The Doctrine Of The Canon

The Doctrine Of The Canon

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, September 25, 2025 (Donate)

Why 66 books of the Bible? Some churches, like Rome after the mid-1500s, profess a few more by adding in some apocryphal books. Though arguably the most popular Catholic in history, Jerome, who translated the most time-honored translation in history (Latin Vulgate) that was used for well over 1000 years, held to 66 books. So, what gives?

Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

This brings us to the issue of the doctrine of the canon. The canon (which means reed or measuring stick) is about inspired Scripture. So how do we know what books are contained in the canon? And why 66?

How To Get Started On The Subject?

Some suggest we should set the Bible aside and look at the subject of canon and decide for ourselves. Some suggest we let the church decide what the canon is. The problem with both of these methods is that it puts people (i.e., man, autonomous human reasoning) as the authority over God.

Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

When we look at the canon, God’s Word should not be neglected. It should still be treated as the authority that it is. As you can see, it is a unique quandary, because what makes up God’s Word is the very question at hand! Nevertheless, you can use your sword to defend your sword and an army can use a hill defend a hill. That analogy might be fitting here.

We’re going to use the 66 books of God’s Word to defend God’s canon.

God’s Authority On Canon

The canon of Scripture through a presuppositional apologetic framework (i.e., starting with the 66 books of the Bible), begins with the fact that God exists, that His Word is true, and that human reasoning must be subject to divine revelation rather than standing in judgment over it. This perspective shapes the way God understands and defends His own canon.

God is the ultimate authority, and because Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), it carries His authority. Therefore, the recognition of the canon is not primarily a human decision or council ruling but the result of God giving His Word and imposing its truth. In other words, the canon is self-authenticating.

From a presuppositional standpoint, to question the canon using autonomous human reason is to start with the wrong foundation. Instead, the believer must begin with God’s revelation and interpret all evidence, including canonical evidence, through that lens.

Self-Authenticating Nature Of Scripture

The Bible, by its own attestation, is the very standard that mark it as God’s Word. Confirmations of this are seen in:

• Non-contradiction since God cannot deny Himself
• Godly qualities—unity, harmony, fulfilled prophecy, miracles, written across ages with one theme, and spiritual power.
• Apostolic authority—books were written and affirmed by prophets and apostles of Christ.

To clarify, the church did not create the canon; rather, the canon generated the church by delivering God’s authoritative message through the power of the Holy Spirit. This rejects the Roman view that church tradition determines Scripture’s authority and canon.

Man was never in a position to determine canonicity. The Holy Spirit was. Instead, God’s Word has always been inherently authoritative from the moment it was revealed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Presuppositional Response To Challenges

Critics often claim the canon was the product of late church councils or political processes (e.g., the Council of Nicaea). One should respond by presuppositionally exposing the faulty starting point of these arguments:

1. Unbelieving assumptions—Skeptics appeal to a lesser authority in themselves to deny God’s existence or authority and therefore misinterpret historical data. This is a faulty appeal to authority and historical truth fallacy.
2. Historical evidence rightly interpreted—Early Christians already viewed Old and New Testament writings as authoritative long before any council, as seen in Peter calling Paul’s writings “Scripture” (2 Peter 3:16). Early church fathers immediately quoted New Testament books, which are apostolic-imposed books on the church as authoritative.

New Testament apostles and prophets knew what was Scripture and it would be naïve to think otherwise. As apostles imposed the canonical books on the church, people, therefore, knew what they were right from the apostolic age forward.

If anything, subsequent generations began struggling with the question of canon later. Even so, by starting with the truth of Scripture, councils merely confirmed what was already previously known and recognized, similar to how a jeweler identifies real gold rather than creating it.

Canon And The Old Testament

The Old Testament canon was completed and accepted long before Christ’s earthly ministry. Jesus Himself affirmed this canon when He referred to the Law, Prophets, and Writings (Luke 24:44). Thus, the Old Testament was already fixed, and Christ’s endorsement provides divine confirmation. Any later additions (e.g., the Apocrypha) are rejected because they lack prophetic authority and were never recognized by Jesus or the apostles.

