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The Christian New Testament Bible
The New Testament, sometimes called the
Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures is the name given to the part
of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus.
The term is a translation of the Latin Novum Testamentum, which
translates the Greek Η Καινη
Διαθηκη, I Keni Diathiki,
meaning "The New Covenant" or Testament. It was
originally used by early Christians to describe their relationship
with God (see 2 Corinthians 3:6-15; Hebrews 9:15-20) and later to
designate a particular collection of 27 books. The New Testament
is held dear to the hearts of Christians as being the true and God
inspired story of the life and teachings of the Messiah Jesus
Christ, the Son of the Living God.
The 27 Books of the New
Testament Bible
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 relatively
narrow span of time, probably over less than a century. The
following is a list of the
New Testament books, followed by the author traditionally
associated with that book.
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* Matthew
* Mark
* Luke
* John
* Acts
* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* Galatians
* Ephesians
* Philippians
* Colossians
* 1 Thessalonians
* 2 Thessalonians
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* 1 Timothy
* 2 Timothy
* Titus
* Philemon
* Hebrews
* James
* 1 Peter
* 2 Peter
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John
* Jude
* Revelation
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The New Testament Gospels
The Gospels focus on the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus:
* The Gospel of Matthew - Matthew, a
tax-collector and apostle.
* The Gospel of Mark - Mark, a follower of Peter and also of Paul.
* The Gospel of Luke - Luke, possibly a follower of Paul.
* The Gospel of John - John, a fisherman and apostle.
The New Testament Epistles
The epistles contain various letters written sometimes to
individuals, but mainly to early Christian congregations. These
epistles expound important theological points and give insight
into the developing Christian church. The Pauline Epistles (or Corpus Paulinum)
constitute those epistles traditionally attributed to Paul (for
modern views, see below under Authorship). Their names are based
on the Christian groups or individuals to whom they are addressed.
* Epistle to the Romans - Paul the Apostle
* First Epistle to the Corinthians - Paul
* Second Epistle to the Corinthians - Paul
* Epistle to the Galatians - Paul
* Epistle to the Ephesians - Paul
* Epistle to the Philippians - Paul
* Epistle to the Colossians - Paul
* First Epistle to the Thessalonians - Paul
* Second Epistle to the Thessalonians - Paul
* First Epistle to Timothy - Paul
* Second Epistle to Timothy - Paul
* Epistle to Titus - Paul
* Epistle to Philemon - Paul
* Epistle to the Hebrews - Anonymous, traditionally attributed to
Paul.
Language
The common language spoken in the time of Jesus was Aramaic. However,
the literary quality of Matthew and Hebrews suggests that they were composed directly in Greek, rather than being
translated. The original text of the New Testament was most likely written in Koine Greek, the vernacular dialect in first-century Roman provinces, and has since been widely translated into other languages, most notably Latin, Syriac, and Coptic.
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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.
Some other modern critical (secular) scholars concur with the dating of the majority of the New
Testament.
John A. T. Robinson, Re-dating 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 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.
The discovery of some New Testament manuscripts, not including 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. Therefore some of the books of the New Testament were
available. Christian
scholars such as Professor Peter Stoner see the Bible having compelling and detailed
fulfilled Bible prophecy and argue for the Bible's inspiration. This is argued to show that the Bible is
authoritative since it is argued that only God knows the future.
A rather weak and non-experience based argument is that the miraculous does not occur and therefore other explanations are warranted.
However, C.S. Lewis, Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, and Christians who engage in jurisprudence Christian apologetics have argued that miracles are reasonable and plausible.
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