Article 7: The New Testament Canon: Apostles and Evangelists
Having surveyed the Old Testament canon (Article 6), we turn now to the New Testament canon—a set of twenty-seven books that completes Scripture’s testimony regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ and the mission of the apostolic church. The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF 1.2) clearly enumerates these twenty-seven writings as the sole, authoritative “oracles of God” in the new covenant era. This article explores (1) the apostolic criteria historically employed to recognize these books, (2) the process by which the early church came to consensus, (3) the Roman Catholic counterclaims at the time of Trent (and the Reformed response), and (4) the significance of this canonical settlement for confessional bibliology and day-to-day church life.
1. Apostolicity at the Core: Why These 27?
1.1. Apostles and Their Direct Associates
From its earliest generations, the church regarded the authority of the New Testament as residing in the apostles and those closely connected to them. Christ promised the apostles special guidance by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 16:13), endowing them with the ability to speak (and write) with Christ’s own authority. Therefore, a key factor in recognizing a text as canonical was its apostolic authorship or oversight.
- Apostolic Authors: Matthew (the tax collector turned disciple), John (the beloved disciple), Peter, Paul, James (the Lord’s half-brother and a key leader in the Jerusalem church), and Jude (another kinsman of Jesus).
- Close Associates: Mark, identified as Peter’s interpreter; Luke, companion of Paul; the unnamed author of Hebrews (often associated with Paul’s circle in patristic tradition); possibly a scribe or amanuensis for certain Epistles.
This principle ensured that any pseudonymous works or later forgeries were excluded. As early as the second century, the church examined the credentials of suspicious documents (like the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, or the Acts of Paul and Thecla) and rejected them for lacking genuine apostolic roots.
1.2. Public Use in the Churches
A text’s acceptance was further demonstrated by regular liturgical reading and doctrinal citation in mainstream, orthodox communities. Already by the mid-second century, Polycarp, Ignatius, and other early church leaders quote from a stable core of Pauline and Gospel writings, treating them as authoritative Scripture on par with the Old Testament. The so-called “Muratorian Fragment” (late second century) lists many of the New Testament books recognized by Rome’s Christian community—again underscoring apostolic connection and widespread ecclesial use.
Early recognition, therefore, was not a matter of random preference. Instead, it hinged on the church’s practical experience of these books’ origin in apostolic authority, their internal consistency with the “rule of faith,” and the Spirit’s inward confirmation among believers. In Reformed theology, as we shall see, this historically manifest consensus reflects the Spirit’s providential work in guiding the church into all truth (cf. John 16:13).
2. The Historical Emergence of the 27-Book Canon
2.1. From Local Lists to General Agreement
Despite an early recognition of most New Testament writings, scattered doubts remained in certain regions over particular “antilegomena” (disputed books). These included Hebrews (suspected by some due to anonymity), James (questioned by a few due to perceived tension with Pauline theology), 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John (brief and less circulated), Jude, and Revelation (the subject of eschatological controversies). Over time, however, these texts demonstrated consistent apostolic doctrine and bore spiritual fruit in the same manner as the universally acknowledged (or “homologoumena”) books—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Paul’s thirteen epistles, and 1 Peter and 1 John.
By the early fourth century, lists like Eusebius of Caesarea’s (Ecclesiastical History, Book III) identified a core canon, though acknowledging certain hesitations about the disputed books. Athanasius’s Festal Letter 39 (AD 367) marks a watershed moment, explicitly enumerating the 27 books we now have, labeling them as the only “fountains of salvation.” The councils of Hippo (AD 393) and Carthage (AD 397) in North Africa echoed that same canonical list, providing regional ecclesiastical affirmation.
Key Insight: These synods did not impose new authority but recognized the de facto acceptance of these books among orthodox congregations. Church pronouncements thus functioned in a confirmatory role, clarifying a widely settled consensus. This approach aligns well with Reformed theology, which holds that the church ministers the Word rather than creating or constituting its authority.
2.2. Jerome and the Vulgate
Jerome’s influential Latin Vulgate translation (late fourth century) included the same 27 New Testament books, fully matching Athanasius’s enumeration. Jerome’s scholarly efforts, along with Augustine’s theological leadership in North Africa, cemented the notion that the four Gospels, the Pauline corpus, Acts, the Catholic Epistles, and Revelation formed a single, coherent witness. In subsequent centuries, Western Christendom used the 27-book New Testament without significant controversy—long before the Reformation era.
