CHAPTER 6 –

The current books of the New Testament

 

 

 

 

Many liberal researchers try to bring out the myth-like books of the apocrypha, but there are, however, several good reasons why the current books of the New Testament are a part of the New Testament. We are going to study these reasons first from the point of view of the four Gospels:

 

The current four Gospels

 

 - One piece of evidence is that the makers are commonly known. They are known to have been apostles themselves or persons who had a personal connection with the apostles. There is no exception in the early church showing that would show that the Gospels known by the names of their writers were written by someone else. As comes to the apocryphal books, it is not known who has written them, and neither are they commonly known or valued.

 

- In approximately 180 A.D. Irenaeus, who had a connection to Polycarpos, the disciple of apostle John, wrote that "the four gospels could be regarded as clear and natural as the four cardinal points."  This indicates how esteemed the current four gospels were at that time.

 

- Church festival Origenes (ca. 230 A.D.) also referred to the four gospels. He said, "The Christians have four gospels, the heretics a large number of them." (Edwin M. Yamacchi, The Word from Nag Hammadi, Christianity Today, 13 January 1978)

 

 - The canon of Murator dating back to approximately the year 170 A.D., obviously refers to the four gospels as well. The early parts of the text have been partially destroyed, but in the latter part it is stated how the Gospel of Luke is the third Gospel, and the Gospel of John the next after Luke. It is likely that the first Gospels were written by Matthew and Mark.

 

 - Ca. 160 A.D. Syrian apologist Tatianus made known a combination of four gospels that was known by the name of Diatessaron. This book was a combination of the four canonical Gospels: it included parts of each of the four Gospels. At present, the text is important mainly in showing how these four Gospels were valued and a part of the canon.

 

- The Chester Beatty papyruses found in 1930 initially included the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of Paul. These papyruses that were dated at the beginning of the 3^rd century indicate that the current books of the New Testament had already been collected at that time.

 

- An opponent of Christianity, Celsus, who lived in the 2^nd century, also indirectly confirms the prestige of the current Gospels. In his assaults, this non-believer mentions almost all of the essential issues and doctrines of the Gospels and quotes the New Testament eighty times, because they include Christians’ holy writings. He accurately quotes the current four Gospels.

 

Other evidence on behalf of the current books of the New Testament

 

- Other sources confirm. As we already noted, the essential parts of the other sources are identical to the writings of the disciples. These sources confirm numerous details from the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels.

 

- Quotes from church festivals. Approximately 89,000 quotes from church festivals from the time before the 5^th century regarding the current books of the New Testament have been preserved, and from these the whole New Testament, except for 11 verses, could be reconstructed – even if no books of the New Testament had been preserved. This proves how highly appreciated the current books of the New Testament were already in the early church.

 

- Number of manuscript copies. Thousands of manuscript versions and copies of the current books of the New Testament have been preserved. This is not the case with many books of the apocrypha, for which only a few copes have been preserved and which were not commonly well-known or valued, or are known to have been written at a more recent point in time.

 

- Part of God. If God wanted to send Jesus to atone our sins, there is no reason to doubt that He would be unable to make sure that His message would be preserved in books and that just the right books would become the writings of the New Testament. This is only to be expected if we believe in the supernatural God.