The Establishment of the Old Testament Canon

The Council of Trent - This council gave the most explicit definition of the canon of the Bible. Quoting from Session IV, in the year 1546, with regards to the catalogue of Old Testament books:

The five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), Josue, Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings, two of Paralipomenon, the first and second of Esdras (which latter is called Nehemias), Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, the Davidic Psalter (in number one hundred and fifty Psalms), Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias, with Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, the twelve minor Prophets (Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacue, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, Malachias), two books of Machabees, the first and second.

This order follows from the order of the Old Testament as listed by the Council of Florence in 1442 (which, while defining the order of the Old Testament, did not directly address the canon of the Old Testament), and it follows closely the plan of the Septuagint. This declaration, however, only emphasized the canon of the Old Testament that the Church had upheld since the early days of Christianity:

• New Testament writings - The New Testament itself does not quote from any of the deuterocanonical writings, but it also doesn't quote from the protocanonical texts of Esther, Ecclesiastes, Canticle of Canticles (Song of Solomon?), Ezra, and Nehemiah. Furthermore, allusions to deuterocanonical texts are numerous, most notably in comparisons between the following passages (the first passage in each pair is found in the New Testament, the second is found in the deuterocanonical texts of the Old Testament:

  	Hebrews 9 and II Maccabees (chapters 6 and 7)
  	I Peter 1: 6,7 and Wisdom 3: 5,6
  	Hebrews 1: 3 and Wisdom 7: 26,27
  	I Corinthians 10: 9,10 and Judith 8: 24,25
  	I Corinthians 6: 13 and Sirach 36: 20
  

• St. Justin Martyr (AD 100-165) - Of the early Church fathers, he was the first to acknowledge in writing that the Old Testament Scriptures of the Christians differed from that of the Jews. He was also the first to emphasize the Church's sole authority in determining what was to be considered Biblical canon.
• St. Irenaeus (2nd century AD) - Testified that Baruch was regarded on equal footing with the book of Jeremiah, and that the deuterocanonical narratives of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon were ascribed to Daniel (3: 24-90; 13,14).
• Origen (2nd century AD) - Regards all deuterocanonicals as Divine Scriptures, and defends the sacredness of Tobit, Judith, and Daniel's narratives of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon. Also asserts the Church's authority in establishing the canon of the Bible.
• Tertullian, St. Hippolytus, and St. Cyprian (2nd and 3rd centuries AD) - All comment on deutrocanonical works, and refer to them as Sacred Scripture in their writings.
• Decretal of Gelasius of Pope St. Damasus I (382) and the Canon of Pope St. Innocent I (405) - Both list the deuterocanonical texts as part of the Old Testament canon and, more importantly, these are the first instances where papal authority is used to determine Biblical canon.
• St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) - Wrote De Doctrina Christiana, which not only listed all the books of the Old Testament, it also asserted the authenticity of the deuterocanonical fragments of Daniel and Esther. Also was part of four councils (2 in 393, 1 in 397, and 1 in 419), all of which included these texts in the Biblical canon.

The Establishment of the New Testament Canon

Because doubt was cast at one point or another on their authorship, the books of Hebrews, James, Jude, II Peter, II and III John, and the book of Revelation are regarded as deuterocanonical. The same holds for the last 12 verses of the Gospel of Mark (16: 9-20). However, the authenticity of the 4 Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Paul's Epistles, and certain writings of St. Peter and St. John have always been upheld by the Church, a fact that not even the Protestant Churches have questioned. Nor have they questioned the authenticity of the New Testament deuterocanonical writings, ultimately accepting all but the last 12 verses of Mark's Gospel, although it should be noted that some sects still struggle with the authenticity of Revelation and that Martin Luther, holding fast to the doctrine of "justification by faith alone," sought to exclude the book of James but was overruled (the book of James, by the way, is where we get the expression "faith without action is dead").

• St. Athanasius - Wrote Epistola Festalis (367 AD), which fixed the New Testament canon as we know it today and seems to have definitively resolved the issue of what books did or did not belong in the New Testament canon.
• Synod of Rome, 382 - Presided over by Pope St. Damasus I and following the example set by St. Athanasius, this synod catalogued the New Testament canon as we know it today (this synod seems to have definitively resolved the issue of the Biblical canon).

Definition of terms relating to Scripture and Its Canonicity
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