
The earliest extant list of the books of the NT, in exactly the number and order in which we presently have them, is written by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his Festal letter # 39 of 367 A.D. Each "city-church" (region) has its own Canon, which is a list of books approved for reading at Mass (Liturgy) AD 200 (the Muratorian Canon), the NT consists of the 4 gospels Acts 13 letters of Paul (Hebrews is not included) 3 of the 7 General Epistles (1-2 John and Jude) and also the Apocalypse of Peter. According to one list, compiled at Rome c. The periphery of the canon is not yet determined. Marcion's "New Testament", the first to be compiled, forced the mainstream Church to decide on a core canon: the four Gospels and Letters of Paul. Marcion eliminated the Old Testament as scriptures and, since he was anti-Semitic, kept from the New Testament only 10 letters of Paul and 2/3 of Luke's gospel (he deleted references to Jesus' Jewishness). Yahweh, the cruel God of the Old Testament, and Abba, the kind father of the New Testament.

Marcion, a businessman in Rome, taught that there were two Gods:
