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