{"id":8321,"date":"2026-05-26T08:43:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/?p=8321"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:39:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T22:39:03","slug":"evic-sunday-school-lesson-3-how-the-bible-was-made-and-preserved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/2026\/05\/26\/evic-sunday-school-lesson-3-how-the-bible-was-made-and-preserved\/","title":{"rendered":"EVIC Sunday School – Lesson 3: How the Bible Was Made and Preserved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lesson 3<\/span><\/h2>\n

How We Got the Bible \u2014 The Formation of the New Testament Canon<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Lesson 3 of our six-week study is designed to deepen confidence in how the Bible came together \u2014 and can we trust that the right books made it in? This Sunday school lesson tackles one of the most important and most misunderstood questions in Christian history. From the earliest days of the church, false teachers, Roman persecution, and competing writings created an urgent need to identify which scriptures were genuinely God’s Word. What follows is a summary of how the New Testament canon was formed, tested, and confirmed.<\/p>\n

Introduction and Purpose of the Study<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Our study is a six-week informational series intended to strengthen the class’s confidence in the Bible as God’s Word before transitioning to a longer “real-life discipleship”<\/strong><\/span> study. The aim is not deep theology but historical literacy: helping believers articulate not only what<\/em><\/strong><\/span> Scripture says but how<\/em><\/strong><\/span> the book in their hands actually arrived there. The class is encouraged to supplement the lesson by reading the following entries from Dennis’s blog, which trace the story even further back into the prehistory of writing itself.<\/p>\n

\u2022 How We Got Our Bible – The Story of Canonization<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2022 From Clay to Canon: The Epic Journey of Writing from Cuneiform to the Biblical Record<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2022 Tracing the Journey of Scripture Through the Ages<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2022 James White:<\/strong><\/span> But it IS Translated Correctly!<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2022 Standing Firm: How You Can Be Certain the Bible is the Word of God<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Can We Trust the Bible? \u2014 A Study of the Old Testament’s Origins and Reliability<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

This conversational Bible study lesson is aimed at helping our members understand where the Bible came from<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0why it can be trusted<\/em>. Pastor Joey uses audience engagement, historical evidence, and a dramatic discovery to build a case for the reliability of Scripture.<\/p>\n

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How We Got the Bible \u2014 The Formation of the New Testament Canon<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The Problem That Demanded a Solution<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\nAfter Jesus’ resurrection, an explosion of Christian writings spread across the Roman world \u2014 but so did false teachers and heretics. As early as the mid-100s AD, a man named Marcion<\/strong><\/a> founded his own church, rejected the Old Testament entirely, and began cutting scripture to fit his theology. Simultaneously, the Roman Emperor Diocletian<\/strong><\/a> ordered the burning of all Christian scriptures around 300 AD. Believers facing death needed to know with certainty which books were genuinely the Word of God and therefore worth dying to protect. That urgent need drove the formation of the biblical canon<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 a Greek word meaning “measuring stick”.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Three Historical Tests for Canonicity<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\nThe early church fathers applied three rigorous criteria<\/strong><\/a> to evaluate every writing:<\/p>\n

Apostolic Authority<\/strong> <\/span>\u2014 Was the book written by a direct eyewitness of Jesus or their closest associates?<\/p>\n

Widespread Acceptance<\/strong> <\/span>\u2014 Did the universal church \u2014 from Africa to Rome to Syria \u2014 affirm it?<\/p>\n

Theological Consistency<\/strong> <\/span>\u2014 Did it align with the established, orthodox teaching of Jesus and the Old Testament?<\/p>\n

A fourth element undergirds all three: the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.<\/strong><\/span> As 2 Peter 1:20\u201321 states, no prophecy came from human will<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Spirit. Paul confirms in 2 Timothy 3:16\u201317 that all Scripture is “breathed out by God.”<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Councils Did Not Create the Bible \u2014 They Recognized It<\/strong><\/span><\/em>
\nA common skeptical claim holds that powerful men at church councils simply voted the Bible into existence centuries later. The lesson directly refutes this. The three criteria above were applied organically by everyday Christians for over 300 years before any formal council convened. The Council of Hippo<\/strong><\/a> (393 AD) and the Council of Carthage<\/strong><\/a> (397 AD) \u2014 led by figures such as Augustine<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 did not vote to make books authoritative. They formally listed the 27 books the Christian world had already recognized. The analogy offered is precise: a jeweler does not make a diamond valuable by examining it \u2014 he simply recognizes and confirms the value already present.<\/p>\n

The Authors Who Passed the Eyewitness Test<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\nThe lesson surveys each New Testament author’s qualifications:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Matthew<\/strong><\/span> \u2014 A disciple and apostle, a former despised tax collector
\n\u2022 Mark<\/strong><\/span> \u2014 Not an apostle himself, but a close associate of Peter; his Gospel is essentially Peter’s eyewitness testimony written down
\n\u2022 Luke<\/strong><\/span> \u2014 A physician who traveled with Paul and had direct apostolic contact; author of both Luke and Acts
\n\u2022 John<\/strong><\/span> \u2014 An apostle and member of Jesus’ inner circle; wrote five books
\n\u2022 Peter<\/strong> <\/span>\u2014 An apostle; wrote two letters
\n\u2022 James and Jude<\/strong><\/span> \u2014 Half-brothers of Jesus who initially doubted Him, then became believers after the resurrection
\n\u2022 Paul<\/strong> <\/span>\u2014 Encountered the risen Christ directly; transformed from a persecutor of Christians into the church’s most prolific apostle
\n\u2022 Hebrews<\/strong> <\/span>\u2014 Unknown authorship, but theologically consistent with apostolic teaching<\/p>\n

Rejecting the Gnostic Forgeries<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\nThe lesson addresses fake gospels that have attracted modern attention. The Gnostic movement<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 which believed the physical world was evil \u2014 produced forged gospels centuries after the fact, attaching apostles’ names to texts those apostles never wrote. The Gospel of Thomas<\/a><\/strong> omits the cross and resurrection. The Gospel of Judas<\/strong><\/a> portrays Judas as a hero. The Gospel of Peter<\/strong><\/a> features talking crosses and giants. All were universally rejected by the early church because they failed every test.<\/p>\n

Physical Evidence<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\nThe John Rylands Papyrus P52<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 a fragment of the Gospel of John dated to approximately 125 AD \u2014 provides physical proof that authentic apostolic Gospels were already in wide circulation before the Gnostic forgeries were even composed.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\nThe New Testament canon was not manufactured by institutional power. It emerged organically over three centuries through consistent application of apostolic, universal, and theological criteria \u2014 and was finally codified by councils that simply ratified what the body of Christ had already discerned. The Holy Spirit guided the process from authorship to recognition.<\/p>\n

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Can the Bible be trusted<\/strong><\/span> \u2014 and does the resurrection of Jesus hold up to honest scrutiny? This video segment captures a refreshingly candid conversation between a skeptical interviewer and Wes Huff, a Christian apologist, designed specifically for people who have never opened a Bible and carry genuine doubts. From the nature of the scriptures themselves to the reliability of ancient memory and the historical evidence for the empty tomb, the dialogue meets hard questions with straightforward, evidence-based answers.<\/p>\n