undiscovered, but I would say it's unlikely, given that the book, if it's truly inspired, came through divine inspiration. And if God inspired it, he is going to ensure that it is delivered to the church. If he intended for the church to have it, he would have seen that the church got it. The idea that a book exists that is necessary for the church to have But that the church does not currently possess and has not possessed for the last 2000 years, that idea runs contrary to the entire idea of God's gracious revelation. This makes it extremely unlikely that we would discover a previously unknown book. So first, four reasons why I think the canon is closed. First, those questioning it are those who are Incline to question other parts of scripture or scriptures a whole. Secondly, we believe God's given us everything we need, and so we wonder what else could come. Third, in terms of the timeline of scripture scripture as we have at the New Testament ends with expectation of final judgment, christ's return and the eternal reign of Christ, and so there's nothing else We need to know as far as future events, between now and when those events actually happen.

Speaker 1: 10:38

A fourth Providence of God. If God inspired a text out of his love for the church and his desire to make himself known, if he inspired it, he's going to see that it makes its way into the hands of the church. Again, that's not an absolute argument against it, but I think it's a strong argument against an old book and old writing being discovered, and I was thinking that it's divine. And Then, fifth and finally, is the idea of Apostolicity. Now we've come back to this a number of times.

Speaker 1: 11:07

We keep touching on this, and it's important because question of apostolicity is a question of who is Qualified to speak for God. And, as we've discussed already, a requirement for canonical book, a requirement for a book that is considered Scripture, is that it must come by the pen of somebody called by God or it must be verified By somebody called by God to speak on his behalf. It's way of the prophets in the Old Testament and the Apostles in the New Testament. So we need a spokesperson who is identified with God, who is verified by signs and wonders, who Can speak for God or testify to God's truth. And the question of looking for maybe a new writing through a 21st century Apostle. I think this helps us understand that that is not going to happen, because Those who speak for God are again God's apostles and prophets, and the Old Testament coming through the prophets, the New Testament coming through the apostles. And one of the requirements for an apostle is they have to be somebody who walked with Christ, who knew him, who was taught by him and called by him to speak on his behalf. That's not going to happen with anyone born 2000 years after Christ, and I think we see this idea clearly in Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2, and also Ephesians 2, verse 20.

Speaker 1: 12:35

These together give us a framework for God's method of inspiration, where the Old Testament came through the prophets and the New Testament comes through Christ and his apostles. Therefore, for a book to be added to the Old Testament, we need a prophet, or to the New Testament. We need an apostle, and not having any of those today, because there is no one alive who is qualified in the way that these prophets and apostles were, then we ought not expect more revelation. So Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2, say God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. So here the twofold framework is set up for us.

Speaker 1: 13:24

God spoke at various times in various ways through the prophets, by the prophets in the past, looking at the Old Testament as that which is being talked about and the prophets as the ones who spoke the Old Testament. And then he says in these last days, in these final days, he has spoken to us by his Son. So Christ is the full and final revelation of God. This tells us two things. One is we look at this being the last days. We see this as God's final revelation is in his Son, and Christ has been revealed to us in the New Testament. And at least these verses in Hebrews would indicate that there is not a later revelation coming, because the final revelation comes through his Son. But more specifically for our conversation here, we see that God speaks by his Son. Now does that mean that just the red letters are inspired, just the red letters are to be seen as God speaking? I would say no.

Speaker 1: 14:27

We understand that Christ called apostles to testify on his behalf. He sent them out to do that work. In John, chapter 14, 15 and 16, we find material of him saying there are things I want you to understand. You can't bear them now, they won't make sense to you now, but the Spirit is coming. He will teach you these things, he will remind you of what happened, teach you new things, show you things to come. And that's really that lays the framework for the New Testament as we have it in them recalling what Christ did, understanding the effects of what Christ did, being taught the truth, teaching that truth to the church through the rest of the New Testament. And then, of course, prophecy as well, being told things to come, where they look to the future And there's a bit of prophecy in the New Testament as well and pointing to future events. So, hebrews, this framework of the Old Testament came by the prophets. The New Testament comes through Christ, as we understand. What does it mean? Christ speaking? We see Christ speaks to his church, to his people, through his apostles, who he taught and he sent to speak on his behalf Of. The same framework is also in Ephesians 2, verse 20.

