Gwyn breaks down what the Canon of Scripture means, the criteria for books in the Bible to be included, and the timeline for how the Bible was put together in today's episode.
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The Bible is a collection or Canon of 66 books
The Books of the Bible were collected and arranged and recognized as inspired sacred Authority by councils of Rabbis and Councils of early church leaders based on careful guidelines.
The following is the criteria for a written work to be canonized by the church:
-Apostolic Authority: the book must be written or co-authored by the Holy Spirit. This can
means they must be written by one of the 12 disciples or under the authority or
guidance of one of the disciples. (Because of this Paul counts as a disciple because he
was appointed by the resurrected Jesus, and Mark although he is not a disciple he is
considered Peter’s secretary and side-kick.). Must be close to source.
-Antiquity: must be old enough to be apostolic.
-Orthodoxy: Must teach the right thing. Does the writing match up to the apostle? To test
it must hold true to the teachings of the church the apostle started.
-Catholicity: Universal. Must be universally recognized by all churches.
It should be an incoherent and disorganized mess. But it has a unified message from start to finish!
The Bible was written in the common language of each generation - OT Hebrew and Aramaic and the NT Greek(Koine’). God intended it to be accessible to every person regardless of their background and social status.
Timeline
-500BC Old Testament was gathered by Ezra(450BC)Nehemiah 8:1
-450-325BC: The Greeks(Koine’): When Alexander the Great marched through Asia on his way to India, he and his men passed on a hick version of common language.
-200-100 BC: The Septuagint: Greek translations of the old testament by Jewish Scholars in Alexandria, Egypt.
-200- Books arranged by subject.
-90BC Jewish Scholars remove the Apocrypha. and affirm the 39 OT books
-0-35AD life of Jesus. Jesus affirms the authority of the Old testament by quoting from it.
-100BC-450AD: The Romans had continued efforts to unify territories by building elaborate systems of roads, buildings, walls and canals. These Roads and the sea routes that were established became the routes that Christians used to carry the gospel to every corner of the known world.
