Modern Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox alike revel in undermining faith in the doctrine that all things necessary for salvation may be found through Holy Scripture. The favorite argument for polemists from those communions is that the canon of Scripture did not create itself, therefore how would anyone know what constitutes Holy Scripture without the power of the Papal office or the authoritative decision of the Church?
This ignores several points, namely, neither the West nor the East formally defined their canon of Scripture definitively until the Count of Trent and the Jerusalem Council, as it relates to the Roman and eastern Communions. Further, it ignores that the Church early on recognized the Scriptures we recognize today a authoritative. If anything, the history of the early Church denotes that the Church is not infallible. After all the canonical lists would disagree on outlier texts, such as The Shepherd of Hermas or how some of the catholic epistles and Revelation of John were received in the West but not the East and vice-versa, depending upon the book in question. Since the early Church produced Scriptural canon lists that either omitted or included too many books, how can Rome or the East now claim that the Church suddenly got it right some 1500-1600 years later? After all, no definitive and authoritative list of Scriptures were ever produces by Rome or the East until the Council of Trent and Synod of Jerusalem (both post-dating the English Bibles, Reformation, and Articles of Religion).
Yet our faith should not be shaken. The earliest canon lists were reactions against heretics who often omitted large swaths of Scripture to fit their theological prerogatives, ranging from gutting the Old Testament, slicing St. Paul’s epistles, or including gnostic false gospels. Over the course of time, the regional synods of the Church gathered and agreed to what is Scripture and included works read in the Church locally, such as The Shepherd of Hermas, while sometimes creating canon lists too conservative by not including works of the Apostles (such as Revelation). Within the first few centuries, these regional lists quickly agreed to a conservative New Testament recognizing the same twenty-seven books of the New Testament that we Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox all agree to. What is notable, is the early Church acted out of conservatism. When a region of a Church omitted a book for a time, such as Peter’s epistles or Revelation, it was due to a desire to be cautious and faithful to the Word. The key motivation was to ensure no book was unless it was from the hand of an Apostle. Therefore, regional preferences for books like The Shepherd of Hermas were quickly dropped as no Apostle had written it and regional skepticism towards books like Peter’s epistles and Revelation were assuaged by the wider acceptance of other churches acknowledging their apostolic hand and witness.
This same conservative spirit was inherited by the English Reformers and their brethren across the continent. The earliest English Bibles included the same New Testament recognized by all traditions, translated by the hands of the martyr, Tyndale. Coverdale finished Tyndale’s works, for Tyndale only translated a handful of the Old Testament, and Coverdale sectioned off the Old Testament in the following categories: the Pentateuch, Historical Books, Poetical Books, Prophets, and Apocrypha. The sectioning off of the Apocrypha to denote its separate and sub-canonical status is not underheard of, nor was it an English innovation. Catholic and Eastern saints of old had noted their lesser status for centuries. As the Articles of Religion, drafted decades after the Tyndale and Coverdale Bibles, would later note, the Reformers (not to mention contemporary Roman and Eastern clerics) shared the opinion of St. Jerome in setting the Apocryphal books aside as profitable for reading in the church, but not to use for doctrine. Why would they set them aside as Apocryphal and not canonical? St. Jerome, the 16th Century humanists, the Reformers, and plenty of saints in between realized these books were not written in Hebrew nor set on the same level by the Israelites, our Jewish forebearers in the faith. Therefore, they conservatively set them apart – but did not cut them out – from publications of the Bible.
Speaking of the Jews, this should remind us that the Church existed prior to Rome having a bishop, or the Eastern patriarchs having their sees. The Old Testament Church from the very beginning had the Scriptures given to them by Moses’ hand. The Roman or Eastern polemic will argue, “Ah, but look at how the Sadducees only excepted the five books of Moses while the Pharisees accepted the Prophets and the Writings! Who will decide who is correct?” Confidently and most assuredly we look to the words of the Master, for the God-man spoke and we must listen: “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” (Luke 24:44-45 KJV).
Jesus Christ, the only authority above heaven and below the earth spoke. When the Word speaks, we must obey. He has defined the canon as the Law, the Prophet, and the Writings. Less we attempt to discard or cut the Old Testament, we must head the Living Word of God, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” (Matthew 5:17 KJV).
