1.B 09. Authoritative and Sacred

Authoritative and Sacred As we have seen, the Pauline Epistles and the Gospels came to be regarded as authoritative Christian books as groups, and along with them the book of Acts gained full acceptance. The other books of the New Testament gained authority in a much more piecemeal way, just as the Old Testament "Writings did; and we must postpone the story of their acceptance and entry into the canon in order to look at a very important question and a very important development. The question we are now bound to ask is How did these books come to be regarded and set apart as Scripture? How and when did they cross the line between being books which were regarded as important and even authoritative, and books which were regarded as holy and sacred and inspired and the word of God s How, to put it in one word, did they become canonical?

There is more than one answer to this question. i. Without question the books which are Scripture and which are truly the word of God have about them a w self-eyidencing quality. They carry their uniqueness on their face. To read them is to be conscious of being brought into the presence of God and truth and Jesus Christ in a unique way. They have always exercised, and still exercise, a quite unparalleled power upon the lives of men. In The Bible in World Evangelism A. M. Chirgwin cites a whole series of stories to illustrate this unique power of Scripture. In Brazil there was a certain Signor Antonio of Minas. A friend urged him to consider the claims of Christ and again and again tried to make him accept a Bible. Finally he took the Bible with the sole idea of taking it home to burn it. When he arrived home, the fire was out, but such was his determination to burn this book that he rekindled it. He opened the Bible so that it would burn more easily and he was just about to throw it into the fire. It opened at the Sermon on the Mount, and he glanced at the words. "The words had in them something that held him. He read on, forgetful of time, through the hours of the night, and, just as the dawn was breaking, he stood up and declared, ’I believe.*" In New York there was a gangster, recently released from prison after serving a sentence for robbery and violence. He was on his way to join his old associates to plan another exploit in crime. As he went along Fifth Avenue in New York, he picked a man’s pocket. He slipped into Central Park to see of what his haul consisted, and he found himself in possession of a New Testament. Since he was too early for his appointment with his fellow- criminals, he sat down and idly began to read the book. "Soon he was deep in the book, and he read to such effect that a few hours later he went to his comrades, and told them bluntly what he had been doing, and broke with them for good." Here is the unique effect of the Bible. Its power is self-evidencing. When Coleridge was asked what he meant by the inspiration of the Bible, he said that he could give no other answer than to say: "It finds me." It is the simple truth to say that the New Testament books became canonical because no one could stop them doing so. There were other books circulating; and there were even other books which in certain Churches enjoyed for a brief time a position in which they might possibly have entered the canon. Many of these books we still possess; and we can say that to read them and then to read the New Testament is to enter into a different world, ii. Certain books began to be read at the public worship of the Church, were an essential part of the Christian service (Justin Martyr, First Apology 1:67). Clement of Rome wrote a letter to the Church at Corinth, and Eusebius tells us of a letter of Dionysius of Corinth, written about A.D. 175, in which Dionysius says that it was still the custom in his day to read Clement’s letter at public worship (Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History 4:23:10). And, as Harnack pertinently asks, if the letter of Clement was read, how much more would the much greater letters of Paul be read in the Churches to which they were sent, and in other Churches which knew of them? Books which were read at the worship of the Church had a special position, and had at least begun on the road that lead to their full entry into the canon of Scripture.