The Greek word where we get the word canon means a “measuring rod.” We use the word to describe the collection of books within the Bible. This collection is divided into two sections, called the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word that is the basis for “testament” is a Latin word derived from a Greek word that means an agreement, or covenant.1 So, it is perhaps better to call these the Old and New Covenants, rather than Testaments.
In practical terms, the Old Covenant is a description of the agreement made by God with the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai. The New Covenant is the agreement made by God through the incarnation and death of Jesus. The books that were selected to be in each of these groups of the canon had to accurately reflect these agreements and all of the teachings that went along with them.
Although there was about a thousand-year period in which the Old Covenant canon was being formed,2 the best reason for the Christian to accept it in its received state is that it is the canon that Jesus used (Luke 24:44),3 but it was also finally agreed to be the received word of God at the Council of Jamnia in AD 90.
The agreement upon what was God’s Word for the New Testament did not take as long of a time (only about 350 years after the death of Jesus), but also was met by a lot of discussion as documented by F.F. Bruce. In all of the discussions, though, certain characteristics (or criteria) were established that were used to determine what was the true Word of God and what was not. These were:
- Apostolic Authority: Was it written by an apostle or someone with a clear tie to an apostle?
- Antiquity: Was it written during the apostolic age?
- Orthodoxy: Was it consistent with the teachings of Jesus and the apostles?
- Catholicity: Was it widely-used?4
The final agreement for which books fit these criteria came at the Council of Carthage in AD 397, which was heavily influenced by the Council of Hippo in AD 393. Both of these were influenced by Athanasius’s original list5 (and the Holy Spirit).