The Bible was compiled by the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. The council was convened to resolve disputes between the two factions of Christianity: the Arians and the Nicene. The Arians believed that Jesus Christ was not equal with God, while the Nicene believed that he was.
It is most probable that the final redaction and canonization of the Torah, which consists of the first five books of the Bible, took place during the Babylonian Exile, which occurred between the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. By the year 100 CE, the entirety of the Hebrew Bible had been completed.
In the first and second centuries after the common era, the books that make up the New Testament were composed. Almost majority of the writings that make up the New Testament were written by the time the first century A.D. came to a close.
The books that make up the Old Testament were written a significant amount of time before Jesus was born. However, the Bible as a whole did not become legally assembled until the latter part of the fourth century, which demonstrates that the Catholic Church was the one who decided which books should be included in the canon.
Who Decided Which Books to Include in the Bible?
It is a simple solution to say that the canonical books of the Christian Bible were enumerated and authorized by a number of councils, synods, and popes of the Catholic Church, beginning with the Council of Rome in the year 382 A.D. The document that came to be known as the canon of the Christian Bible was initially issued by the Council of Rome, which was presided over by Pope Damasus I.
This document was dubbed The Decree of the Council of Rome on the Canon of Scripture during its establishment. The “Damasine List” is the name given to the second section of this decree, which provides a comprehensive list of the books that are considered to be canonical in both the Old and New Testaments.
A little more than a decade later, in the year 393 A.D., a council of bishops, which included Saint Augustine of Hippo, affirmed the same canon of Scripture at the Synod of Hippo.
| ItemExplanationCouncil of Rome (382 A.D.)The initial council where the canon of the Christian Bible was established.Synod of Hippo (393 A.D.)A council where the same canon of Scripture was affirmed.Synod of Carthage (397 A.D.)Reaffirmed the canon of Scripture established at the Synod of Hippo.Council of Carthage (419 A.D.)Another affirmation of the canon of Scripture.Gelasian Decree (492-496 A.D.)A decree issued by Pope Gelasius I reaffirming the canon of Scripture.Council of Florence (1442)Reaffirmed the 73 books that make up the Canon of Scripture.Council of Trent (1546)Imposed an anathema on individuals who disagreed with the list of 73 books in the canon of Scripture. |
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List of Councils Affirming the Canonical Books of the Christian Bible
Within the walls of a church in Lalibela, Ethiopia, an Ethiopian Orthodox priest displays an antique Christian Bible.
Dan Brown, author of the best-selling novel “The Da Vinci Code,” said that the Bible was compiled during the historic Council of Nicea in the year 325 C.E., which was a time when Emperor Constantine and church authorities allegedly prohibited troublesome texts that did not adhere to their secret agenda.
However, that is not how things actually transpired. Despite the fact that “The Da Vinci Code” was a work of fiction, Brown was not the first person to attribute the decision of the Council of Nicea to the selection of books to be included in the Bible.When Voltaire wrote in the 18th century, he perpetuated a myth that had been around for centuries: that the Bible was canonized in Nicea by laying all of the books that were known at the time on a table, saying a prayer, and observing which writings that were not legitimate dropped to the ground.
The Wisdom You Need for Today
Each guide offers wisdom in one of 17 different areas to give you holistic help in life:
Trust in God. Whether its Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 40:31, Romans 8:28 or your favorite scripture or life verse, trusting in God is at the heart of our relationship with God, trusting Him completely through the challenges and storms of life.
Humility. Jesus exemplified humility in all He did. We are living in a world where the quality of humility seems like something that will get you further behind, even trampled underfoot, instead of ahead. In Scripture we see humility as a quality that is very near and dear to the Heart of God.
Confess and Repentance. How do these qualities of confess and repent resemble a life that bears much fruit? Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the precious blood of Christ, confession and repentance becomes powerful weapons in our arsenal to truly feel the joy of Christ. We disarm the enemy through honest appraisal of ourselves.
Integrity. Integrity is something that must be at your core, residing in your heart. In our broken, sinful, and dying world, men and women of Christ must be models of integrity and face life with the biblical tools Jesus imparted to us.
Courage. We see examples everyday all around us of great levels of courage. There are physical and philosophical examples of courage that inspire us every day. But what of the courage to stand up for ones convictions in a sinful and dying world? When our faith and character is challenged, where do we stand? And for Whom do we stand?
Fellowship. The Christian life was never meant to be done alone. Physically, mentally and spiritually we were created to be with others. The importance of Biblical fellowship is literally lifesaving.
Kindness. Our kindness will very often have a rippling effect on others we may not ever meet this side of heaven. But our rewards will come. As Christs hands and feet here on this Earth, what an opportunity we have to be kind and demonstrate His love for the world to see.
Goodness When we look at the world around us, we oftentimes may not see a lot of goodness. But it is there. Acts of goodness are practiced all around us, every day. When we look at goodness from the perspective of Gods Word, we are often challenged to take this concept to an even higher level.
Thankfulness Gratitude and thankfulness are attitudes that will carry you through lifes storms and enhance the joy and success you celebrate. We have so much to be grateful for and our prayer is that this program will bring to life the attitude of gratitude.
Joy The true source of all joy is available 24/7 to us. Dont settle for anything second hand. Go to the source, the authentic heart of Jesus. There is where we will surely find joy. Many people look everywhere else for joy except this most special place.
Self-Control How many times in life do we say or do something we regret and wish we could take back. By reaching deep into Gods Word, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit and realizing we can do everything in His strength, we can live a life were self-control is exemplified.
According to Jason Combs, an assistant professor at Brigham Young University who specializes in ancient Christianity, there was not a single church authority or council that met to ratify the biblical canon (the canonical list of books in the Bible), not at Nicea or anywhere else in antiquity. This is something that Combs explains.
