WCF 1.2 - Of the Holy Scriptures

2. Under the name of Holy Scripture, of the Word of God written, are now contained all of the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are there:

The Old Testament
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
The Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

The New Testament
The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John
The Acts of the Apostles
Paul's Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians 1, Corinthians 2, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians 1, Thessalonians 2, To Timothy 1, To Timothy 2, To Titus, & To Philemon
The Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle of James
The first and second Epistles of Peter
The first, second, and third Epistles of John
The Epistle of Jude
The Revelation of John

All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.

End WCF 1.2

When I first looked at this section, I thought I was going to be in for a short article, but already typing out just the WCF is large!

In the very first section of chapter one, the WCF talks about the revelation of God. God's revelation to us has been graciously committed to writing, but where is the writing now? In what form? In what languages? How many books? Why the book of Jude and not the book of Enoch? These are all very legitimate questions for a Christian to ask, but how do you know the book you hold in your hands is really the words of God and not just some collection of fairy tales or legends cooked up by some bored shepherds one evening?

There is more to be talked about regarding the content of the actual books themselves, but that is dealt with in later sections of this chapter. This chapter deals only with the actual books included in the Canon of Scripture.

(The word canon is something which is considered as a measuring rod or rule to compare other things to.)

I watched a DVD provided by Answers in Genesis on the issue. It is entitled Why 66? The Canon of Scripture which features Brian Edwards. I took a lot of notes and have written them below.

The Canon of the Old Testament
The Jews had 22 books in their canon of scripture. The reason that they had only 22 books is because they condensed exactly the same 39 books that we have down into 22 books. The 22 books contained exactly the same content as our 39 books today.


Were the books of the OT canon written at the time they happened or were they written hundreds or thousands of years later? There is internal proof in two of the books that they were written at the time they happened.

2 Chronicles 10:19 says, "And Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day." The nation of Israel was eventually carried off into captivity, so there is a set window of time for this book to be written.

In the book of Jeremiah chapter 36, it talks about Baruch who wrote what Jeremiah was saying as he said them.

Should the books of the Apocrypha be included at part of Scripture? Jesus and his disciples never quoted from them even though they quoted from the OT hundreds of times. Josephus the Jewish historian never quoted from them. There is also a verse where the Bible talks about no voice of the prophets between Malachi and John the Baptist, but I can't find it. The Septuagint was a Greek translation of the OT. The disciples quoted from this translation of the Bible especially when they were talking to Greek speaking men. The earliest copy of the Septuagint from AD 250 is 500 years after the Septuagint was first published. There is no proof that the books of the Apocrypha were in the original Septuagint.

The Canon of the New Testament

The first person to set out the books of the New Testament as we know them today was Athanasius, but they were in a different order.

He said, "These (the NT canon) are the fountains of salvation, that whoever thirsts, may be satisfied by the eloquence which is in them. In them alone is set forth the doctrine of piety. Let no one add to them nor take anything from them."



There was a claim among scholars that the books of the NT canon were being written as late as the AD 200s. Aside from any other proof that may be discussed, none of the NT writings make a single mention of the most notable event to happen to the Jews; the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. This happened in AD 70, so one concludes that the NT canon was completed prior to the events. 


The Muratorian Canon from around AD 150 is the first list of NT books people have discovered. It contained the 4 Gospels, Acts, Jude, Thirteen letters of Paul, 2 or 3 letters of John, and Revelation. This canon claims to be accepted by the universal church. (One should also note that the Wisdom of Solomon from the Apocrypha was included in this canon too.)

Irenaeus of Lyons was a disciple of Polycarp (killed in AD 155) who was a disciple of the Apostle John. Irenaeus wrote a famous work called Against Heresies. He knew the churches throughout the Roman Empire and he knew that the churches were all using the same books for their authority.

Three quotes from  Irenaeus are:
"The Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it.....

For the churches that have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those of Spain, nor those in Gaul (France), nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world.....

Nor will any one of the rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in the point of eloquence, teach doctrines different from these."


In AD 180, Irenaeus quoted from 1,000 passages from all but four or five NT books and refers to them as the Holy Scriptures.


The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the thirteen letters of Paul were all accepted without question from the earliest records known today.

Apart from James, Jude, 2 and 3 John, 2 Peter, Hebrews, and Revelation, all other NT books had been universally accepted by AD 180.

The following list includes early NT canons and how many books they contained:
AD 150 - Muratorian Canon - 24 of 27
AD 180 - Irenaeus of Lyons - 23 of 27
AD 240 - Origen of Alexandria - 27
AD 325 - Eusebius of Caesarea - 22 + 5
AD 367 - Athanasius of Alexandria - 27

Why did it take more than 100 years for the NT canon to be finalised?

1. The originals were scattered across the whole empire.
2. No scroll could easily contain more than one or two books. The Gospel of Luke had a scroll that was 10 metres long.
3. The first century Christians expected the immediate return of Christ.
4. No on church or leader dominated all the others for 500 years.
5. The early leaders assumed the authority of the Gospels and the apostles. All but Mark, Luke, Jude, and maybe Hebrews were directly written by the apostles. 
6. Only when the heretics attacked the truth was the importance of a canon appreciated.

What makes a book Scripture?

1. Apostolic - does it come from an apostle?
2. Authentic - does it have the ring of truth?
3. Ancient - has it been used from the earliest times?
4. Accepted - are most of the churches using it?
5. Accurate - does it conform to the orthodox teaching of the churches?

And that is the end of my notes from the documentary Why 66? The Canon of Scripture by Brian Edwards and AiG. These notes are just a brief introduction into why we have 66 books in our canon and why only these books.