The New Testament or The Greek Scriptures is the name given to the part of the
Christian
Bible that was written after the birth
of Jesus Christ. The term is a translation of the
Latin Novum Testamentum, which translates the
Greek Η Καινη
Διαθηκη, Hę Kainę Diathękę, meaning "The New Covenant" or Testament. It was
originally used by early Christians to describe their relationship with
God
Corinthians 3:6-15;
Hebrews 9:15-20) and later to designate a particular collection of 27 books.
Books of the New Testament
The 27 books of the New Testament were written by various authors at various times and places. Unlike the
Old Testament, the New Testament was written in a narrow span of time, over the
course of no more than a century. The following is a list of the New Testament books, followed by the author traditionally
associated with that book.
The Gospels
The Gospels focus on the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
History
The history of the early Christian church after the death of Christ is related here.
Epistles
The epistles contain various letters written either to individuals or to early
Christian congregations. Many of these epistles expound important theological points and give insight into the developing
Christian church.
Pauline Epistles
The Pauline Epistles (or Corpus Paulinum) constitute those epistles traditionally attributed to Paul. Their
names are based on the Christian groups or individuals to whom they are addressed.
The General or Catholic Epistles are those written to the church at large. They are named after their
traditional author. In medieval times, they were often collected not with the Pauline epistles but with Acts to form the
Praxapostolos.
Prophecy
Language
The common language spoken in the time of Jesus was
Aramaic.
However, the original text of the New Testament was written in
Koine Greek
and widely translated into other languages, most notably
Latin,
Syriac, and
Coptic. However, many of the church fathers claimed that Matthew was originally written in
Hebrew, and some fathers contended that Paul wrote the
Hebrews in Hebrew, which was translated into Greek by
Luke. Neither view holds much support among modern scholars, who
argue that the literary quality of Matthew and Hebrews suggests that they were composed directly in Greek, rather than being
translated.
Authorship
The New Testament was written by many different people. The traditional belief is that all the books were written by the
apostles or their followers (e.g.
Mark and
Luke). Except for
Hebrews, no serious question about the authorship of any of the books as listed above was raised before the
18th century.
Because of the many similarities between Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they are referred to as the "Synoptic Gospels" (a synopsis is literally a "seeing- together." The Gospel
of John contains much unique narrative and dialogue and is considered to be different in its emphasis from the first three
gospels. The question of how the similarities between the synoptic gospels arose is known as the
synoptic problem. The dominant view amongst scholars is that both Matthew and Luke drew upon the
Gospel of Mark. In addition, they also had one other common source, which has since been lost and which focused on the teachings
of Jesus. It is referred to the "Q Source," a name stemming from the German
word for "source", Quelle. Both Matthew and Luke also have unique source material.
Among the early Church fathers, there was controversy about the authorship of Hebrews, since it is the only anonymous
epistle. Tertullian suggested that the author was
Barnabas, but the prevailing view was that it was written by Paul and translated by Luke.
Origen in the midst of this controversy proclaimed that "God only knows" who the author really
was.
Date of composition
According to tradition, the earliest of the books were the letters of Paul, and the last books to be written are those
attributed to John, who is traditionally said to have lived to a very old age, perhaps dying as late as
100.
Irenaeus of Lyons, c.
185, stated that the Gospels of Matthew and Mark were written while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome, which
would be in the 60s, and Luke was written some time later.
Evangelical and
traditionalist scholars
continue to support this dating.
Other modern, critical scholars generally concur with tradition, except for the epistles that they consider to be
pseudepigraphical (i.e. those thought not to be written by their traditional
authors). For the Gospels, they tend to date Mark no earlier than
68, and Matthew some time
between 70-85. Luke is usually placed in the
80-95 time frame. The earliest of the books of the New Testament was
1 Thessalonians, an epistle of
Paul, written probably
51, or possibly
Galatians in
49 according to one of two theories of its writing. Of the
pseudepigraphical epistles, critical scholars tend to place them somewhere between
70 and
150, with
2 Peter usually being the latest.
However, John A. T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament (1976), proposed that
all of the New Testament was completed before
70, the year the temple at
Jerusalem was destroyed. Robinson argued that because the destruction of the temple was
prophesied by
Jesus Christ in
Matthew 24:15-21 and
Luke 23:28-31, the authors
of these and other New Testament books would not have failed to point out the fulfillment of this prophecy. Robinson's position
is popular among some Evangelicals.
