Three Stages to the Process (New Testament Canon)

TESTAMENT, NEW, BOOKS, CANON, BIBLE STUDIES
For convenience of arrangement and definiteness of impression the whole process may be marked off in three stages: (1) that from the time of the apostles until about 170 ad; (2) that of the closing years of the 2nd century and the opening of the 3rd (170-220 ad); (3) that of the 3rd and 4th centuries. In the first we seek for the evidences of the growth in appreciation of the peculiar value of the New Testament writings; in the second we discover the clear, full recognition of a large part of these writings as sacred and authoritative; in the third the acceptance of the complete canon in the East and in the West.


From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co