Canon And The New Testament

The New Testament canon emerged as the apostles and New Testament prophets, under divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote Scripture. These writings were immediately authoritative and recognized as such by the early church as they were imposed by the apostles as authoritative. This recognition flows naturally from the Spirit’s work in the apostolic church rather than from later institutional decisions. Later, some quested certain books after the apostles were laid to rest, but like God said, He would preserve His Word and did so (e.g., Psalm 12:6-7).

We can know with certainty that the New Testament books are 100% Scripture from God by starting with God’s authority rather than man’s reasoning. Using a presuppositional approach, God cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and that His Word is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, when God reveals His Word, it is inherently perfect and trustworthy.

To recap this important point, from the moment the apostles or New Testament prophets, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote these books, they were immediately authoritative.

The church did not create the canon; instead, believers simply recognized what God had already given by imposition of the apostles as the office of Christ’s representatives. In the same way, the prophets of the Old Testament imposed their books and writings, which were produced by the power of the Holy Spirit, prior to Christ.  

Con sider these confirming factors:

1. Apostolic authority—Every New Testament book was written by an apostle or a direct associate under apostolic oversight (e.g., Luke with Paul, Mark with Peter) including New Testament prophets (1 Corinthians 12:28).
2. Consistency and harmony—Scripture does not contradict itself. The New Testament writings are perfectly unified with the Old Testament—being a natural fulfillment of their prophecies and with the teachings of Christ.
3. Early and widespread acceptance due to apostolic imposition—even in the first century, churches circulated and treated these writings as Scripture. For example, Peter explicitly referred to Paul’s writings as “Scripture” (2 Peter 3:16).

Testing God’s Word?

In the 1800s, an idea was introduced by some Christians that we could test God’s Word and see if it was canonical. The problem with this method, first and foremost, is that man, is suddenly thrust in as the judge to evaluate God’s Word. In other words, man is putting God and His Word on trial—subject to our fallible opinions and whims—to see he and His Word lives up to man’s imperfect standards.

Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

The “test method” of determining the New Testament canon is flawed because it starts with man’s authority rather than God’s authority. The test method suggests that we can examine God’s Word using human-devised criteria—such as apostolic authorship, harmony with other Scripture, and widespread acceptance—to decide which books are truly inspired. While these factors may describe what God has done, they do not actually determine whether a book is the Word of God.

This approach places human reasoning above divine revelation, making man the final judge over God’s Word. If people have to “test” the books to see if they meet certain standards, then the authority ultimately rests in human hands, not in God. Furthermore, where do the test come from? The mind of man!

This leads to the dangerous idea that the Bible’s authority depends on human approval, which undermines its very nature as the self-attesting Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16). When starting with God's 66 books, they ward of any attack. 

The New Testament writings were immediately Scripture the moment they were written by the apostles and New Testament prophets under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The early church did not make them Scripture through testing or councils; instead, they simply recognized what God had already given. Tests are not the foundation for why the canon is true and complete.

The test method opens the door to skepticism. If man’s reasoning can “approve” certain books, it could just as easily reject them or accept false writings, such as the Apocrypha or Gnostic gospels or cultic books and alleged neo-prophecies. This creates instability and doubt, rather than certainty (and the possibility of an open canon).

The problem with the test method is that it is a man-centered foundation. The proper approach is presuppositional: starting with God’s truth and acknowledging that His Word is self-authenticating, authoritative from the moment of its divine inspiration, and recognized by the church through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

If someone uses the test methods, such as various popular tests of canonicity, it creates serious problems because they unintentionally undermine the very books they are meant to confirm. Consider popular test questions:

• Was the book written by an apostle of God?
• Was the writer confirmed by acts of God (performing miracles, etc.)?
• Does the message tell the truth about God?
• Did the book come with the power of God?
• Was it accepted by the people of God?
• Whether the book had been written by one of the Apostolic circle or closely related to it
• Whether a book bore the marks of inspiration
• Whether it was Christ-centered in its teaching
• Whether it was read in the worship services of the Church

If these tests are applied strictly, they would cast doubt on certain New Testament books such as Jude and Hebrews. For example, Hebrews has no named author, and Jude was not one of the twelve apostles and never performed any recorded miracles. By this standard, both could be rejected, even though the early church recognized them as inspired.

