2 Timothy 3:16-17, “16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is
useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:16, 19-21, “16 We did not follow cleverly invented
stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 19 And we have the word of the
prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to
a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises
in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture
came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its
origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by
the Holy Spirit.”
The Twenty Seven Books
of the New Testament are Divinely Inspired
The New
Testament is a collection of books from the original disciples and their
companions. There are twenty-seven books
in the New Testament – four are considered Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John), one is considered history (Acts), twenty-one are considered Teaching
Epistles (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James,
1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, and Jude), and one is considered prophecy (Revelation).
The
first followers of Jesus took the greatest care to record both the life and
events of Jesus and the teachings and history of the first disciples. By the end of Paul’s life Peter was already
considering his writings equal with Old Testament Scripture, 2 Peter 3:15-16,
“15 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. 16 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.”
Paul wrote thirteen books of the New
Testament (Romans – Philemon) and his companion Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke
and Acts, for a total of fifteen books from their travels and studies. John wrote five books, the Gospel of John,
1-3 John, and Revelation. Peter wrote
two books, 1-2 Peter, and his companion Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark. Matthew, the writer of the Gospel of Matthew,
was one of the original twelve disciples, James and Jude, writers of James and
Jude, were the half-brothers of Jesus, and lastly the author of Hebrews is
unknown, but is most likely Paul or a companion of Paul.
Therefore, it is easy to see that the
disciples of the disciples would want to do everything in their power to
preserve these writings and pass them down to future generations. Once the writers of the New Testament had
passed away the disciples needed to find a way to preserve their writings. This process was called “canonization”. Canonization means the standard on which a
book was to be judged by. Though there
were many books written in the names of the first disciples, it was the job of
the early church to see what texts were divinely inspired.
Some believe this process was done
at councils and with voting, but this is not true. Within just a few years after the deaths of
the apostles the early church fathers began to gather their teachings and
preserve them. For example, Paul’s letters
began to get grouped together and sent to churches as one book with just a few
years after his death.[1]
This process went on for many years
until the church, which was spread out over a great distance, could get
together and join all their books together.
It was not the job of the early church to “make” Scripture, but rather
to “acknowledge” what was Scripture. By
the time this process of gathering and judging was over, there was left
twenty-seven books, which we now call the New Testament.
Here are some of the fathers and
their writings on the inspiration of the New Testament.
Author Unknown, The Muratorian Fragment | 170AD
This
fragment of an early church writing shows a record of what books were held as
Scripture in the church at that time. Though
it mentions the “Apocalypse of Peter”, it also acknowledges that not everyone was
allowed it to be read in the church.
This shows that the church was always being careful for what they called
Scripture. The Apocalypse of Peter was
later found out to be a later writing of someone in the second century claiming
to be Peter. Plus, this fragment proves
that before the councils the early church had already discovered what most of
the New Testament was.
“…The third
book of the Gospel is that according to Luke… The fourth of the Gospels is that
of John…Moreover, the Acts of all the Apostles… (the) apostle Paul himself writes by name to only seven churches in
the following sequence: To the Corinthians first, to the Ephesians second, to
the Philippians third, to the Colossians fourth, to the Galatians fifth, to the
Thessalonians sixth, to the Romans seventh. It is true that he writes once more
to the Corinthians and to the Thessalonians for the sake of admonition… For
John also in the Apocalypse, though he writes to seven churches, nevertheless
speaks to all. [Paul also wrote] out of affection and love one to Philemon, one
to Titus, and two to Timothy; and these are held sacred in the esteem of the
Church catholic for the regulation of ecclesiastical discipline… Moreover, the
epistle of Jude and two of the above-mentioned (or, bearing the name of) John
are counted in the catholic [Church]…We receive only the apocalypses of John
and Peter, though some of us are not willing that the latter be read in church…”
Tertullian, Anti-Marcion Letter, Book 5, Chapter 21 | 207AD
Tertullian
was writing letters to disprove the practice of the Marcions and one of his
points was that they were rejecting some of the letters of Paul because it did
not agree with their Gnostic beliefs. In
this chapter he rebukes them for being hypocrites because the only reason they
did not except the books is because it differed with their devilish
doctrines. This is important because it
shows how much authority the early church placed on the writings of Paul.
“Marcion
rejected the two epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus, all of which deal
with church discipline. His aim, was, I
suppose, to carry out his interpolating process even to the number of
epistles.”
Athanasius, 39th Festal Letter, Verses
5-6 | 367AD
By the time of Athanasius the church
had discovered the New Testament canon and was able to prove with certainty
that they had gathered the divinely inspired texts that God had given the
church to govern its doctrine and practices.
In this letter Athanasius clearly states what books were considered
Scripture by the church of his time.
5 Again it is
not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four
Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Afterwards, the Acts of
the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, of James, one; of Peter,
two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen
Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to
the Corinthians; after these, to the Galatians; next, to the Ephesians; then to
the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians,
and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly,
that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John.
6 These are
fountains of salvation, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living
words they contain. In these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let
no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these. For concerning
these the Lord put to shame the Sadducees, and said, ‘Ye do err, not knowing
the Scriptures.’
Reflection
1. How many books are in the New Testament?
1. How many books are in the New Testament?
2. What
is the difference between the “inventing” of Scripture verses the “discovery”
of the Scriptures?
3. Do
you believe the New Testament was preserved?
4. Ask
God to give you a heart to preach and teach His Word faithfully and accurately.
Resources
1. "Reinventing Jesus," by J. Komoszewski, M. Sawyer, & Daniel Wallace.
Resources
1. "Reinventing Jesus," by J. Komoszewski, M. Sawyer, & Daniel Wallace.
[1]
Often times the book of Hebrews was put in this grouping, thus showing that the
early church suspected that Paul probably wrote it and or a close companion.
