<P> In his Easter letter of 367 , Athanasius , Bishop of Alexandria , gave a list of the books that would become the twenty - seven - book NT canon , and he used the word `` canonized '' ( Greek : κανονιζόμενα kanonizomena ) in regards to them . The first council that accepted the present canon of the New Testament may have been the Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa ( 393 ) . A brief summary of the acts was read at and accepted by the Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419 . These councils were under the authority of St. Augustine , who regarded the canon as already closed . Pope Damasus I 's Council of Rome in 382 , if the Decretum Gelasianum is correctly associated with it , issued a biblical canon identical to that mentioned above , or , if not , the list is at least a 6th - century compilation . Likewise , Damasus ' commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible , c. 383 , was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West . In c. 405 , Pope Innocent I sent a list of the sacred books to a Gallic bishop , Exsuperius of Toulouse . Christian scholars assert that , when these bishops and councils spoke on the matter , however , they were not defining something new but instead `` were ratifying what had already become the mind of the Church . '' </P>
<P> In his Easter letter of 367 , Athanasius , Bishop of Alexandria , gave a list of the books that would become the twenty - seven - book NT canon , and he used the word `` canonized '' ( Greek : κανονιζόμενα kanonizomena ) in regards to them . The first council that accepted the present canon of the New Testament may have been the Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa ( 393 ) . A brief summary of the acts was read at and accepted by the Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419 . These councils were under the authority of St. Augustine , who regarded the canon as already closed . Pope Damasus I 's Council of Rome in 382 , if the Decretum Gelasianum is correctly associated with it , issued a biblical canon identical to that mentioned above , or , if not , the list is at least a 6th - century compilation . Likewise , Damasus ' commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible , c. 383 , was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West . In c. 405 , Pope Innocent I sent a list of the sacred books to a Gallic bishop , Exsuperius of Toulouse . Christian scholars assert that , when these bishops and councils spoke on the matter , however , they were not defining something new but instead `` were ratifying what had already become the mind of the Church . '' </P>
who selected the books of the new testament
who selected the books of the new testament
Athanasius , Bishop of Alexandria
Athanasius , Bishop of Alexandria