From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible by Geisler Norman L. & Nix William E

Author:Geisler, Norman L. & Nix, William E. [Geisler, Norman L.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2012-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

By the time the fourth century dawned, the New Testament canon was fully settled and acknowledged. The writings of the Fathers indicate the general agreement of all Christians about the New Testament canon as indicated in the discussion in chapters 9 and 10.

What the Fathers Did

While the testimony of the Fathers is quite early, actually older than the best codices, it is not always reliable. A Father may have quoted a variant reading from an existing manuscript which would perpetuate the error. In addition, the writing of a particular Father might itself have been subject to alteration or corruption during its transmission, just as the Greek text of the New Testament was. A third factor involved is the method itself of the particular Father’s quotation. It may have been verbatim, a loose citation, a paraphrase, or perhaps even a mere allusion. Even if the quote were verbatim, it would be important to discern whether it was cited from memory or read from a written text. Even if the text were being read, it would be significant to determine whether he was a member of some heretical group. If a Father cited a given passage more than once, it would be necessary to compare those examples to determine whether they are identical or divergent. Finally, if an amanuensis was employed, it could be that he would take notes and search for the particular passage at a later time.

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