The official Bible of the early church was in fact the Hebrew Scriptures, now known to us as the Old Testament. The New Testament writers do not appear to have set out with the intention of creating a new set of Scriptures. Their concern was to preserve the record of Jesus' life and teaching, to show how this fulfilled the Old Testament laws and prophecies, and to ensure that it was faithfully preserved and implemented in the doctrines and practices of the church.
Written documents were very bulky and making copies was a tedious process; so at this time they would not have been particularly numerous, and would have circulated in a fairly ad hoc manner. Throughout the remainder of the first century, preference was generally shown for first-hand rather than written testimony. For example Papias (60-140 AD), whilst providing information on the gospels, exhibits a strong preference for 'the living and abiding voice' of those who had direct knowledge of the Apostles and early church leaders.
We know of no serious attempt to define a list of 'officially' approved writings during this period. This situation persisted well into the second century.
The nearest thing to a recognised body of writings at this time were in fact the Letters of Paul. Nine of these were originally addressed to churches; one (Philemon) is a personal letter and the other three, known as the Pastoral Epistles, are addressed to his assistants, Timothy and Titus. They were mostly written between 51 and 61 AD, the Pastoral Epistles somewhat later; and it is believed they were gathered together as a collection around 80-85 AD. They were widely used and quoted during the remainder of the first century and the early part of the second; but declined in popularity for a time during the mid second century, following their abuse by Marcion (see below).
By the second century the situation was becoming more complex, with the circulation of a number of other documents of more doubtful authenticity or doctrine, along with later writings by early church leaders. There was also a greater degree of doctrinal divergence in the church, and various groups began to exhibit a preference towards those writings that favoured their particular viewpoint.
The heretic Marcion, who broke away from the church about 150 AD, interpreted the writings of Paul as meaning that there were actually two Gods, a 'Just God' of the Old Testament and the 'Good God' of the New. He claimed that the apostles had allowed Jesus' teaching to be corrupted and Paul was its only true exponent. He completely rejected the Old Testament and published his own list of approved writings, comprising one gospel (probably related to Luke) plus Paul's letters to the churches and Philemon, though he rejected the Pastoral Epistles.
Marcion's list acted as a spur to others to begin defining their own approved lists. Irenaeus specifically names most of the books that form the present day NT, including the Gospels, Acts, all of Paul's letters and Revelation. So, too, does the Muratorian Canon (c. 170-210 AD, and commonly attributed to Hippolytus); although this also recommends two other documents, the 'Apocalypse of Peter' and the 'Wisdom of Solomon', which were not generally accepted by the church.
Similar lists and citations, with slight variations, continue to be found in writings extending into the 3rd century. Eusebius, a 4th century Church historian, summarises the position at that time as follows:
In the eastern branch of the church, the 39th Paschal Letter of Athanasius (367 AD) provides the definitive statement of those books regarded as authoritative, and in the western church, the Councils of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD). Both list the same books that comprise our New Testament.
The Syriac-speaking churches initially followed a different path. The first gospel used amongst them was the 'Gospel according to the Hebrews' (an apocryphal gospel of unknown authorship, dating from between 65 and 100 AD). This was then replaced by a harmony of the Gospels produced by Tatian, known as the Diatessaron, to which were added the letters of Paul and Acts. Eventually, the Syriac churches adopted the same list of approved books as that used by the eastern and western churches, replacing the Diatessaron with the four gospels.
The following sections give the background to some of the main areas of dispute concerning those books which were less readily accepted.
Certain points need to be kept in mind.
Most modern scholars agree that it is by some author other than Paul. Another strong contender could be Apollos, whose skill in expounding the Hebrew Scriptures was known to rival that of Paul (cf. Acts 18:24-8 and 1 Cor 3:4-6). But no matter who the human author, it is acknowledged as an outstanding example of early church teaching.
Some modern critics have suggested the letter may have been either a Jewish homily adapted for Christian purposes, or a later writing seeking to counter extreme variants of Paul's teaching on justification by faith. However, no arguments are presented that cannot be adequately explained on the basis of James' authorship and objections can be raised against the plausibility of both alternatives.
Many modern scholars also question its authenticity. Specific grounds cited are:
From a textual standpoint, nearly all scholars agree that they are the work of the same author as 1 John, and most would accept that 1 John is written by the author of John's gospel. However, there are major differences in style between these and Revelation (also attributed to John). It has therefore been suggested that the actual writing of the gospel and epistles was performed by one of John's disciples. This view is supported by John chapter 21, which appears to be an epilogue to the gospel, pointing to 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' as the primary source, but clearly showing that others assisted in its compilation (vv. 20-24).
Most modern scholars also question the authorship of Revelation for the reasons given above; but these are easily answered. John's native language was Aramaic and, as noted above, there is evidence he had assistance in writing his gospel. It is highly improbable that, when in exile, he would have had access to the services of the same helpers. Indeed, he may have been obliged to write in Greek himself without help or may have written the original in Aramaic, as some scholars believe. Moreover, prophetic utterances frequently differ radically from conventional speech in both style and language. (You only have to compare the language some people use in church with their everyday speech to see how dramatic such differences can be!) Revelation is one of the most visionary prophecies ever given; it is quite unlike John's gospels and letters in both content and purpose. Such factors readily account for the observed differences from the letters and Gospel.
In the early days of the church the Old Testament was the official Bible of the church, and there was no conscious effort to create a new body of officially recognised Scriptures. The process of defining which books were recognised as authoritative did not begin until well into the second century; by which time the emergence of a variety of later writings, some spurious and heretical and others merely farther removed from the original apostolic sources, began to necessitate such action.
Although the books of the NT were not officially defined until the fourth century, it is clear that, despite the vastly inferior means of dissemination at that time, there was already a general concensus concerning the majority of these books by the end of the second century. All of those included are generally accepted as originating within the community of first-generation Christians. This contrasts with those documents omitted from the NT, which mostly date from the second-century, or else are of doubtful authenticity.