Here is the history of how The universal (that's what Catholic means) Church
By the early 3rd century
Origen of Alexandria may have been using the same 27 books as in the modern New Testament, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Revelation
[8] (see also
Antilegomena). Likewise by 200 the
Muratorian fragment shows that there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the New Testament, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them.
[9] Thus, while there was plenty of discussion in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the "major" writings were accepted by almost all Christian authorities by the middle of the
second century.
[10]
The next two hundred years followed a similar process of continual discussion throughout the entire Church, and localized refinements of acceptance. This process was
not yet complete at the time of the First Council of Nicaea in 325, though substantial progress had been made by then. Though a list was clearly necessary to fulfill Constantine's commission in 331 of
fifty copies of the Bible for the Church at Constantinople, no concrete evidence exists to indicate that it was considered to be a formal canon. In the absence of a canonical list, the resolution of questions would normally have been directed through the
see of Constantinople, in consultation with Bishop
Eusebius of Caesarea (who was given the commission), and perhaps other bishops who were available locally.
In his Easter letter of 367,
Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of exactly the same books that would formally become the
New Testament canon,
[11] and he used the word "canonized" (
kanonizomena) in regard to them.
[12] The first council that accepted the present Catholic canon (the
Canon of Trent) was the Council of Rome, held by
Pope Damasus I (382). A second council was held at the
Synod of Hippo (393) reaffirming the previous council list. A brief summary of the acts was read at and accepted by the
Council of Carthage (397) and the
Council of Carthage (419).
[13] These councils took place under the authority of
St. Augustine, who regarded the canon as already closed.
[14] Pope Damasus I's
Council of Rome in 382, if the
Decretum Gelasianum is correctly associated with it, issued a biblical canon identical to that mentioned above,
[11] or if not the list is at least a 6th-century compilation
[15] claiming a 4th-century imprimatur.
[16] Likewise, Damasus's commissioning of the Latin
Vulgate edition of the Bible, c. 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West.
[17] In 405,
Pope Innocent I sent a list of the sacred books to a Gallic bishop,
Exsuperius of Toulouse. When these bishops and councils spoke on the matter, however, they were not defining something new, but instead "were ratifying what had already become the mind of the church."
[18] Thus, from the 5th century onward, the
Western Church was unanimous concerning the New Testament canon.
[19]
See, this was not a book that fell out of the sky from heaven. These books were decided on by The Church, not the Apostles or Christ.
