The New Testament is the second half of the Christian Bible. Christians consider the Old Testament (or the Hebrew Bible/Jewish scriptures) and the New Testament to be the sacred canon of scripture. the old testament contains thirty-nine books (twenty-four in hebrew) that were more or less a fixed collection about a century after jesus lived. It is important for students to study the New Testament because it has been at the center of Western civilization and thus has affected all of us, whether we consider ourselves to be Christians or not.
The New Testament: Some Basic Facts
You are reading: First four books of the new testament
the new testament contains twenty-seven books, written in greek, by fifteen or sixteen different authors between the years 50 a.d. and 120 AD the writings are of four types: gospels, acts of the apostles, epistles and apocalypses. The New Testament contains four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books tell the stories about the life, ministry, and death of Jesus. The Gospels were written anonymously and came to be attributed to the disciples (Matthew and John) and associates of the Apostles (Mark and Luke) sometime in the second century. Acts of the Apostles, written by the author of the third Gospel (“Luke”), begins after the death of Jesus and describes the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, mainly through the missionary activity of the Apostle Paul. the following acts are twenty-one epistles or letters. Most of these New Testament books are records of correspondence between a church leader and a Christian community; these epistles address issues of Christian belief, practice, and ethics. Thirteen of the epistles claim to have been written by Paul (although, as we shall see, most New Testament scholars doubt the reliability of some of these claims). the last book of the new testament is revelation, a christian apocalypse. The author of this book, John, describes the events that led to the destruction of this world and the appearance of the world to come.
other early Christian writings
The twenty-seven books of the New Testament are not the only writings of the early Christians. there are many other gospels, epistles, and apocalypses that are not included in the Christian canon. An important collection of non-canonical early Christian writings includes a series of writings, collectively called the Apostolic Fathers. These books, written by Christians in the early second century AD. c., were considered authoritative in some Christian communities. Some of these writings, in fact, were believed to be as authoritative as the Gospels or Paul’s letters. Another important collection of early Christian writings, including Epistles, Apocalypses, and Gospels, was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945. This find included fifty-two Coptic writings, some dating back to the second century.
the development of the Christian canon
Christians were not the only ones, or even the first, to develop a set of authoritative books. Although the Jewish canon was not firmly established until after Jesus’ death, parts of the canon were considered authoritative much earlier. At the end of the first century, some Christians considered the words of Jesus to be “scripture” (1 Tim 5:18). Some Christians also gave authority to Paul’s writings (2 Pe 3:16). The Christian canon grew out of debates between different Christian groups regarding the correct teachings. throughout the second, third, and fourth centuries, Christians continued to debate the acceptability of Christian writings. these discussions focused on three main issues: whether the book was (i) ancient, (ii) written by an apostle, and (ii) widely accepted among Christians. It was not until the year 367 A.D. that a Christian named Athanasius listed all twenty-seven current books as authoritative Christian scripture.
implications for our study
Originally not composed as part of a collection, the books of the New Testament embody different points of view. The discussion of the development of the canon showed that there were diverse views among the early Christians, and therefore we should not be surprised to find some of this diversity within the New Testament itself. For a historical study of New Testament literature, it will be helpful to read each book independently and understand its message on its own terms.
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The New Testament: Another Set of Problems
Early Christian communities not only had different books, they also had different versions of the same books. In ancient times, books were copied by hand, letter by letter. this allowed a number of opportunities for scribal errors, intentional or unintentional, to enter the text. we do not have the originals of any book of the new testament; our copies were made much later. the copies we have show that the books changed as they were passed down. Scholars have collected more than 5,000 Greek copies of the New Testament, and no two are exactly alike. in fact, there are more differences in the manuscripts than there are words in the new testament. the vast majority of these differences are minor, such as spelling differences, but some are significant.
excursus: some additional reflections: the historian and the believer
This textbook uses a non-denominational, historical approach to the New Testament and other early Christian writings. It is important to understand the difference between these approaches because the New Testament is more than a Christian book. it is a cultural artifact, a collection of writings that has influenced Western civilization. reading these books as historical makes sense, because they were written within particular historical circumstances and continue to be read within particular historical circumstances.
Historians deal with past events that are matters of the public domain. they attempt to reconstruct what probably happened based on data that can be examined and evaluated by any interested observer, regardless of their religious beliefs. historians can describe similarities and differences between points of view, but they cannot judge the validity of the points of view because the judgment is not part of the public record. Therefore, a historian can describe what probably happened at the crucifixion of Jesus, but cannot, as a historian, determine whether Jesus died for the sins of the world. such judgment arises from one’s theology and not from the public record. history and faith are not mutually exclusive; they just don’t share the same limitations.
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