It took nearly 300 years from the time the Gospels and Paul’s letters were written, until the first known listing of the 27 books of the NT that we know today. Though these writings were all circulating by the end of the first century, there was no concerted effort to adopt a Canon prior to the middle of the second century.

In the first century AD the Bible was simply the Old Testame

The writings of the Apostle Paul’s were important to the early Church as he was the only Apostle with so much material in existence. His significant role in Acts also established his position in The Church. Of our present day NT, only Paul’s letters were generally available in the first century. Paul was writing as early as AD 50 which was (by most accounts) prior to the Gospels. His letters were actually the first Christian books to be formed into a collection and were well known and circulating widely early in the second century. 2 Peter 3:15f, likely written in the early 60s, refers to letters of Paul in association with other Scriptures. It is evident that Paul’s letters were gaining recognition as Scripture early in the history of The Church.

Some topics in this essay:
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