1518 | The Formation of the New Testament
These three examples should give one pause when claiming that the early church reserved the term “ inspired ” for only the canonical documents — each example describes a noncanonical document as “ inspired .” This would be very high praise for these documents if inspiration was a designation for only canonical documents . Thus , inspiration did not guarantee inclusion ; inspiration was not viewed as the unique possession of only the documents that would come to be canonical .
It is important not to force a 21st-century perspective back onto the sources of the early church . Chris tian ity had a somewhat fluid body of literature that the church used as authoritative . While certain documents rose to preeminence in the life of the church , that rise , in some cases , was not immediate . This is not meant to deny the providence of God in the process but , rather , to say that there were very practical reasons why certain documents came to be valued ( and eventually canonized ) by the church , and it is on this very practical road to canonization that God providentially led his people by his Spirit .
Craig D . Allert