This is a surprisingly common question. Why did some books make it into the Bible, while others did not?
There are two parts of this answer. First, because the Bible is God’s Word, the books that are in the Bible are there because He wants them there. Michael Kruger calls this the “ontological model”1 of canon. Those books that God wants to be there were bound to end up there. They are self-authenticating. Admittedly, this might seem somewhat circular. But if the Bible is what Christians believe it is, the very inspired and inerrant word of God (2 Tim 3:13–16), it could not be any other way. If there is the kind of communicative, sovereign, and intentional God in whom Christians believe, then God would have a book which would authenticate itself. In other words, we would expect the words of God to invariably and inevitably be revealed and acknowledged as Scripture.
God works through means. God providentially clarified his self-authenticating Scriptures through a process sometimes called “canonization,” a process by which Scriptures were collected and bound together in a common book. Any given book’s particular role in the Bible (its canonical function) was particularly important in this process.
Strictly speaking, the canon is not best described as a collection of books but as a collection of collections. The Old Testament, which serves as the template for the New, is made up of three major collections: the Law (Torah), Prophets (Nabi’im), and the Writings (Ketubim). In the New, this is parallel by the Gospels, Acts and the Epistles, and Revelation. Each of these collections performs a vital task in the canon.
The Law in the Old Testament and the Gospels in the New are fundamentally covenant-treatises. The Law, which contains Genesis—Deuteronomy, tells the story of how God made the covenant with his people. It details stipulations for obedience and renewal, and clearly lays out curses for breaking the covenant. The Gospels act similarly in regards to the new covenant. They tell the history of how God acted through Christ to make the everlasting covenant in the blood of his Son.
The second set of collections, the Prophets in the Old Testament2 and Acts and the Epistles in the New, apply this covenantal relationship to the people of God. They are in part casuistic; they detail how the covenantal obligations spelled out in the first collection continue to work themselves out. They address new situations, and provide further detail to the covenant arrangement. In particular, they frame how God continues to relate to his people in light of the covenant, and how God’s people should respond.
Finally, the third set of collections, the Writings3 in the Old Testament and Revelation in the New, also perform a canonical function. It is an extraordinarily diverse array of writings, but each book in this collection is at least partly apologetic (or, as Kline puts it, theodicy).4 Each book is partly dedicated to answering the question, “If this is how God works in covenantal relationship with his people, then why do God’s people suffer?”. The answers they provide are as many as their situations, and the answers all complement one another. It is a fitting capstone to each of the Testaments, as they clarify how the God of the covenant acts towards his people in his faithfulness.
So, books were received into the canon because they were recognized as fitting within one of these three collections. If a book was edifying, but was not useful for one of these canonical functions, then it would not have been received as canonical. This is one of the many reasons why the so-called “sayings Gospels” (Gospel of Thomas, Judas, etc.) were not received; they simply cannot do what canon needs to do.
Imagine you are a repairman. You have an array of ten tools with which you can fix a common problem. Over time, however, you realize that you never use one of these tools because it is simply not useful for the problem. Eventually, you start leaving that tool behind when you go out on the job, and you do not miss it. On the other hand, you recognize that an eleventh tool, which you have not yet purchased, would be particularly helpful for your job. It is also likely that you are not the only repairman who makes these kinds of adjustments. If enough thousands of repairman stop using this kind of tool and start using another, sooner or later the manufacturer will take note, and start repackaging the tools accordingly.
This is analogous to how canonization worked. In the early church and ancient Israel there was a body of literature. The books that are in our canon are there because they were useful for explaining, applying, and defending the covenant. On the other hand, books that are not there, even good books, simply were not useful enough for these tasks.
This is not to say that these three functions are not the only role any of these books have. For example, Psalms has at least a little liturgical value! Likewise, theodicy is an important dimension of John’s Gospel. It is merely to say that books ended up in the Bible because they ended up in one of these collections. They ended up in one of these collections because they were useful for explaining, applying, or defending the covenant. In other words, they do what canon needs them to do.
None of this falls outside of God’s Providence and inspiration. God “breathed out” (2 Tim 3:16) every single word in the Bible—but none in any book beside the Bible. It is perfectly inspired and inerrant. God knew his people would need to know how to explain, apply, and defend his covenant. So he gave them books to do just that.
All this is just as God intended, and, therefore, the books that are in the Bible are there because God wants it that way.
1 I find Michael Kruger to be convincing on this issue.
Michael Kruger, The Question of Canon: Questioning the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013).
Michael Kruger, Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origin and Authority of the New Testament Books (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012).
2 This contains several historical books (Joshua, Judges, 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings) in addition to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 12 minor prophets.
3 Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel, and 1–2 Chronicles.
4 This was suggested by Meredith Kline in regards to the so-called Wisdom literature, but I have expanded his insightful suggestion to the whole of this third collection. Cf. Meredith Kline, The Structure of Biblical Authority (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 1997), 64–67.
About the Author
Dr. Matthew LaMaster
Dr. Matt LaMaster was called to ministry at a young age and earned his BA and MDiv from Moody Bible Institute, where he met his wife, Hannah. He later completed a PhD in Theological Studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After pastoring in the Midwest, Matt felt the Lord’s call to Grace and joyfully responded.
He has authored several articles for For the Church and the book Of Guilt and Grace. In his free time, he enjoys reading, writing, and hiking—but most of all, he loves wrestling with his son, Calvin, and daughter, Marguerite.
Follow his work on Substack or connect with him on LinkedIn.
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