Some books, like Hebrews, 2 Peter, and Revelation, took longer to gain universal recognition. Strictly following this test would suggest these writings were not inspired during the time of early discussion, which is false because they were always Scripture from the moment they were written.

The point is that these tests have fatal weaknesses. The test method ultimately places human judgment above divine revelation. It implies that a book only “becomes” Scripture once it passes human-devised criteria, which contradicts the biblical teaching that all Scripture is God-breathed from the moment of its inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16).

These tests should be viewed as descriptive and confirmatory in many instances, not prescriptive. They can help explain how the later church retained the canon but cannot serve as the foundation for certainty. If used prescriptively, the tests could eliminate hosts of Bible books like Hebrews or Jude (etc.), proving the method unreliable and inconsistent. A presuppositional approach should be obvious, where God’s Word is self-authenticating, and the church’s role is to recognize, not determine, His inspired writings.

Conclusion

The New Testament was always self-authenticating. Because God is sovereign and faithful, He preserved His Word perfectly and reveals His Word by final authority. Our confidence rests not in later councils or traditions, but in the unchanging character of God, who gave His Word and ensured that His people would know and receive it as 100% His true and infallible Scripture.

God’s Word is self-attesting and carries its own authority. Humans do not determine the canon; they submit to what God has revealed. Historical evidence, when interpreted correctly, supports the early and consistent recognition of both the Old and New Testament canons. Any objection by skeptics ultimately fails because they start with faulty assumptions rather than the truth of God’s revelation.

By beginning with God’s authority (the 66 books of the Bible) rather than man’s, the canon is not a fragile human construct where people can add or subtract books but the providentially preserved Word of the living God.

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council. 

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.

 

Church Splits

Church Splits—How Has The Church Split Apart After The New Testament?

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, August 29, 2025 (Donate) 

When studying doctrine, one quickly realizes that different denominations and churches often disagree on various theological points. In fact, asking questions about what some churches believe might land you in a heated debate!

With that in mind, it is helpful to understand the history of church splits and the origins of today’s denominations.

Country Church Building; Image requested by Bodie Hodge (Grok)

Christianity is the largest and fastest-growing religion in the world (by conversions). Interestingly, most Christians worldwide agree on fundamental beliefs. While it may seem surprising, Christians generally share a consensus on core doctrines, including the existence of one God, the Trinity, the authority of Scripture, and historical biblical figures and events.

Yes, Christians likely agree on about 95% of Scripture. However, the 5% of disagreements have caused significant divisions. And these divisions have, at times, been substantial.

As a result, churches have historically split into different factions, with three major historical schisms. After the third significant split, unity diminished considerably, leading to a vast number of denominations. What many fail to recognize is that we are currently witnessing yet another major divide even within an already-divided protestant church—a fourth split.

Major Church Divisions

How did the Church split after the New Testament? From an overview, here are the major Christian schisms, along with their approximate dates:

• Oriental Schism – AD 451
• East-West Schism – AD 1054
• Reformation – AD 1517
• Creation Reformation – AD 1961

Early Church Development

After the apostles established churches across the Roman Empire (and beyond) in the first century, several churches rose to prominence. These churches exercised influence over their local areas and smaller congregations. The most notable of these were in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria (a Greek city in Egypt), Rome, and Constantinople.

The Oriental Church Split

Around AD 450, a division occurred between the Church in Alexandria and other leading churches. The churches that broke away became known as the Oriental churches, which spread throughout the Middle East, Egypt, Arabia, India, and beyond.

Ancient Japanese records even suggest that adherents of the Oriental Church reached as far as Japan as early as the first and second centuries. This schism arose primarily due to disagreements over definitions established at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451.

