Author : Keith Sharp
Bible Survey : Lesson Twenty (Epistles)
When the Lord Jesus was preparing His apostles for His own eminent death during their last Passover supper together in the upper room in Jerusalem, He promised to send them the Holy Spirit as their “Helper” in His absence (John 14:16-17). The Holy Spirit would give them a perfect memory of all things their Master had spoken to them (John 14:26), enable them to testify of Him (John 15:26-27), guide them into all truth (John 16:13-15), and give them the ability to foretell the future (Ibid). Furthermore, the Spirit would give them the power to confirm the Word they proclaimed by might miracles (Mark 16:17-18).
The Lord kept His promise. On the first Pentecost after His ascension on high, the Holy Spirit came with mighty power upon the twelve (Acts 2:1-4). They were guided into all the truth of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:6-13; 2 Peter 1:2-4). They bore witness to Christ (Acts 2:22-42; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8) and prophesied the future (e.g. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4), and their teaching and testimony were miraculously confirmed (Mark 16:19-20; Hebrews 2:1-4).
Furthermore, through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, other Christians received the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17; 19:1-7; Romans 1:11-12; 2 Timothy 1:6). In this way the guidance of the Holy Spirit was extended to a second generation of disciples (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).
But it was the intention of the Lord that the message of the Gospel would be for the whole world until the end of time (Matthew 28:19-20). After the deaths of the apostles and those who had received spiritual gifts from the apostles, how would the Gospel be kept pure and carried to the world in each succeeding generation?
Of course, the Lord knew this problem would arise, and He made the necessary provision to meet the need. The apostles and prophets of the first century realized that they would soon be gone and that with their deaths the age of inspired men would cease. They left behind an inspired book, the New Testament, to take the place of inspired men. The apostle Paul wrote letters to churches and to individual Christians so they would have a record of his teaching (Ephesians 3:1-7). The apostle Peter knew his death was approaching and wrote to the disciples so they would be reminded of the truth after his departure (2 Peter 1:12-15). They intended for all in the church to read what they wrote (1 Thessalonians 5:27) and for the churches to circulate their letters to one another (Colossians 4:16).
The term the Jews and early Christians used as the name for all the books given from God by inspiration was “Scripture” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Peter called the books of Paul “Scripture” (2 Peter 3:14-16), and Paul included Matthew’s and Luke’s record of the life of Christ with the Old Testament books as “Scripture” (1 Timothy 5:18; cf. Deuteronomy 25:4; Matthew 10:10; Luke 10:7).
Perhaps even before the middle of the first century, the apostles and prophets began writing inspired books. James may have been written as early as A.D. 44.
Paul wrote First and Second Thessalonians in about A.D. 51-52 (cf. Acts 18:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-6). He wrote First Corinthians from Ephesus in A.D. 57 (1 Corinthians 16:3-9) and Second Corinthians shortly thereafter (2 Corinthians 1:15-16; 2:13; 7:5; 8:1-2). He penned Romans and probably Galatians in A.D. 58 (Romans 15:25-26).
Luke, a physician, was Paul’s traveling companion (Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11). He probably wrote the account of the life of Christ that bears his name in A.D. 60, toward the end of Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea, when he had the opportunity to interview the Judean eye witnesses of the life of the Lord (Luke 1:1-4). Early Christians characteristically considered the account by Matthew to be the earliest record of Jesus’ life, so the apostle Matthew probably wrote before A.D. 60.
The apostle Paul sent letters to churches in Ephesus (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1), Philippi (Philippians 1:12-14; 4:22), and Colosse (Colossians 4:10,18) while in prison in Rome (A.D. 61-62). He wrote to a wealthy Christian named Philemon while in prison there but shortly before his release, probably in A.D. 62. (Philemon 1-3,8-11,23-24).
Luke wrote Acts in A.D. 63 after Paul had been in prison in Rome two years (Acts 1:1-2; 28:30-31).
