How do we know which books should be part of the canon of the New Testament, i.e., the books considered to be the actual Word of God? Author and theologian Dr. Gavin Ortlund believes that the answer to that question can be found in the authority of the church and in having faith that God guided the process of canonization.
“We can trust God’s guidance of the process of canonization in the early church, even though it was a fallible process,” said Ortlund in a video published Dec. 31, adding, “The church’s reception of the canon can be fallible and yet still trustworthy.”
Gavin Ortlund: ‘A Fallible Process Can Be Trustworthy’
Gavin Ortlund referenced a YouTube video from his friend Cameron Bertuzzi of Capturing Christianity that also addressed the topic of the New Testament canon, although Ortlund said his video is not a refutation of Bertuzzi’s.
Ortlund said that his own video, which is nine minutes long, would answer the question as “briefly and compactly as possible,” even though it would consequently be “more vulnerable to criticism.” Viewers who wish to dive deeper into the topic can explore Ortlund’s other videos and the books linked below his video.
Ortlund’s first reason for relying on church authority and faith to determine the New Testament canon is that the Old Testament was assembled by fallible people, yet Jesus referred to the Law, Psalms, and Prophets as Scripture.
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Second, the early and medieval church used the same fallible process to receive the New Testament. “There were no infallible operations deciding the canon during that first 1,500 years of the church,” said Ortlund, who said that the late 4th century councils were “local” and “fallible.”
“And yet despite the absence of any infallible operations, the church came to a virtually universal agreement about the New Testament somewhere around the 4th century, or really a little earlier than that, but totally finalized around then,” Ortlund said, explaining that the process of canonization was “organic and cumulative and gradual.” It was “a bottom-up process,” not a “top-down” decision, and there was “widespread consensus” based on a variety of criteria, “not an official proclamation.”
Ortlund noted that the question of canonicity is relevant to Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox believers as well as to Protestants. “If a fallible reception of the canon is a problem for Protestants, that’s a question that other Christians, like the Oriental Orthodox will have to face as well,” he said.