The East-West Schism

The next major church split occurred approximately 1,000 years ago and is known as the Great Schism. This division separated the Church of Rome from the Eastern churches, which were led by the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Constantinople. The Pope of Rome at the time, Leo IX, clashed with Patriarch Michael Cerularius in the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Although tensions had been building for centuries, the final breaking point was a dispute over the Filioque clause—whether the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father" alone or "from the Father and the Son." This theological contention resulted in a permanent division.

In the Western Church, Rome consolidated its power under the Pope. Meanwhile, the Eastern Orthodox churches maintained their own leadership structure, with Patriarchs serving as the highest authorities. The Eastern Orthodox Church extended across Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and into Russia.

The Reformation

By the early 1500s, tensions were again leading to another significant church split in the West. With unchecked power, the Roman Church had introduced practices such as indulgences and had elevated itself beyond scriptural authority.

Martin Luther and other Reformers argued that theology and practice should be based solely on God's Word. This conviction ignited the Protestant Reformation, as Reformers sought to return to biblical authority.

Five key doctrines emerged from the Reformation, known as the Five Solas (from the Latin word sola, meaning “only” or “alone”):

• Sola Scriptura – by Scripture alone
• Sola Gratia – by grace alone
• Sola Fide – by faith alone
• Solus Christus – through Christ alone
• Soli Deo Gloria – glory to God alone

For example, Sola Scriptura asserts that Scripture alone is our ultimate authority. Later in this book, these doctrines will be explored in greater depth.

John Calvin was a leading Reformer; painting from 1550

The Reformation gave rise to Protestantism, so named because Protestants protested against Roman authority and upheld God’s authority over the Pope. Protestants rejected many of Rome’s doctrinal errors, including salvation by works, indulgences, the Pope’s claim to be God’s representative on earth, and the belief that salvation could be found only in the Roman Church.

Since the Reformation was not uniformly applied across Europe, various denominations emerged.

The Creation Reformation

Today, we are living in an era of another major theological crisis. Secular humanism has been dominant in the Western world since the days leading up to and including Charles Darwin. As society abandoned biblical teachings, it was replaced with secular philosophies such as atheism, agnosticism, secularism, naturalism, and materialism.

Tragically, many churches—both Protestant (and even Roman Catholic)—have embraced some of these non-Christian ideologies and mix them with their Christianity. When they do so, they attempt to blend Christianity with secularism, often resulting in the compromise of biblical truth.

This syncretism is especially evident in attempts to reinterpret Genesis to fit evolutionary beliefs, the Big Bang, and millions of years. Additionally, some churches have compromised on other biblical doctrines, even rejecting the triune nature of God or adopting unbiblical cultural ideologies such as LGBT and racial philosophies.

A new theological split is occurring as faithful churches return to the Bible as the supreme authority on all matters, including creation, human identity, and morality. These churches are upholding the principles of the Reformation by reaffirming the authority of Scripture.

The Creation Reformation is closely associated with the publication of the influential book The Genesis Flood by Drs. Henry Morris and John Whitcomb. This work served as a rallying call to restore the church’s commitment to biblical authority.

Churches that disregard biblical truth are drifting further from Christ. One might even question whether they have denied the Master who redeemed them. Consider this sobering warning: 

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1, NKJV)

 

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

 

Revelation Day 23

Who is the beast? And whose number is 666? 

Day 23

B. Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

 Biblical Authority Ministries, June 16, 2020 (Donate)

Read Daniel 7.

The four beasts are empires as Daniel pointed out. As history unfolded, they were:

1.     Babylonian Empire

2.     Media-Persian Empire

3.     Greek Empire

4.     Roman Empire

The first beast was Babylon with which Daniel was currently familiar and living during.Then he point out that the second beast is of Media and Persia (Daniel 8:20). The third beast is Greece and the horn between the eye of that third beast was its first King and then Greece would break into four kingdoms after this king (Daniel 8:21-22). True to the prophecy, Alexander the Great conquered and rose in power to form the Grecian Empire. Due to his early death, the Greek Empire broke into four parts (1) Seleucid Asia, (2) Ptolemaic Egypt, (3) Lysimachus Thrace, and (4) Macedonia-Greece), none with power that Alexander had. 