In the 1830s, German scholars of the
Tübingen school dated the books as late as the third century, but the discovery of New Testament manuscripts
dating as far back as 125 has called such late dating into question. Additionally, a letter
to the church at Corinth in the name of
Clement of Rome in
95, quotes from 10 of the 27 books of the New
Testament, and a letter to the church at
Philippi in the name of
Polycarp in
120 quotes from 16 books.
The canonization of the New Testatment
In the first three centuries of the Christian Church, there was no firmly established New Testament canon that was universally
recognized. The first attempt at compiling a canon was made by
Marcion, but this was
rejected when Marcion was branded a heretic by the church. His canon included only ten of the thirteen
Pauline epistles, and an altered version of the
Gospel of Luke. Around
200 the
Muratorian fragment was written, listing the accepted works. This
list was very similar to the modern canon, but also included the
Wisdom of Solomon (now part of the
Apocrypha) and the
Revelation of
Peter, which was dropped when it was discovered that it was not actually written by
Saint Peter, the
apostle. The New Testament canon as it is now was
first listed by
St. Athanasius, Bishop of
Alexandria, in 367, in a letter written to his churches in Egypt. That canon gained wider
and wider recognition until it was accepted by all at the Third Council of Carthage in
397.
Even this council did not settle the matter, however. Certain books continued to be questioned, especially
James and
Revelation. Even as late as the 16th century, theologian and reformer
Martin Luther rejected the
Epistle of
James, calling it chaff.
Views on New Testament authority
All Christian groups respect the New Testament, but they differ in their understanding of the nature, extent, and relevance of
its authority. Views of the authorititativeness of the New Testament often depend on the concept of
inspiration, which relates to the role of God in the formation of the New
Testament. Generally, the greater the role of God in one's doctrine of inspiration, the more one accepts the Bible's
infallibility,
inerrancy, and authorititativeness. One possible source of confusion is that these terms are
difficult to define, because many people use them interchangeably or with very different meanings. This article will use the
terms in the following manner:
- Infallibility relates to the absolute correctness of the Bible in matters of doctrine.
- Inerrancy relates to the absolute correctness of the Bible in factual assertions (including historical and
scientific assertions).
- Authoritativeness relates to the correctness of the Bible in questions of practice and morality.
All of these concepts depend for their meaning on the supposition that the text of Bible has been properly interpreted, with
consideration for the intention of the text, whether literal history, allegory or poetry, etc. Especially the doctrine of
inerrancy is variously understood according to the weight given by the interpreter to scientific investigations of the world. A
brief outline of these views in different Christian denominations follows.
Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
For
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox churches, it is the Church itself that is infallible, rather than the Bible alone,
because the Bible is viewed as the product of the Church. Accordingly, these churches place much emphasis on tradition, which
constitutes the collective teachings of the Church over the centuries including the historic interpretation of the Bible and its
traditional liturgical usage. The Roman Catholic view is expressed clearly in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
(1992):
- § 83: As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, does not derive her
certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured
with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.
- § 107: The inspired books teach the truth. Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should
be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error
teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.
Protestantism
Following the doctrine of
sola scriptura, Protestants believe that
their traditions of faith, practice and interpretations carry forward what the scriptures teach, and so tradition is not a source
of authority in itself. Their traditions supposedly derive authority from the Bible, and are therefore always open to
re-evaluation. This openness to doctrinal revision has extended in some Protestant traditions even to the re-evaluation of the
doctrine of Scripture upon which the Reformation was founded, and members of these traditions may even question whether the Bible
is infallible in doctrine, inerrant in historical and other factual statements, and whether it has uniquely divine authority.
However, the adjustments made by modern Protestants to their doctrine of Scripture vary widely.
Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestantism
Among conservatives,
fundamentalists and
evangelicals believe that the Scriptures are both human and
divine in origin: human in their manner of composition, but divine in that their source is God, the Holy Spirit, who governed the
writers of Scripture in such a way that they recorded nothing at all contrary to the truth. Fundamentalists accept the enduring
authoritativeness and impugnability of a pre-scientific interpretation of the Bible, especially on such issues as the ordination
of women, abortion, and
homosexuality. However, although they are overwhelmingly opposed to such things, evangelicals are
increasingly willing to consider that the views of the Biblical authors may have been intentionally "culturally conditioned", and
evangelicals may even argue that there is room for change along with cultural norms and scientific advancements. Fundamentalists
may be therefore described as "conservatives", whereas evangelicals might be better characterized as more flexibly "traditional"
on these and other issues.
Both fundamentalists and evangelicals profess belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, but the stronger emphasis on literal
interpretation by fundamentalists has led to the rejection of many scientific concepts, particularly that of
evolution. Evangelicals, on the other hand, tend to avoid interpretations of the Bible
that would directly contradict generally accepted scientific assertions of fact. They do not impute error to Biblical authors,
but rather entertain various theories of literary intent, which might give credibility to human progress in knowledge of the
world while still accepting the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. While separation from the world and its influences may be
the primary message of the New Testament for some fundamentalists, evangelicals try to remain part of wider society as a witness
to personal salvation through Christ.
The Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy [1] (http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/history/chicago.stm.txt) (1978) is an influential statement, articulating evangelical views on this issue. Paragraph 4 of its summary states:
Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in
all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about
the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than
in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives
Mainline and liberal Protestantism
Mainline
Protestant denominations, including the
United Methodist Church,
Presbyterian Church USA,
The Episcopal Church, and
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, do not teach the doctrine of inerrancy as
set forth in the Chicago Statement. All of these churches have doctrinal statements asserting the authority of scripture, but
officially interpret these statements in such a way as to allow for a very broad range of teaching, from evangelicalism to
skepticism. It is not an impediment to ordination in these denominations to teach that the Scriptures contain errors, or that the
authors follow a more or less unenlightened ethics that, however appropriate it may have seemed in the authors' time, moderns
would be very wrong to follow blindly. For example, ordination of women is universally accepted in the mainline churches,
abortion is condemned as a grievous social tragedy but not always a personal sin or a crime against an unborn person, and
homosexuality is increasingly regarded as a genetic propensity or morally neutral preference that should be neither encouraged
nor condemned. The most contentious of these issues among these churches at the present time is how far the ordination of gay men
and lesbians should be accepted.
Officials of the Presbyterian Church USA report that: We acknowledge the role of scriptural authority in the Presbyterian
Church, but Presbyterians generally do not believe in biblical inerrancy. Presbyterians do not insist that every detail of
chronology or sequence or pre-scientific description in scripture be true in literal form. Our confessions do teach biblical
infallibility. Infallibility affirms the entire truthfulness of scripture without depending on every exact detail.
Those who are more liberal view the Bible as a human witness to the glory of God, the work of fallible humans who wrote from a
limited experience unusual only for the insight they have gained through their inspired struggle to know God in the midst of a
troubled world. Therefore, they tend not to accept such doctrines as inerrancy (which ironically, leads them to read certain
passages far more literally than most evangelicals, so that the text is interpreted in a way that necessarily conflicts with a
modern, scientific view of the world). These churches also tend to retain the social activism of their Evangelical forebears of
the 19th century, placing particular emphasis on those teachings of Scripture that teach compassion for the poor and concern for
justice. The message of personal salvation is, generally speaking, of the good that comes to oneself and the world through
following the New Testament's
Golden Rule and admonition to love others
without hypocrisy or prejudice. Toward these ends, the "spirit" of the New Testament, more than the letter, is infallible and
authoritative. As such, belief in the errancy of the words of Scripture is in practice as important to Protestant liberalism as
inerrancy is to its evangelical and fundamentalist counterparts.