Again, our detractors will argue, “But what exactly constitutes the Prophets and the Writings our Lord is referencing, surely you need an ecumenical council or pope to settle this?” Such a question presumes our Lord Jesus would leave His flock helpless and ignores the Gospels quote from the entire Torah, the Psalms, the Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, Malachi, etc.). Furthermore, the earliest Christian writings – St. Paul’s letters – quote or reference the rest of the Old Testament. How did the Jewish people know what to accept as Scripture? They lived with it, they were there at its development and inspiration by the Holy Scripture, from Moses writing the Torah, David (and others) writing the Psalms, through the Prophets guiding them through exile and return. The Jews lived with the Scriptures and were formed by them, especially after the destruction of the Temple and creation of the synagogue system. They needed no pope nor council to confirm what they always had.
If there is any question as to what is the Old Testament canon, remember Christ read and preached from the Scriptures at synagogue. Further the incarnate God, the Lord Jesus, definitively quoted from the Old Testament books throughout His ministry, thereby sealing its authority. Notably, the Apocryphal books are absent in the Gospels and rest of the New Testament. Additionally, when Christ references the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, none of the Jews present question Him as to which specific books does He mean? They knew by our Lord’s reference to those categories and what was read in the synagogue.
Hence, Jesus can proclaim the following and all who listened understood:
“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27 KJV).
“And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” (Luke 16: 31 KJV).
When confronting the religious elites persecuting Him, our Lord commands them to “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39, KJV). No one responds in ignorance as to what constitutes the Scriptures, they knew, and so do we through the testimony of our very Lord and God. The Scriptures, according to God the Son’s testimony in John 5:39, is the source for knowing eternal life and who our Savior is. Or, as Article IV summarizes our Lord’s teaching, “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation.” (Articles of Religion).
Questions about the canon are answered by Anglicans quite simply: we conservatively hold to the Scriptures our Lord Jesus taught from, the Apostles quoted in their writings, and the works authored by the Apostles, for it was to them that the Lord Jesus directly taught and He blessed with a grace to recall His teaching: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26 KJV). Therefore, Christians can easily rest on assurance of the identity of the Old and New Testaments because our church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” (Ephesians 2:20 KJV). No pope or council required, as evidenced by the first generation of post-Apostolic fathers who quote and reference the same New Testament Scriptures as we today.
As conservative, traditional, and yes catholic reformers, our forebears wisely received “In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.” (Article VI, Articles of Religion). When our detractors scoff at our conservatism, we boast only in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God and trust in His Holy Ghost, since “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16 KJV). When the polemist falsely claims we have removed Scripture, we point them first to our Lord, and the Apostle’s silence in quoting the Apocrypha, and then steer them towards St. Jerome, who noted those “other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.” (Article VI, Articles of Religion). If anyone is going to be accused of removing books, let Rome look to the mirror, because our Apocrypha contains books they omit.
We trust in the Scriptures because Christ steers us towards them. When the Sadducees and Pharisees disputed the canon, Christ came down firmly on including the Prophets and the Writings alongside the Law. When we seek to know Christ, He tells us to “search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are which testify of me.” (John 5:30 KJV). When the rich man begs father Abraham, in our Lord’s parable, to send Lazarus back to warn his family of the judgment, father Abraham tells the rich man, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. … If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” (Luke 16:29, 31 KJV). We hear and receive the Law, the Prophets, and Psalms the Lord was so prone to quote. We hear and see that one “greater than the temple is here” (Matthew 12:6), one “greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42, Luke 11:31), one “greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:41), and the One “worthy of more glory than Moses” (Hebrews 3:3) has spoken.
Search the Scriptures, because Christ tells us our salvation is revealed in them. Search them, for Philip joyously shared the gospel to Nathaniel because “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:45 KJV). Search them, for they are inspired by the Holy Ghost. Search them, for “the scripture cannot be broken.” (John 10:35 KJV). Search them, because the Lord Jesus Christ found them sufficient for His ministry and His teaching. How dare we add anything unto them.
BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. (The Collect, The Second Sunday in Advent)
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