How was the New Testament Canon formed?
The Church (the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church were in communion at the time) decided which books were inspired and which ones were not. In his Easter letter of 367 A.D. Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt, listed the all the 27 inspired New Testament books and he used the phrase “being canonized” (kanonizomena) in regards to them. In 397 A.D., at Carthage in North Africa, a church council met and confirmed the canon of the New Testament. 1100+ years later when Protestants appeared, Martin Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon because they were perceived to go against certain Protestant doctrines such as “Sola Fide” (Faith Alone).