Thus, by the medieval period, the canon was effectively settled across the West and much of the East, though Eastern Orthodox regions sometimes expressed hesitations about Revelation’s place in the liturgy. Nevertheless, no mainstream Christian communion attempted to add or remove any of these 27 books from the apostolic deposit. Reformed confessions, building on this centuries-old inheritance, simply reaffirmed what the universal church had already tested and confirmed.
3. Roman Catholic Counterclaims and Reformed Responses
3.1. Council of Trent’s Declarations
In its fourth session (1546), the Council of Trent pronounced not only the canonicity of the Apocrypha but also reaffirmed the 27-book New Testament. However, Trent couched its position in the premise that these books’ authority rests on the church’s pronouncement—i.e., the Magisterium invests them with canonical status. This session effectively anathematized any who refused to recognize all the texts Trent embraced, including the Apocrypha. Though there was no immediate disagreement regarding the New Testament’s boundaries, the conceptual difference is crucial: Rome saw the church as the determinative agent of canon definition, whereas the Reformers insisted that Scripture’s divine authority is intrinsic, recognized by the church rather than bestowed by it.
3.2. William Whitaker on the Church’s Role
William Whitaker’s A Disputation on Holy Scripture devotes significant attention to the New Testament canon, challenging the Roman notion that ecclesial declarations yield or confirm Scripture’s authority. He systematically demonstrates that the patristic era used apostolic authorship, internal doctrinal unity, and historical reception, not a singular magisterial decree, to identify Scripture. Whitaker’s stance parallels the Westminster Confession’s logic: the text is canonical if the apostles wrote it, and the church’s recognition flows from the Spirit’s testimony, not from hierarchical pronouncements.
Whitaker notes, for instance, that if councils had the power to create or define Scripture, then prior to these councils (Hippo or Carthage), Christians would have lacked a canonical New Testament, which is historically nonsensical. Believers were already citing and preaching from the same 27 books, thus confirming that the authority arises from God’s act of inspiring the authors, not from ecclesial endorsement. This argument directly shapes the WCF’s stance in 1.2 and 1.4–1.5.
4. The Westminster Confession and the New Testament Canon
4.1. Enumerating the 27 Books
WCF 1.2 simply lists the twenty-seven New Testament writings, identical to the commonly accepted canon from Augustine onward: the Gospels (four), Acts, Pauline Epistles (fourteen if Hebrews is ascribed to Paul), the Catholic Epistles (James, 1–2 Peter, 1–3 John, Jude), and the Apocalypse of John (Revelation). This enumeration matches the “received text” approach that had remained unchallenged in the Western church for over a millennium, so the Confession is not innovating but reasserting the ancient tradition.
Significance: By placing these 27 books on par with the 39 of the Old Testament, the WCF underscores that the fullness of God’s written revelation is found in these 66 volumes. Thus, the new covenant testimony about Christ is complete, and believers need look for no further sacred writings, whether from subsequent visionary movements or putative “hidden gospels.”
4.2. Divine Authority, Not Human Fiat
Consistent with Reformed theology, WCF 1.4 asserts that Scripture’s authority depends not on “the testimony of any man or Church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the Author thereof.” This applies equally to the New Testament: the apostles and evangelists wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, ensuring these documents were God’s own Word from inception. The Confession denies that these writings became authoritative only after synodal decrees or universal reception; instead, they were authoritative the moment the apostles penned them.
This view elegantly harmonizes with the historical reality that local congregations recognized their divine character in the century or so after the apostolic era. The subsequent councils and patristic testimonies merely ratified the church’s widespread usage. That is why the WCF can so confidently name the 27 books—because their status as canonical was self-evident and had been tested across the early centuries by faithful Christian communities.
5. Theological and Pastoral Implications
5.1. Christocentric Focus
The New Testament canon is indispensable for presenting Jesus Christ, “God manifest in the flesh,” and for explicating His gospel through apostolic preaching (Rom. 1:16). The four Gospels, each from a slightly different angle, reveal the life, death, and resurrection of the incarnate Word. Acts records the expansion of the church under the Spirit’s power, and the Epistles interpret Christ’s redemptive work and instruct believers in the life of faith. Without this compendium of apostolic witness, the church would lack a definitive record of Christ’s ministry and the theological blueprint for understanding His person and work.
In Reformed tradition, the unity of these 27 books under the banner of Christ’s lordship underscores that the entire New Testament is oriented to proclaiming Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament types and prophecies (cf. Luke 24:27). Pastors and teachers can thus preach confidently, knowing that each canonical book is a Spirit-inspired window into the crucified and risen Redeemer.
