CH10 Origins of the Canon-Part 2

Summary Many early believers were martyred by the Romans and whatever ‘books’ they had…many early manuscripts for the New Testament…were burned. Nevertheless, we still have some original manuscripts that survived. Emperor Constantine (272-337) ordered Christianity as the the state religion of Rome. He ordered that copies of the New Testament be made to enable better dissemination. The “Codex Sinaiticus” (discovered in 1844 – and believed to have been written in 350 A.D.), may be one of the original copies and includes all of the New Testament. The Biblical claim is that the Bible is both a divine work and a human work. God entrusted the Old Testament to the Jews and similarly God worked to produce His word to the Church in the New Testament text. The Apostles considered Jesus the Messiah and a prophet. All of His words carried the same weight and authority as the Old Testament. His words and the words of his closest Apostles were considered essential to the New Testament. Key Words Diocletian, John Rylands Fragment, Emperor Constantine, Eusebius, Codex Sinaiticus, divine work, Irenaeus, Apostolic teaching as canon, scripture