200-350 AD Author’s Note: As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, the historical record becomes substantially richer, allowing the development of the canon to be examined in far greater detail. This is the middle period of the early Church, for our purposes. By the end of this period, with the…

SIDEBAR 7: REASONABLE STANDARDS OF PROOF, PART III Author’s Note: This final discussion of evidentiary standards prepares the reader for the extensive historical evidence presented throughout the remainder of the book. As we start to move beyond Irenaeus, let us consider some advice from Kruger’s treatise regarding issues we will…

Irenaeus Testifies that Baruch was Apostolic Preaching Author’s Note: Irenaeus’ treatment of Baruch provides one of the clearest examples of an early Church Father presenting a Deuterocanonical book as part of the Apostolic deposit. It is time to refocus on Baruch and the question we originally passed over: was Baruch…

New Testament Comparison Author’s Note: Comparing the evidence for the New Testament with the evidence for the Deuterocanonical books helps determine whether both are being judged by the same historical standard. But let’s compare against the New Testament Books in more detail. The only New Testament canon list that could…

THE CANON, AS OF 200 AD Author’s Note: This summary brings together the evidence presented thus far to evaluate what the biblical canon most likely looked like around the year AD 200. Let’s pause to consider the status of the Apocrypha in the second century. After all, what date we…

Clement of Alexandria’s List Author’s Note: Clement’s writings provide an important glimpse into the Scriptures recognized and used by one of the most influential Christian teachers of the second century. There is one other list—which is only considered a list when it is useful. It is another reference in Eusebius,…

The Muratorian Fragment Author’s Note: Although primarily concerned with the New Testament, the Muratorian Fragment provides valuable evidence for understanding what the earliest Christians determined was authoritative Scripture. The Muratorian Fragment[1] is our last (allegedly) second-century canon list. I include it here because Professor Bart Ehrman once gave implicit support…

Melito’s List Author’s Note: Melito’s famous canon list is one of the earliest surviving Christian witnesses and remains central to nearly every discussion of the Old Testament canon. The earliest certain date for a list is Melito’s, which is dated at 170 AD.[1] The main issue with this list is…

The Mistaken Bryennios List: 20/20 Hindsight Author’s Note: This section reexamines the Bryennios List and shows how many modern scholars bias their interpretations of evidence in favor of their own presuppositions. Gallagher and Meade are the best resource I have found for all the early canon lists.[1] So we start…

33 AD TO 200 AD Author’s Note: This chapter traces the development of the biblical canon during Christianity’s first two centuries through the surviving evidence from the earliest generations of believers. We begin with canon lists, where a Father from the early Church may have provided a list of the…