The Canon of Scripture

Last week I concluded a series of posts on the Bible as the Word of God. But if we think about the implications of this, we should ask “How do we know what books belong in the Bible?” Many documents have been written throughout human history. How was it decided which ones belonged in the Bible and which ones did not? This is the question of canonization.

Perhaps you have heard the phrase ‘the canon of Scripture’ and wondered what it means. Well, even though sometimes people have used the Bible as a weapon, the canon of Scripture does not mean that Scripture is a cannon!

The English word ‘canon’ comes from the Greek word κανών, which often was used to refer to a rule or standard. You can see it used this way in Galatians 6:16: “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.” The word ‘rule’ in this verse is the word κανών. The word κανών could also be used to mean an assignment or sphere of action. It is used this way in 2 Corinthians 10:13, 15. Thus, when theologians refer to the ‘canon of Scripture’ they are referring to the books which are part of the sphere of God’s Word and are therefore the rule and standard for God’s people.

A basic definition of the canon of Scripture would be “the list of books that have been recognized as being inspired by God and which therefore belong in the Bible.” Notice there are two key parts to this definition. First, the canon refers to the list of books that are recognized as being inspired by God. The church does NOT determine which books are inspired. It recognizes  which books are actually inspired. This is a crucial difference. The Church does not create Scripture; it recognizes what is actually Scripture and receives and obeys it. The Church is not above the Scripture, not equal to it, but rather under the authority of Scripture.

Second, as it is recognized which books are actually inspired, it is automatically accepted that they belong in the bible. All books inspired by God are part of the Bible; any book not inspired by God is not part of the Bible. This is why we first discussed inspiration. Once we understand inspiration properly, then we can determine the canon of Scripture.

Thus, we can see that when theologians and teachers use the term ‘the canon of Scripture’ they are referring to the list of books that met the standard of being inspired and are therefore included as being part of Scripture. In coming posts, we will unpack all of this further understanding its importance, how this was done for the Old Testament books, the New Testament books, questions related to the ‘apocryphal’ books, and a look at how this was one in practice.

In Christ,

Bret