[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.

[wmfights]

"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."
____________________________

Exactly!

I think the evidence of the Holy Spirit guiding these individuals is we argue translation and interpretation not about books that were left out. The myth "we formed the Bible" plays right into the idea that all the separate churches responded to one individual seated in Rome. the early church was never that hierarchal.

[adiaireton8]

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.

This is utter historical fiction. The bishops had the authority from the very beginning. Just read Clement or Igatius or Polycarp or Justin or Ireneus.

-A8