All Christians realize that if God has revealed
Himself by
communicating His will to man, man must be able to
know
with
assurance where that revelation lies. Hence the need
for a list (i.e., canon) of books of the Bible. In other words,
man needs to know without error (i.e., infallibly)
what the
books of the Bible are.
There must be an
authority which will make that
decision.
The canon of the Bible refers to the definitive list
of the books
which are considered to be divine revelation and
included
therein.
A canon distinguishes what is revealed and divine
from what is not revealed and human.
"Canon" (Gk. kanon)
means a reed; a straight rod or bar; a measuring
stick;
something serving to determine, rule, or measure.