Early Christian Beliefs About the Biblical Canon
Early Christians treated Scripture as the church’s fixed guide for faith and teaching. Clement, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and later writers point to the Law, the Prophets, the Gospels, and apostolic writings as the books Christians should trust. Some texts also give book lists for reading in church, but the exact boundaries are not always stated the same way. That makes the early evidence strong for authority, but mixed for a single closed canon list.
166 early-church witnesses · 258 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the biblical canon?
Early Christian writers treated the Scriptures as the rule for faith, but they did not all use the word "canon" in the same narrow way people do today. Clement, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and others speak of the Church’s rule, the sacred writings, the Law and the Prophets, and the apostolic books as the texts Christians must keep and read. Some witnesses also list books for church reading, while others stress that false teachers and heretics twist or add to the sacred books.
The evidence is broad for a respected body of Scripture and for church boundaries around it, but it is thinner on a single fixed New Testament list in the earliest period. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians spoke of Scripture as the rule for faith and warned against adding to or twisting it.
- Writers like Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Clement, and Lactantius tied Christian teaching to the Law, the Prophets, the Gospels, and apostolic writings.
- Some church texts list books for public reading, but the earliest evidence does not give one uniform canon list.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians speak of a received canon of Scripture?
The supplied sources show early Christians speaking of a Church canon, the sacred Scriptures, and books to be read or received by the faithful. Some cards are explicit about not accepting books written under false names or by ungodly people.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
85. Let the following books be regarded as venerable and holy by both the clergy and the laity. Of the Old Covenant, these are the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun, one of the Judges, one of Ruth, four of the Kings, two of the Chronicles, two of Ezra, one of Esther, one of Judith, three of the Maccabees, one of Job, one hundred and fifty Psalms, three books of Solomon: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, and sixteen prophets. Besides these, be careful that your young people learn the Wisdom of the very learned Sirach. But our sacred books, that is, those of the New Covenant, are these: the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the fourteen Epistles of Paul; two Epistles of Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude; two Epistles of Clement; and the Constitutions dedicated to you bishops by me, Clement, in eight books, which it is not fitting to publish before everyone because of the mysteries contained in them; and the Acts of us the Apostles.
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Tertullian, On Monogamy Direct teaching
After the ancient examples of the patriarchs, let us equally pass on to the ancient documents of the legal Scriptures, that we may treat in order of all our canon.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
Stay away from all pagan books. What do you have to do with such foreign teachings, laws, or false prophets that overthrow the faith of unstable people? What lack do you find in the law of God, that you should turn to those pagan fables? If you want to read history, you have the books of the Kings. If you want books of wisdom or poetry, you have the books of the Prophets, Job, and Proverbs. In them you will find greater depth of understanding than in all the pagan poets and sophists, because these are the words of the Lord, the only wise God. If you want something to sing, you have the Psalms. If you want the origin of things, you have Genesis. If you want laws and statutes, you have the glorious law of the Lord God. Therefore, completely stay away from all strange and diabolical books. No, when you read the law, do not think that you are required to keep the added precepts, if not all of them, then even some of them. Read those only for the sake of history, so that you may know them and glorify God that He has delivered you from so great and so many bonds. Aim to distinguish which rules came from the law of nature, and which were added afterward, or were additional rules introduce
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Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness
Application of the Canon. The Image of the Invisible God Explained.
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Luke 24:44 Background
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
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Romans 15:4 Background
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
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1 Thessalonians 2:13 Background
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
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Acts 17:11 Background
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
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Acts 15:4 Background
And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.
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Romans 3:2 Background
Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
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2 Peter 1:20 Background
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
Did early Christians see the Old and New Testaments as one harmony?
Several early writers say the Old and New Testaments belong together and should not be set against each other. The sources describe the New as fulfilling the Old and present both as part of one divine testimony.
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Tertullian, On Prescription Against Heretics Supporting witness
For wherever it shall be manifest that the true Christian rule and faith shall be, there will likewise be the true Scriptures and expositions thereof, and all the Christian traditions.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
so also are we bound in no way to transgress the canon of the Church.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness
1. have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith.
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Tertullian, Apology Supporting witness
...have answered well enough the charges of the many crimes on which these fierce demands are made for Christian blood. We have fully presented our case. We have shown how we can prove that what we say is true, from the trustworthiness and antiquity of our sacred writings, and also from the confession of the powers of spiritual wickedness themselves. Who will dare to refute us, not with skill in words, but, as we have made our demonstration, on the basis of reality? But while the truth we hold is made clear to all, unbelief meanwhile, even at the very time when it is convinced of the worth of Christianity, now well known both for its benefits and from the intercourse of life, takes up the idea that it is not really something divine, but rather a kind of philosophy. "These are the very things," it says, "that the philosophers advise and profess: innocence, justice, patience, sobriety, and chastity." Why then are we not allowed the same freedom and immunity for our teachings that they have, when we are compared with them in what we teach? Or why are they not also forced to the same acts, by refusing which our lives are put in danger, if they are so much like us? For who forces a phil
Common Questions
Did early Christians have a canon of Scripture?
Yes, they treated Scripture as an agreed rule for faith and teaching, but the exact book list is not always given the same way in early writings.
Did early Christians use both the Old and New Testament?
Yes. Writers like Tertullian, Lactantius, and Archelaus speak of both the Old and New Testament together.
Did early Christians warn against false books?
Yes. Some early writers warn against heretical books and say Christians should hold to the true writings and the church’s rule.
Source Index for the biblical canon
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 258 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 166
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 92
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.