The 27 books which were eventually included in the New Testament were all produced by the end of the 1st century. The gospel of Mark (which drew heavily upon the eyewitness testimony of the Apostle Peter) was composed in the mid 60s AD, only about 35 years after the crucifixion. The 13 letters of the Apostle Paul were written between 48 and 65 AD – the latter being the year that Paul was beheaded in Rome during the persecution of Nero. The gospel of John was produced by the apostle of Jesus & the son of Zebedee when he lived in Ephesus around 90 AD. Revelation was almost certainly composed by another John (often called John the Seer) who was exiled on the Island of Patmos late in the reign of the emperor Domitian 81-96 AD.
But when did these writings come to be regarded as sacred scripture?
The final formation of the New Testament didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it took several centuries before near-universal agreement was achieved. (Even today there are minor discrepancies; the Syrian Orthodox church only recognizes a 22-book NT canon!)
There was some debate about which books the church should accept as authentic New Covenant documents. Which writings accurately recorded the words & deeds of the Lord Jesus and the teachings of his apostles? Christians did not always agree. For example, churches in the western part of the empire were slow to accept the canonicity of Hebrews. Meanwhile, Christians in the east were reluctant to include the book of Revelation.
However, any objective review of history demonstrates that the large majority of the New Testament was widely accepted as holy scripture very early in the history of the church.
Let’s review some of the evidence for this conclusion, beginning with the words of the New Testament itself.
Not long before his death in 64 AD, the Apostle Peter composed his second epistle. Near the end of this letter, he makes a fascinating reference to his fellow apostle Paul: “…our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:15-16)
This passage deserves close attention.
First, Peter speaks about Paul’s letters, plural. He is obviously aware that Paul wrote multiple epistles. Although we can’t be certain, there’s a reasonable probability that Peter was at least familiar with the 9 letters Paul had written to churches between 48 & 60 AD. Second, Peter clearly suggests that Paul’s letters had attained the exalted status of scripture. When Paul used his apostolic office to address the church, his epistles were immediately regarded as possessing the same authority as the Old Testament scriptures. Third, Peter makes no attempt to explain or defend his comments. He clearly assumes that his readers share his perspective. This indicates that a very high view of Paul’s epistles prevailed throughout the early church. Finally, if the letters of the Apostle Paul were granted this status, there is every reason to believe that the letters of other apostles (namely Peter and John) would have received the same recognition.
Let’s now turn to some of the early church fathers.
Justin Martyr (c100-165 AD) was born into a pagan Greek family in the region of Samaria. He was a passionate student of the truth and eagerly studied Stoicism & Platonism. Yet these philosophies left him unsatisfied. While living in Ephesus, an elderly gentleman shared the gospel with him and Justin became a Christian. After his conversion, Justin endeavored to share the good news with the pagan world. He would eventually travel to Rome where he passionately taught the Christian faith. Denounced to the authorities, Justin attained his surname by laying down his life for his faith in 165 AD.
Before his death Justin left us a treasure trove of writings. He authored two Apologies -treatises which defended the Christian faith before an often-hostile Roman world. His other surviving work is entitled Dialogue with Trypho. Dialogue records a debate between Justin and a Jewish rabbi named Trypho. (It’s not clear whether Trypho was a real person or simply a fictional character created as a literary device.) Justin argues for the Christianity as the fulfillment and completion of Judaism.
The following passage from Justin’s First Apology is particularly relevant to our subject: “And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.”
Justin gives us a fascinating glimpse of early Christian worship. He describes how the Christians would read from the “the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets.” “The writings of the prophets” are clearly a reference to the OT scriptures. Based on his other writings, we know that Justin uses the curious phrase “the memoirs of the apostles” in reference to the four canonical gospels. Thus, Justin’s comment indicates that by the mid-2nd century the gospels had already been recognized as possessing authority equal to or even exceeding that of the Old Testament.
When in Rome, Justin Martyr had a pupil named Tatian, a native of Syria. After Justin’s martyrdom, Tatian returned to his homeland. Around 170 AD, he produced the first known harmonization of the gospels. Tatian took the four canonical gospels and wove them into a single continuous narrative. His work became known as the Diatessaron, which means “harmony of four.” The Diatessaron was highly influential, becoming the standard gospel text in the Syrian church until the beginning of the 5th century. For our purposes, the Diatessaron is important because it provides another piece of evidence that the four canonical gospels were accepted as scripture very early in the church’s history.
Irenaeus (120-200? AD) was another major figure in the early church. Born into a Christian family in Asia Minor, the young Irenaeus learned from the preaching of Polycarp, who in turn had been a disciple of the Apostle John. Irenaeus could therefore claim to have a direct link back to the Lord Jesus himself! Irenaeus later migrated to southern Gaul (modern day France), where he became the bishop of Lyon after the previous office holder was martyred during a brutal persecution.
Irenaeus’ major work, Against Heresies, was composed in 180 AD. At that time, the church was threatened by a rival philosophy known as Gnosticism. Irenaeus argued for the truth of orthodox Christianity against the Gnostics. In defending the faith, Irenaeus appealed to the scriptures again and again. F.F. Bruce writes, “Irenaeus nowhere in his extant writings sets down a list of New Testament books, but it is evident that he had a clear notion of their identity.”
The writings of Irenaeus contain more than 1,000 quotes from the New Testament, including the four gospels, Acts, all of Paul’s letters (except Philemon), Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 1& 2 John and Revelation. He clearly regarded these works as holy scripture. (He may also have regarded The Shepherd of Hermas as scriptural. We shall examine this writing in a future blog.)
Irenaeus is particularly emphatic that there are four, and only four, gospels: “It is not possible that the gospels can be either more or fewer than the number they are. For, since there are four quarters of the world in which we live and four principal winds, and as the church is dispersed over all the earth, and the gospel is the pillar and base of the church, and the breath of life, so it is natural that it should have four pillars, breathing immortality from every quarter and kindling human life anew. Whence it is manifest that the Word, the architect of all things, who sits upon the cherubim and holds all things together, having been manifested to mankind, has given us the gospel in fourfold form, but held together by one Spirit.”
Once again, we see that very early in the church’s history, the basic structure of the New Testament had been established. The four gospels were widely accepted as authoritative. The 13 letters of Paul were also regarded as scripture, as were the epistles of 1 Peter and 1&2 John. It is true that church would continue to question the authenticity of 2 Peter, 3 John & Jude. The merits of Hebrews & Revelation would also be debated. But by the end of the 2nd century, the church was well on its way affirming the New Testament.
