The New Testament
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
The Gospels and books of the New Testament were set down in Greek between 20 and 80 years after
they were spoken. Greek was the vernacular of the West at this time and
the language of business. The vernacular of the East at this time,
Jesus’ language, was Aramaic. The only surviving complete text of the
New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus and dates back to the middle of
the fourth century. The oldest fragments are the Bodmer and Beatty
Papyri and Papyrus 52 which date back to the second century with only
bits of the Gospel of John.
The four canonical
gospels did not begin as the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Various groups of early Christians maintained their own oral traditions
of Jesus’ wisdom. Writing was a specialized skill and not every
community had the services of a scribe at hand. When the written
accounts of Jesus’ teachings did begin to circulate, the independent
groups incorporated them with their own traditions and teachings. Each
believing their own versions to be “the Gospel,” these expanded
writings spread with some versions viewed as having more importance
than others. It was not until the year 185 A.D., when Bishop Irenæus
came to be accepted by Christians, that the four authoritative gospels
were referred to by their modern titles.
The rest of the New Testament developed more slowly. For the next two
centuries, the four gospels would be coupled with many different
epistles, stories and apocalypses, according to what the congregation
judged as important about their understanding of Jesus Christ and his
teachings. Catholicism was only one of the dozens of “denominations”
within the early church. Gnosticism was prevalent throughout Egypt,
Marcionism in Syria, and Montanism in Asia Minor. The Catholic Church
was adopted as the state religion of the Roman Empire, and all other
systems of belief were branded as heresies. The Epistle of Athanasius
in 367 C.E., appeared when the Church reached agreement upon which
writings were truly authentic and representative of apostolic
tradition. This was the beginning of forming what we know today as the
canonical New Testament. Most uncanonical writings were ordered to be
destroyed by the Church, and in most cases the possession of heretical
literature was punishable by death. Today, we are very fortunate to
have some of these texts, preserved from the past millennia, which
gives us insight into the development of various early Christian
traditions.
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