In terms of which documents were accepted into the New Testament, generally there has never been any serious dispute about the authoritative nature of twenty of the New Testament’s twenty-seven books—from Matthew through Philemon, plus 1 Peter and 1 John. This of course includes the four gospels that represent Jesus’ biographies.9 The remaining seven books, though questioned for a time by some early church leaders, “were finally and fully recognized by the church generally,” according to Geisler and Nix.10
