Scripture and the Church

Below is part of my response to a Christian who argued against the inclusion of the "apocryphal" books of the Old Testament (which you can read about here):

We believe that when Christ promised to send His "Spirit of Truth" (Jn 14.26, 15.26, 16.12-13) that He was promising the guidance of the Holy Spirit to the whole Church, not to a particular individual (as the Roman Catholics believe), or to every individual, to determine or interpret Truth as they see fit (as Protestants believe), but to the Church, collectively, as the Body of Christ. In the Orthodox Church the truth isn't determined by what a single man says, or by what I feel inside as an individual, but it is what the whole Church accepts, and every member of the Church is responsible for guarding the true faith. Not even ecumenical councils are regarded as infallible until their findings have been accepted by the whole Church.

Yes, the Scriptures are indeed infallible. But what good are infallible Scriptures without an infallible interpreter? Not very much, as evidenced by 30,000+ conflicting Christian "denominations" who have all dropped the notion of an infallible authoritative Church (but who, interestingly, all believe that the Scriptures are the final word on all matters of faith and worship).

There is one means by which we come to an understanding of the saving knowledge of Christ crucified, and one earthly conduit through which we know God communicates His good and perfect will: the Church.

"No, it's the Bible," you may say. To which I would respond, The Bible didn't just drop from the sky on the day of Pentecost, leather-bound, with a concordance and cross references. It was given to us by the Church (or by God through the Church, if you prefer). It was written, compiled, and approved by the Church. The Bible is not the "Pillar and Foundation of the Truth." The Bible is not the "Body of Christ" or "the fullness of him who fills all in all." It was not the Bible to which Christ gave the power to bind and loose. The Bible is a product of the Church (not vice versa). If we can't trust the Church, then we can't trust the Bible, which was written, delivered, and preserved, not despite the Church, but by, through, and within the life of the Church.

The Church is the body through which Christ brings salvation to the world. When we choose to jettison the tools the Church uses to accomplish this task (including determining for ourselves which books of the Bible we wish to accept), we do so at our own peril. (Prov 12.15; 14.12)

The canon of Scripture isn't a dogma of the Faith. It wasn't delivered to the Church on Pentecost. It is the list of books that the Church determined (with the guidance of the Holy Spirit) were the perfect written testimony of the "Faith once for all delivered to the saints." The Faith exists (and has existed) independent of the Scriptures. But not independent of the Church. The Faith was delivered to the Church, not to the Scriptures. The Church, not the Scriptures, is the Pillar and foundation of Truth. Christ did not say "I will build by Bible and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." He made that promise to the Church.

The Church didn't decide what the Faith was, but it did decide which books were true to the Faith and which were not. It's because of this decision that we have the 27 books of the New Testament. But if the Church had decided to canonize only three Gospels, guess what? We'd have only three Gospels. If the Church had decided to accept only 10 of Paul's epistles rather than 13. We'd have ten Pauline Epistles. Would that have diminished the Faith? Heck no! The Faith had already been delivered to the Church, and had been preached and lived out in its entirety for centuries beforehand.