Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman Who Really Chose the Books of the New Testament?
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Jul 7, 2026 
Bart Ehrman, New Testament scholar and bestselling author, traces how the New Testament books were chosen and why some writings were left out. He discusses Marcion’s radical canon, regional differences in accepted texts, debates over apostolic authorship versus inspiration, and why the canon solidified faster than the Hebrew Bible. He also touches on Luther’s qualms about Revelation and contested non-canonical works.
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Why Christians Kept The Hebrew Bible
- As Gentile Christians grew in number, debates emerged over whether the Hebrew Bible belonged in Christian scripture, with figures like Marcion rejecting it.
- The view that prevailed held the Hebrew Bible as necessary to root Christianity historically and theologically.
Marcion's Canon And The Pastorals
- Marcion compiled an early canon (Luke + ~10 Pauline letters) and removed portions he saw as influenced by the Old Testament God, but he did not explicitly call the Pastorals forgeries.
- Scholars debate whether Marcion omitted the Pastorals because he judged them non-Pauline or simply never knew of them.
Canon Formed By Practice Not A Single Vote
- No single early ecumenical council fixed the New Testament; Athanasius' 367 CE list is the first matching our 27 books, but it resulted from gradual consensus, not a single vote.
- Scribal copying, preaching, and popular usage rather than an ecumenical decision solidified the canon.
