JESUS: WITNESS OF CANONICITY


TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE BIBLICAL RECORD


      Clyde T. Francisco wrote, “Today men have learned that they can never destroy the Bible by open attack. History is too full of witnesses to the contrary. Now its greatest enemies are either those who pretend to be its friends or who as its friends become its most dangerous foes.” Endnote


      Edward J. Young wrote, “It is difficult to discover precisely when hostile criticism of the Bible first made its appearance. Of course, all sin is a criticism of the Word of God, a manifestation of the desire to be wise above that which God has commanded.” Endnote


      The Word of God cannot be silenced (Jer. 36:32). The King of England imprisoned William Tyndale for fifteen months (1535-36) in a dark prison of Brussels for translating the New Testament from Latin into English (1525). The King burned the New Testaments that Tyndale translated. Then, the King ordered William Tyndale strangled and burned (1536). Waiting for death in the Vilvorde prison during 1535, William Tyndale wrote a friend to bring the Book, “But most of all. . . my Hebrew Bible, Grammar and Vocabulary, that I may spend my time in that pursuit.” The Word of God did not die. Within a century, the 1611 King James Version contained 90 percent of Tyndale’s English wordings.


New Testament Documents Endnote


      In terms of ancient documents, an astounding number of copies containing all or part of the Greek New Testament exists today. More than 5,000 ancient copies (manuscripts, versions, lectionaries) lend conclusive evidence to the accuracy of the New Testament record. Footnote Through New Testament textual criticism, today’s readers possess substantially the same text as the 1st century writers without any doctrine affected by transcription variations.


      Sir Frederic Kenyon, a scholar second to none on ancient manuscripts, said, “The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.” Endnote


      By comparison with other historical works of that era, only nine or ten manuscripts of Caesar’s Gallic War exist (oldest 900 years later than Caesar). The earliest manuscripts of Herodotus (eight scraps) or Thucydides date 1,300 years later than the originals. Endnote


      In the Enlightenment of the 18th century, a movement called source or form criticism opposed the miraculous and questioned the historical accuracy of the Gospels. Footnote Form critics tried to recover a purely human Jesus. Yet, as Bruce said, “No matter how far back we may press our researches into the roots of the gospel story, no matter how we classify the gospel material, we never arrive at a non-supernatural Jesus.” Endnote


Gospel Records


Jn. 20:30-31. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

 31. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.


      The Gospels did not attempt to bring a biographical chronology of Jesus’ life. Each gospel proclaimed redemption through the of life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The four Gospels approached the life of Jesus differently to convey specific meaning, not because of any errors.


Mark. John Mark (Acts 12:12, 13:5-13, 15:37-41; Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:11; Phile. 24; 1 Pet. 5:13; cf. Mk. 14:51-52) wrote the first gospel before the death of Peter (late 50s) and became a source for Matthew and Luke. Matthew includes nearly all the events of Mark–606 out of 661 verses in Mark. Mark, the shortest and most dramatic gospel, described the rapid activity of Jesus (“immediately”–Mk. 1:10-18-20-21; euquV). Writing for a Roman audience (Mk. 15:21–Rufus of Romans 16:13), Mark presented Jesus as the “Son of God” (beginning–Mk. 1:1; Father–Mk. 1:11, 9:7; demons–Mk. 3:11, 5:7; Jesus–Mk. 13:32, 14:61-62; centurion–Mk. 15:39) and showed His servanthood (Mk. 10:45). Papias (A.D. 140) said, “Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not indeed in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ” (Eusebius, Church History 3.39.15).


Matthew. Matthew the tax collector (Mt. 9:9), writing before A.D. 70, showed Jesus as the Messiah (Mt. 12:28, 21:1-11). He wrote for a Hebrew audience to evangelize Jews and confirm their faith (greater than Moses– Mt. 5:21-27-31-33-38-43 [contrasts with Pentateuch]; fulfillment of prophecy–Mt. 1:22-23, 2:15-17-18-23; genealogy through David to Abraham–Mt. 1:1-17; “lost sheep of Israel”–Mt. 10:6; answered Jewish charge about the resurrection–Mt. 28:11-15). Matthew organized his gospel around the five discourses of Jesus–“It came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings” (Sermon on the Mount–5-7; commission to the disciples–10; parables–13; forgiveness–18; Olivet discourse–24-25).


