The Growth of A New Testament Canon – The Paschal Letter of Athanasius

In these blog posts, we are looking at the development of the New Testament Canon. This week we will look at a very interesting piece of evidence – the Paschal Letter of Athanasius written in 367.

Athanasius is a very important figure in the early Church. As a young leader, he was at the Council of Nicea in 325. A champion of the biblical, orthodox teachings regarding the Deity of Christ, he was repeatedly banished from his home church in Alexandria by heretical leaders and emperors. In the providence of God, this meant that Athanasius spent much time in both the East (Alexandria) and the West (Rome).

As part of his pastoral care, Athanasius often wrote a “Paschal letter”. These were written for Easter to encourage and instruct the Church. In 367, Athanasius wrote a letter that listed the books accepted as Scripture. Of particular importance for our present concern, hiss the books of the New Testament. Here is what he says: “Again it is not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Afterwards, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, viz. of James, one; of Peter, two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; after these, to the Galatians; next, to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians, and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly, that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John.”

Note that Athanasius has the exact same New Testament Canon as is universally recognized today. He lists the same 27 books we have, and no others. This is strong evidence by the mid-300’s the New Testament canon was firmly fixed and universally recognized.

In the next blog post I will give the Paschal letter of Athanasius in its entirety. It is well worth reading!

In Christ,

Bret