In
the same first century, Jesus is reported to have said, “It is written” (Matt
4:6-11). Jesus is portrayed referring to writings that are “sacred scripture,”
since the parallel thought is “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”
(Matt 4:4). Jesus knew no set or closed canon; all the books in the New
Testament had not yet been composed. (Lee Martin McDonald, The Formation of
the Biblical Canon, 2 vols. [London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017], 1:xv)