Luke. Luke the historian (cf. Lk. 2:1, 3:1), physician (Col. 4:14), and only Gentile contributor to the New Testament, traveled with Paul (Acts 16:10). His carefully investigated record (Lk. 1:1-4) of Luke-Acts ended with Paul in prison (early 60s). Luke focused on Jesus’ ministry to outcasts such as Gentiles (Lk. 2:32), immoral (Lk. 7:36-50), hated (Lk. 19:1-10), deprived (Lk. 14:12-14), Samaritan (Lk. 10:29), Lazarus (Lk. 16:19), women (Lk. 23:27, 55; 24:11).


John. John the “beloved disciple” (Jn. 13:23-25, 19:26-27, 20:2-9, 21:24-25) also known as the “son of thunder” (Mk. 3:17) and the “other disciple” (Jn. 18:15-17), wrote the last Gospel (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.1.1) after A.D. 70. He emphasized the deity and preexistence of Christ. Distinct from the other gospels, John wrote with a depth about the meaning of the events (believe, life, love, abide, truth, world, light, glory) with an evangelistic intent. John pointed to Jesus’ deity with seven signs (Jn. 2:1-11, 4:46-54, 5:2-9, 6:1-14, 6:16-21, 9:1-7, 11:1-44 [Lazarus unique to John]) and seven “I Am” (Jn. 6:35, 8:12, 10:7-9-11-14, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1) sayings. Clement of Alexandria (Eusebius, Hist. 4.14.7) said, “John . . . composed a spiritual gospel.”


Canon of the New Testament


      Canonicity refers to a test for straightness, a norm or standard. How did the twenty-seven books of the New Testament pass the test and receive the status given the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament (2 Pet. 3:16)?


Test of Inspiration (2 Tim. 3:16–“God-breathed”)

•          Orthodoxy (rule of faith)–beliefs the church regarded as correct

•          Apostleship–authorship by an author or by an associate of an apostle

•          Universality–broad geographical acceptance, edifying to the church


Test of recognition–church accepted the divine origin of the New Testament

•          Sub-apostolic writings rejected (Barnabas, 1 and 2 Clement, Epistles of Ignatius, Epistle of Polycarp; Shepherd of Hermas and Didache)

•          New Testament Apocrypha rejected (Gospel of the Hebrews, Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Philip)

•          Books classified as accepted, disputed, or rejected by Origin (A.D. 250) and Eusebius (A.D. 325)


Developing the Canon


Early Christian writers (to end of the 2d century). Tertullian mentioned Cor., Gal., Phil., Thess., Eph., and Rom. as samples of authoritative writings (collection of Paul’s letters); by A.D. 180 most N.T. books were known and used (2 Clement , ca. 150 cites Gospel text as Scripture; Irenaeus cited all but Phile., Jas., 2 Pet., 3 Jn. and Jude)


Writers or councils

•          Canon of Marcion (A.D. 140, used mutilated version of Luke and excluded pastorals) –opposed as heretical but prodded Christians to name genuine books

•          Muratorian Canon (A.D. 170, without James, Hebrews, Peter’s epistles, doubted Revelation)–discovered in Milan by Muratori and published 1740

•          Letter of Athanasius (A.D. 367)–accepted all 27 books, agreed upon by Council of Hippo, Carthage, Jerome

•          Third Council of Carthage (A.D. 397, general agreement after this time)–accepted full complement of New Testament


Ancient manuscripts– i.e., Codex Sinaiticus (4th century)–included all of New Testament and part of Old


Completing the Canon


Guidance of God. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament survived by common acceptance and spiritual value.


The Holy Spirit who controlled the inspiration of the New Testament controlled the collection of the New Testament.


The church believed the canon of apostolic teaching sufficient and complete (Heb. 1:1-4).