5.2. Rule of Faith and Church Polity
Because the New Testament canon includes instructions about church order (e.g., 1–2 Timothy, Titus), sacraments (e.g., 1 Corinthians 11), and worship (e.g., Acts 2:42; Eph. 5:19), it establishes the definitive shape of new-covenant community life. WCF 1.6–1.8 presuppose that Christians require no “continuing revelation” to structure their churches or define orthodoxy. Instead, the apostolic instructions suffice, making Scripture the “rule of faith and life.”
The result is a stable doctrinal and ecclesiastical identity anchored in texts that we trust as apostolic and final. Reformed confessions highlight that no human tradition—be it the papacy or modern “prophetic” claims—can trump or supplement the apostolic deposit inscribed in these 27 books. This finality preserves unity of doctrine, across contexts and centuries, while disclaiming authoritative additions.
5.3. Assurance of Providential Preservation
As with the Old Testament, WCF 1.8 affirms God’s singular care in preserving the New Testament text “pure in all ages.” Confessional bibliology, as examined in the works of Garnet Howard Milne, underscores that the Greek manuscripts and faithful translations convey, in substance, the same words the Holy Spirit inspired through Matthew, Paul, or John. Despite textual variants or scribal slips, God never allowed His new-covenant Scriptures to be lost or irreparably corrupted.
This theological conviction fosters deep pastoral reassurance. Believers can confidently open their Greek or vernacular New Testament, trusting it is the authentic apostolic witness. Scholarly textual criticism can refine particular readings, but the overall text remains providentially intact. Consequently, we do not fear the possibility that certain portions of the apostolic message are missing, hidden, or overshadowed by spurious additions.
6. Potential Objections and Clarifications
6.1. Modern Higher Criticism
Some modern biblical critics challenge the idea of a uniform apostolic corpus, proposing that certain New Testament books (e.g., Ephesians, 2 Peter, or the Pastorals) may be pseudonymous. From a confessional standpoint, however, the historical testimonies from patristic usage, plus internal literary and theological coherence, outweigh such speculation. Reformed theology affirms that the canonical books have consistently proven themselves in the life of the church, rather than suspecting hidden forgeries.
Moreover, Reformed exegetes often highlight how the acceptance of these writings was neither hasty nor forced—Christians in widely diverse regions came to the same recognition that the Spirit spoke through these texts. This universal consensus across far-flung churches stands as a formidable historical witness against claims of late or contrived authorship.
6.2. Sectarian Movements and Alternative “Gospels”
At times, popular culture resurrects interest in “lost gospels” (e.g., the Gospel of Thomas or Judas), insinuating that the official canon suppressed them for institutional reasons. Historically, however, these texts were never recognized by the apostolic churches. They typically promote Gnostic or contradictory Christologies, revealing themselves to be second- or third-century expansions with questionable doctrinal content.
WCF 1.2’s listing of the 27 canonical writings implicitly rejects such sectarian documents. The church’s earliest leaders (like Irenaeus or Tertullian) vigorously repudiated Gnostic or docetic texts that subverted the apostolic rule of faith. Once again, the consistency of ancient orthodoxy in discarding these spurious gospels aligns with Reformed convictions about the Spirit’s guidance in preserving the true apostolic deposit.
Conclusion
The New Testament canon, comprising the 27 books enumerated in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1.2), stands as the definitive written testimony of the new covenant era. It anchors believers in the historical and theological realities of Christ’s coming—His life, atoning death, resurrection, ascension, and the apostolic explication of these events’ saving significance. Historically recognized criteria, such as apostolic authorship and universal ecclesial reception, reveal how the early church—before any major council formalized it—functionally embraced these texts as Scripture.
Reformed theology, embodied by William Whitaker and echoed in the Westminster Confession, consistently upholds that the church’s role in canon recognition is ministerial, not magisterial. The books are canonical by virtue of divine inspiration, and the faithful across centuries simply confirm that reality. Confessional bibliology then assures believers that these apostolic documents have been providentially preserved, so that the new covenant community always has access to the “faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
Pastorally, this confidence in the 27 books fosters evangelism, discipleship, and worship grounded in a sure Word, free from reliance on ephemeral claims of new revelations or spurious ancient texts. By clinging to the canonical Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Revelation, the church continually stands on apostolic ground. Thus, WCF 1.2 does not merely recite a dogmatic list; it proclaims a historically verifiable, spiritually life-giving witness to the crucified and risen Christ—guaranteeing that all things necessary for salvation and godly living are richly contained in these pages.
