GES conducted its annual conference May 20-23. The theme was 1 and 2 Peter. The main sessions all dealt with a passage in one of those two NT books. In order to give those who were not able to attend a taste of what happens at these conferences, I’ll briefly summarize, in three different blogs, what three of the speakers said. I hope these blogs will give a glimpse of the importance of 1 and 2 Peter, and will perhaps lead some to attend the conference next year if the Lord delays His coming. All these messages can soon be found at GES’ website, faithalone.org.

In one of the main sessions, John Niemelä gave a presentation entitled “The Author Distribution Model for Canonicity (2 Pet 3:16).” In that verse, Peter mentions all the epistles of Paul and states that they are Scriptures. Niemelä brought up a number of interesting points related to this verse.

One of the main issues is how the Church determined which books would make up the NT. Since 2 Peter was written around AD 65, and Paul’s first book was written around AD 49, how could Peter refer to a collection of Paul’s books? Who determined that these books were inspired Scripture? Wouldn’t that take a number of years? In addition, there had not been enough time for the Church to collect these books.

Because of these issues, liberal scholars conclude that 2 Peter was not written by Peter. Instead, an imposter wrote the book about sixty years after Peter died. It was only then that the Church would have had enough time to collect Paul’s books. It was only then that these books were considered Scriptures. Paul’s letters were not considered Scriptures when he wrote them. That only happened later.

Niemelä pointed out that even conservative scholars look at this verse in an illegitimate way. These conservative teachers, who believe that Peter did write 2 Peter, often have a mistaken view of how books became a part of the canon–what we call the New Testament. These teachers usually maintain that the early church eventually decided to determine which books were inspired by God. Leaders collected books from churches around the Mediterranean world. They met together to make the determination. These leaders decided which books would be part of the canon.

According to Niemelä, this ignores what Peter is saying. Peter says that during Peter’s lifetime, Paul’s writings were already considered Scriptures. The sixteen or so years between Paul’s first book and the writing of 2 Peter is an insufficient amount of time for the conservative view of things to have happened.

Instead, when Paul wrote his letters, he sent them out to many churches. Copies were made by the men and women who delivered Paul’s writings. When he wrote 1 Corinthians, for example, copies were made and given to many different churches as these men and women traveled around. When Paul wrote these letters, he and the churches that received them knew they were Scriptures. It didn’t take 100 years or so for the Church to decide which books were inspired and which were not.

This is what 2 Pet 3:16 reflects. Peter’s readers already knew that Paul’s writings were inspired. They were familiar with Paul and his writings. Peter was not telling them something they did not already know.

In other words, the Church, from the very beginning, saw the writings of the apostles as Scripture. The NT canon was not determined by the opinions of the Church at a later date. When they wrote the letters, the apostles knew their writings were inspired by God and that they would form the basis for the authoritative teachings of the Church.

If you have ever wondered how we got our NT, and why some books were included in it and others were not, you will benefit greatly from Niemelä’s presentation. It will cause you to see things in a different light. Check it out!