Some Christians are unnerved by the fact that nowhere does God itemize the sixty-six books that are to be included in the Bible. Many believers have at best a vague notion of how the church arrived at what we call the Canon of Scripture. Even after becoming more aware, some believers are uncomfortable with the process by which the Canon was determined.

The criteria used for determining the canonicity of the books included the internal witness of the Holy Spirit in general, and specifically Apostolic origin or sanction, usage by the Church, intrinsic content, spiritual and moral effect, and the attitude of the early church. It should be noted that although the early Church leaders differed on which books should be included in the Canon, they were quite sure that the books were inspired by God.

This meant that every part of the Scriptures, down to the individual word, was chosen by God to be written by the human writers. Even though the Church Fathers were sure that the Scriptures were inspired, they were still not in agreement as to which texts should be included.

 Those more familiar with Luther’s view assumed that he removed books from the canon of Scripture. It is sometimes argued that Luther’s position on the canon shows strong similarities to the second century heretic Marcion. Marcion published his own canon consisting of his “doctored-up” version of Luke and ten of Paul’s Epistles. Marcion had concluded that these were the only canonical books, and erased out entirety  the Old Testament as well as a large portion of the New. Luther though did no such thing. All the canonical books are found in his Bible.

Instead of the authority of the Church, Luther and the reformers focused on the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. Luther was troubled by four books, Jude, James, Hebrews, and Revelation, and though he placed them in a secondary position relative to the rest, he did not exclude them. In other words, it is God Himself, via the Holy Spirit who assures the transmission of the text down through the ages, not the human efforts of the Catholic Church or any other group. The authority of the Scripture rests on the witness of the Spirit and the conscience of the godly.