As the new testament closes the gospel has spread throughout the Roman empire, persecution is common but isolated, and Church leadership had been established though the setting up of overseers/elders and deacons with one elder typically being the main leader (bishop - from Greek = overseer). During the New Testament we see that there were many false teachers and heresies developing.Persecution and heresy continue to be problems after the apostles and as a result the bishops become more and more a key leader.
As the Apostles died there were some who were their contemporaries and/or their direct followers that continued to lead the church. These are know as the Apostolic Fathers and during their time (A.D. 96-150) the current books in the new testament were individually copied and shared among the churches (some of this was going on during the time of the NT Col 4:16 & 2 Pet. 3:15-16)
Many of these Church Fathers also wrote letters to the churches in many of these letters they quoted from the New Testament books. There were maybe some isolated collections the New Testament books but there was no complete collection. Some of these Church Fathers made lists of book that were accepted as Scripture and most of the New Testament books were agreed upon by A.D. 180
Here it is important to note one of the key differences between the Protestant and Roman Catholic Church’s views on the cannon of scripture. Protestants typically believe that the early church fathers recognized the books of Scripture that were inspired. The Roman Catholic Church believes that it was the early church that made or authorized the books as Scripture. This is also one of the reasons why they see church tradition equal in authority to the scriptures.
