Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 63:1 (Mar 2020)
Article: 2 Peter 3:2, The Apostolate, And A Bi-Covenantal Canon
Author: Michael J. Kruger

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2 Peter 3:2, The Apostolate,
And A Bi-Covenantal Canon

Michael J. Kruger

Michael Kruger is President and Samuel C. Patterson Professor of NT and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary, 2101 Carmel Road, Charlotte, NC 28226. He delivered this presidential address at the 71^st meeting of the ETS, San Diego, CA, on November 21, 2019.

Abstract: While scholarship on the origins of the New Testament canon has typically focused on reception history, more attention is needed on “intrinsic” factors that may have determined the canon’s shape and scope. This article explores one of these factors, namely the curious, early and widespread juxtaposition of the terms “prophets” and “apostles” and the way that juxtaposition anticipates the bi-covenantal nature of the Christian canon as both Old and New Testament. The combination of these terms is traced through the New Testament sources themselves and into the second century up to Irenaeus.

Key words: New Testament canon, intrinsic factors, bi-covenantal canon, prophets and apostles, 2 Peter 3:2

After nearly two thousand years, the bi-covenantal nature of the Christian canon—an OT delivered by the prophets and a NT about Jesus delivered by the apostles—seems rather unremarkable. Indeed, this structure is so ingrained in the Christian concept of canon that we rarely reflect upon its origins. It almost seems like it was inevitable.

However, when we do reflect upon this structure, we come to realize that its origins are not explained merely be appealing to the decisions of the later, post-apostolic church. Rather, I shall argue here that this bi-covenantal infrastructure—i.e., a two-part revelatory deposit from the prophets and apostles—was woven into the theological fabric of Christianity from the beginning. And therefore, the bi-covenantal canon that we have today is simply the “logical materialization”1 of a deep theological paradigm embedded in the DNA of the earliest Christian movement. Put simply, this feature of canon is intrinsic rather than extrinsic.2

Needless to say, intrinsic features of canon have received comparably little attention among modern scholars.3 Indeed, for many scholars, canon (by definition) is only an extrinsic phenomenon. It is a creation of the later church, something

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forced on a Christian movement that neither anticipated no...