THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The nature of the new testament

The word “Testament” originally meant God’s special dealings with human beings. This is seen in the covenant of God with Noah, Abraham and David. About 600 years before Christ birth, God spoke through Jeremiah that he will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah, that he will place his law within them and write it upon their hearts, and will be their God, and they his people.

All the accounts of the Eucharistic words at the super on the night before Jesus died, have him relate the term (new) covenant/testament” to his own blood. Christians believe that God renewed the covenant through the death and resurrection of Christ and that the new covenant had taken place of the Old Testament.

     Not until the second century, the Christians used the term “new testament” for a body of writings, ultimately leading to the designation, “old testament”. The early Christians were reluctant to write because firstly, they already had the Jewish scripture. Secondly, Jesus didn’t write any single thing, neither did he tell any of his disciples to write, and finally; they were strongly eschatological. For them, the last time was at hand. So the above didn’t encourage them to write for the future generation who would not be around.

The Coming Into Being Of Books Written By Christians

As a means of encouragement, direction, guidance, clarification of doubts, strengthening the faith of the church and individuals, and to pass down Jesus tradition, the early Christians used the following medium

Letters: it was used then to answer immediate, pressing problems. They were consistence with urgent eschatology. It was also a means of communication used by St Paul. In the 50s of the 1^st century. St Paul produced the earliest surviving Christian documents: 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, 1^st and 2nd Corinthians, and Romance. Each was to address some aspect of the faith.

By the mid 60s, those who saw and experienced the lord or the risen Jesus passed away. This include; Peter, Paul, James the brother of the lord (…). After Paul’s death other deuteropauline writings were composed (70-100) which still preserve the Pauline spirit. Other books which include Peter, James and Jude, were equally composed. The Deuteropauline writings inlclude: 2^nd Thessalonians, Colossian, Ephesians and the pastoral letter (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus).

Gospels: in the 6o’s or just after the 70’s, the gospel according to mark was written, offering an account of Jesus’ deeds. The gospel according to Matthew and Luke were probably written ten to twenty years after Mark; which offers more of Jesus’ tradition. None of the gospels mentioned an author’s name, and it is quite possible that none was actually written by the one whose name was attached to it at the end of the 2^nd century. (Johnmark; companion of Paul and then peter. Matthew one of the twelve. Luke companion of Paul; John one of the twelve).

Acts, revelation; other literary genres.

 Acts intended by the author to constitute the second part of a work that commenced with the gospel according to Luke (which began and ended in Jerusalem). Acts moved the story of Christianity beyond Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria and even to the ends of the earth.

Revelation: persecution of God’s people by the great word empires challenged the extent to which history is under God’s control. It responds to this by visions that encompass what is happening in heaven and on earth at the same time. And the kingdom of God is more than the history the 1^st century Christians were experiencing.

                                  

Presentation And Acceptance Of Books Written By Christians

The Christian compositions we have been discussing, most likely written between the years 50 and 150, were not only preserved but eventually deemed uniquely sacred and authoritative. They were placed on the same level as the Jewish scriptures and evaluated as a NT alongside them. In the acceptance of the books one thing was highly considered which is “conformity with the rule of faith”, that is, the standard beliefs of the Christian faith. The apostolic origin was not as absolute criterion for either preservation or acceptance. Importance of the addressed Christian communities is equally considered, those for whom the writings were intended had a role in preserving and wining acceptance for them.

The Collection Of Early Christian Writings

Marcion played a peculiar role in catalyzing the formation of the NT canon. Reaction to Marcion’s rejection of the OT influenced the larger church’s determination to maintain the OT as God’s word for the Christian people. So also opposition to Marcion’s truncated canon was a factor that pushed the churches toward a larger evangelion (four gospels rather than Luke alone) and a larger apostolikon (at least thirteen Pauline letters rather than ten)

Finally, however, by the late 4^th century in the Greek East and the Latin west, there was a wide (but not absolute) accord on a canon of twenty-seven works.

HOW TO READ THE NEW TESTAMENT

Survey of methods of interpretation(Hermeneutics)

Due to the discrepancy in the books of the New Testament, different approaches are taken in order to achieve a successful study and interpretation. This approach included the following;

Textual criticism: it deals with the mistakes and changes done by the copyist as the handwritten copies of the gospels do not agree among themselves

Historical criticism: it has to do with the language, grammar, idioms and culture of the writer.

Source criticism: this is the study of the antecedents from which the NT writers drew their information.

Form criticism: it is concerned with the form or genre of the NT, e.g, the gospels, letters, apocalypse

Redaction criticism. It  focuses on the author, his  interests and the work produced and if possible the material the author used.

Canonical criticism: it examines the passage in the light of the whole NT or even the whole bible where in other books/passages offer insight.

Structuralism or Semiotics concentrates on the final form of the New Testament work.

Narrative criticism: it distinguishes the real author from the implied author, and the real audience from the implied audience. It counters the excesses of historical investigation and helps to highlight the author’s main interest.

Rhetorical criticism: it is an approach that analyzes the strategies used by the author.

Social criticism: it studies the text as a reflection of and a response to the social and cultural settings in which it was produced.

Advocacy criticism: it is used mainly by liberationist. The proponents advocate that the result be used to change today’s social, political, or religious situation.

Overview: it tries harmonies the different criticisms.

INSPIRATION

There are four different general positions in reference to inspiration

1.      Inspiration of the scriptures as a pious theological belief that has no validity.

2.      Both testaments as produced by believers, for believers and preserved by believers to encourage. Belief is not a factor that should enter into interpretation. When passages that have theological import present difficulties, no appeal can be made to inspiration or any other religious factor. E.g church tradition.