Paul seems to have written Hebrews, though he is not certainly the author of this book, after release from Roman prison, perhaps in A.D. 63 (Hebrews 13:23-24), after which he wrote, while still free, First Timothy around A.D. 64 (1 Timothy 1:3) and Titus in about A.D. 65 (Titus 1:5; 3:12). He sent his last letter, Second Timothy, his farewell to his beloved Timothy, shortly before he was executed and while he was again in prison in Rome, probably in A.D. 68 (2 Timothy 1:8; 4:6-21). Thus the apostle Paul certainly wrote thirteen New Testament books and probably penned fourteen.
The apostle Peter wrote First Peter from Babylon (1 Peter 5:13) shortly before a great persecution was to engulf the church (1 Peter 4:12), perhaps A.D. 64 or 65. He wrote Second Peter not long before his death (2 Peter 1:16-17), probably around A.D. 67.
Mark was as close to Peter as Timothy was to Paul (1 Peter 5:13). Writers of the second century believed that Mark recorded Peter’s sermons about the life of Jesus Christ. In fact, Peter’s sermon on Jesus to the Roman centurion Cornelius is almost a very brief version of Mark (Acts 10:36-43). Early Christians generally believed his account of Christ was third in time order.
John lived longer than the other apostles, though he was exiled to Patmos for the cause of Christ (Revelation 1:9). He wrote five New Testament books: John, First, Second, and Third John, and Revelation. They were probably written toward the end of the first century.
Jude (Judas), the brother of James (Jude verse 1) and half brother of the Lord (Mark 6:3) wrote the one chapter book bearing his name sometime in the second half of the first century.
These twenty-seven books compose the New Testament canon, the authoritative collection of books inspired by the Holy Spirit and revealing the Will of the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not derive their authority from a church council, but the early church, long before the age of councils, recognized them as the Word of God, in the same way a child recognizes its mother.
The writings of many early Christians and heretics, particularly Gnostics, from the second and third century have been preserved and are available in English translation. In the first generation after the apostles there is Clement (letter to Rome, A.D. 95), Ignatius (martyred before 117), Polycarp (letter, 108-117), Basiledes, a Gnostic (117-139), the Epistle of Barnabas (not the New Testament Barnabas, sometime between A.D. 70 and 130). The second generation includes Marcion, a Gnostic, before 140, Papias, about 140, and Justin (martyred in 148). Other early witnesses to the New Testament canon of Scripture are the Muratorion Canon (about 170), the Peshitto (Syrian New Testament, mid second century), and the Old Latin Version (second century). By the year 170, there is credible witness to the existence and acceptance of every one of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament and to no others. As Professor R. Laird Harris has written:
It seems clear that the New Testament books arose in the latter half of the first century A.D., and almost all of them were clearly known, reverenced, canonized, and collected well before a hundred years had passed. (202).
This is almost incredible, when we consider that Christians were a small, persecuted group of social outcasts without means of publishing books, communicating, or enforcing a standard on all believers in Christ. Furthermore, the various books were originally hand written parchments produced in a single copy.
By the middle of the third century (about A.D. 250), all the books of our present New Testament and no others were known and accepted as Scripture. Origen (185-253) “names the books of the New Testament as we recognize the canon now” (Frost, 12). This was a life time before the Emperor Constantine or any church councils.
These twenty-seven canonical New Testament books are the record of Christ Jesus and His will for all mankind (Ephesians 1:18-23; 1 Corinthians 14:37). They were written by the holy apostles and prophets through inspiration of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:6-13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17) and are the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). They constitute an authoritative pattern for our guidance which we must follow and not change (2 Timothy 1:13; 2 John 9). The curse of God is upon any who would add to, take from, or change this divine revelation (Galatians 1:6-9; Revelation 22:18-19). The Lord in His good providence has preserved this sacred message for us through the centuries, so that no part of it is either lost or corrupted (1 Peter 1:22-25). It is the duty of all to study the New Testament in order to learn and follow the will of God (1 Thessalonians 5:27; 1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:22-25; 1 Peter 2:1-3; Revelation 1:3).
Works Cited
Gene Frost, History of Our English Bible.
R. Laird Harris, Inspiration and Canonicity of the Bible.