The fourth beast encompassed them all. The beast during the writing of the book of John is the Roman Empire (the fourth beast of Daniel, Daniel 7:23). Christ lived under this beast and the Jews swore allegiance to the beast over the Kings of Kings, Jesus Christ (John 19:12-15).  The Empire of Rome devoured all these other kingdoms and though we know its provinces, Rome's power extended far beyond by controlling trade to India and China. Even unconquered lands like Scotland and Germany were influenced by Rome to such a degree that the Latin alphabet of Rome still dominates their lands today. Interestingly, even the Romans were familiar with the Americas about 2,000 years ago after a Roman shipwreck in Nova Scotia, Canada was discovered, among other Roman relics being found in pre-colonial archaeological digs.  

So Rome is without a doubt, the beast in question. See also: Revelation 17:7-10; 13:1-7, 13:18. But individually, the head/king of the empire is also the specific beast in charge (Daniel 7:17). At the time, this is Nero, the first major Roman persecutor of the Christians after the resurrection and in vicious ways no less (more on this in a moment). Revelation 17:9-10:

"Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits." There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. (NKJV)

Roman Emperors:

1.     Julius Caesar 48 B.C. – 44 B.C. (murdered by Senators, the name Caesar is the standard name given to subsequent emperors[1])

2.     Augustus 31 B.C. – A.D. 14

3.     Tiberius A.D. 14-37

4.     Caligula Gaius A.D. 37-41

5.     Claudius A.D. 41-54

6.     Nero (arguably led the most viscous persecution/tribulation to the church ever with Peter and Paul even being executed) A.D. 54-68

7.     Galba (short reign of only 6 months) A.D. 68-69

8.     Otho A.D. 69

9.     Vitellius A.D. 69

10.  Vespian A.D. 69-79

11.  Titus A.D. 79-81

12.  Domitian A.D. 81-96

Nero was the sixth emperor (five had fallen before him) and the emperor that came after him reigned only a short time.[2] At the time of the apostles, who would wage a war against Rome (Revelation 13:4)? It would be almost ludicrous. The only one capable of war against Rome is God. And yet, there was severe persecution by Nero (Rome) and the Jews (Israel) on Christians, who are the very "sons of God" (Galatians 3:26).

Revelation 17:7-9 point out that that the beast being ridden by the harlot sits on seven hills/mountains (Remember the Jews of Jerusalem with the High Priest said to Christ Himself that they were aligned with the head of the beast, Caesar—John 19:15). Rome is the only famed city of antiquity that sits on seven hills. The Roman Empire was that beast.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (NKJV, Revelation 13:18)

In ancient times, it was common that letters were assigned a numerical value. Some people would even go by their number such as Octavius (which means 8th) as their name. Regarding 666, Neron Caesar (Hebrew spelling and popularly attested to in archaeology) is the one specified.  Jastrow’s Lexicon of the Talmud: Nrwn Qsr (Neron Caesar) = 666 (n=50; r=200, w=6, n=50, q=100, s=60, r=200) affirms this addition. 

This is a human number since it pertains to a man, the head of the beast and the persona of the beast at the time. Even money bore his image that you used to buy and sell things.

Nero is the lawless one (no authority over him and he could do what he wanted) and initially was being held back (even Paul appealed to him and Nero set him free the first time, Paul’s allusion to one of his releases is in 2 Timothy 4:14-17; see also Revelation 13:2) and had Christians in his own household (Philippians 4:22) but after some time he turned on Christians even killing Paul and Peter and did unspeakable crimes against Christians when he was no longer held back.  

Rome was that fourth beast and Nero, the head of the beast, is a striking fit—they were persecuting the saints terribly (Daniel 7:21-22, 7:25). But it does call for wisdom to understand. 

Read Revelation 13 

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[1] The name Caesar also became the name of kings after this including variation such as Kaisers, Tsar, Cisar, Kesar, etc.)

[2] If someone argues that you can’t begin with Julius Caesar as the first emperor of Rome, the date is still prior to A.D. 7-0 as four emperors reigned in A.D. 69.