In Front | The Antilegomena

The Hebrew Bible was Jesus’ Bible. He read from it, taught from it, quoted it and affirmed its authority over the course of His life. New Testament books were not written until after the death and resurrection of Christ. Therefore, He could never have referred to them as authoritative. Because of this, the establishment of the New Testament canon represented a unique challenge to the Church, and a number of books eventually included were openly disputed. These books, known as the Antilegomena, from the Greek for “spoken against” or “disputed,” were almost excluded from the canon for a variety of reasons.

Interestingly, all of these books of the Antilegomena that appear in the Bible appear at the end of the New Testament, and in our sixth course in Bible Journey. In fact, 1 John and 1 Peter appear to have been the only books over our next few courses that were accepted without reluctance into the Christian canon.

We’ve already noted the fact that Hebrews’ unknown authorship, and doubts concerning Paul’s relationship with this letter, resulted in early reluctance to accept it as official Scripture. What about the others?

• With its emphasis on works, the book of James was believed by some to be at odds with Paul’s emphasis on faith.
• The style of 2 Peter differed from that of 1 Peter, and because of this Peter’s authorship was in doubt.
• Jude appears to quote the book of Enoch, and possibly also “The Assumption of Moses,” as authoritative, each of which is apocryphal, or of doubtful authenticity.
• Neither 2 nor 3 John identify John by name as their author, and each appears to have had somewhat limited circulation.
• Revelation is a singular book in that it lacks moral teaching or typical narrative structure, and features instead cryptic and fantastic visions.

Ultimately, each of these books was included, in part because of its use in Christian churches around the empire at the time. Each was also believed to confirm the shared testimony of other accepted books, and was connected to an apostle, either definitively or by deduction. Ultimately, the church’s acceptance of books into the New Testament canon was based on its recognition of a uniquely supernatural quality about them.

Reference: Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance, 1987, pp. 201-206.