Christmas and Easter are the seasons for conspiracy theories. The population is thinking a little more about religion, and especially Christianity. We even see features about Christianity in mainstream media. Sometimes they are accurate presentations of Christian teaching. Other times they are conspiracy theories presenting an alternate narrative. One of those theories, which we may or may not hear this season, relates to how we got the Bible, specifically the New Testament. It is important for Christians to know how we got the Bible.
There were a number of councils in the Fourth Century that debated which books should be included in the New Testament. Because of this, skeptics like to push a conspiracy theory that these councils essentially made up the Bible, or they arbitrarily decided which books to include and which books to reject. And there were a few books they rejected on the grounds that they were known forgeries. Others were recognized to be useful, but were not written by one of the apostles. So if you ever hear about books like the gospels of Thomas, Judas, or Mary, and someone says that they were arbitrarily left out of the New Testament, that’s just not true. They were well-known to be forgeries, and the councils were right to reject them.
It is also not true that they arbitrarily selected which books to include. There were various lists of New Testament books long before the councils saw the need to formally list them. The first few generations of Christians did not formalize the list of books, because they did not see a need to. They knew where each of the books came from. But after about 250 or 300 years, Christians started to feel the need to formalize the list in order to protect the canon from forgeries being admitted.
Twenty of the books in the New Testament were on nearly everyone’s list, (the gospels, Acts, Paul’s letters, 1 Peter, and 1 John). But there were seven that were on some lists but not others (Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude, and Revelation). How can this be? Should we distrust these books? No; we should trust them. In the end, they were included, because the councils considered them to be authentically apostolic.
But why were they not on everyone’s list? It might be hard to fathom in our digital age, where communication is practically instantaneous, but at that time, Christians in Rome didn’t have a lot of contact with those in Ethiopia, and Christians in Egypt didn’t have a lot of contact with those in Asia. It may be that Christians in one area were familiar with a certain book and confident of it’s origins, but those in another area were not as familiar with it, so they debated them. And it is good that they debated them. It demonstrates that they were careful about it and made well-informed decisions. Ultimately, the councils in the Fourth Century recognized that those generations before them were closer to the writings of these books. And if Christians in the First and Second Centuries recognized certain books as being the authentic writings of the apostles, it’s probably because they were. So they trusted their judgment. It is not the case that the councils arbitrarily chose certain books to include and others to reject. They exercised wisdom and recognized that those who came before them had the most trustworthy information.
Be wise and think critically. Above all, that includes knowing who we can trust. Trust God. Trust the Scriptures that he revealed through his prophets and apostles.
The peace of Christ be with you all,
Pastor Dan Antal