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Which Books Make Up the New Testament? 63
Thus already in the New Testament, the writings of the apostles
were treated on par with the God-inspired writings of the Old Testament
Scriptures. For example, the apostle Peter saw Paul’s writings as
part of an enlarging canon of Scripture alongside the Old Testament.
We have already seen that Peter regarded Paul’s writings as inspired by
the Holy Spirit. Now we observe that he also saw them, accordingly, as
Scripture—on par with the Old Testament canon. Peter wrote,
[Paul wrote to you] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in
them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard
to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own
destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Pet. 3:16)
If I say, “Abraham Lincoln and the other presidents are worthy of serious
study,” it is clear that I am regarding Lincoln as one of the presidents.
Similarly here, when Peter refers to Paul’s writings “and the other
Scriptures,” he regards Paul’s writings as Scripture. Richard Bauckham
again comments, “The inclusion of Paul’s letters in this category certainly
means they are regarded as inspired, authoritative writings (as
v. 15 in fact says), ranked alongside the Old Testament and probably
various other books, including other apostolic writings.” 3
Therefore, in the coming of Jesus Christ, and his appointment of
apostles, and his promise of the Holy Spirit to guide them into truth,
and the consciousness of his apostles that this was in fact happening,
there is a built-in trajectory toward a New Testament canon. That
canon would provide the true and authoritative record of the life and
teaching of Jesus and the foundational teachings of his authoritative
spokesmen. What remained for the early church to do was to discern
which writings were the fulfillment of Jesus’s promise to the apostles.
Discerning Which Books Were Apostolic
The rise of heretical teachings and the emergence of spurious books that
claimed apostolic origin spurred the process of canonization. How did
that happen? From what we have seen so far, it is not surprising that
the dominant characteristic of a writing in establishing its authority
3
Ibid., 333.