The Accuracy of Scripture
The New Testament Canon
Article IV
The writings of the New Testament
The scrolls of the New Testament
The scrolls of the New Testament were written over a period of around 35-40 years in Greek because the Greek language was the common language of the people around the Roman Empire. Each author was an eye witness to Jesus Christ, giving an account of Him as the Son of God who died for the sins of the world of the world.
Heb 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
- Matthew – Written by Matthew, eye witness of Jesus
- Mark – Written by Mark, eye witness of Jesus
- Luke – Closely associated with the apostles who were eye witnesses of Jesus
- Acts – Closely associated with the apostles who were eye witnesses of Jesus
- Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon – Paul, eye witness of Jesus (road to Damascus). Closely associated with apostles who were eye witnesses of Jesus
- Hebrews – Author unknown, but most scholars claim that Paul is the author of this book
- James – Written by James, eye witness of Jesus
- 1&2 Peter – Written by Peter, eye witness of Jesus
- 1,2&3 John – Written by John, eye witness of Jesus
- Jude – Written by Jude, eye witness of Jesus
- Revelation – Written by John, eye witness of Jesus
The Apostle Paul
Saul (Paul) was an Old Testament scholar, being trained under Gamiel who was the grandsom of Hiliel, the high priest to King David. He thoroughly knew the Old Testament. After he met Christ in his Damascus road experience, he went away for several years to spend time alone with the Holy Spirit. His writings became the Old Testament revealed to the Christian community.
No longer were animal sacrifices needed for the atonement for sin. To be part of the family of God then meant to believe in His Son and all that He has done.
New Testament Names
The New Testament name of God
The most common word for God in the New Testament is the Greek word “theos,” meaning God. It was often used as the translation of the usual Hebrew word Elohim. The name of “Lord” was translated in the Greek to “Kyrios.”
The New Testament names for Christ
In the Hebrew language, Mshich means the “anointed one.” The Redeemer, or Messiah, prophesied throughout the Old Testament was the Mshich. Translating Mshich into Greek, the anointed one is Christos, and translated into English is Christ.
The name of Jesus
Yeshua is the original Aramaic proper name for Jesus. In the Hebrew language, Yeshua means salvation. The Greek name for Yeshua is Iesous. It was a common name given to many male children. The English name of Jesus has no intrinsic meaning at all. It was simply His given name by His earthly parents as used in an English transliteration. So many Christians want to falsely use Jesus as the Son of God’s first name and Christ as His last. The name of Jesus was His earthly name and Christ is a title - the anointed one.
Abba, Father
The New Testament writers portrayed God, as a loving “Father,” Who desires many children. Although “Father” was not a common name for God in the Old Testament, it was used freely in the New Testament. Jesus, in His effort to designate God as a loving father, used the Aramaic word “Abba,” which meant “Father.” It was an intimate word, referring to family. The name of “Father” in that cultural setting designated love, obedience, and inheritance. All three went hand in hand. The teachings of Jesus regarding “Father” played a major role in the formation of the New Testament language. [i]
God sent His loving Son to be the eternal sacrifice of the world. The New Testament writers portrayed God as wanting to give love to His children. As they experience His love, protection, grace, healing, and prosperity, they are obedient to His Word. As a family member, God’s children carry the expectations of an inheritance that will last for an eternity in heaven with Him. That is family!
The New Testament Canon
The New Testament Canon
By 120 A.D., just shortly after the last of the original apostles (John) died, the Christian world accepted nearly all of the books of the apostles (or what we know of as the New Testament) as canon. Even though an official “canon” was not formally done at that time, the 1st and early 2nd century Christians relied on the writings of the eye witnesses of Jesus Christ. It was as good as “canon.” Sad to say, as paganistic beliefs filtered into the church in the 2nd century A.D., the official rendering of the canon took another 200 years to take place. When that happened, the canon became the same books that were accepted as apostolic writings 200+ years prior. They were the book that were written by the eye witnesses of Jesus Christ - by the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Heb 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
The Forming of the Bible
The Latin Vulgate
The Latin language of the Romans eventually became the common language of the people in the Roman Empire. By the early 5th century A.D. Roman Catholic scholar Jerome translated the Holy Scriptures into Latin. He did not, however, translate from the Hebrew Canon, but used the Septuagint. The danger of translating scripture from another version other than the original, is that the true meaning of what the author intended gets lost in the translation. The Apocrypha by this time was considered as divine as the rest of the Holy Scriptures. So when the scholar Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate, he included the Apocrypha. What was once so carefully guarded as divine so many centuries earlier was no longer the true Word of God, but simply a collection of writings.
For the next 1000 years, the Latin Vulgate was the only scripture available to the common people.
Vulgate means “common language of the people.”
The forming of a book
Eventually the scrolls were separated and stacked on top of one another and had wooden covers placed on top and bottom to resemble a book. The covers and inside pages were then laced together with leather strips to remain in tact. They became known as codex. The codex was a great improvement over the scroll; however, they were heavy and bulky. The codex was eventually replaced by the printed book.
When we call the Holy Scriptures the Bible, we are actually using a word that in ancient times was designated to the papyrus plant. This reed plant, which grew on the banks of rivers, was particularly abundant in antiquity along the marshes of the Nile and in Syria and in northern Israel in the Hullah reservoir. The Hebrew word for marsh plant is “gome” – a word that is translated into Greek as papuros (the Latin spelling papyrus). This is where we get our English word paper – derived from papyrus, the writing material of the ancient world. Another name given to this fibrous plant was bublos, later changed to biblos. Since large quantities of papyrus were used and shipped from the Syrian port of Byblos, it is surmised that the Greek word for book may have been derived from that place. Later it came to be spelled biblos, which has given us the Greek word for book. The Greek word book came to be understood as the Bible – the book of books.
The Masorites and the Masoritic Text
Between the 6th to the 10th century A.D., Jewish scholars, called the Masorite scribes, had the sacred task of copying the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures from its original language. They only used the Hebrew Canon, avoiding any other writings, including the Apocryphal scrolls (or books). Their task was to take the worn-out scrolls of old and transcribe them onto new papyrus or other animal skin for the preservation of God’s Word in its original context.
Their passion to prevent error was identical to all other former scribes of earlier centuries. The Masorites counted and copied the exact letters, words, or sections in all of the scrolls of the Old Testament Hebrew Canon to keep everything identical. They knew the exact spot for every jot and tittle. If a mistake was made in the copying, they were not allowed to erase or cross it out, but had to throw the ruined page away and start anew. In addition, the Masorite scribes devised a systematic use of adding vowels to the consonants, yet they kept the originality of the Old Hebrew language for true pronunciation and meaning.
For the remnant of Jews that retained the Hebrew language throughout the centuries, the efforts produced by the Masorites in the Masoretic Text became their link to the accurate Word of God as written by the prophets of old. For those behind them, it became the link to the accuracy of Scripture, even today.
Most of all modern biblical text today come from the Masoretic text.
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End Notes
[i] http://www.bibletexts.com/glossary/names-of-god-nt.htm