By Katie Hulse
How Did We Get the New Testament?
The canon of the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) was established and commonly accepted by the time of Jesus’s arrival. But how did we get the 27 books of the New Testament that we have today? We will see that the early Christians recognized early on which documents were scriptural based on their authorship, orthodoxy, and catholicity.
Expectations of a New Covenant
As the New Testament is rooted in the Old Testament, the Jews knew that God would make a new covenant in the future (Jer. 31:31-34).
Biblical scholars Andreas Köstenberger and Michael Kruger explain, “As soon as early Christians recognized that God’s redemptive acts in Jesus Christ were the beginnings of the new covenant–and they recognized this very early–then they naturally would have anticipated written documents to follow that testified to the terms of the new covenant.”1
Scriptural Writings
The New Testament authors viewed their writings as scriptural (2 Pet 3:15-16; 1 Tim. 5:18). Their letters were circulated in early churches and meant to be read aloud in public meetings (Col. 4:16, 1 Thess. 5:27), demonstrating they were considered authoritative.
We see from the works of early church fathers, like Clement (late first century) and Polycarp (early second century), that they recognized the authority of multiple New Testament documents.
Those books recognized as authoritative, canonical texts were seen as such due primarily to their authorship. They had to be early, written within the first century, and authored by an apostle or an apostle’s close companion.
“In a certain sense, then,” apologist Greg Koukl writes, “the canon—the authoritative source that was the proper and divine rule for the church—was first a who, not a what. Whatever the apostles taught was authoritative because that authority had been given to them by Jesus himself.”2
The Marcion Controversy
The process of formally clarifying the New Testament canon began after a mid-second-century conflict in which the Gnostic Marcion made his own list of canonical books which excluded texts that were commonly accepted as Scripture. Marcion was excommunicated from the church, and the church began the process of clearly proclaiming what the true canonical texts were.
Orthodoxy & Catholicity
Keep in mind that, in the Marcion controversy, the early church fathers could declare Marcion heretical because they were already aware of which documents were authoritative. This also leads us to another requirement of canonicity: orthodoxy.
Scriptural texts were recognized as canonical because of their apostolicity, orthodoxy, and catholicity. Catholicity refers to universality—those books that were commonly accepted as scriptural.
Books that were rejected as canonical were rejected because they failed to meet these standards.
Early Records Confirm the New Testament Books
The Muratorian Fragment—a list from the late second century which includes 21 of the 27 New Testament books—confirms that the core of the New Testament was established very early on.
“By the end of the fourth century,” Koukl writes, “no fewer than seven lists from different church fathers confirmed the current boundaries of the 27-book New Testament, including lists from Athanasius, Jerome, Augustine, and Pope Innocent I. Four other lists lacked only the book of Revelation.”3
Recognizing Scripture
By AD 367, Athanasius had put together a complete list of all 27 New Testament books. However, these books weren’t selected and chosen by early Christians. Rather, they were recognized as authoritative and divinely inspired. The early church’s role was to recognize the authority already inherent in the texts.
Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit played a role not only in the inspiration of the texts but also in recognizing which texts were scriptural.
Notes:
- Andreas J. Köstenberger and Michael J. Kruger, The Heresy of Orthodoxy (Crossway, 2010), 113.
- Greg Koukl, “The New Testament Canon: Which Books and Why?” Stand to Reason, November 1, 2024, accessed February 1, 2025, https://www.str.org/w/the-new-testament-canon-which-books-and-why-.
- Koukl, “The New Testament Canon.”
Recommended Resources:
- F.F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture (InterVarsity, 1988).
- John D. Meade and Peter J. Gurry, Scribes & Scripture (Crossway, 2022).
- Robby Lashua, “New Testament Canon: Which Books are Scripture and Why?” Stand to Reason University, videos, https://training.str.org/.