AUTHORITY AND CANONICITY
This page has to do with the authority of the Scripture. Canonicity is dependent on authority. By the authority of Scripture is the idea that God is speaking to mankind in all the parts of the Bible. The Bible is not authoritative because of some church councils.
The Canon of the Scriptures
The final canon was on the basis of the
authority of the books involved. Just because some Bible books
were not accepted by all at first does not in any way diminish their authority.
Thus, in essence, church councils only affirmed that certain
books were part of the canon because these books were authoritative.
This statement is not to deny in any way the part men played in the
finalization of the canon. It simply states that these men only
approved what already was authoritative. It behooves us, therefore,
to consider the formation of the canon briefly, since the main
issue is its authority. "Thus, the problem [of canonicity] becomes
one of tracing back from the starting point which the infallible Scriptures
provide." (L. S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, I:90) The formation
of the canon involved both the cooperation of human beings and
the determination of God Almighty. It stands to reason that if
God, who is all powerful and inspired His Word in the first place,
would see to it the assembling of the individual parts thereof. The
conditions existing at the time the Bible was written as well as those forming
the canon certainly no longer exist. Very few literary efforts were
produced during the writing of both the Old Testament and New Testament.
Today, practically all of us write letters and now E-mail is
prevalent. Writers of this or that in any field has leaped by
great amounts and this no less so in the field of religious literature.
So in determination of the canon there were not a huge number
of possible choices.
In regards to the Old Testament, the greater
part was written by those in authority in the religious aspect of the
people, and also somewhat by civil authorities. Moses was unquestionably
recognized as God's chosen leader. He together with prophets who were
recognized as God's spokesmen did nothing more than put into writing what
was verbally proclaimed by them as they were filled with the Holy Spirit
for that task. It is utter nonsense to try to make--for instance--
Daniel to have been written several centuries after the events recorded in
his prophecy. When the prophet spoke, his word was received--as it
truly was--as the voice of God.
As to the New Testament, its writers were
those chosen by Christ Himself. The Apostle Paul was so chosen on the
road of Damascus. The Lord said to Ananias about Paul, ". . .
he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear My name before the gentiles, and kings,
and the children of Israel; For I will shew him how great things
he must suffer for my name's sake." (Acts 9:15, 16) Paul together with
the other writers of the New Testament were inspired by the Holy
Spirit to write, and they themselves had nothing to do with the formation
of the canon. Yet, as you can see under the division of the
Bible called Inspiration, very early portions
of the New Testament were considered Scripture. One must keep
in mind that communication in those days was not a rapid as today. It
took many days to travel what today takes just hours. Letter writing
was a means of communication which was carried by private courier.
Thus, it took time for a church--for example--in Spain to
receive all parts of the New Testament that may have been written in
Israel or Asia Minor. The church of Ephesus had a portion of
the Word of God via the Apostle Paul, but the church in Rome having
one such epistle may not have the portion that Ephesus had for many years,
and vice versa. Believers "knew [instinctively from the work of the
Holy Spirit in their lives] that their spiritual needs were satisfied as
they read these writing and thus the portions became appreciated everywhere,
and that is the basis of the formation of the canon."
(Ibid, 91-- bold print is this writer's for emphasis.) In this
fashion each portion of the New Testament were separately approved
without any preconceive effort on the part of mankind. The fact
that the Latin church was slow in recognizing Hebrews was natural because
of the hatred and persecution of Jews. Thus the last book
written by John about 95 A. D. would have taken a little time at least to
be accepted. Ignatius in 115 A.D., just 20 years after the writing
of Revelation was quoting from large portions of the New
Testament. No one date can be listed as to the formation of canon,
for its formation was purely natural and yet its completion was supernatural.
The Old Testament was accepted in Christ's days here
on earth essentially as it is today. The New Testament was formed by no
individual or group of individuals. The Book of Revelation
has a formal close that no other book has, and though some try to apply
that close only to the book of Revelation, it scope encompasses the
whole of the New Testament. The fact remains that no attempt
was made until the middle ages to add whit to the New Testament. The
so-called "lost books of the Bible" were never accepted by any
true believers of the early church era. Some aberrations such
as the Gospel of Thomas were just that and never accepted except by
heretical groups. Of like stripe is the addition by the Roman
Church of the Apocrypha which even in their case was not
finalized unto the 1800s. These books, incidentally, were never accepted
by the Israelites as Scripture. "Finally, though brought to fruition
through human assent and cooperation, God accomplished in the formation of
the canon--as He did in the dual authorship of the text of the
Scriptures--a stupendous miracle." (Ibid, 93) However, it is
imperative that we remember that the canonicity of the Scriptures (whether
Old Testament or New) is in final analysis dependent on the fact that it
is truly an authoritative book.
This brings us to the seven points involving Authority.
1) The Bible is authoritative because it is God-breathed. This fact was, of course, covered under Inspiration. Suffice it to say that the Scriptures being inspired (God-breathed) are automatically authoritative. This is the divine aspect of Scripture.
2) The Bible is authoritative having been written by men who were borne along by the Holy Spirit. This is the human aspect of Scripture which together with what was said just above constitutes the dual authorship of the Bible. The authority of the Bible is, therefore, not of human origin but by the Holy Spirit who borne them along. Thus, as was previously stated, the inspiration of the Scriptures was unique producing an authoritative book.
