Confidence in the Canon of Old Testament Scripture
Image from Unsplash When we talk about the canon of Scripture, we aren’t talking about a piece of artillery, but we are talking about the collection of books in our Bible which we look to for the final authority for faith and practice for the Christian (although I have to say that Michael Kruger’s play on words with the title of his blog on the NT Canon, “canon fodder,” is brilliant). Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. explains where the word comes from. He writes, The term canon . . . . comes from the Hebrew word qaneh, meaning a “reed” or “stalk” (1 Kings 14:15; Job 40:21) that was used as a measuring stick. The Greeks incorporated the word into their language as kanon, also meaning “measuring rod,” but with the somewhat broader meaning of “a rule or standard and guideline.”[1] The Greek word appears in the NT in Galatians 6:16, where Paul writes, “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” The word “ru...
