While the apostles were on earth, the churches throughout the Roman empire were (a) receiving their direct oral teachings, (b) receiving copies of their epistles which were to be circulated among all the churches, (c) as well as collecting the "Holy Scriptures" (the Tanakh whose canon was already established).
Peter wrote his second epistle around AD 68 in which he said that all of Paul's epistles (51% of the NT) were also Scripture. He also said that his own epistles were divinely inspired ("a more sure word of prophecy"). So how did Peter know of all of Paul's epistles unless he had personally read them? But he also indicates that others had read them. That tells us that Paul's epistles were already in circulation within the churches, and also that some were wresting those Scriptures. See 2 Peter 3.
By the end of the first century, the whole Bible had been completed. Before the end of the second century, there was a canon of the New Testament (the Muratori Canon), as well as a Syriac translation of the almost the whole Bible (known as the Peshitta). So how was the Peshitta put together unless the whole Bible was not already known and being read by the early Christians? While 5 or 6 of the NT books were called "disputed writings" (antilegomena) that was not meant as heretical or false, but simply uncertainty among some Christians whether they were canonical. Later on, those books were included. So it is a greatly exaggerated idea that the Bible was not complete for many centuries, and that the Catholic Church put the Bible together.
What is absolutely certain is that the Hebrew canon EXCLUDED the Apocrypha. Which means that there is no such thing as a Deutero-Canon. Even the Catholic scholar Jerome understood this when translating the Latin Vulgate.
HOGWASH.
The Hebrew canon was
not closed until the
SECOND century –
AFTER Christ and
AFTER the destruction of the Temple. However –
DURING Christ’s lifetime – the canon was an
OPEN one, that
included the Deuterocanonical Books. We see this by the
200 or so references to those Books on the pages of the
New Testament.
As for the
New Testament Canon – there were
MANY Books that were considered to be
“inspired” Scripture and were read in churches for
300 years. It wasn’t until the
Catholic Church declared the
official Canon of Scripture that these Books
ceased to be used as
“inspired”. Among them were works like the
Shepherd of Hermas, the
Letter of Clement, the
Epistles of Barnabas, the
Gospel of Peter, etc.
- The Canon was declared by the Church at the
Council of Rome in
382.
- It was reiterated at the
Council of Hippo in
393.
- It was again reiterated at the
Council of Carthage in
397.
- Back in post
#130, I presented the actual text from the
2nd Council of Carthage, where the Canon was again
reiterated.
You people
refuse to accept the facts of
history – no matter
HOW much evidence you are
buried with – and it’s
pathetic . . .
As for
Peter referring to
Paul’s letters as
“Scripture” – this is
HARDLY evidence that the letters had been distributed among
ALL of the churches if the time. Peter was simply making a statement about the fact that Paul, as part of the
Magesterium was teaching under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit – as they
ALL were
(John 16:12-15).
