by Christopher Drewes, 1929 (CPH)

LINK: Introductions to the Books of the Bible: Old Testament (1-28)

<aside>

• Table of Contents </aside>

THE NEW TESTAMENT of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 29.

The New Testament.

Its Name. — We have now come to the second of the two great divisions of the Bible, the New Testament. This is the name of all those Biblical books which were written after the birth of Christ. The name is derived from 2 Cor. 3, 14. There the apostle calls the God-inspired books written before Christ's coming into the flesh "the Old Testament" (Covenant). Accordingly, the divinely inspired books written after the birth of Christ are correctly called "the New Testament." The word "testament" is derived from the Latin testamentum, which was early adopted as an equivalent for the Greek word meaning "covenant." The Old Covenant, the covenant which God had made with His people at Sinai, was a covenant of works; the New Covenant, which He made when He sent His Son into the world, is a covenant of grace. Jer. 31, 31—34; Heb. 8, 6—13. The full name of this second part of the Bible is: "The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Its Language. — The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the ancient language of the Hebrews, or Jews. During and after the Babylonian Captivity (606 to 536 B.C.) the Jews adopted the Ar-a-ma'-ic language, which was a dialect similar to Hebrew. But about 333 B.C. the Greek king Alexander the Great conquered Asia. Now Greek became the language best known throughout the civilized world and was generally used in commerce. It penetrated also into the interior of Palestine, where it was spoken alongside of Aramaic; in some Palestinian cities Greek even predominated. It was this universal language in which the New Testament was originally written. This rendered its writings immediately available for practically all the civilized world.

Its Writers. — The New Testament was written by the following eight holy men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, Jude. With the exception of Paul, and probably Luke, these writers were not educated men, but came from the common people. Acts 4, 13 Peter and John are called "unlearned and ignorant men." These terms do not imply that they were rude, uncouth, barbarous. "Unlearned" means that they had no knowledge of Jewish culture beyond the Scriptures. "Ignorant men" was a technical term for those who had not studied in rabbinical schools. They were devoid of special learning, plain persons. Luke had received the education and training of a medical doctor; he was a physician. Col. 4, 14. And Paul had sat at the feet of the great Jewish teacher Ga-ma'-li-el in Jerusalem. He seems to have possessed all the learning which was then current among the Jews and was also familiar with Greek literature and philosophy.

Harmony of Its Parts. — The different writers of the New Testament differed as to education, training, character, and so forth; still there is perfect agreement among them as to doctrine, or teaching. "Every careful student of the New Testament will admit that certain statements there made, especially in the gospels, are difficult to harmonize; but we feel sure that we fail to see the agreement only because we do not quite understand the statements themselves or because we are not sufficiently informed concerning all the circumstances involved. In fact, all new information brought to light by historical research in late years has tended to corroborate the accounts given in the New Testament in the most remarkable manner." The perfect agreement among the writers of the New Testament as to doctrinal contents plainly points to the divine origin of their writings. They all wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and wrote only those things and those words which the Holy Ghost taught them. 1 Cor. 2, 13.

Its Date. — The books of the New Testament were written at various times, but all in the latter half of the first century after the birth of Christ. There is ample historical evidence to prove that all the books of the New Testament were in existence before the year 100. This evidence would fill a whole book. The following may be adduced: The writings of the Apostolic Fathers, who had been pupils of the apostles, appeared between the years 107 and 175 of the Christian Era. These early writings of the pupils of the apostles contain many unmistakable references to, and actual quotations from, almost all books of the New Testament. But how could the Apostolic Fathers have referred to, and quoted from, these books if these books had not been in existence in their day? They do not speak of these apostolic books as things which had only recently made their appearance, but as well known and long established.

Approximate Date of the Different Books.

Classification of Apostolic Writings. — The New Testament is composed of 27 different books. They may be divided into three great sections: historical books (5), doctrinal books (21), and prophetic book (1).

I. The Historical Books: The Gospel according to St. Matthew, the Gospel according to St. Mark, the Gospel according to St. Luke, and the Gospel according to St. John; the Acts of the Apostles.

II. The Doctrinal Books: The Epistles of St. Paul to the Romans, Corinthians (2), Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians (2), Timothy (2), Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews; the Epistle of James; of Peter (2); of John (3); of Jude.

III. The Prophetical Book: The Revelation of St. John.

The historical books tell the story of the life and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from His birth to His ascension and then describe the founding and extension of the Christian Church up to about A.D. 63. The doctrinal books were written as the needs of the young churches or of individual Christians seemed to demand that the apostles should set forth the Christian doctrine, or teaching, in epistolary form. The Revelation of St. John, the only prophetical book, shows, in symbols and visions, the future of the Church to the end of time.