LESSON 6 • History of Scripture

In the time period in which Jesus and his apostles lived, the scriptures consisted of the 39 books we refer to as the Old Testament. Those books were considered authoritative, and “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” (II Tim 3:16). Paul told Timothy in the preceding verse that these scriptures he had known from his youth were able to make him “wise fore salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.”

In the first era of the church, the apostles held authority. Some of them sent instructions to churches in written forms, such as letters or the apocalyptic book of revelation. Other writings were seen as preserving the apostolic witness of Jesus in forms such as the gospels. For instance, the book of Mark was viewed in the early church as preserving the witness of Peter about Jesus’ life, presumably transmitted through the younger Mark at a time when they were both in Rome. The recording of these letters, gospels, and other books might be called the Era of Composition. This era was marked by a burden to faithfully dispense the word of God.

The Era of Compilation overlapped this first age, and was the process by which the church began to recognize that these particular books did indeed hold a valid witness of the apostolic ministry of Jesus. This process began by the circulation of the individual books, and the compilation of them into a collection called the canon. Given the space between the various churches (from Western Europe around the Middle East all the way into Northern Africa) and the methods of communication available to them, this process of circulation and compilation was no small feet! Indeed, though we can see signs of building consensus in the second century, the process continued until the council of Hippo in 393 AD gave a final affirmation to the 27 books we consider the New Testament. In the writings of the early church we can see that the church fathers certainly felt a burden to faithfully compile the books that held the apostolic witness.

This period is overlapped by what we might refer to as the Era of Stewardship. This era, which stretches to the present time, is the era in which each generation receives the word, and then in turn passes it on to the next generation of the church. So we must ask ourselves, “What is the burden we have been given, what task has God charged us with?” In this era, the church has been given a blessing in technologies that can make the word the accessible, but also the challenge of becoming more separated in language and time from the era in which the canon was written. So while we can easily have individual printed copies of the text, few of us can read the book in its native language. So we rely on the skills of some to fulfill this task of translation for the church.
Discussion guide:

• During this Era of Stewardship, we have the need to read the Bible in translation. How do we go about selecting what translation to use? How do factors such as Accuracy, Readability, and Manuscript base affect our decision?

• What tasks are we charged with in relation to scripture? What is it we are faithfully charged with doing with the Word?

• How can we be sure we are being faithful to the task of passing the word on to the next generation of the church? Whose job is this?

• The early church placed great importance on the task of discerning which books belonged in the canon, a set of decisions that we trust today. How can we honor this long process they undertook in selecting all 27 of the NT books to add to the canon?

• How can we be sure that we take seriously the task of responding to the whole canon? What is the relationship between these Testaments we refer to as “Old” and “New?” What is it that they are “testaments” to?

• A series of Theological Questions: We believe that the Holy Spirit was active in the Era of Composition as well? If we don’t, then what tasks might the Spirit have been active in accomplishing during this time period? Finally, in our era of Stewardship, may we on the work of God’s spirit to help us in our tasks? How might we be helped?


Steven Hovater