Is the New Testament Accurate?

Q: Since Constantine created the counsel that put the Bible together, how can we know the New Testament is accurate and or complete?

A: These are doubts raised by the Dan Brown book, The Da Vinci Code. The book is filled with historical errors and misinformation. Let me make a couple points.

First, it is true that the newly converted Roman emperor called the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. He did so at the request of bishops and he did not, as Brown alleges, control the Council or sway its outcome. First, the books we now know as the New Testament were in use and widely circulated in the Christian community some 200 years before this Council. Also, Nicea didn’t approve the list of books. That was done at the Synod of Hippo in 393 and later ratified by the entire church at the Council of Carthage in 397. Constantine was long dead by then.

Second, history reveals broad consensus in the early church about...

what books should and should not be included in the canon of scripture. Rigorous standards were used to insure that the books were accurate representations of the life and teachings of Jesus and the early apostles. The early church councils that approved the books had something we don’t have: unity and consensus. The leadership of the entire church across the world came together and unanimously approved the books that make up the New Testament. (Can you image getting together a representative group of Christian leaders from around the world today? First, you could never get them all together and second, you couldn’t get them to all agree!) Yet, that is exactly what happened in the early ecumenical councils. For that and a number of other reasons, we can be most confident that the New Testament is accurate and complete.