The New Testament
After Jesus' ascension, the disciples went around teaching and building the church by personal presence and sometimes writing a letter. The apostles first priority was to deliver a personal testimony to the facts of the gospel (good news). Their teaching was oral. But as time progressed, and there became more and more congregations, the necessity for written teachings became apparent. The Old Testament existed for study, but there was no official text available for study about this new 'Jesus movement'. Soon, the gospels came into existence, two written by apostles, and two written by close friends of apostles. Next the letters of various apostles which had been circulated and collected for study and re-reading became important to the growing congregations. As the persecution of the Romans under Diocletian (about 300 A.D.) increased, and other false and spurious gospels and letters appeared, the need for a list of official genuine books was required. This resulted in the development of the New Testament canon.
The details of the origin of each book are given in that sections on those books, but the origin of the New Testament as a whole is a separate and interesting subject.
Christianity arose within Judaism. The earliest Christians, were Jews, so their hopes and expectations of a Messiah foretold in Jewish Scriptures (the Old Testament) were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. These Christians already understood what 'scripture' was, and how to use it in the context of teaching and worship from their Jewish roots. Consequently, the formation of 'scripture' to be used for teaching and worship of the Christian faith was a logical requirement. The review of Christian writings to determine what was 'scripture'; that is valid, authoritative and holy led to the development of the New Testament and can be seen in three major stages: 1) the rise of Christian literature to the status of scripture, 2) the conscious grouping of various writings into collections, and 3) the revision and approval of these collections as a 'New Testament' - this being called a 'canon'. Canon comes from the Greek word 'kanon' meaning measuring rule. Only certain books passed the measuring rules required for 'canonization'.
No original author wrote their works with the intent of them becoming 'scripture'. However, most of the books were written with the backdrop that the author had 'apostolic authority' to proclaim the teachings in the book. Paul also frequently referred to writings as inspired by the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 7:40b). All the authors were considered to have been inspired with the same true Spirit that inspired the prophets of the Old Testament. At first, this was the only criteria for a work to be considered for canon, with the possible additions of popularity and circulation amoung the churches. Works such as the Shepherd of Hermas and I Clement were considered scripture in the early canons.
Marcion was the first to have published a formal canon list in about 140 A.D.. It consisted of Luke and ten of Paul's letters. A number of other letters, Acts of various apostles, and other writings began to circulate at this time. Some supported various groups of the time including the Montanists, Gnostics, Docetists, and others who were later declared to be heresies. Irenaeus declared that there could only be four gospels and the Muratorian Canon was soon published which included the four Gospels, thirteen letters of Paul, two letters of John, Jude, Revelation, the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Revelation of Peter (somewhat contested). The book of Hebrews was not included, although widely used and discussed even by Clement much earlier. The list of books in the canon continued to be debated throughout the third century until Eusebius published a list at the beginning of the fourth century. Books still in question included James, II Peter, II and III John, and Jude. Another canon was released by concensus in 367 A.D. which names the 27 books we know today. Additional books, the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, I Clement, and the Letter of Barnabas were considered suitable for study but not as scripture. This last list of books was finally accepted by the Council of Hippo in 393 A.D. and the Council of Carthage in 397 A.D..
The general rules to be included in the later canons were:
Approximate dating of the development of the New Testament:
| AD 200 | AD 250 | AD 300 | AD 400 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Muratorian Canon Four Gospels Acts Pauls Letters: Romans, I & II Cor., Gal., Eph., Phil., Col. I & II Thess., I & II Tim., Titus, Philemon James I & II John Jude Revelation of John Revelation of Peter Wisdom of Solomin for private study: Shepherd of Hermas |
Origen's collection Four Gospels Acts Pauls Letters: Romans, I & II Cor., Gal., Eph., Phil., Col. I & II Thess., I & II Tim., Titus, Philemon I Peter I John Revelation of John disputed: Hebrews James II Peter II & III John Jude Shepherd of Hermas Letter of Barnabas Teaching of Twelve (Didache) Gospel of the Hebrews |
Eusebius's collection Four Gospels Acts Pauls Letters: Romans, I & II Cor., Gal., Eph., Phil., Col. I & II Thess., I & II Tim., Titus, Philemon I Peter I John Revelation of John disputed: Hebrews James II Peter II & III John Jude Purposely excluded: Shepherd of Hermas Letter of Barnabas Teaching of Twelve (Didache) Gospel of the Hebrews Revelation of Peter Acts of Peter |
Council of Carthage Four Gospels Acts Pauls Letters: Romans, I & II Cor., Gal., Eph., Phil., Col. I & II Thess., I & II Tim., Titus, Philemon Hebrews James I & II Peter I, II, & III John Revelation of John |
The New Testament then consists of four classes of literature:
The earliest writings in the New Testament are the letters written to the various Christian churches, answering matters of practice and belief. Paul wrote most of these between 52 A.D. and 64 A.D.. The first is considered to be the letters to the Thessalonians.
The books of the New Testament are not arranged in chronological order, but rather in terms of importance. The persons who gathered the books together (canon) were not interested in historical or chronological order, but rather the content.
Some of the letters in the New Testament are called the 'catholic epistles'. Catholic in this sense (as in the Apostles' Creed) refers to being universal in nature. The seven letters that make up the catholic epistles are:
The gospels can be divided into two types. Matthew, Mark and Luke are 'synoptic' meaning they give a synopsis of the life of Jesus Christ. They agree in most passages about the various events in the life of Christ. In fact it is easy to see a harmony amongst these books. There are however some differences which are interesting to study. The gospel of John on the other hand is arranged not chronologically, but in the order of ascending importance of signs and works by Jesus. In general, the gospels were written to different audiences, that is sometimes Jewish, some Greek, etc.. and the authors specifically emphasized areas of the gospel of interest to the audience.
There are 27 books in the New Testament. To find a specific book, some
of the following tips may help:
Then, the 'T' books are all together: I and II Thess...I and II Timothy...and Titus.
After this you'll just have to remember the order of the books, except that
Revelation is of course the last book in the Bible and the letters of John are right
before it (except for Jude).
Another interesting memory aid to note, is that all the books that start with the letter 'T' are in alphabetical order within the NT. That is Thessalonians, then Timothy, then Titus. The same is true for 'J' - James, then John (after Peter) before Jude.
The New Testament is a great place to begin reading the Bible because it starts with the story of Jesus and His teachings. Understanding this, the rest of the Bible comes into perspective.