A text was more likely to be recognized as Scripture when it (1) was written by the apostles, those who had firsthand knowledge of Jesus; (2) was used widely in the worship of faithful churches; and (3) was consistent with the rule of faith, early shared summaries of Christian doctrine. The judgment that the canon would include books from Genesis to Revelation, two testaments and four gospels, means that we Christians are not free to choose our own texts. The existence of the canon means we are bound to all the texts included in it. We cannot limit God to only the texts that most easily make
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