“Dan Brown did all of us a disservice,” says Combs to the audience. “We don’t have evidence that any group of Christians got together and said, ‘Let’s hash this out once and for all.'” In order to find a solution to a religious issue that had nothing to do with the books of the Bible, the Council of Nicea was called together.
In the form of theological treatises, letters, and church history that have been preserved for millennia, the evidence that scholars do possess indicates that the process of canonization took a far longer amount of time from the beginning. From the first to the fourth centuries and beyond, various church leaders and theologians debated whether texts should be included in the canon, frequently labeling their opponents as heretics. These debates took place over the course of several centuries.
A number of authors contributed to the compilation of the books that comprise the Bible over the course of more than a thousand years, beginning in the year 1200 B.C.E. and continuing until the first century C.E.There are many different types of writings that can be found in the Bible, such as poetry, history, music, stories, letters, and prophetic writings. As opposed to being encased in “books” as we think of them today, these were initially written on scrolls of parchment to be preserved for future generations. The printing press was not invented until the year 1440, so keep that in mind.
Rare and ancient biblical manuscripts are displayed at the “Book of Books” exhibition in the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, Israel. Note they are all on scrolls.
URIEL SINAI/GETTY IMAGES
Over time, the books that were deemed authentic and authoritative by the communities who used them were included in the canon and the rest were discarded. Although the bulk of that editing work ended in the late 300s, the debate over which books were theologically legit continued until at least the 16th century when church reformer Martin Luther published his German translation of the Bible.
Disputed, Spurious and Downright Heretical
Luther had issues with the book of James, which emphasized the role of “works” alongside faith, so he stuck James and Hebrews in the back of the Bible alongside Jude and Revelation, which he also thought were questionable. Combs says that in Luther’s original Bible, those four books don’t even appear in the table of contents.
Eusebius was a Christian historian writing in the early 300s who provided one of the early lists of which books were considered legit and which were borderline bogus.
Eusebius broke his list down into different categories: recognized, disputed, spurious and heretical. Among the “recognized” were the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), Acts and Paul’s epistles. Under “disputed,” Eusebius included James and Jude — the same books Luther didn’t like — plus a few others that are now considered canon, like 2 Peter, 2 John and 3 John.
When Eusebius turns to the “spurious” and “heretical” categories, we get a glimpse into just how many other texts were in circulation in the second and third century C.E. Have you ever heard of the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas or the Gospel of Thomas? Combs says that there were hundreds of texts similar to those found in the New Testament and Old Testament that didn’t make it into the canon.
Making the Cut
Why did some books make the cut and not others? Combs cites three criteria used by early church leaders. The first was authorship, whether it was believed to have been written by an apostle, by Paul or by someone close to them. Mark, for example, wasn’t an apostle, but was an interpreter for Peter. The second criterium was antiquity, with older texts taking priority over newer ones. And the third was orthodoxy, or how well the text conformed with current Christian teaching.
“That last reason is so interesting, of course, because ‘current Christian teaching’ changed over hundreds of years,” says Combs.
While it’s not true to say that a single church council ruled on which books to include in the canon, it’s fair to say that over those first few centuries of theological debate, the winners got to decide which books would stay and which had to go.
It’s important to mention that not all Christian denominations consider the same books to be canon. Most Protestant Bibles have 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. The Roman Catholic Bible has 73 books including the seven known as the Apocrypha. And the Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes 81 total books in its Bible, including pseudepigrapha like 1 Enoch and Jubilees.
What are the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha?
The word “apocrypha” comes from the Greek for “hidden” or “secret.” It’s a little confusing, because the word apocrypha is used in a couple of different ways when talking about books outside of the standard biblical canon.
First, there’s the category of “New Testament Apocrypha” which includes a long list of non-canonical texts written mostly in the second century C.E. and beyond that pertain to Jesus and his apostles. As Combs says, there are hundreds of these texts and we don’t have written specimens for all of them.
Then there’s a subset of Old Testament books that are included in the Roman Catholic Bible. These seven books, including Tobit, Judith and 1 & 2 Maccabees, are published between the Old and New Testaments in the Catholic Bible and called “the Apocrypha” or sometimes the “Deuterocanon” which means “second canon.”
And then there’s a third category called “pseudepigrapha” from the Greek for “false author.” This list includes more than 50 texts written between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. by both Jewish and Christian writers expanding on stories and characters from the Old Testament. Notable Old Testament pseudepigrapha include 1 Enoch, Jubilees and the Treatise of Shem.
Stories You Didn’t Learn in Sunday School
Many of the New Testament texts familiar to Christians today were being used authoritatively already in the second century, but different congregations preferred some texts over others and included some texts that don’t appear in the New Testament. Here are a few:
The Gospel of Peter: Only a fragment of this text was recovered in 1886 in Egypt, but it includes the only narrative account of the resurrected Jesus leaving his tomb. According to Peter’s version, two giant angels descended to the tomb and escorted the resurrected Jesus out, who was also suddenly gigantic. But the oddest note was that the three figures were followed by a floating cross that could talk.
“And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, ‘Thou hast preached to them that sleep.’ And a response was heard from the cross, ‘Yea.'”
The Gospel of Mary: Combs says that some apocryphal texts reflected theological and doctrinal debates going on within the early church, such as the role of women. In the Gospel of Mary (discovered in the late 19th century), Mary Magdalene is not only referred to as one of Jesus’s disciples, but perhaps his favorite one. In this text, after Jesus is resurrected, he relays esoteric teachings to Mary, who then tells the other disciples. Peter asks why they should listen to a woman, to which another disciple Levi [Matthew] responds:
“If the Savior made her worthy, who are you then, for your part, to cast her aside? Surely the Savior knows her full well. That is why he has loved her more than us.”