The Controversy Of Books In The New Testament

The development of the established Holy Bible was a long, drawn out process that started with the foundation of the original Jewish scriptures, formerly known as the Torah. Building off of Jewish ideals, theologians and philosophers started compiling scriptures with the ultimate result of the New Testament canon. Typically, many factors were taken into account when distinguishing the credibility or incredibility of a given scripture. For example, apostolic succession, where and when it was written as well as the cohesiveness with the other scriptures (referring to the Old Testament, as well as the documents within what was to become the New Testament). There were various depictions of the New Testament as the universally accepted canon was still developing, some of which contained writings that were certainly questionable. However, there was an initial establishment of the scriptural canon that jump started the process of paving the road towards the Holy Bible as we know it today. It was the absurdity of Marcion’s teachings and that prompted the church to establish an orthodox position on doctrine.

How was the canon formed? The process of the canonisation of the scriptures was not by a formal ruling of any council. Canonical development underwent rigorous and challenging difficulties because of the following influences: Gnosticism, Marcion, Montanism and Persecution, which impacted how the canon was formed. Gnosticism for example, affected early Christianity in the choice of selected writings they held as authoritative. Again, Marcion rejected Old Testament books as authoritative for the Christians. He (Marcion) favoured the New Testament books, which includes the gospel that esteems Christ as the recognised and authoritative books. Yet again, Montanism, an apocalyptic movement of the second half of the second century also impacted the formation of the canon of the New Testament. Furthermore, some essential scripts were lost because of Christian

The Old Testament books are written in many different literary styles such as historical, prophetic, or biographical. Between the Old and New Testaments there were four hundred years during which time books were not written. As the New Testament begins, it starts with four books commonly known as the Gospels. These gospels are a biography of the life and works of Jesus Christ himself. The remainder of the Bible contains mostly letters to various people and churches throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. These are letters of encouragement to the early churches of the world and many Christians who may have been imprisoned or in captivity in several countries. Still one question that plagues the minds of several modern day Christians is, how did the modern day Bible come to be? The Old Testament had been decided upon long ago. Elders in the Jewish church met and decided 39 different books in all. These books had been written over the span of several centuries and became what is today known as the Old Testament. The New Testament was somewhat similar. During the time shortly after Jesus, there was controversy over the books that were truly from God and those that were not. The early church hierarchy settled this dispute during the second, third and fourth centuries. During this time, councils, consisting of church elders, met periodically to determine which books had true divine inspiration and which were frauds. In the mid-fourth century, the New

So what is the criterion for determining whether or not certain writings were to be included in the New Testament canon? In the process of determining the inclusion some books were immediately received while others when through much scrutiny before they were accepted. We can see that some books were accepted into the canon of Scripture and others were not.

Canon originally meant a rod or ruler for measuring objects, now it means the application to the books of the Bible. Canon becomes more and more important is because of the church needed. For example: standards for worship and models for prayers, liturgies, and sermons, reading material, a theological standard and a set text to translate. Heresy also plays a decisive role in the necessity of a canon. Around the year 144 Marcion an author from Rome had teachings that appeared to be Christian, but were actually teachings of a violent opponent of the evil deity of law who dominated the Old

In Genesis 1-3, the reading states that God created Adam as the leader of creation and Eve to be his helper. Of course, many things changed when Eve ate from the forbidden fruit, leading Adam to fall as well. All the blame fell upon Eve, because of the choice she made and because she influenced Adam to eat the fruit as well. The bible never states that Adam and Eve are to be different or non equal, just that she would be his support. When Eve talks to the serpent, and fails, Adam could have been there listening to everything, and even though the Bible states that Eve led to Adam failing as well, all the blame is given to Eve. Why? According to the Bible, Adam was created to be the leader. Why did he not stop her or why didn’t the blame fall upon both of them equally. The punishments that women now have to bear is harsh; suffering from childbirth and men having dominance over woman. Women are often seen as weaker beings and quiet, but why did Jesus give such an important meaning to some women in his life. The first person to see Jesus after he rises, was a women. Mary of Bethany was also an important women in Jesus’s life, showing great faithfulness and respect. Esther is a great example in the Bible. Women should not be underestimated, for they often have greater knowledge then men. Esther was a great women, and used everything in her means to prepare herself to save her people from being killed.

