Ok I don't want this question to cause any discourse between us all but it's a question many non believers ask.
How can we prove that the New Testament is to be relied upon for guidance, how can we be so sure in this day and age that we are receiving the correct message.
That which is set apart, consecrated, for the express purposes of God is holy. So Scripture, absolutely, is holy.
The New Testament consists of those writings which have been, since nearly the earliest days of the Church, received for the good purpose of delivering to us the saving message of the Gospel and exhorting us to the service of Christ, and to look upon Christ for our hope and our salvation.
Of these books we can, historically, separate them into two categories:
1. Homolegoumena, that is, the commonly or universally accepted writings.
2. Antilegomena, that is, the disputed writings.
The Homolegoumena consists of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles, the thirteen epistles of St. Paul the Apostle, the first epistle of St. Peter, and the first epistle of St. John.
The Antilegomena consists of the second epistle of St. Peter, the second and third epistles of St. John, the epistle of St. Jude, the epistle to the Hebrews, the Apocalypse of St. John (also known as the Revelation), the epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, the epistle of St. Clement, the Didache (i.e. the Teaching of the Twelve), and the Apocalypse of St. Peter.
Consider the Muratorian Fragment, dated to around 200 AD, so as to avoid clogging this post with a lengthy copy-and-paste, one can
read it online here.
The Muratorian Fragment is just one example of what was a common discussion among early Christians.
It is important to keep in mind that when we talk of disagreements and disputes over the New Testament Canon in the ancient Church, we are talking specifically of these books known as Antilegomena, heretical works such as the various Gnostic "gospels" and fanciful, romances such as the Proto-gospels of James and Thomas which purport to give accounts of Jesus' infancy or childhood are not included. Heretical works were never accepted, and such fanciful romances were nothing more than an early form of religious fan-fiction.
When we encounter, in the writings of the fathers, statements concerning what was to be "read in the churches" it does not refer to what individual Christians may read on their own private time, it refers to what was to be read publicly as part of Christian worship, that is, part of the liturgical Scripture readings (what we know of as lectionary readings today). Scripture readings formed an essential component of Christian worship, it was one of several elements of liturgy which is taken directly from the liturgical worship of Judaism of the first century (e.g. Luke 4:16-20).
It is precisely this liturgical element that is essential and definitive in the formation of the Christian Biblical Canon, including the New Testament. The Canon developed and was formed not by top-down decisions by councils or individual bishops, but bottom-up by the shared worship of the people of God in the churches across the known world. What was received, shared, common, and confessed. The opinions and thoughts of well-respected bishops--such as St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria, Defender of Orthodoxy--as well as the statements of regional synods played a role, these were chiefly reflections of the already established practices in the churches.
Ultimately we must either, in faith, accept that God, in His providential mercy, has not allowed His Church to deviate so strongly from the truth and so we can, indeed, trust in the Scriptures which we have received having been passed down to us by the tradition, teaching, and faithfulness of Christ's saints; or we are lost in a sea of great confusion.
I believe that, as a Christian, the former is the only acceptable position. Not because I believe the Christian Church is inerrant or incontrovertible, but because I believe in the faithfulness of God and His promises. And therefore I receive Holy and Sacred Scripture as, indeed, the sacred, inspired, and authoritative written word of God, for the good and sake of His Church, to receive and hear the Living and Risen Christ Jesus, our Lord, who is contained in all their pages, that I might be comforted with His Gospel, having faith, hope, and salvation in the God who so graciously meets us in Him.
-CryptoLutheran
