<P> Thus, some claim that, from the 4th century, there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon, and that, by the 5th century, the Eastern Church, with a few exceptions, had come to accept the Book of Revelation and thus had come into harmony on the matter of the canon . Nonetheless, full dogmatic articulations of the canon were not made until the Canon of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism, the Gallic Confession of Faith of 1559 for Calvinism, the Thirty - Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox . </P> <P> In the one - hundred - year period extending roughly from 50 to 150, a number of documents began to circulate among the churches, including epistles, gospels, memoirs, apocalypses, homilies, and collections of teachings . While some of these documents were apostolic in origin, others drew upon the tradition the apostles and ministers of the word had utilized in their individual missions . Still others represented a summation of the teaching entrusted to a particular church center . Several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality . </P> <P> By the end of the 1st century, some letters of Paul were known to Clement of Rome (fl. 96), together with some form of the "words of Jesus"; but while Clement valued these highly, he did not regard them as "Scripture" ("graphe"), a term he reserved for the Septuagint . Metzger 1987 draws the following conclusion about Clement: </P> <P> Clement...makes occasional reference to certain words of Jesus; though they are authoritative for him, he does not appear to enquire how their authenticity is ensured . In two of the three instances that he speaks of remembering' the words' of Christ or of the Lord Jesus, it seems that he has a written record in mind, but he does not call it a' gospel' . He knows several of Paul's epistles, and values them highly for their content; the same can be said of the Epistle to the Hebrews, with which he is well acquainted . Although these writings obviously possess for Clement considerable significance, he never refers to them as authoritative' Scripture' . </P>

Who wrote the first letter we know of containing the full 27 books