---
title: "The Complete Series: 10 Misconceptions About the NT Canon"
canonical: "https://michaeljkruger.com/the-complete-series-10-misconceptions-about-the-nt-canon/"
pubDate: "2012-08-24T15:16:56.000Z"
updatedDate: "2023-04-14T17:32:52.000Z"
author: Michael Kruger
description: "For the last 3-4 months I have been working through a blog series entitled \"10 Misconceptions About the New Testament Canon.\" This series exams some common beliefs out there in the academic (and lay-level) communities that prove to be problematic upon closer examination. Although the series is not quite finished (two more to go), I [...]"
tags: [Gospels, New Testament Canon]
---

For the last 3-4 months I have been working through a blog series entitled “10 Misconceptions About the New Testament Canon.” This series exams some common beliefs out there in the academic (and lay-level) communities that prove to be problematic upon closer examination.

Although the series is not quite finished (two more to go), I have received several requests to have it all one place. So, here is the list. I will update this list as we go along. Also, there will be a link to this list under the “Blog Series” heading in the left margin of my website.

1. [The Term “Canon” Can Only Refer to a Fixed, Closed List of Books](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-53)
2. [Nothing in Early Christianity Dictated That There Would be a Canon](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-5n)
3. [The New Testament Authors Did Not Think They Were Writing Scripture](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-6y)
4. [New Testament Books Were Not Regarded as Scriptural Until Around 200 A.D.](http://wp.me/s2dVaB-459)
5. [Early Christians Disagreed Widely over the Books Which Made It into the Canon](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-8j)
6. [In the Early Stages, Apocryphal Books Were as Popular as the Canonical Books](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-92)
7. [Christians Had No Basis to Distinguish Heresy from Orthodoxy Until the Fourth Century](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-9h)
8. [Early Christianity was an Oral Religion and Therefore Would Have Resisted Writing Things Down](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-af)
9. [The Canonical Gospels Were Certainly Not Written by the Individuals Named in Their Titles](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-c7)
10. [Athanasius’ Festal Letter (367 A.D.) is the First Complete List of New Testament Books](http://wp.me/p2dVaB-cJ)