Criteria for Inclusion in the Canon

The mid-second century heresies had a catalytic effect on the basic contouring of the New Testament, and the Roman persecution of Christianity lent impetus to further chiseling in greater exclusiveness of the limits of the canon. What was happening was not the Church acting in judiciousness to create a canon that excluded those books that did not meet their particular judgment. What was happening was the result of unfolding awareness and recognition for the canon of the New Covenant that had been divinely authored and maintained.

"The distinction between canonical and non-canonical books was the product of a growing spiritual consciousness. At an early date, however, lines of discrimination were drawn and these were not merely the result of uncritical personal preference or prejudice. ...In the fullest sense no church council could create a canon, if inspiration is the essential quality of canonicity, because no group or council could breathe inspiration into works already existing." (Tenney 406) The church did not determine the canon; it recognized the canon.

Angus and Green write, "The Holy Spirit, given to the Church, quickened holy instincts, aided discernment between the genuine and the spurious, and thus led to gradual, harmonious, and in the end unanimous conclusions. There was in the Church what a modern divine has happily termed an 'inspiration of selection'." (Thiessen 10)

As the boundaries of the canon were drawn tighter through the revelation of the Spirit, the Church Fathers used several criteria to assess which books belonged in the canon and which did not.


Apostolicity


The first of four criteria that aided the Church Fathers in determining which books should be accepted as canonical was apostolicity. In order for a book to be considered, it had to have been authored either by an apostle or by someone of close association with the apostles. The reason for this was because the apostles held a unique standing that other men simply could not fill. They had a special relationship with the Lord, and their authority came from Christ who had said, "He who receives you receives me." (Matthew 10:40) Clement of Rome reflected this general attitude among the Christians. He believed that the apostles were made evangelists by Christ, who was sent by God. "The Church is built on them as a foundation." (1 Clement 42)




Orthodoxy


The second criterion consulted was orthodoxy. The contents and spiritual character of the books in consideration were obviously very critical. The text should correspond with the elements of other canonical books and hold no trace of opinions not recognized in Scripture. Also, the content of the books should be Christocentric, having the person and work of Jesus Christ as their central subject. All of the canonical books have as their heart the unique message of Christ. "The Gospels are biographical, Acts accounts the historic effect of His personality, and the epistles are concerned with theological and practical teachings that emanate from a consideration of Him, and the Apocalypse is predictive of His relation to the future." (Tenney 403) While the apocryphal books are not entirely without benefit, their difference from the canonical books, intrinsically, is that they are more concerned with miracle-mongering than with teaching. In depth of teaching and concentration on the person of Christ, there is a discernible difference between the canonical and the non-canonical books. It was on the basis of this second criterion that most of the apocryphal and psuedepigraphical books were eliminated from the canon.


Catholicity


The third criterion considered was catholicity, which has nothing to do with Roman Catholicism, but with the etymology of the word. 'Catholic' literally means, "universally accepted." In its application as a criterion for New Testament canonicity, catholicity assesses the universal acceptance of a book in question. It is this criteria that further aided in the elimination of unworthy books. Those that were eliminated were sometimes regarded as too limited for the church at large. In some cases, the documents had been written to a specific individual or congregation and had no universal application beyond their limited circumstance. The application of this criterion demonstrates the desire of the churches to act and make decisions as a unit.

Inspiration


Last, and most important, is inspiration. The true criterion of canonicity is inspiration. "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV) Without the inspiration of God, a body of text, however much valued, is not Scripture. As aforementioned, the church did not determine canonicity; it recognized it. The God-inspired nature of Scripture is found in its writing and in its canonization. The answer to how inspiration was demonstrated is twofold.


            Intrinsic Content

            
First, the inspiration of the New Testament books is demonstrated in the uniqueness of their message. The canonical books all have, for their central subject, the person and work of Jesus Christ. If it is considered how unimportant Jesus Christ was to the leaders and teachers of his day, there really is no explainable reason why the writings concerning Him should have survived Roman persecution. In the eyes of His contemporaries, Jesus was no more than a suppressed claim to messiahship. Futhermore, the New Testament admits that the message about Him was "unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness." (1 Corinthians 1:23) For such a message to survive and, indeed, thrive and grow powerful in such an unwelcoming environment, there must have been something about it intrinsically to produce such an effect. This not being a natural reason, but a supernatural one: divine inspiration.


            Moral Effect

            
The moral effect of the canonical books is demonstrated by their power within the Church. Wherever the message was received, it brought with it moral cleansing. While neither the Christian nor the Church was pristine in character, there was a distinct difference between their morals and the morals of the pagans that presented a segregating chasm between Christians and the society they existed alongside. "Love, purity, meekness, truth, and many other virtues, which scarcely existed in heathenism came to life. However poorly the Christians may have followed the ideals that they possessed, they were distinct from the pagans around them because of the power of the New Testament truth." (Tenney 404)