Scriptures selfattesting authority question doctrine truthfulness Scriptures

Which Books Make Up the New Testament? 67
our New Testament grew organically out of the appearance of a new
authority in the world. 7 Jesus Christ was not merely a final or a great
prophet. He was the presence of God in the flesh. Therefore, he confirmed
and fulfilled and stood above the authority of the Old Testament.
Accordingly his own authority would extend over the new people of
God that he was calling into being.
He planned for this and sent his Spirit to make sure that the apostles
would be led into all truth. They would speak with his authority by
the Spirit, and they would glorify him. The manifestation of this glory
through the inspired, apostolic writings would confirm to the early
church—as it continues to do for God’s people today—that these writings
are the word of God.
It was inevitable that in addressing the question Which books make
up the New Testament? we would pass over into the question How do
we know these books are the word of God? So, in a sense, we have
gotten ahead of ourselves. That question will be answered more fully
in chapters 8–17. So if the pointers feel tantalizing now, let that be
encouraging rather than frustrating. The fuller explanation is coming.
For now, it was necessary to point out that the spiritual forces at work
in confirming the New Testament canon to the church were the same
spiritual forces that are at work in confirming the Scriptures to Christians
today.
There are two more steps to take before we can focus fully on how
we know these books are God’s word. First, in the next chapter, we need
to ask the question Do we have the very words that the New Testament
writers wrote—have they been preserved faithfully for us? Second, we
will need to ask, in chapters 5–7, what, in fact, the Scriptures claim for
themselves.
7
Of course, the very idea of a limited canon of twenty-seven books implies that there were contenders for
inclusion that did not make the cut. These are of many kinds. A quick overview can be found at http://​en​
.wikipedia​.org​/wiki​/New​_Testament​_apocrypha. One way to think about the major contenders is to use
the categories provided by Eusebius, a church historian who died about AD 340 (Ecclesiastical History,
3.25.1–7). When he gave his list of books that the church took seriously, they fell into four categories:
(1) recognized books, (2) disputed books, (3) rejected books (e.g., Apocalypse of Peter, Epistle of Barnabas,
Didache, Gospel of Hebrews), and (4) heretical books (e.g., Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel
of Matthias, Acts of Andrew, Acts of John). One helpful discussion of these is found in Kruger, Canon
Revisited, 266–87.