The Old so-called Catholic or Universal Canon We are concerned here with a number of elements: The Muratorian Fragment, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Tertullian. By the end of the second century we see that a canon was extant and with only minor variations was recognised in all quarters of the church. This gave rise to the earliest Roman list which is known as the Muratorian Canon. It is important to note that Irenaeus came to Rome from Polycarp in Smyrna before going on to become bishop of Lyons (see the paper General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122)). From an examination of his writings, and those of Clement of Alexandria and the schools there, together with those of the Carthaginian Tertullian, who was both lawyer and presbyter, hailed as the first great representative of Latin Christianity who became a Montanist in his later life, we get a view that there was an underlying commonality. All these writers together with the Muratorian Canon are held to be in remarkable accord and show the amazing continuity of ideas extant at the time. However, the views of the early apologists such as Irenaeus are decidedly Unitarian subordinationist and can hardly be described as Catholic because the doctrines they espouse are at complete variance with that which came to be held by the Athanasian faction and what we understand as Catholicism from the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Chalcedon (see the paper Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127); cf. Interp. Dict., p. 527). The Muratorian Canon is a list of books of the New Testament with brief remarks about their origins and authenticity. It was found in manuscript form in Bobbio in the eighth century and was preserved in the Ambrosian library at Milan. It was published by Ludovico Antonio Muratore in 1740. It is a translation into barbarous Latin of a Greek original, which was drawn up at Rome some years before the end of the second century (Interp. Dict., p. 527), Whilst the beginning is lost, there is no doubt that it deals with the gospels of Matthew and Mark as Luke and John are listed as the third and the fourth among the gospels. It has this to say of the gospels, which shows that it was the view in the second century that the gospels were the inspired work of the Holy Spirit. Although various fundamentals [principia] are taught in the several books of the gospels, nevertheless this makes no difference to the faith of believers; for in all of them all things are declared by the one guiding Spirit concerning the Nativity, the Passion, the Resurrection, the converse with his disciples, and his twofold coming. (cf. Interp. Dict,. p. 527) Beare holds that the divine inspiration and the essential unity of the four gospels could not be more explicitly affirmed (ibid.). The list then proceeds to Acts and then lists the thirteen letters of Paul, the three pastorals along with Philemon. It declares that these are written pro affectu et dilectione [out of personal affection and love]: held sacred in the esteem of the catholic church in the ordering of ecclessiastical discipline (Interp. Dict., ibid.). The canon here uses the term catholic in its sense of universal rather than Roman Catholic as it is understood today. Beare notes the canon makes reference to certain letters forged under the name of Paul by the Marcionites, and “several others which cannot be received into the catholic church for gall ought not to be mixed with honey” (ibid., quoting the canon). It then affirms the epistle of Jude and two epistles of John (apparently 1 and 2John but bear in mind all three are anonymous). It also affirms the apocalypse of John and also of Peter but states the Shepherd of Hermas cannot be read aloud to the congregation in services either among the prophets or among the apostles; for Hermas wrote it: … quite recently, in our own times, in the city of Rome, during the episcopate of his brother Pius (ibid.). This canon recognises twenty-two of the existing canon including the gospels the thirteen letters of Paul, three of the so-called Catholic letters (1 and 2John and Jude), and Revelation. It includes two apocryphal works the Wisdom of Solomon and the Apocalypse of Peter, which it admits some bishops will not allow to be read in the churches. The acceptance of Wisdom even recognised as being Pseudonymous was made on the age of the text (Beare, Interp. Dict., ibid.). Clement of Alexandria shows the acceptance of the four gospels, the Egyptian gospel (Strom. II. 93. 1; cf. ibid.), fourteen Pauline works which include Hebrews, following his master Pantaenus. He quotes Paul not as Scripture but in concert with the teaching of Christ as interpretation of Old Testament Scripture. He also uses 1Peter, 1 and 2John, and Jude (Eusebius says he commented on all of them) and Revelation. He also uses the apocryphal works of the Apocalypse of Peter, the Shepherd, the Preaching of Peter, Barnabas and 1Clement but these are not what he views as the substance of the canon. The most authentic and extensive compilation of Scripture compiled in the second century was by Irenaeus. By examination of his works we can detect quotes from all four gospels, from twelve Pauline letters and no doubt Philemon is omitted by sheer chance (Beare, op. cit.). He quotes from 1Peter and 1 and 2John. The omission of 3John again is not significant (Beare, ibid.), no doubt omitted under the same circumstances as Philemon. He also quotes from Revelation. He quotes from Hebrews; but Beare seems to think that his quotes indicate lesser esteem. His teacher Polycarp quoted also from Peter. We know