The Canon in the Church

"It is good to know that the church has a Bible, or put another way, that the church's Scripture guides its life. I find the deepest understanding of Holy Writ neither in a closet reading by myself, nor in public meditation with only those of my heritage, but in conversation with the saints of the church in every era and region. Listening to the theologians of the Great Church struggle with Scripture in their commentaries or hearing Aquinas wrestle with the Gospels by quoting earlier theologians provides a kind of conversation that does not appear elsewhere. Knowing the church's interpretations of Scripture in each age deepens our sense of biblical truth.

"The bright future for Christian communities is the recognition that the canon stands within the church. Yet we must remember that we do not read from within a neutral public square where all of us know the internationally accepted terms of a single logic or sense of persuasion, where we all accept the proper assumptions that every human makes. We read the New Testament from within the church - too often from only a particular denominational view - and try to live in the world so that people will ask us about our hope. Christians in my heritage have often been moved by the modern tales in which Bible translations were left behind when missionaries were killed. By reading them in their languages, the natives converted. The more common story, however, is that we must embody Scripture in the church within the world. To do that we need to critically study the resources of the Great Church: many bishops, councils, creeds, and ethical canons.

"The Bible in use is what we seek, not preliminary senses of how it must be defended to the point of making it almost impossible to decipher except within our own narrow traditions. The precious reality is the canon in the church, studied by common folk and scholars alike, but understood best by believing Christians from any country or denomination who in the Spirit attempt to live out its truth. We worship and serve Jesus. And we read the Bible from within the community of faith."

Frederick W. Norris, "The Canon of Scripture in the Church," in The Free Church & the Early Church: Bridging the Historical and Theological Divide, ed. D.H. Williams (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), pp. 3-25. Amazon

Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Norris, Professor of World Christianity, Emeritus, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Johnson City, TN (Christian Church)