[wmfights]

"Good question. I'm sure the fixed order is not that critical since they were probably smart enough to put the epistles together, the gospels together, the Hebrew scriptures together in some logical order."
__________________________

I think it's interesting because these earlier leaders in Christianity only responded after the fact and even then it was individuals who resolved the issue in response to a threat from others claiming to be Christians. IOW, it was not a group of "super duper" church leaders in Rome who definitively stated what books comprised the Cannon. I think the illustration of how the Canon was formed shows there was no one person with absolute authority in the early church.

[Uncle Chip]

"IOW, it was not a group of "super duper" church leaders in Rome who definitively stated what books comprised the Cannon."

----- Well said. Wherever the Word of God went in the form of the Scriptures, the people had all the authority they needed for instruction, correction, reproof, and doctrine.