that Hebrews was part of their canon. We can thus deduce that the Unitarian quarto-decimans of the second century descending from the Apostle John had a complete canon, as we know it today. They also accepted the Shepherd of Hermas as teaching. The alteration to the doctrine of Antichrist can be corrected and understood from Irenaeus as we have seen above. Irenaeus holds the gospels are the four pillars of a God given unity. As there are four quarters of the world in which we are, and four universal winds, and as the church is scattered over all the earth, and the gospel is the pillar and bulwark of the church and the breath of life, it is seemly that it should have four pillars, breathing immortality from all sides and kindling men to new life. From this it is evident that the Word, the Fashioner of all things, ... having been manifested to mankind, gave us the gospel in a fourfold shape held together by one Spirit (Iren., Her. III.11.8). Irenaeus says quite distinctly, that The Scriptures are perfect inasmuch as they were uttered by the word of God and His Spirit. (Iren., Her. II. 28.2) Thus the doctrine of the inspiration of the Holy Scripture is seen as being the doctrine of the early church. The inspired and perfect Scripture was the Old Testament, inseparable from and interpreted by the New Testament. Irenaeus also assigns the symbolism of the Cherubim to the apostles as: the man being Matthew, the calf Luke, the eagle Mark and the Lion John. (These are assigned differently by later writers (see also the paper The Meaning of Ezekiel’s Vision (No. 108).) The canon is thus a product of the apostolic church which was transferred to Rome. From here the first exponent of Latin Christianity and its vocabulary emerges in the form of Tertullian. He followed Irenaeus and for twenty years he espoused Latin Christianity before turning to Montanism and denouncing the moral laxity of the Latin Church as it was emerging from Rome. He regarded the gospels as the theological Instrument (rather than Testament) being a legal term and hence having the force of law. They were written by apostles or their direct disciples. The authority of the latter rests on that of their masters, “which means that of Christ, for it was that which made the apostles their masters” (Tert. Marcion, IV. 2). He regarded a single gospel as not authoritative in itself and certainly not Luke’s gospel in itself as chosen by Marcion. “Luke was not an apostle, but only an apostolic man; not a master, but a disciple and so inferior to a master....Indeed had Marcion published his gospels in the name of Paul himself, the single authority of the document, lacking all support from preceding authorities, would not be a sufficient basis for our faith (ibid., cf. Beare, p. 528). Hence the gospels cannot stand alone, and they must be supported by the Old Testament Scripture which they interpret. That was the view of all sections of the church. The view of the authority of the church vested in succession is derived from this logic expressed in the first element but ignoring the sentiments Tertullian made in the second element above. Thus the church can only speak according to the law and the testimony (Isa. 8:20) and cannot change it at all. Tertullian held the canon as being the four gospels, Acts, the thirteen Pauline letters, Revelation, 1John, 1Peter, and Jude. Hebrews he ascribes to Barnabas and is of sufficient authority. He has thus twenty-two books of the central canon with Hebrews added and the Shepherd of Hermas included as a reference while a Latin but rejected once he rejected Rome. Tertullian in his early optimism expressed the view that Rome held an important place in the faith. Rome: … mingles the law and the prophets in one volume with the writings of evangelists and apostles, from which she imbibes her faith (Tert., Presc. Her. XXXVI). He wrote: If I fail to settle this article of our faith by passages...out of the Old Testament, I will take out of the New Testament a confirmation of our view...Behold, then, I find both in the gospels and in the apostles a visible and invisible God (Adv. Prax. XV). Here we see the subordinationism that he was gradually evolving into the Triune structure which would ultimately become the Trinity. Yet here he upheld the supremacy of Old Testament Scripture and the two deities, the visible and the invisible. Thus at this time we see the Bible as one volume based on the law and the prophets. Tertullian became disillusioned with the immorality at Rome and their failure to adhere to the tenets of the faith contained in the law that he denounced them and became a Montanist. The Effect of the Codex In the second century, scribes began using a codex instead of a papyrus roll which required that strips be glued together end to end and thus conveniently could not be more than thirty feet long. This was about sufficient to contain a single gospel or other large work, e.g. Revelation. With the codex, the sheets were folded together in quires of three or four sheets and then sewed together quire by quire. Thus the fourfold gospel probably emerged from a single codex. This is probably the one volume system that we have referred to above. This was the beginning of the concept of the Bible as one book. This also took effect from the second century thus emphasising the unity of Scripture. The rolls could be discarded: the codex could not. They were bound together until the volume wore out. Thus the canon as a fixed list was important to the compilation of the texts.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 11:50:00 +0000
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