3) The Bible is authoritative having been approved by those who first receive them whether those of the Old Testament or New. Although both Old and New Testament writings were sanctioned by the leaders of Israel (in the case of the Old) and by the officers and ministers (in case of the New), it was done without any conscious act on the part of any of them. In both cases they were God's instruments under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to accomplishing the task of forming the canon. If God so inspired His Word, He certainly would have at least influenced these men in the choice of the Books. Today, the controversy is whether God so attended the translation of the Bible into English and other languages from the original Greek and Hebrew. That discussion is beyond the scope of this study, but this writer has no problem with the possibility that He did so. (See Preservation for more detailed study of this matter.)
4) The Bible is authoritative because our blessed Lord Jesus Christ attested it. He being the second person of the Godhead puts very much weight on His statements. He was subject to that Word as a human being, but He attested to it as to His divine nature. It is wrong to think that this authority existed in the inspiration of human authors or any in any action of Israel or the Church. That the Lord Jesus' attestation is of the Old Testament is without question. Many are the passages that can be cited (Chafer in his theology in a footnote cites many passages covering about 1 1/2 inches of fine print.) As to the New Testament, Jesus promised the apostles that the Holy Spirit would bring the facts to mind for their recording (Cf. John 15:26; 16:13) Also, in Revelation 22:20 states, "He which testifieth these things." These words were spoken by the risen Lord.
5) The Bible is authoritative because it was received, delivered and approved by the prophets. These prophets were God's spokesmen as was also true of the New Testament prophets. (Cf. Revelation 22:9; Ephesians 2:20 & 4:11; 1 Corinthians 14:3) The Mosaic Law was prominent in the life of the nation Israel. It involved the whole congregation were warned about adding to God's Word. It involved the kings of Israel who were to make a copy of the law. It involved the officials of the land who were to judge common matters but were to take the hard ones to the priests which was the supreme court in Israel. It involved most of all the Levities who were responsible for the temple worship and the care of the written Scriptures. Then, the prophets themselves were involved not only in receiving and delivering God's message, but to call them back to the Law. Doubtlessly, Moses, the Psalmists, those who recorded the history of Israel, and the prophets said and perhaps wrote many things that are not included in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit determined what was canonical. We need to keep in mind that the prophet was as much a forthteller as he was a foreteller. This was also true of the New Testament writers.
6) The Bible is authoritative because the words employed are of the Holy Spirit. The Word of God, the Bible, is "the sword of the Spirit." (Ephesians 6:17; also see Hebrews 4:12). Then in 1 Timothy 4:1 we read, "The Spirit speaketh expressly." Since men were "borne along" of the Holy Spirit they used the words, from their own vocabulary, that the Holy Spirit wanted them to use.
7) The Bible is authoritative because of its self vindication.
Without a skipped beat it vindicates itself and satisfies every claim
it makes.
a) The Bible first of all has enduring
power. That means that it asserts that it would endure. Men have
repeatedly tried to get rid of the Bible, but it has endured all assaults.
The classical Biblical example of this is that of King Jehoiakim in
Jeremiah 36:20-24; but Jeremiah was commanded of the Lord to rewrite
what was destroyed and to add unto it. (Jeremiah 37:1ff)
b) The Bible has imperial power. It
is "the power of God unto salvation." (Romans 1:16) Thus, it
is a divine edict and something to obey. It is the Word of God
and that Word only that is to be preached.
c) The Bible has sanctifying power. Our
Lord prayed, "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth." (John
17:17) Such passages as Ephesians 6:17 and Colossians 3:16 also imply
this fact.
d) The Bible has revealing power.
It has proven itself to be a revelation to mankind. There is
no test that can minimize the Bible as the "wisdom of God" revealed
to us humans. It contains all authoritative statements of things
eternal or of time; of things heavenly or earthly; and of
right or wrong.
e) The Bible has accuracy power. We
mean by this that it is infinitely accurate in matters of both history
and prophecy, as well as being scientifically accurate. Some would
dispute the latter, but nevertheless, the Bible is accurate in science though
not expressing those truths in scientific terms. You need to keep in
mind that current thinking in both science and Bible interpretation can
be and often is wrong. Science has changed greatly since this writer's
childhood. The problem is, and always has been, the submission of
the Bible to Science rather than vice versa. In the field of
prophecy and history, the Bible has shined like a bright sun. Its
accuracy in the area of prediction exceeds all human possibilities.
Thus, the Word of God says, "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will
perform this", thus making certain the fulfillment of Scripture. See
the page for REASONS FOR BELIEVING THE
BOOK for a very pertinent fulfillment of
Scripture. f) The Bible
has prevailing power. No book has had the influence
in history as the Bible has had. It was the corruption of the
Church due to the ignoring of the Bible (or the downgrading of the
Bible in preference for a priestly order) that created the chaos of the
Dark Ages. But when the light of the Word of God shined
once again, there was, in part, a return to the moral base of the Bible.
The degeneracy of our present day is the result of this
nation (and the world in general) turning its back on the Book of books,
the Bible. Thus, as Isaiah aptly said by inspiration about the
Word of God, "It shall accomplish that I [God] please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11) There
is no notion that has or could be set forth that accounts of the authority
of the Bible which authority is irresistible.
g) The Bible has prophetic power.
Again, no book has set forth prophecy to the extent that the Bible
has and been fulfilled to mathematical precision. God has, or will
(in the case of prophecies yet future) bring to fruition what He had
prophesied through various men. He WILL accomplish His divine plan.
In conclusion, three of the seven statements of the authority of the Scriptures are primary: 1) the fact that the Scriptures are God-breathed; 2) the approval of the Scriptures by the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ; and 3) the origin of the Scriptures with the Holy Spirit and the use by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, no book has the authority that the Bible has.
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