"Matthew Johnson" wrote in message
news:56FBB0F3-6AF9-E8B8-8CE3-77289A22CE66@srcbs.org...
> In article , Sarah Kanary
> says...
>>
>>"Stephen M. Adams" wrote in message
>>news:2D166EA9-F715-A234-7739-B4F47B1462D8@srcbs.org...
>>
>>>>Well, of course the OT was written and collected long before there
>>>>was any hint of the Orthodox Church.
>>>
>>> You are mistaken. The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, which
>>> is the Orthodox Church existed BEFORE the collection of the Scriptures
>>> by ANY reckoning.
>>
>>Please explain. The last book of what is commonly called the "Old
>>Testament" was written over 400 years before any church existed.
>
> The Church IS the New Israel. So your objection is irrelevant and without
> merit.
>
>>>>We disagree upon which precedes which. I believe that God gave
>>>>the Scripture to the Church, not that the Church gave the Scripture
>>>>to us.
>>>
>>> The Church wrote, collected, compiled and transmitted the body of the
>>> canon.
>>
>>The individual books of the "NT" were written by individual Jewish
>>Christians, most of whom were apostles of Christ. The canon closed with
>>the
>>death of the apostle John.
>
> No, the Canon did NOT close with the death of John. On the contrary: the
> NT
> Canon was quite different in different parts of the Christian world until
> CENTURIES after the death of John.

The fact that different non-canonical books existed and were circulated
after the death of the apostles does not prove that the 27 book collection
that we have today was not closed. It merely shows that there existed other
books of dubious origin that some groups accepted to some degree as
important to them for whatever reason they had for so doing, and nothing
more.

No one in post apostolic times ever came close to having the authority to
canonize scripture as did the apostles. And not just any apostles, but in
the final analysis specifically Peter and John.

Of course, if you are of the modern opinion that a number of books in the NT
were not even written by the apostles, but long afterward, then you will
find yourself on the other side of the argument, and one might as well
accept Burton Mack's scenario lock stock and barrel because that's where
such theories ultimately lead. There is no middle ground. Either the
apostles secured the New Testament writings for the future church, or the
New Testament is a collection of myths, just as Burton Mack subscribes.

As far as I am concerned, there is no more important issue in New Testament
studies other than to settle the issue of the canon once and for all. I
challenge you an