Church History · AD 367

Athanasius Lists the 27 Books of the New Testament

In his Easter letter of AD 367, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, listed exactly the 27 books of our New Testament, the first list known to match it perfectly. He was not inventing a Bible. He was writing down what the churches had already been reading as Scripture.

Read it in the Bible: 2 Peter 3:16 John 5:39 Revelation 22:18-19 2 Timothy 3:16

In AD 367, Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria in Egypt, sent his churches an Easter letter that listed the books of Scripture. His New Testament list has exactly the same 27 books found in every Christian Bible today, no more and no fewer. It is the oldest list we know of that matches our New Testament perfectly. Athanasius did not create the New Testament. He recorded the books the church had already received from the apostles, and he warned against fake books that were being passed around.

Who Was Athanasius?

Athanasius was born around 296 and became bishop of Alexandria in 328. As a young deacon, he had attended the Council of Nicaea in 325, where the church declared that Jesus is fully God. He spent the rest of his life defending that truth.

It cost him. Emperors who favored the Arian side exiled him five times, for about 17 years in all. He hid in the desert with monks, and at one point it seemed like the whole empire was against him. People coined the phrase Athanasius contra mundum, which means Athanasius against the world. He outlasted all of them and died in his own city in 373.

What Was the 39th Festal Letter?

Every year, the bishop of Alexandria wrote a letter announcing the date of Easter. These were called festal letters, or Easter letters. Athanasius often used them to teach as well. His 39th letter, sent in 367, dealt with a real problem. Some groups were promoting books they called secret or hidden, and they were confusing ordinary believers.

So Athanasius laid out clearly which books are Scripture. After the list, he wrote:

These are fountains of salvation, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. Athanasius, Festal Letter 39

And then the line that has been quoted for 1,600 years:

Let no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these. Athanasius, Festal Letter 39

Which Books Did Athanasius List in the New Testament?

His list, in his order, is:

The four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Acts
Seven general letters: James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude
Fourteen letters of Paul: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon
Revelation

That adds up to 27. The order is a little different from our Bibles. He put the general letters before Paul, and he counted Hebrews as Paul's. But the books are identical.

Some scholars point out that Origen, a teacher in Alexandria about a century earlier, may have named all 27 books in a sermon. That sermon survives only in a later Latin translation, so it is hard to be sure. Athanasius gives us the first clear, formal list.

What Did Athanasius Say About the Old Testament?

For the Old Testament, Athanasius listed 22 books, counted the Jewish way, where books like 1 and 2 Kings count as one. His list is close to the Protestant Old Testament, with two surprises. He left out Esther, and he included Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah along with Jeremiah.

He also named a second group of books that were not in the canon but were appointed to be read by new believers for instruction: the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Esther, Judith and Tobit, plus two early Christian writings, the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas. Those first five are among the books Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include and Protestant Bibles leave out. The FAQ on this site called Why Do Some Bibles Have More Books explains how that split happened.

Was the Canon Recognized or Invented?

This is the key question. Some people claim that bishops in the 300s chose the books that fit their power and buried the rest. The record does not support that.

Long before 367, the core of the New Testament was already in place. The Muratorian Fragment, from the late 100s, lists most of our books. Irenaeus around 180 insisted on four Gospels. Church writers in the 100s and 200s quoted Paul's letters as Scripture. Even within the New Testament, Peter treats Paul's letters as Scripture.

Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:16

The books that took longer to be accepted everywhere were a handful of shorter ones: Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude and Revelation. The church asked careful questions. Did the book come from an apostle or someone close to one? Did it agree with the faith the churches had always held? Was it read in churches widely and from early on? By 367 the answers were clear enough for Athanasius to write them down.

The Bible scholar F. F. Bruce put it well: the church did not give these books their authority, it simply recognized the authority they already had. Think of it like a doctor diagnosing an illness. The doctor names what is there. He doesn't create it.

What Happened After Athanasius' List?

His list did not end every question overnight. Some Eastern churches were slow to accept Revelation, and the Syriac church used a shorter New Testament for a long time. But in the West, councils at Rome in 382, Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397 and 419 affirmed the same 27 books. Those councils have their own page on this site. Today, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians all share these same 27 New Testament books. That's a rare thing for all three to agree on, so it's worth enjoying.

Why the 27 Books Matter for You Today

When you open a New Testament, you are holding the same books that believers in Egypt heard read in 367. Athanasius' point still stands: these books are fountains of salvation. They are where we meet Jesus, hear His words and learn how to follow Him.

These are the very words that testify about Me, John 5:39

The question is not whether we have the right books. It is whether we are drinking from them.

Get Nate's Highlighting Guide Free

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Questions People Ask

Who first listed the 27 books of the New Testament?

Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in his 39th Festal Letter in AD 367. It is the oldest known list that matches our 27 New Testament books exactly. Earlier lists, like the Muratorian Fragment, include most but not all of them.

What is the 39th Festal Letter?

It was an Easter letter Athanasius sent to the churches of Egypt in 367. Besides announcing the date of Easter, it listed the books of the Old and New Testaments and warned against secret books promoted by false teachers. It ends the list with, Let no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these.

Did Athanasius include the Apocrypha?

He did not include books like Wisdom, Sirach, Judith and Tobit in the canon. He said they could be read by new believers for instruction. He also left Esther off his Old Testament list but included Baruch with Jeremiah.

Did the church decide which books were in the Bible?

Most historians describe it as recognition, not invention. The core books were already accepted by the late 100s, and later lists and councils confirmed what churches had long been reading. A few short books took longer to be accepted everywhere.

Sources

← The First Recorded Christmas on December 25 Christianity Becomes the Official Religion of Rome →

See the whole Church History