God’s written word is fundamental to Christianity. What we believe and how we live are defined by the Bible. We have no starting point for knowing God, for knowing the gospel, or for being equipped for Christian living without what God has made known to us in the sixty-six books of the Bible.

But there’s the question. How did these particular writings become a part of God’s word? Why these writings and not others? How can we know that we have everything God intends for us to have? These are the questions addressed by the doctrine of the canon of Scripture.