The Canon of Biblical Writings For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, Isnt Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call Gods Word? and Isnt the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ? This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canons accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging implications of the process.Old TestamentIn regards to evidence for the divine authority of the Old Testament, Jesus words, parables, and actions in the New Testament force one to the conclusion that He viewed the Hebrew Scriptures as being of God. He quotes or alludes to over one hundred and fifty Old Testament passages in the Synoptic Gospe...