Speaker 1: 15:44

And talking about the church, paul says that the church was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, jesus, christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So Christ is the cornerstone, the reference point for everything else. The apostles and prophets lay the foundation on which the church stands, the foundation being the word of God, the truth, the doctrine of the apostles and prophets, that which they received from Christ. And then it is laid in Scripture for the church. The church is built on the foundation of Scripture And this foundation was laid at the time of the apostles. So again, the New Testament came to us through the apostles. But these aren't just a random collection of people. They're specific men who lived with Christ, walked with Christ, were taught by Christ. But the foundation of Scripture was laid in the time of the apostles, laid by the apostles.

Speaker 1: 16:38

This rules out the idea of any modern day apostles being involved in laying the foundation. The church is built on this foundation and this foundation has already been laid. It was laid in the first century by Christ and the apostles. A no modern day apostle can add to that foundation. In fact, in their case I think of another text in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians, also talking about a foundation, where it says no foundation can be laid than that which is laid, which is Christ. And those modern apostles are so often laying another foundation than the foundation laid in the New Testament. That is the foundation upon which the church is built and the foundation that finds its reference in Christ. Christ is the cornerstone of that foundation And there is no other foundation for the church than the one given to us in his word, the word of Christ in the New Testament.

Speaker 1: 17:34

With the end of the Apostolic Age, at the death of the apostles, came the end of any possibility of further revelation. Through that means It may be rightly concluded that God's last days that he references in Hebrews, chapter 1, god's last days, are complete. That is, the days of revelation through Christ, and therefore there's no biblical expectation of further revelation. And this eliminates the idea of a new canonical book being written. No one exists who is qualified to write it. An apostle needs to be an eyewitness of Jesus' life and ministry and had to be called and taught by Jesus. None born after the first century can claim this.

Speaker 1: 18:14

So five reasons there for you why we should believe the canon of Scripture is closed. There are issues that we deal with when we forget this truth or when we're fuzzy on this truth. We tend to drift away from the biblical center, from understanding how it is we grow in relationship with God, knowledge of God, fellowship with God, and we're going to look at three of these. So we're looking at the close of the canon kind of in two ways. The one is thinking about canon and recognizing which books are from God and which ones aren't from God. We have good reasons to believe that there's nothing for us outside of God's revelation. A companion truth to that is understanding that God is clearly known, clearly revealed in these books, and one of the reasons why we hold to these books is we believe these books truly lead us to God. And when we begin to think that we can have relationship with God outside of Scripture, we begin to drift away from the true God. One of the issues we have when our understanding of the nature of Scripture begins to crumble is how we answer the question of what relationship with Jesus looks like.

Speaker 1: 19:36

As Christ's followers, as Jesus's followers, as His people, we want to know Him, we want to have relationship with Him. Does this relationship come through the Word of God Or perhaps should we expect to hear Him speak? Maybe in personal devotional time, i speak to Him and He speaks to me, and we have this time of fellowship. Can I expect to hear from Christ outside of His Word? I am of the persuasion that Christ speaks to His people through His Word and He has chosen to limit Himself to His Word. There's far more in the text of the Word of God than we can ever discover, far more for us to mine out than we will ever exhaust. And Christ has revealed Himself fully and clearly in the Word. And when we expect to hear from Him outside of the Word, wanting to hear Him speak, wanting to hear His voice, thinking we're hearing His voice, i believe we're moving away from the true Christ.

Speaker 1: 20:44

And you may have heard people reference the living Word and the written Word and how they want relationship with the living Word and not so much with the written Word, or the living Word is more important than the written Word, or we need the living Word instead of the written Word. I believe this division between the living Word and the written Word is a false dichotomy. We must not divide between the living Word and the written Word. Yes, they are distinct, but the one, the living Word, can only be known through the written Word, through the truth contained in Scripture. There is no Christ apart from He who has revealed Himself through the written Word. Now you might receive this as restrictive. In my perspective, this is extremely liberating, right, because there's not revelation that we need beyond what we have, and we don't need to have some supernatural experience, some really special devotional time with Christ, to know we're okay. We read the Word, the Spirit of God ministers the truth of the Word to our hearts and we grow in our love for Christ, we grow in our knowledge of Him, we grow in our faith in Him and a relationship with Him develops as we anchor ourselves in the written Word.

