Proof For The Canon

Proof For The Canon I. The ultimate authority which validates Scripture is the Scripture itself. A. The internal consistency of its component parts and its grand message, Jesus Christ, are undeniable. A single spirit prevails throughout. REV 19:10. B. Scripture bears the character and qualities of the God it reveals: majesty, power, wisdom, knowledge beyond our ability to comprehend, holiness, purity, beauty, harmony, unity. C. The various writings of Scripture link together and refer to one another to present a singular revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Truth they declare. JOH 14:6. D. The prophetic detail, accuracy and fulfilment of future events is statistically impossible by coincidence. E. This Book of books does not just speak to the intellect: it speaks to the soul with words that expose our innermost ugliness over against the only hope for relief: the holy, harmless Son of God, Jesus Christ. II. The epistle of 2PE authenticates the other books of the N.T. A. 2PE 1:19-21 shows that all the books of Scripture, O.T. and N.T., come from the Holy Ghost. 1. These words echo those of 2SAM 23:1-2. 2. Thus, the writings of David are credited as divine and Peter also affirms this in ACT 1:16. B. 2PE 3:1-2 confirms all the writings of both testaments delivered by the prophets and the apostles of Jesus Christ, implying their complete harmony. C. 2PE 1:13-14 links with JOH 21:18-19 and thus credits the writings of John, both his gospel and his epistles and Revelation. c/w JOH 21:24; 3JO 1:13; REV 1:1-3. D. 2PE 1:16-18 cites the account of the Mount of Transfiguration recorded in MAT 17:1-9; MAR 9:1-10; LUK 9:28-36. 1. This authenticates the three synoptic gospels which are distinct from John’s gospel. 2. The synoptic gospels focus more on the Man, Christ Jesus while John focuses on His deity. God is distinct from man. 3. With the authentication of the gospel of Luke is also the authentication of Acts since Luke is the author of both, beginning his narrative in Luke and continuing it in Acts. LUK 1:3 c/w ACT 1:1. E. 2PE 3:15-16 confirms Paul’s epistles as Scripture. F. With the authentication of the gospels, Acts, and the Pauline epistles, the whole O.T. is authenticated since they reference the O.T. profusely. G. 2PE 3:1 confirms 1PE which corresponds in several ways to the epistle of James. 1. Both speak of the trial of faith and the blessedness of those tried. JAM 1:2-3, 12; 5:11 c/w 1PE 1:6-7; 3:14; 4:14. 2. Both speak of the glory of man as the withering grass and fading flower. JAM 1:10-11 c/w 1PE 1:24. 3. Both speak of the role of the word of truth/God (Jesus Christ) in our being begotten or born again. JAM 1:18 c/w 1PE 1:23. 4. Both rebuke evil speaking. JAM 4:11 c/w 1PE 2:1. 5. Both reference Proverbs teaching that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. PRO 3:34 c/w JAM 4:6; 1PE 5:5. 6. Both call us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. JAM 4:10 c/w 1PE 5:6. 7. Both speak of covering a multitude of sins, which corresponds with the teaching of Proof For The Canon 5-30-24 Page 1 of 2  Proverbs. JAM 5:19-20 c/w 1PE 4:8 c/w PRO 10:12. H. 2PE also much resembles the epistle of Jude. 1. Both denounce false teachers who privily or unwares get into the church. 2PE 2:1 c/w JUDE 1:4. 2. Both refer to the angels that sinned as per GEN 6:1-4. 2PE 2:4; JUDE 1:6. 3. Both reference the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah reported in GEN 19. 2PE 2:6; JUDE 1:7. 4. Both denounce those that despise government/dominion and speak evil of dignities. 2PE 2:10 c/w JUDE 1:8. 5. Both describe false teachers as brute beasts that speak evil of what they neither know nor understand. 2PE 2:12 c/w JUDE 1:10. 6. Both describe the false teachers who are spots in our feasts. 2PE 2:13 c/w JUDE 1:12. 7. Both reference the error of Balaam recounted in NUM 22-25. 2PE 2:15-16 c/w JUDE 1:11. 8. Both describe the false teachers as without water, carried with a wind, carried about of winds, to whom the mist/blackness of darkness is reserved for ever. 2PE 2:17 c/w JUDE 1:12-13. 9. Both speak of the great swelling words of false teachers. 2PE 2:18 c/w JUDE 1:16. 10. Both call us to remember the words of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ who warned us of scoffers/mockers in the last days/time who walk after their ungodly lusts. 2PE 3:1-3 c/w JUDE 1:17-18. I. 2PE 3:10 links with MAT 24:43-44; LUK 12:39-40; 1TH 5:2; REV 16:15; MAT 24:35; MAR 13:31; REV 21:1. Thus, these gospels, Paul’s epistle, and Revelation are authenticated. J. 2PE 3:13 links with ISA 65:17; REV 21:1. K. 2PE thus authenticates every single book found in the canon of the N.T. L. 2PE 3 also covers the original creation of the present heavens and earth, their dissolution, and the new heavens and the new earth, thus spanning the entire history of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. M. 2PE models how the Holy Ghost teaches by comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 1CO 2:13. III. “For the truth is vindicated in opposition to every doubt, when, unsupported by foreign aid, it has its sole sufficiency in itself. How peculiarly this property belongs to Scripture appears from this, that no human writings, however skilfully composed, are at all capable of affecting us in a similar way. Read Demosthenes or Cicero, read Plato, Aristotle, or any other of that class: you will, I admit, feel wonderfully allured, pleased, moved, enchanted; but turn from them to the reading of the sacred volume, and whether you will or not, it will so affect you, so pierce your heart, so work its way into your very marrow, that, in comparison of the impression so produced, that of orators and philosophers will almost disappear; making it manifest that in the sacred volume there is a truth divine, a something which makes it immeasurably superior to all the gifts and graces attainable by man.” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Bk. I, Ch. VIII, Pg. 2) Proof For The Canon 5-30-24 Page 2 of 2