The Council of Carthage 397 A.D.

[Jude]

397 A.D. The NT Canon is Formed

"I will be with you always, even unto the end of the age." -Jesus

Truth was revealed to the young Church by the Holy Spirit in 397, at the Council of Carthage. The Council finalized the Canons of both the Old and New Testaments. The Old would have 46 books, including the Deuterocanonicals, and the New would have the 27 books that all Bibles have today. The Bible was born by an infallible decision of the Church 'Catholic'.

Is the NASB, NIV, etc., missing some books?

THE CANONS OF THE 217 BLESSED FATHERS WHO ASSEMBLED AT CARTHAGE
(A.D. 345-419)

CANON XXIV

That nothing be read in church besides the Canonical Scripture.
ITEM, that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in church under the name of divine Scripture.
But the Canonical Scriptures are as follows:

Genesis.
Exodus.
Leviticus.
Numbers.
Deuteronomy.
Joshua the Son of Nun.
The Judges.
Ruth.
The Kings, iv. books.
The Chronicles, ij. books.
Job.
The Psalter.
The Five books of Solomon.
The Twelve Books of the Prophets.
Isaiah.
Jeremiah.
Ezechiel.
Daniel.
Tobit.
Judith.
Esther.
Ezra, ij. books.
Macchabees, ij. books.

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

The Gospels, iv. books.
The Acts of the Apostles, j. book.
The Epistles of Paul, xiv.
The Epistles of Peter, the Apostle, ij.
The Epistles of John the Apostle, iij.
The Epistles of James the Apostle, j.
The Epistle of Jude the Apostle, j.
The Revelation of John, j. book.
Let this be sent to our brother and fellow bishop, Boniface, and to the other bishops of those parts, that they may confirm this canon, for these are the things which we have received from our fathers to be read in church.

[ July 21, 2004, 09:19 AM: Message edited by: Jude ]

 

[mioque]

I thought the Council of Carthage only covered the NT?

 

[Deacon]

Originally posted by Jude:
The Bible was born by an infallible decision of the Church 'Catholic'.

The Scriptures were "alive" long before they were officially recognised by the Church.
The Church merely provided a stamp of approval.

The Church counsels show both the wisdom of men and his fraility.
Time has shown that some of the counsel decisions were correct; other decisions were not.

TRADITION is fallible and imperfect.

As the gospels and letters were written they were God's Word - "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

Rob

 

[John Gilmore]

Jude,

The Bible was born by an infallible decision of the Church 'Catholic'.

Church councils are not infallible. The opinion of church fathers both before and after Carthage was that the Deuterocanonicals were not on a par with the canonical books.

 

[Jude]

Church Councils (the first 7 ecumenical councils)represent the mind of the Church. If they are indeed fallible, then so is the NT, and also the doctrines they helped formulate/defend.

 

[Jude]

Originally posted by Deacon:

The Church merely provided a stamp of approval.

"Merely"??? Without that 'stamp' (as you put it), there would be NO New Testament.

 

[Eric B]

The New Testament is God inspred writ; the councils came centuries later (after the infiltration of philosophy and even some paganism), which the NT was then interpreted in light of. The infallibility of one does not stsnd with the infallibility of another. One was clearly a later human institution.

 

[Deacon]

Originally posted by Jude:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Deacon:
The Church merely provided a stamp of approval.

"Merely"??? Without that 'stamp' (as you put it), there would be NO New Testament. </font>[/QUOTE]The expression "merely" was not to detract from the worthy works of the church fathers, but to express a separation from the real work of the Holy Spirit in inspiring the holy Scriptures.

Protestant beliefs distinguish between the inspired works of God and the mortal works of man.

Rob

 

[Kamoroso]

There is no glory for man in the gospel of Jesus Christ. God himself has preserved His Word in the earth. Any person who would claim credit for doing this, or apply that credit to anyone else but God, would be deceived. Does anyone really beleive, that if the men who put together the new testament had not done so, God would have left the world without this book? Nonsense. God has preserved His Word in this world, and nothing could have stopped that. The glory is to God, and not to man.


1 Cor 1:25-31 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Bye for now. Y. b. in C. Keith

 

[BobRyan]

Originally posted by Deacon:
The Scriptures were "alive" long before they were officially recognised by the Church.
The Church merely provided a stamp of approval.

Indeed. The NT saints did not "wait for 300 years" before reading the OT or reading Paul.

This comes as a surprise to many of our Catholic brethren.

In Christ,

Bob