The Canon of Scripture and Salvation
By Frederick P. Pogorzelski, Catholic Catechist
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The Bible came out of the Catholic (Universal) Church and so does Salvation.
After the death of Christ on the cross, and in the centuries before 419 A.D., there were many, perhaps hundreds of writings, and some forgeries that had to be sorted out and decided upon as to if they were canonical (canon = rule or official list) or not. The early Catholic Church was scattered out in communities over a wide geographic area. Many people in these communities liked the Shepherd of Hermas and it was very popular and read as if it were scripture. On The Shepherd of Hermas; in the document The Muratorian Fragment, aprox. 170-180 A. D., it is written: “was written quite recently in our own time by Hermas, while his brother, Pius, was filling the chair of the Church of the city of Rome”. ( Pope Saint Pious I apparently occupied the chair of Peter aprox. 140 - 155 A. D. ). Origen ( 185-232 A.D. ) believed the author of The Shepherd of Hermas to be the same Hermas refered to by Saint Paul in Romans 16:14. The Epistle of Barnabus was accepted as Scripture by Clement and Origen but not by Saint Jerome. While both of the books; the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabus, were read and accepted by many early church communities they are not found in today’s Bibles.
The Gospel of Thomas was also in circulation and accepted by some followers of Mani ( Manicheans ). Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Cathechesis V ( aprox. 348 A.D. ), states: “Let none read the gospel of Thomas, for it is the work, not of one of the twelve apostles, but one of Mani’s three wicked disciples.” Manichaeanism is a heretical idea that has echoed down the centuries and has persisted even unto today. Likewise, Gnosticism ( Gnostics were Docetists = Greek “to appear” ) teaches that salvation is liberation from the body because the material world is evil. These heretical teachings and writings were rejected as false by ecclestical authority. The important thing to remember about heretical ideas is that they will continue to re-emerge, in more virulent form ( variants ), and under different name, throught the centuries…
