scripture was that of antiquity. Antiquity seems to have been an important criterion for canonicity for some of the churches along with apostolicity and a rule of faith. But the question may be asked, Why were the Didache, 1 Clement, Shepherd of Hermas, Barnabas, and the Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp excluded from the canon when books like 2 Peter, probably the Pastorals, and possibly other literature was written after these deuterocanonical writings? Helmut Koester claims that many of the wrings not included in the canon of the New Testament such as the Unknown Gospel, Dialogue of the Savior, the Apocryphin of John, and the Gospel of Peter were, in fact, used as sources for some of the canonical Gospels. Antiquity should by no means be the sole determiner in deciding the books of divine inspiration, but a book needs to be written during antiquity to be considered a reliable document for inclusion in the canon. The next issue that was examined in a prospective document to be included in the Biblical canon was that of divine inspiration. According to Lee M. McDonald, All of the ancient church fathers believed their canon of scriptures was inspired. But inspiration in the NT writings was not generally the basis for commending those works to the people. One of the exceptions to this rule is the Apocalyptic book of Revelation that was most likely written by John, the apostle closest to Jesus. Revelations claims of prophetic inspiration for itself are what immediately insured its authenticity. There are numerous other examples of documents claiming inspiration for themselves but this did not assure their inclusion in the canon of the Bible. This only goes to show that inspiration in and of itself was not a criterion in which a book would be given automatic status as Scripture. The canon of faith (consistency of the teachings about the message of Jesus Christ) seemed to be more of a factor for inclusion in the canon of the...