Speaker 1: 22:05

I think it's possible to have a relationship with the living Word while disregarding the written Word. In simple terms, this is nothing more than idolatry. This is an issue where I believe there's a fair amount of confusion in our circles, in the Anabaptist communities and in the Mennonite communities. This is something I plan to talk on more in the future, but we're going to leave it for now. So one issue thinking about relationship with Christ. And if we lose track of what the Bible is as Christ revealing himself to us, and begin to look somewhere else for an authority on Christ, even if that's personal experience, i believe we're moving away from the faith once for all delivered to the saints. A second issue when our Bibliology begins to suffer, when we think about what it means to be led by the Spirit, this is similar to what I was just talking about, but specifically, what does Spirit-filled life look like? Are we led through the Word or outside the Word?

Speaker 1: 23:09

It is true that at times, people have wrongly used the written word to stifle true spirituality, and that is wrong. That is a misuse of the Word of God. That does not mean that Spirit-filled Christianity can be experienced divorced from the Word of God. A phrase is like God told me, or the Spirit led me, or maybe on the other side, i don't have a conviction for that. Now, god hasn't convicted me in that way that I need to do that. Those are just excuses for ignoring God's Word. God has spoken, His revelation is clear and it is complete. We have it. We know it's from Him and we know it's what He wants from us. The Spirit teaches us through the Word, he illuminates our minds to understand it. He instructs us in the way of life through His Word. Spirit-led Christianity can't be anything apart from word-led Christianity. Those who are confused about the completion of God's revelation in the canon of Scripture may be tempted to look outside the Word for true spirituality. But outside the Word is only deception. If you want to be led by the Spirit of God, read His Word.

Speaker 1: 24:30

The third issue, the third consequence of forgetting the doctrine of the canon of Scripture, is the issue of revelation. Do we expect God to add to Scripture? Now, we might think about this just in terms of a manuscript founded in archaeological dig somewhere, or maybe the conversations we've already had of other writings from the first century that some have posited as possible canonical writings. But really I think this issue is closer than that. The close of the canon is much more relevant than you might think.

Speaker 1: 25:08

While very few of us are ready to add more books to the canon, many emphasize hearing from God in ways that contradict or minimize Scripture. If you're familiar at all with the book Jesus Calling and the entire movement that came out of that, jesus Calling being a book written by Sarah Young, and it's a record of supposed revelations received from Jesus himself in her devotional time, and they're posited as just devotional discoveries. They're framed as that. these aren't authoritative, these are just. This is my experience of who God is, and I would see that as being wrong on two levels. One is the issues we've already been talking about. The idea that we can know God, have a relationship with God, while unhitching ourselves from Scripture is wrong. Relationship with God comes through the word of God. The first issue is methodological, where the approach to relationship with God is one that ignores Scripture. Secondly, it doesn't matter what you say about it and you can say this that I'm not saying this is authoritative. yet they are her own ideas, the writer's own ideas of Jesus's words to her, and by writing them down and sending them to the church, she is communicating, and these are God's words for you too. She is claiming to speak for Christ or at least authoritatively, on behalf of him, testifying of what he said to her. Writing these revelations down and distributing them just adds to the confusion. These are not just God's words to her, but are his words to his people everywhere. This is not only an offense to the doctrine of Scripture's inspiration that the word of God comes as God's chosen spokesmen speak for him as they are breathed into by him. That's not her method at all. It's not only an offense to the doctrine of Scripture's inspiration, but also to the doctrine of the clothes of the canon. Closer to home, but this hits a little closer to home. What I'm about to say might make some of you uncomfortable and might upset some of you.

Speaker 1: 27:30

Dorcas Stutzman, the wife of Steve Stutzman, who is a well-known speaker in Mennonite circles, released a book in 2018 entitled Dear Daughter Letters from a Father's Heart. It shares the same premise as Jesus Calling the book by Sarah Young, and it suffers from the same shortcomings. It is no less than an affront to God's word and to God himself. It operates as further revelation from God, as things helpful for our spiritual well-being, but they're clearly things beyond God's own word. And now you could argue that these are devotional books not claiming to be scripture, but they're authors claim to speak for God. What else is that but a claim to divine inspiration?

Speaker 1: 28:15

She says at the outset that she believes these are from God. She says they are downloads from the Father to me during personal times of connection with Him. On the one hand, she claims not to be inspired, she says she doesn't believe this is on par with scripture, but then she goes on to make what she believes are accurate statements about the character of God. So she expects these to function with at least a measure of authority, a measure of trustworthiness, a measure of the attributes of an inspired writing, while at the same time claiming no, no, no, it's not scripture. And while I want to take that at face value and believe that she genuinely thinks that what she's doing here is it can be distinguished from scriptural revelation, what she has written is unhelpful and in my opinion, it's wrong. If you look at God as she has portrayed him, he is a motive We understand.

