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Luke 24:36–49
“Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled’” (v. 44).
Having established that Scripture is breathed out by God and that its authority rests on its divine origin, we turn now to the question of how the books of the Bible came to be recognized as God’s Word. This question matters for the argument that Peter is making in his letter, for if the canon is merely the product of ecclesiastical politics, then the false teachers can dismiss it as one human tradition among many. But if the canon was recognized rather than created by the church, then the authority of these books stands on firmer ground than any council or committee.
The Roman Catholic Church claims that it determines the canon—that is, the authoritative list of inspired books. But if the church confers authority on Scripture, then the church stands above Scripture. The Protestant understanding is fundamentally different: The church does not determine the canon; the church recognizes it. Just as a jeweler does not make a diamond valuable by appraising it but simply identifies the value that is already there, so the church identifies the books that are already inspired by God. John Calvin writes that the Scriptures carry their own self-authenticating evidence, for the “majesty of God will immediately come to view” when we approach them with reverent and teachable hearts.
Today’s passage gives us an important window into this process. After His resurrection, Jesus referred to the traditional threefold division of the Hebrew Scriptures: “the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). Scholars agree that the collection that Jesus references is identical to the Protestant Old Testament. The canon of the Old Testament was received by the people of God over centuries of recognizing which books bore the marks of divine inspiration, and by the time of Jesus this collection was settled.
The New Testament canon followed a similar pattern. Most of its twenty-seven books were accepted without controversy, and only a handful—such as 2 Peter, Jude, and 2 and 3 John—were debated, primarily because they circulated in limited geographic areas. The early Christians applied consistent criteria in identifying inspired books: Was the book associated with an Apostle? Did it teach doctrine consistent with the received Apostolic faith? Was it widely recognized by the churches? These criteria did not create authority; they helped the church discern the authority that was already present in the text by virtue of its divine inspiration.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The Bible did not arrive in our hands by accident. Behind every recognized book of the canon of Scripture is the sovereign hand of God, who ensured that His people would never lack His Word. Such extraordinary providence calls for gratitude and reverence for a gift so graciously given.
For further study
- Luke 24:25–35
- John 10:31–39
The bible in a year
- Psalms 25–27
- Acts 21:17–36
- Psalms 28–32
- Acts 21:37–23:11