Canon Revisited

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27 ESV)

I found this a really convincing and helpful summary of why we can have confidence in our current canon, more specifically focusing on the NT.

The book starts out by critiquing a couple difference models that attempt to answer the question of what books belong in the NT. 1) Community-determined models give full weight to the books that were accepted by the early church. 2) Historically-determined models appeal only to the origins of the books themselves, such as if they are deemed authentic and apostolic. Both of these categories bring positive things to the discussion (the early church's acceptance and the authenticity/apostolicity of the canon are important), but ultimately fail in that they authenticate the NT canon on the basis of something external to it. At first I was hesitant on this point ... don't we always need external validity of the truth of something? But, Kruger points out:

“If we try to validate an ultimate authority by appealing to some other authority, then we have just shown that it is not really the ultimate authority. Thus, for ultimate authorities to be ultimate authorities, they have to be the standard for their own authentication. You cannot account for them without using them.” (Kruger 132)

“If I see a cup on the table, how do I know my sense perception is accurate? How would I test such a thing? I could examine the cup and table more closely to make sure they are what they seem to be (hold them, touch them, etc.). I could also ask a friend to tell me whether he sees a cup on the table. But in all these instances I am still assuming the reliability of my sense perception ... even as I examine the reliability of my sense perception.” (Kruger 134)

Providential Exposure

Attributes of Canonicity

Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirt

... well what about ... ?

“The Church no more gave us the New Testament canon than Sir Isaac Newton gave us the force of gravity. God have us gravity ... Newton did not create gravity but recognized it.” (J. I. Packer)

“Roger Nicole contends that we can know which books belong in the canon by appealing to the ‘witness of the Holy Spirit given corporately to God's people and made manifest by a nearly unanimous acceptance of the NT canon in the Christian churches.'” (Kruger 147)

“Jesus's statement that ‘my sheep hear my voice ... and they follow me' (John 10:27) is not evidence for the authority of the sheep's decision to follow, but evidence for the authority and efficacy of the Shepherd's voice to call.” (Kruger 148)

“The fact that the church was able to reach such unity in the midst of such diversity would indicate that more was in play than just the random flow of history. Indeed, such a scenario gives us good reason to think that the church reached unity on these books precisely because Christ himself was speaking in them” (Kruger 416)