First, Protestantism as a protest movement only makes sense at the point where the Church has significantly departed from Scripture. In the days when the Apostles were around, and for a while after that, verbal and written teachings agreed (indeed for the earliest part it was all verbal), so the distinction didn't matter. The distinction became more important over time as the divergence increased.
While there wasn't a single officially agreed upon canon for a few hundred years, people certainly read, cited, and considered authoritative the Gospels and at least some of the letters. To my knowledge we don't know of any time when the mainstream church used a different list of gospels. There were some differences in what was regarded as canonical in difference places, but probably not enough to cause a significant difference in what Christianity would look like.
This is a red herring.
While there wasn't a single officially agreed upon canon for a few hundred years, people certainly read, cited, and considered authoritative the Gospels and at least some of the letters. To my knowledge we don't know of any time when the mainstream church used a different list of gospels. There were some differences in what was regarded as canonical in difference places, but probably not enough to cause a significant difference in what Christianity would look like.
This is a red herring.
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Christos Anesti
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St Jerome wrote that to be ignorant of the Scriptures is not to know Christ. It's one the key expressions of the divine Tradition of the Church revealed by God.
St Gregory of Nyssa wrote:
"We are not allowed to affirm what we please. We make Holy Scripture the rule and the measure of every tenant. We approve of that alone which may be made to harmonize with the intention of those writings"
St Gregory of Nyssa wrote:
"We are not allowed to affirm what we please. We make Holy Scripture the rule and the measure of every tenant. We approve of that alone which may be made to harmonize with the intention of those writings"
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heymikey80
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur
So many people have already pointed it out. Protestants don't trust the authority of the church to dictate Scripture. They trust the Scripture.
Unthinking attacks on Protestants is likely to draw attacks of the same kind in return.
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Osage Bluestem
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God has used many christians to do many good things. God doesn't only use people from one denomination.
The bible isn't the work of a catholic church. It is the work of God. He used many people over many centuries to give us the bible we have today.
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laconicstudent
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It would be if Winslow was actually correct. He isn't. The Church Fathers proposed various different canons, books such as Revelation were extremely controversial so the claim that the books eventually canonized were already recognized is laughable.
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sunlover1
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Amen! Preach it!
1Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
2Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
3Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
4Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
5Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.
6He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
7Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
8Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
9Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
10Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
11Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
12Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
13Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
14He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.
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Osage Bluestem
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What is laughable is thinking that men can do anything at all to thwart the will of the sovereign almighty God, or can do anything at all that he may owe them something or be in their debt.
He works all things according to the purpose of his will. Those invloved in the compilation of scripture should simply be humbled that God would use them for such a task, and since they are all dead now anyway I am sure that they are very humbled indeed now that they see first hand that all that they are exists only at the will of God who gave us the bible.
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B
Benevolous
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It's not just speculation. It's based on a false premise.
While the Bible was not compiled until the Council of Nicea (321-325 AD), that isn't to say that the individual books were not already in circulation among the churches.
Two thirds of the books of the Bible were the Jewish scriptures so, obviously, the church had them. Of the remaining books, the books of the New Testament are dated starting around 20-25 years after Jesus' resurrection.
So the idea that the Church didn't have the scriptures for 400 is just silly.
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Osage Bluestem said:
Particularly since the Catholic Church as we know it today didn't even exist for another 725 years.
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laconicstudent
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## Not that early on. Besides. no Ecumenical council bothered itself with the canon until long after the split. The canon was not settled by any Ecumenical council, but by tradition & usage.Aren't there differences in the number of Councils the EOC recognizes compared with Roman Catholicism?
http://www.christianforums.com/t7431820/
Church Councils and Precedence of Sees
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## But what all that overlooks, is that God would be irrelevant, if men did not act on His behalf. Think about it - God was meaningless in Albania, because Albania was an officially atheistic, God-free state. For that reason, God could do nothing in Albania. God is as relevant as people want Him to be or allow Him to be, & no more.
So for practical purposes, He can be, & has to be, ignored. If people want to believe God is active in historical events, they are welcome to do so - but that doesn't make God real in history to anyone else. He was real to the compilers of the books and the canons, because they believed in Him - but that does not mean He can be given credit for what they did: because they are in history, & so were their actions, just as we & ours are - but God is not in history. Historically, man alone matters - not God; there is nothing for God to do in history. Or science. Or in anything.
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Originally Posted by KeenanParkerIIFor that 400 year period between Jesus' resurrection and canonization.
What happened in ad 325?
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