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The Christian Church in 150 AD |
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| The Search for Unity – The Canon Despite the lack of an authority figure, there was a yearning for unity in many places. One of the most important things that they did to achieve that unity still affects us today. They fixed the Canon! No, they didn't repair a gun nor did they nobble a high ranking clergyman! What they did was to decide on the documents that should be included in the Bible, particularly the New Testament. This is referred to as the 'Canon' because it is the Greek word for a measuring rod. It carries the meaning of the best in a class of objects: a benchmark. So the documents they collected were thought of as the best available. It wasn't a rapid process. It started in about 150 AD but wasn't finalised until about 375. But, it was worth the effort because they came up with a startling collection of an amazing variety of documents which do not speak with one voice. |
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| Variety in the New Testament Take, for instance the four gospels. There is a recognisable likeness, yet a noticeable difference of emphasis, between Matthew, Mark and Luke. John, however, is nothing like the other three. In the first three Jesus makes much use of parables. In John there are no parables and instead Jesus makes long speeches. John gives us the five 'I am' sayings but they do not appear in the other three. |
 The Apostle, Matthew |
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| Then what about Hebrews? It claims that Jesus is a priest of the same order as Melchizedek (a shadowy Old Testament figure) and Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. It is this offering of the perfect sacrifice by the perfect priest that secures our salvation. This is quite different from Paul's justification by faith that we find in Romans. It is poles apart from the down to earth letter of James. And how the book of Revelation got in and what it has to offer mystify most people. The agreement on the Canon was the closest that Christians have ever come to agreeing on something so fundamental and important. Those who achieved the final agreement must have realised that their finished product was a very mixed bag with a fair share of contradictions. They therefore revealed that rare quality of being able to live with difference. |
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  Martin Luther |
The Challenge There is a great challenge here. One of Martin Luther's battle cries was 'by scripture alone'. Yet in practice he relied very heavily on Romans, totally ignored Hebrews and had a very low opinion of James. In one sense Luther was right, doctrine must be firmly based on scripture. However, this will not lead to uniformity but to a range of acceptable ways of describing our faith. This is what the compilers of the Canon would have expected from the 'best in their class'. They would then say 'discuss your ideas respectfully, that you might learn from each other and continue to 'love each other just as I have loved you’. Ieuan Johnston
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