How Do I Know Which Books Belong in the Bible?

I believe the Bible is the Word of God. The question bothering me now is how I know which books make up the Bible.

The New Testament does not come with an inspired table of contents. Christians have to recognize which writings are apostolic and which are not.

WHAT I AM STUDYING

I am looking at how the New Testament canon is recognized and how early Christians use Scripture alongside the public apostolic faith preserved in the churches.

I am also looking at disagreements over the Old Testament canon, because Christians who all affirm biblical authority do not even use exactly the same collection of books.

A FEW THINGS I AM LEARNING

Saying “the Church recognized the canon; it did not create it” makes sense to me. Recognition and inspiration are not the same thing.

But recognition still requires a trustworthy historical judgment. I am already relying on the early Church at a very basic level.

WHAT I AM STILL UNSURE ABOUT

Trusting the Church about the canon does not automatically require trusting every later Catholic definition. Still, it makes it harder for me to treat the early Church as broadly unreliable in every other major area.

WHAT I WANT TO LOOK AT NEXT

If I am trusting these Christians to recognize apostolic writings, I want to know what their Christianity actually looks like.