3.      God knows all things and God communicates through the scripture.

4.      Some accept inspiration, but didn’t think that God’s role as author removed human limitation.

REVELATION

People accept the scripture as having a unique position in God’s revelation to human beings, a revelation that affects their lives and destinies. Christians have different outlooks on biblical revelation, and these can be listed in a sequence corresponding to the above list of positions about inspiration.

1.      Radicals Christians deny the existence of any revelation coming from God other than that already implied in creation

2.      Some who may believe in divine revelation allot it no role in interpretation, anymore than they allowed inspiration to intrude

3.      Many more conservative Christians think of scripture as the product of revelation, so that every word of it constitutes a divine communication of truth to human beings.

4.      Other Christians not finding revelation in every biblical passage, contend that the scripture is not revelation but contains it.

Within this last view, there still exist two major divisions with its different concept. One believed that the scripture is the only normative attestation of or witness to revelation, basically held by the protestant, while the other, basically the Roman Catholics, believe otherwise. Due to changes in cultures, worldview and way of life, many Protestants acknowledge a reformulation of the biblical revelation through the centuries, under the condition that it must have some affirmations that are explicit in the scripture, otherwise they will not accept it. The Roman Catholics contrary to the Protestants, teaches doctrine that are not found literally in the scripture, this includes; Mary’s Immaculate Conception and Assumption. The Catholics justified these saying that these teachings are hiding in the scripture,  and are seen when one goes beyond the literal sense. The Roman Catholic views revelation as God’s action for human salvation and the interpretation of that action by those whom God has raised up and guided for that purpose. This interpretation is limited, for it reflects the understanding of God’s action only in a period that extends from approximately 1000 BC to AD 125. In Christian faith Gods action climaxed in Jesus Christ who completes and fulfills the revelation, and God salvation plan, so that after the gift of the divine son no further revelation is needed.

More Emphasis On Historical Criticism And Essential Necessity of Determining The Literal Sense.

Historical Criticism: Many people believe that historical criticism is the backbone of studying sources from which a biblical book was composed, which include its historical value; the circumstances of composition; the author; and the objective contents. Since it is geared towards theology, the results may appear barren to readers looking for spiritual meaning applicable to their lives.

Historical criticism is concerned with the commonsense observation of what the author of a book tried to convey. To highlight this aspect of historical criticism, some writers choose to speak of the essential necessity of determining “the literal sense” of biblical passages.

By what the biblical authors wrote.

The New Testament books were written a long time ago; about 1900 years ago in Greek. The language, culture and context, worldview and mentality of the people who lived during the time the scripture was written are quite different from that of the people of this present time. From the viewpoint of language, it’s impossible to get a perfect translation, from the view point of culture and context, the authors and their audiences had a worldview very different from ours, different background, different knowledge, and different suppositions about reality. We cannot open a NT  book and read it responsibly with the same ease as we read a book written in our own culture and worldview.

To audiences

We cannot say with certainty that the audience understood well what the author was trying to convey due to the fact that some of the audience may be from different background. E.g, A Jewish author writing to some group of Christians, who among them are Christians of gentile birth who doesn’t know much of Judaism. In reference to the audience;

First, author’s intention and audience’s understanding may differ.

Second, there is limited knowledge of about the identity of the audiences addressed.

Third, how well the audiences of the individual NT writers understood “scripture,” i.e., the sacred Jewish writings of the period before Jesus to which the evangelists frequently appealed.

What biblical authors intended and conveyed.

A more delicate issue is the relationship between what the written words convey and what the writers intended. In interpreting any work, however, one must start by supposing a general correspondence between what the author intended and what the author conveyed. Only by exception, then do commentators on the Bible have to alert readers to instances where what the words seem to convey may not be what the author intended.

The wider meaning from recognizing God’s role as author.

The view of inspiration customarily speaks of twofold biblical authorship, divine and human- authorship. Not in the sense that God dictated the ‘bible to human copyist; but that the composition of biblical books by human writers was part of God’s providence, so that the OT and the NT might articulate revelation and provide enduring guidance for God’s people.

Most often, the Christian appeal to a more than literal sense stemming from divine authorship centered in two areas: the use of the OT in the NT, and the use of the bible in post biblical church practice and beyond.

Wider meaning gained from the placement of a book within the cannon.

A book is truly biblical only because the book became part of an authoritative collection, i.e. the NT or even the whole bible. No NT writer knew that what he wrote would be included in a collection of twenty seven books and read as an enduring message centuries or even millennia later.

The whole canonical dimension is often neglected in two ways. First, some earnest believers are under the false impression that the biblical message is always uniform, whereas it is not.

The church has placed side by side in the same canon, works that do not share the same outlook. The response to the canon is not to suppress or undervalue the sharp view of an individual biblical author, but to make up one’s mind in face of diverse views existing side by side.

Secondly, on a more scholarly level where this diversity of view is recognized, there is sometimes a thrust toward defining “the center of the canon” or the canon within the canon. All must recognize that certain biblical books by their length and profundity are more important than other books; eg Jude and the Romans

Wider meaning from subsequent reading.

People have continued finding in the NT meaning for their own lives as they face new issues; they have asked what the NT books mean, not simply what they meant. That issue can be raised in an ingenuous way by the assumption that the NT writings are addressed directly to the modern world.

The text is not simply an object on which the interpreter works analytically to extract a permanently univocal meaning; it is a structure that is engaged by readers in the process of achieving meaning and is therefore open to more than one valid meaning.