Origin of the New Testament pt. 1

No other ancient text is substantiated by such a wealth of ancient textual witnesses as the New Testament. About 5,500 separate ancient manuscript copies of the New Testament exist in various forms from the entire New Testament to a fragment of an entire verse. No original copies of the books that make up the New Testament exist. The oldest known copy of any portion of the New Testament is a fragment of the Gospel of John chapter 18 that is dated to about 125 A.D. That would put it only about 30 or 40 years after the Apostle John died. The oldest complete text of the New Testament as we have it today dates to about 350 A.D. which would be about 275-300 from which the original books were written. In contrast, the earliest existing copies (fragments and/or complete texts) of classical works of Greek and Roman writers such as Homer, Aristotle, Plato, etc., on average date to 1,000 years after they lived.

The New Testament consists of 27 books written between 45 and 100 A.D. They were written in Greek which was the common language of the day. The books are actually letters written by the authors to the first and second generations of Christians to educate them in the life and teachings of Jesus (the Gospels), the history of the early church (Acts), Christian doctrine (epistles), and the return of Jesus to earth (Revelation). These letters were read in meetings of the early Christians. Copies were made to be read in other churches.

How did these 27 letters come together to become the New Testament and be on equal par with the Old Testament Scriptures, i.e., be regarded as inspired Word of God?

65 A.D. – The Apostle Peter places Paul’s letters on the same level of authority as the Old Testament Scriptures:

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (II Peter 3:14-16)

Over time, early Christians during public worship read copies of letters that would become the New Testament as well as Scriptures from the Old Testament.

150 A.D. – An early church leader named Justin Martyr wrote a description of Christian worship services he attended in Rome. He wrote that the leader of the worship service read from the “prophetic word” (Old Testament) and the “memoirs of the Apostles” (New Testament.) At this time, the church in Rome was the leading church in Christianity being located in the capital of the Roman empire. Given that the church in Roman regarded the letters of the Apostles to be on par with the Old Testament books one can conclude the other churches in the empire did as well.

150-400 A.D. – Church leaders put together lists of what books should be included in the New Testament.

About 210 A.D. – The Christian scholar Tertullian is the first to use the terms “old testament” and “new testament.”

About 310 A.D. – The Christian scholar Lactantius wrote:

“But all Scripture is divided into two Testaments. That which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old; but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The Jews make use of the Old, we of the New: but yet they are not discordant, for the New is the fulfilling of the Old, and in both there is the same testator, even Christ …”

326 A.D. – Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea wrote Church History: it includes a list of 27 New Testament books he regarded as canonical (having authority.) They are the 27 found our Bibles.

367 A.D. – Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria wrote an Easter letter to the churches under his authority which listed 27 books he regarded as Church authorized. He used the word “canonized” (Church authorized) in relation to these books.

393 A.D. – The Synod of Hippo – a conference of Church leaders who approved the 27 books that make up the New Testament.

382-410 A.D. – Jerome was commissioned by the pope who was the leader of the Church to translate the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament into Latin, the predominant language in the world at that time. The Latin Vulgate was THE official Bible of the Church and would be for the next thousand years. It is still the Bible used by the Catholic Church today and would be the template for future bible translations. The New Testament in the Vulgate Bible included the 27 books regarded at the time to be the New Testament adding greater authority to the 27.

Late 1400’s-early 1500’s A.D. – The Protestant Reformation era. The Church divides between Catholic led by Pope in Rome and Protestant led by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others. Protestant leaders reexamine/call into question decisions/church rules made by the papal led Church during the past one thousand years including the books that made up the Old and New Testament.

1522 A.D. – Martin Luther completes his German translation of the New Testament. He kept the 27 books that were recognized as the New Testament by the Church a thousand years earlier. Luther did question the veracity of several New Testament books - Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation – because they did not conform to his understanding of justification by faith and in the case of Revelation it was just weird with all its allegory/symbolisms. However, Luther included all these books in his translation of the New Testament. Why? I believe the Holy Spirit convinced Luther to leave these books in the New Testament. The Luther Bible would go on to have a huge impact on the development of Christianity after the Protestant Reformation.

1546 A.D. – The Roman Catholic Church confirmed the 27 books of the New Testament as part of its Biblical canon.

III. Criteria for a New Testament book to be canonical

a. The author was an eyewitness of Jesus, lived during the birth and early development of Christianity (33-100 A.D.), and/or churches named in the New Testament (Ephesus, Corinth, Laodicea, etc.) were known to have existed (ex. Revelation)

b. Consistency in doctrine/teachings with other accepted NT books

The New Testament was to include the earliest, most accurate accounts of Jesus and the early Church by selecting texts that had been written either by the apostles themselves or by those closely associated with them (Mark, Luke.) Texts claiming apostolic authorship were critically inspected and if the authorship claim was suspect they were rejected. (ex. Gospel of Thomas, Epistle of Barnabas.) Books written after the Apostolic Age (after 100 A.D.) that many church leaders held in high esteem and argued should be included in the New Testament (I and II Clement, Shepherd of Hermas) were rejected. These books were not condemned as heretical (against accepted Church doctrine.) They were good to read for personal devotions and church history (similar to the Old Testament Apocrypha.) They were regarded as helpful in assisting new converts to understand Christian teachings. But they were not to have the same authority as the 27. They were not to be regarded as canonical.
IV. New Testament Apocrypha and Gnostic books

A. New Testament Apocrypha

These books were written after the Apostolic Age (after 100 A.D.) that many church leaders held in high esteem but were not included in the New Testament because they did not meet the criteria for being canonical. Church leaders did not discourage the reading of these books. They were considered by the church as useful, but not divinely inspired. A few of the more popular New Testament Apocrypha books read in the early Church include I and II Clement, Ignatius, the Didache, Shepherd of Hermas, and Polycarp.