The bible, a controversial topic which diverses from a numerous amount of opinions. From a young age, I was raised as a catholic and I never question it, even though it seems incomprehensible scientifically speaking. Then I learned, that that 's when faith comes in. Probably the most important factor is faith, commonly defined as complete trust in someone or something, but has develop a religious definition, strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. People who believe in a God and people who are athiest have one thing in common, faith. Although, it play a different role, people who believe in a God have faith which changes based on their past and present experiences. For

Are the copies in existence today an accurate representation of the original copies of the New Testament? There are many facts and studies that prove this claim to be true contrary to popular belief by non-Christians and other religions alike. There are at least three reasons that it can be know with certainty that the New Testament in existence today is an accurate representation of the originals. Including the amount of copies, age, and determining that the variants within the Bible do not make a difference.

These four Gospels were accepted as authoritative scriptures, as they met the canon criteria of apostolicity, catholicity, tradition and orthodoxy. Canon comes from a greek word that means ‘norm’, meaning that these four books were recognised as official by the Church, with 3 of them being

The human race has always looked to a higher power, or explained the events of the world through some outside force outside of their own. There have been many organizations thank can thank their existence to these higher powers. Religion was formed from superstitious practices, and offered an explanation for that which was unknown. One of the largest and most accepted of theses religions is Christianity. The Christian faith follows the teachings of the bible, which holds the Old Testament in the first section, and the New Testament in the second section. The Old Testament is essentially the same as the Jewish Torah, but it’s the New Testament that really defines the Christian religion since it teaches what they believe the last messiah,

1. Give a definition of the word "canon" and describe the basic criteria and time-line of the formation of the New Testament canon. Why did early Christians feel a need to establish an authoritative list of Scripture? What element in the criteria is most important in your opinion? Which element is least important in your opinion? Be sure to give reasons why you chose these particular elements. How would you respond to a person who claimed that the canon of the Bible should still be open?

During the early church there were many controversies on how to determine the canon of the New Testament. How did some books make the “cut” to be determined to be put in the infallible, inherent Word of God? Why did the church accept some books and rejected the others? There were key events and movements that were influential in the recognition of the canonical books of the New Testament. The foundation of the Canon should be understood in a believer’s life. It is sad to say, but, there are many Christians that are avid readers and knows the scriptures probably could not explain how the canon came into existence. This should be a posing question to believers.

The names “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are inherently theological in nature. Because there is a difference distinctly built into giving them different notations, it implies that there are differences between each the Old Testament and the New Testament, whether it is subtle in nature or obvious in nature. To Christians, the difference means that the Old Testament contains dealings between God and the world and even some of the rules made are made irrelevant by the interactions of Christ Jesus with the world. One of the differences between the New Testament and the Old Testament is the way each of the Testaments describe God and God’s nature. The Old Testament describes an angry God, one who only created the world and was obsessed with laws and rules. The New Testament describes a loving God who redeemed the world. The different ways the Old Testament and New Testament describe God and his nature are very much influenced by their perspective of God. By the rules, actions, and laws God made, the early writers of the Old Testament made their judgements about God and wrote those perspectives into the books of the Old Testament. The writers of the Old Testament did the best they could with the information they had and got some things about God right, but also got things wrong. The writers of the New Testament and therefore, Christian believers understand God better.

The New Testament was canonized over a period of approximately four hundred years (Stotesberg). From AD 50-125, the books which in the end constitute the New Testament were written. Simultaneously, other books, which did not end up being included in the final canon, were produced. These books are the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didache, I Clement, the seven letters of Ignatius of Antioch, etc. (“Development of the Difficult Canon”). As more and more books were written, Christians realized that it was imperative that they gather and consolidate this material before it became lost. Sometime before AD 100, ten of Paul’s letters were gathered and combined into their own canon. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were combined to form another canon soon after the canonization of Paul’s letters. The Gospels and Paul’s letters became the main body of a new group of Scriptures that would soon become the New Testament. Soon Acts, I Peter, I John, and Revelation were inserted into this body of Scripture. Following this, the rest of the books were added to the New Testament (Barker).

Deuteronomy 32:8 and Genesis 49:10 are two examples of textual critical problems in the Old Testament. The phrase “sons of God” will be examined in Deuteronomy 32:8, and the word “Shiloh” in Genesis 49:10. These issues have caused much debate as to how one should interpret these verses in light of the textual critical problems. This paper will examine both passages and provide solutions to each of the textual critical issues.