JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

114
By A.D. 170 Irenaeus showed that there was no question that the books of the New
Testament were authoritative. The rapid growth of Gnosticism and other heresies ushered in a
flood of apologetic literature which continued for at least 80 years until the time of Origen (A.D.
250). These leaders became apologists who turned to the apostolic writings as their basis of
authority in opposing the heresies that threatened the teachings of the early church.68
Irenaeus made great use by quoting liberally from all four Gospels, Acts, the epistles of
Paul (200 times), several General Epistles, and the book of Revelation. He claimed that there
were only four gospels and that anyone who taught differently was teaching heresy. He criticized
Marcion for claiming that Luke and the epistles of Paul were the only books that were authentic.
Thus by implication he accepted not only those writings acknowledged by Marcion, but others as
well. The only books of the New Testament that Irenaeus did not allude to were Philemon and
3 John.69
Melito of Sardis (prior to A.D. 180) speaks of the "books of the Old Covenant" presupposing
"books of the New Covenant" as an authoritative counterpart.70
Athenagoras of Athens (also prior to A.D. 180), in his treatise on the resurrection, appeals
to Paul's work in I Corinthians 15 as if it were canonical.
The Scillitan Martyrs (A.D. 180) in their trial before being sentenced to death by the
proconsul of Carthage, answered that the books they were treasuring were "the books and
Epistles of Paul a just man." If it is a fair presumption to conclude that the "books" they referred
to are the Old Testament Scriptures and the Gospels, then it appears that the Pauline Epistles had
not fully attained the status of Scripture, at least in this locality.71
Tertullian of Carthage (A.D. 200) quoted as proof of truth from all of the New Testament
except Philemon, James, 2 and 3 John.
The early church father from Alexandria, Origen (A.D. 185-250), was well acquainted
with several cities beside his own as he traveled extensively in Rome, Antioch, Caesarea, and
Jerusalem. He divided these books into two classes: the homologoumena, which were without
doubt genuine and thus accepted by all the churches, and the antilegomena, which were
disputed and thus not acceptable to all the congregations. Even though he did not draw the lines
of the canon as closely as they were drawn later, he showed that the selection process for
canonicity was already going on.72
Eusebius of Caesarea (A.D. 265-340) followed Origen by drawing a line between the
canonical, the genuine, and the apocryphal, the questionable.
Although these men did not always agree on every book as to its canonicity, they were by
no means "uncritical recipients of unreliable rumor."73