M56 Q & A
What does
the term “canon” refer to?
The word “canon” comes
from the root word “reed” (English word “cane”; Hebrew form ganeh and Greek Kanon). The “reed” was used as a measuring rod and eventually meant
“standard.”1
The word “canon” applied to Scripture means “an officially accepted list
of books.”2
How can we
trust the canon, which was determined by man? Couldn’t the canon have left out
some of God’s words or added books that were not God’s words?
If we believe that the Bible is indeed God’s word as it claims to be,
then we ought to also believe these words: “For assuredly, I say to you,
till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass
from the law till all is fulfilled”
(Mt 5:18). “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass
away” (Mt 24:35).
The canon was not the result of a rabbinical discussion or church
council as some think it was. It was a gradual process through which God’s
people upheld certain books as inspired and excluded others as the works of
men. We must trust that God oversaw not just the writing but also the making of
the Bible.
In addition, we have the endorsement of Christ Himself and the New
Testament writers on the validity of the Old Testament canon. The early church
also readily accepted the New Testament as the inspired word of God because of
its apostolic authority. Therefore, based on our belief that the Bible is
reliable and that the words of Jesus Christ, who is God Himself, are
trustworthy, we can be confident that the Bible we have in our hands contains
the same words that God intended when He moved the biblical writers to set His
words down on paper. Nothing has been added or taken away.
1.
Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands A Verdict, vol. 1 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1979), 29.
2.
Ralph Earle, How
We Got Our Bible, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971), 31.
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