oracles of God"; and as it had been their Lord's Bible it became theirs.
No one of the first generation of Christians thought of adding other
Scriptures. In that age the Coming of the Messiah and His Kingdom in
power were daily expected, and there seemed no need of writing anything
for succeeding times. Paul's letters were penned to meet current needs
in the churches, and were naturally kept, reread and passed from church
to church. As the years went by and disciples were added who had never
known the Lord in the days of His flesh, a demand arose for collections
of His sayings. Then gospels were written, and the New Testament
literature came into existence, although no one yet thought of these
writings as Holy Scripture.

Three factors, however, combined to give these books an authoritative
position. In the Church services _reading_ was a part of worship. What
should be read? A letter of an apostle, a selection of Jesus' sayings, a
memoir of His life, an account of the earliest days of the Church.
Certain books became favorites because they were most helpful in
creating and stimulating Christian faith and life; and they won their
own position of respect and authority.

Some books by reason of their _authorship_--Paul or Peter, for
instance--or because they contained the life and teaching of Jesus,
naturally held a place of reverence. This eventually led to the
ascription to well-known names of books that were found helpful which
had in fact been written by others. For example, the _Epistle to the
Hebrews_ was ultimately credited to Paul, and the _Second Epistle of
Peter_ to the Apostle Peter.

And, again, _controversies_ arose in which it was all important to agree
what were the sources to which appeal should be made. The first