Fourth, that we must distinguish between the time when the canon was not yet completely established and when it was announced by public auth
Fourth, that we must distinguish between the time when the canon was not yet completely established and when it was announced by public authority of the Church.
§ 103. (IV) “We must distinguish between the time when the Old Testament was not yet completely established and known and that time when it was published by the public authority of the Church.” Sixtus Senensis, bk. 8, Haeres. 9: “Concerning the words of Jerome, who claims that the Church did not accept the Book of Wisdom in the canon, we respond that he did not take this to mean the Church of his time.” Marianus Victor, on Epistle 3 of Jerome: “Jerome claims that those controversial books had not been accepted at that time.” Melchior Canus objects to the statement “Cyprian, Melito, Origen, Eusebius, John of Damascus, and Epiphanius rejected these six books that were in controversy” (Locor., bk. 2, c. 10, arg. 2). He responds, c. 11, that “this occurred at that time when the matter had not yet been defined,” and with this one argument, he wants them all to be excused. Bellarmine, De verbo Dei, bk. 1, c. 10, § Ultimo: “I admit that Jerome was of this opinion because a general council had not yet reached a decision about these books.”
We respond. (1) Then when was the canon finally established? The Councils of Florence and Trent are too recent. The former was held in 1431, the latter in 1560. The Council of Carthage was not a general council. If they want to draw attention to the fact that it was confirmed in the general Trullan Council, we press the point that the Trullan Council confirmed both the Council of Carthage and the Council of Laodicea. The Council of Laodicea, however, confirms our opinion about the canon.
(2) Regarding the fathers whose testimonies we brought out earlier, some of whom lived before and some after the Council of Carthage, was the canon that was announced in the Council of Carthage unknown to them? If it was known and they nonetheless rejected those controversial books and considered them among the apocryphal books, the consequence is that the canon was not announced in the Council of Carthage. The Damascene lived around AD 730. If the canon had not yet been defined at his time, as Canus says, why do they appeal to the Council of Carthage, which was held several centuries before the Damascene?
(3) The Old Testament canon was established by Ezra and was published long before the birth of Christ. It was by no means promulgated by the authority of the Church in the New Testament.