Goals to make Serve Like Jesus Disciples

Another consideration regarding the source is to consider how it developed. According to our best scholarship, all the books contained in our New Testament were written by 100 ad. There was no official collection for approximately 250 years. However, there were multiple texts being distributed and used in the church. As early as the 2nd century, broadly typical lists included the 4 Gospels, Acts, all 13 of Paul’s writings, 1 Peter, 1, 2 John, and Revelation. By the time Origen died in 254 ad, he had comprised a list composed of three categories. They were the confessed books that were pretty much accepted as canonical by all or most of the church. This list included the books listed above with the exception that 2nd John was not included. Those books spoken against or doubted were Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2, 3 John, and Jude. By the middle of the 3rd century, some churches were already using the 27 book canon though others were not sure yet about all of the general epistles. However, the Orthodox Church was pretty much in agreement on what was excluded. It would take a few more years before most would agree on the full list. Finally, in his Easter letter in 367 ad, Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria used the word Canon to describe the list of accepted books, which included the names of the 27 books and only the 27 books that we have in our current New Testament. This canon was confirmed by the Synods of Hippo Regius in North Africa in 393 and Carthage in 397 ad. At first, the 27 book canon was not accepted by the whole church but certainly paved the way for a church-wide acceptance of the New Testament canon as we have it today.