Remind the disciples of all that Jesus said and taught (John
14:26)
Guide the disciples to writing the New Testament (John
16:12-15)
Reveal prophecy about future events (John 16:12-15)
Why four Gospels?
The Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – all chronicle
the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And, although they all cover similar
ground, each is unique, written to slightly different audiences with distinct
emphases:
The Apostle Matthew wrote his Gospel especially for Jews and
emphasized the theme of Christ as King.
John Mark, a close associate of the Apostle Peter, wrote his
Gospel for the Christians in Rome and focused on the theme of Christ as
Servant.
Penned by Dr. Luke, the Gospel of Luke primarily addresses
Gentiles (non-Jews) and stresses Jesus as the Perfect Man.
The Gospel of John, written by the Apostle John, addresses a
more general audience, depicting Jesus as God in human flesh.
See Chapter 2 for more on the New Testament authors.
Stage 4: New Testament writers recognized their writings as
inspired by God
The New Testament writers may not have prefaced each of the
books with “Thus sayeth the Lord,” but they possessed an unspoken, yet
unmistakable awareness that their writings were inspired and on par with the
writings of the Old Testament. Consider a few examples of why Christians believe
this:
Authors acknowledge divine inspiration. Paul says that his
words aren’t his own, but that they come from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians
2:13) and the revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12). He later expands
that statement to include the other apostles’ and prophets’ writings as well
(Ephesians 3:3-5).
Authors cross-reference other New Testament writing. Paul references
Luke 10:7 in his own letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 5:18) and refers to it as “scripture.”
Authors put New Testament writings on the same level as the
Old Testament. When Peter refers to Paul’s writings in Peter 3:15-16, he
equates Paul’s writings with Old Testament scripture and indicates that Paul’s
teaching is perfectly in line with the teachings that Paul heard directly from
Jesus.
Stage 5: Early Church recognized New Testament writings as
scripture
When the apostles were still living, the early Church relied
on this group of individuals to define the teachings and stances of the Church.
However, as time passed in the first century, the apostles became fewer and
fewer in number. So, the Church had to turn to the apostle’s legacy – their writings
– in order to guide the young but growing Christian Church.
Although the early Church used many letters and books for
teaching, the authenticity of most of the New Testament books set them apart
from the pack from the very beginning. In particular, the Gospels and Paul’s
epistles (or formal letters to the churches) were quickly put into wide
circulation throughout churches across the Mediterranean region and used as a
basis for instruction. In addition, the nonbiblical Christian writings of the
second century talked about these writings and referenced them as scripture.
Estrogen and the Bible
The apostles and New Testament authors were all men, but
that doesn’t mean that the early Christian Church was an “all-male club.” In fact,
women played a vital role in the life of the early Christian Church. Paul, for
example, often speaks of women who played important roles in the Church’s
ministry. Specifically, in Romans 16, he expressly calls out several women,
most notably Phoebe, a deacon in the church who helped many, and Priscilla,
who, along with Aquilla, is referred to as Paul’s co-worker.
The need arose, however, in the second century to determine
an official set of authentic books for the Church. The motivation behind this
step was a response to false teaching rather than a perceived need by the
churches, considering that they already treated the apostle’s writings as
authoritative.
To select the writings that make up the New Testament canon,
the Church set two criteria that each writing had to meet:
Apostle-driven: The critical factor that the Church turned
to in order to determine the authority of each writing was apostle leadership. The
book must have been written by an apostle himself or by an associate who worked
intimately with an apostle and who had his writing confirmed by the apostles. John
Mark, for example, was the author of the Gospel of Mark. Although he wasn’t an
original apostle, he worked alongside Peter. Or consider Luke, author of the
Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. He was a close associate of Paul for a
good part of the apostle’s ministry.
Consistent with other apostles’ teaching: The second
criterion that the Church used to determine whether a writing would be included
in the New Testament canon was the writing’s consistency with other scripture
written by the apostles.
When someone questioned either of these criteria, the
recognition process took much longer. For example, the Book of Hebrews, James,
2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation were the last books the Church included
in the canon. However, the questions about these books were based more on
incomplete information rather than on beliefs that they weren’t authentic. Therefore,
after the Church fully understood their apostle-driven nature, it readily
accepted these books as part of the final New Testament canon (see Table 6-2).
Books of the New Testament
Category: Life of Jesus and the early Church
Books: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts
Also Called: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are known as the
Gospels
Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2
Timothy, Titus, Philemon
Letters are often called the Epistles; 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy,
and Titus are often called pastoral letters (because they express Paul’s
pastoral concern)
Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John,
Jude
Revelation
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