>>So, I would say we have a conundrum. Today’s canon was not determined by the bible but by the belief of a council of bishops. Also, it was not a once (one council) and done thing. Multiple successive councils are responsible for identifying the books that make up today’s bible.
All who profess to be Christians except those in the Catholic and Orthodox churches MUST refute your entire post in order to adhere to their two fundamental doctrines of Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura.
I wrote what I believe history tells us is true. If I'm wrong or missed something, tell me why. Hopefully, none of us are so intractable that we won't change a position when that position is proven wrong.
This whole line of reasoning reveals a fundamental assumption about the New Testament canon that needs to be corrected, namely that it was (or had to be) decided by a church council. That without a church council, we would not know what books are inspired.
The fact of the matter is that when we look into early church history there is no such council. Sure, there are REGIONAL church councils that made declarations about the canon (Laodicea, Hippo, Carthage).
But these regional councils did not just “pick” books they happened to like, but AFFIRMED the books they believed had functioned as FOUNDATIONAL documents for the Christian faith. In other words, these councils were declaring THE WAY THINGS HAVE BEEN, not the way they wanted them to be.
Thus, these councils did not create, authorize, or determine the canon. They simply were part of the process of recognizing a canon THAT WAS ALREADY THERE.
This raises an important fact about the New Testament canon that every Christian should know. The shape of our New Testament canon was not determined by a vote or by a council, but BY A BROAD AND ANCIENT CONSENSUS.
I don’t usually agree with the Higher Critic Bart Ehrman.
However, I agree with at least this one statement of his -— “The canon of the New Testament was ratified by widespread consensus rather than by official proclamation.”
This historical reality is a good reminder that the canon is NOT JUST A MAN MADE CONSTRUCT. It was not the result of a power play brokered by rich cultural elites in some smoke filled room. It was the result of many years of God’s people reading, using, and responding to these books.
The same was true for the Old Testament canon.
Jesus himself used and cited the Old Testament writings with no indication anywhere that there was uncertainty about which books belonged.
In fact, He held His listeners accountable for knowing these books.
But, in all of this, there was no Old Testament church council that officially picked them (not even Jamnia). They too were the result of ancient and widespread consensus.
In the end, we can certainly acknowledge that humans played a role in the canonical process. But, not the role that is so commonly attributed to them. Humans did not determine the canon, they RESPONDED to it. In this sense, we can say that the canon and recognition of these as such were chosen because the Holy Spirit guided Christians of all ages to recognize them.