Speaker 1: 29:13

God has emotions, but the sort of emotions and the way they're portrayed is clearly different than the way God has chosen to reveal himself in scripture. It distorts God's character, magnifying certain aspects of God's personality while minimizing others. In the end, effectively, it's God saying I love you, no matter who you are, no matter what you feel, no matter what you've been through, no matter what you've done. I love you, and that's good. We want to celebrate the love of God, but that's not the way God communicates his love. In scripture. He says I love you, but he says your sin is a problem and I've saved you from your sin and I'm working now to redeem you from your sin. And so there are aspects of the book that are somewhat helpful, but the image of God I come away with is a different image, again, than what God has communicated in scripture.

Speaker 1: 30:15

Another issue is the book is very much me-centered. The Bible is very much God-centered, and when I read the Bible I come away thinking most of all, god cares about God. God is concerned about his glory. God is concerned about his holiness. God is concerned about even his grace and his mercy being known. But God's demonstration of mercy in the gospel is not for our sake, it's for his God's love for us. Yes, we experience that, yes, we enjoy it, but the thing we celebrate about the love of God is how he demonstrates it to us when we don't deserve it, when we couldn't earn it, and that leads us not to focus on ourselves as the key character, but to turn and say it must be you. There's nothing about me that's lovable like this. I'm a sinner. I am an enemy of God, apart from the grace of Christ. That's my nature. The Bible talks about us apart from God. Nothing about me that's desirable. The fact that God loves me must mean that God is great And it results in praise to God. Not to ourselves, but to God. This isn't a trash.

Speaker 1: 31:32

The Stutzman's session And I want to believe that they are sincere, that they genuinely want to help people, that she compiled this book believing that it would be helpful to God's people. My opinion is, at the least, this book is unhelpful and at the most it is anti-biblical. Again, i'm not saying that she's being intentionally deceptive or doing anything beyond trying to lead people to God. Yet in her misunderstanding of the nature of Scripture and of Revelation, she has produced something that has the potential to distort people's perception of God's truth, god's character and God's gospel. The God portrayed in Dear Daughter seems to me to be more like the one of Dorcas' imagination than it is like the God, the Bible. I'm zooming back out a little bit.

Speaker 1: 32:23

I mentioned three issues. When we forget the nature of Scripture, specifically the books we have and willingly limiting ourselves to these books, i noted that some will argue around Scripture because they want relationship with Jesus. Some will disregard Scripture because they want to be led by the Spirit And some disregard Scripture because they think there's something more that would be helpful or that we need. It's interesting to me, those who try to get around Scripture do so by claiming revelation from the Father, claiming relationship with the Son or instruction from the Spirit, and they actually set the persons of the Trinity against their own words.

Speaker 1: 33:10

God desires to be known. We need revelation from the Father, we need relationship with Christ. We need to be taught by the Spirit. But how does that happen? How does that operate? God revealed Himself in His Word. His revelation is perfect. His revelation is final. The Son is made known through His Word and we enter into relationship with Him, into saving knowledge of Him. But true relationship with Him through the Word And the Spirit of God certainly works in His people, but He does so through the Word, through Scripture.

Speaker 1: 33:49

God desires to be known and He has made Himself known. He is known in His Word, the Holy Bible, the inspired Scriptures, the 66 canonical books of our Bibles. We need no further revelation, we need no more light. We are already flooded by it. We need only read and obey. So do we need Spirit-filled Christ-loving Father following Christians today? Absolutely. We need vibrant Christianity as much in this generation as in any. But vibrancy and spirituality are false if they disagree with what God has already revealed.

Speaker 1: 34:30

Those who disregard God's Bible or look for new revelation, though sincere, are sincerely going the wrong direction. We need no new writings, we need no revelations. We need Christians led by the Word. Can we be sure we have God's Word for us? Yes, absolutely. The many reasons we've explored in these past episodes are more than enough for the true follower to have full confidence in the Bible as God's Word, given to His people and for His people, for me and for you. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Theological Dutch Points podcast. This podcast is a production of Sword and Trumpet Ministries. For more information, visit wwwswordandtrumpetorgpodcast or theologicaltouchpointscom. If you have thoughts or questions, you can contact us at podcastatheologicaltouchpointscom. 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 Be who calls you as faithful, who also will do it.