<P> For the Orthodox, the recognition of these writings as authoritative was formalized in the Second Council of Trullan of 692 . The Catholic Church made dogmatic definition upon its Biblical canon in 382 at the Council of Rome as well as at the Council of Trent of 1545, reaffirming the Canons of Florence of 1442 and North African Councils (Hippo and Carthage) of 393--419 . For the Church of England, it was made dogmatic on the Thirty - Nine Articles of 1563; for Calvinism, on the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 . </P> <P> Writings attributed to the Apostles circulated among the earliest Christian communities . The Pauline epistles were circulating, perhaps in collected forms, by the end of the 1st century AD . Justin Martyr, in the mid 2nd century, mentions "memoirs of the apostles" as being read on "the day called that of the sun" (Sunday) alongside the "writings of the prophets ." A defined set of four gospels (the Tetramorph) was asserted by Irenaeus, c. 180, who refers to it directly . </P> <P> By the early 3rd century, Origen may have been using the same twenty - seven books as in the present New Testament canon, though there were still disputes over the acceptance of the Letter to the Hebrews, James, II Peter, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation, known as the Antilegomena . Likewise, the Muratorian fragment is evidence that, perhaps as early as 200, there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to the twenty - seven - book NT canon, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them . Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings are claimed to have been accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the 3rd century . </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 decided what books would be in the new testament