Who wrote the New Testament?

[xmoongirlx]

I know the Old Testament was written by the disciples (inspired by God), but I was asked who wrote the New Testament, and I thought they were written by the disciples too, but I was told wrong. It made me wonder, who created the New Testament, or was it already created like some say?

 

[Peter]

The OT was written by many authors.
The five books of the law: Moses
The poetic book: David, Solomon and others.
The prophetic books: The prophets

The NT books were written by...
Matthew - Gospel
Mark- Gospel
Luke- Gospel, Acts
John - Gospel, the Apocolypse, I,II,III John
Paul - Romans, I, II Timothy, Galatians, Ephesians, Philipians, Colosians, I,II Thessalonians, I,II Timothy, Hebrews, Titus, Philemon
James the Just -Epistle
Peter - I,II Peter
Jude - Epistle

The last book was written about 97-100 AD. The first was written circa 57 AD. The Bible didn't just fall out of the sky. It took several hundred years for theses NT books to be codified.

There were several other epistles and books written that were not accepted as being authoritative or genuine. At one time the Shepherd of Hermas was widely read and taught in the first 300 years of the Church. In addition, the Didache is still used and read, but does not carry the authority of scripture (Def. that which shows us the path of salvation).

I recommed Dr. Jaroslav Pelikans work, "Whose Bible Is It?"

 

[TimRout]

You might also try...
"The Canon Of The New Testament: It's Origin, Development, and Significance"; Bruce M. Metzger

Or for an easier read...
"Introducing The New Testament"; John Drane

For the Old Testament...
"The Old Testament Documents: Are They Reliable And Relevant?"; Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Or for an easier read...
"The Old Testament: It's Background, Growth, and Content"; Peter C. Craigie

 

[ebia]

I know the Old Testament was written by the disciples (inspired by God),

For the most part we don't know who wrote the various books of the OT. Very few say who wrote them, and traditional authorship was never meant to be "Moses wrote all of these 5", but "These 5 carry Moses' authority". What we do know is that they were written, redacted, collected, collated, and chosen as useful by the people of God over many centuries.

but I was asked who wrote the New Testament, and I thought they were written by the disciples too, but I was told wrong. It made me wonder, who created the New Testament, or was it already created like some say?

Again, what we know with certainty is that these are the books that the early church determined were reliable (they knew the provienence) and useful in church.

We know the authorship of a few with some certainty, we have an idea about others but there is dispute, and others we simply have no idea:

Matthew - traditionally the apostle Matthew but we have very little to back that up.
Mark - traditionally Peter's story as told to the Christians in Rome and written down by Mark. There is no particular reason to think that false, though we can't be sure who Mark is in other terms.
Luke - Traditionally Luke as mentioned by Paul. Certainly well researched.
John - Either the apostle John, or more likely the early community he founded recording his stories with his involvement.
Acts - The same author as Luke.
Romans - Paul
1 & 2 Corinthians - Paul, but may be some editting
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians - Paul, although his authorship of some is disputed by some
1 & 2 Thessalonians - Paul
1 & 2 Timothy and Titus - maybe Paul, maybe someone later writting under his authority
Philemon - Paul
Hebrews - we have no idea
James - James the brother of Jesus, leader of the very early church
1 & 2 Peter - Possibly the apostle Peter or possibly someone later writing under his authority.
1, 2 & 3 John - Probably the apostle John or his community writting under his authority.
Jude - Jude the brother of Jesus and James
Revelations - traditionally the apostle John but disputed by some. Revelations was the most contraversial book to make it into the canon.

Most of these books were decided to be 'canonical' with very little dispute - the early church had a very high degree of consensus that the books were reliable and useful. Only Peter and Revelations were particularly contraversial.

 

[jwp]

The book "Evidence that demands a Verdict" speaks to this and a lot of other apologetic concerns. It's a must have book for any serious biblical student.

 

[CShephard53]

The book "Evidence that demands a Verdict" speaks to this and a lot of other apologetic concerns. It's a must have book for any serious biblical student.

It also contains quite a few flawed arguments that can be ripped apart by any thinking person. Try the Apologetics Study Bible.

 

[ebia]

It also contains quite a few flawed arguments that can be ripped apart by any thinking person.

Pretty much what I was going to say.

 

[CShephard53]

Pretty much what I was going to say.

Doesn't mean the conclusions aren't valid, just means their path to coming to those conclusions isn't.

 

[ebia]

Doesn't mean the conclusions aren't valid, just means their path to coming to those conclusions isn't.

Agreed. I don't disagree with many of McDowell's most important conclusions, but his method is deeply unconvincing to anyone who applies a bit of critical thinking to his arguments. (Not to mention, IMO, almost dishonestly selective in his choice of evidence at times.)

 

[jwp]

Both of you seem to indicate issues in the book? Care to elaborate?

 

[ebia]

Both of you seem to indicate issues in the book? Care to elaborate?

Not really. It would be off topic, and (since it's about 8 years since I read the book and formed the opinion) I would have to get the book off the shelf and re-read it for the details.

 

[cyberlizard]

if you are capable of slinging mud at someone's book, unless you have evidence to hand, i would suggest you keep the mud in your own hands!!!

 

[jwp]

Agreed, don't knock it if you're too lazy to defend it.

 

[jwp]

See Below...

 

[jwp]

More Amazing stories on comparison of the New Testament vs. Secular Books...Note that the literary world NEVER discredits any of the secular listings below in anyway.

The time frame from the originals to the extants are in some cases of the new testament as small as 50 years. This means there is as little as a 50 year gap between the original documents and the surviving extant copies.

We know of 7 Extant plays from Sophocles but the earliest manuscript is 1400 years from the originals.

Some examples of origianals vs. copies and time gap:
Homer; Iliad; Time gap 400 years; 643 copies
Thucydides; History;Gap 1,350 years; 8 copies
Tacitus; Annals; Time Gap 1,000 years; 20 copies
Livy; History of Rome; Time Gap 400 years; 1 copy
New Testatment; Time Gap: 50 years; 5,366 copies

The shear number of copies and the small gap tell us something...

 

[CShephard53]

Both of you seem to indicate issues in the book? Care to elaborate?

Do a google search, you'll be overwhelmed.

 

[jwp]

I found a bunch of stuff out there for sure but don't think that reading new age critique of conservative Christian viewpoints is of any value.

http://www.google.com/search?q=evidence+that+demand+a+verdict&hl=en&start=10&sa=N

 

[CShephard53]

I found a bunch of stuff out there for sure but don't think that reading new age critique of conservative Christian viewpoints is of any value.

http://www.google.com/search?q=evidence+that+demand+a+verdict&hl=en&start=10&sa=N

http://www.google.com/search?q=Crit...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Nice try, check the first entry.

 

[MikeMcK]

I know the Old Testament was written by the disciples....

Sigh...

 

[beamishboy]

You might also try...
"The Canon Of The New Testament: It's Origin, Development, and Significance"; Bruce M. Metzger

Or for an easier read...
"Introducing The New Testament"; John Drane

For the Old Testament...
"The Old Testament Documents: Are They Reliable And Relevant?"; Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Or for an easier read...
"The Old Testament: It's Background, Growth, and Content"; Peter C. Craigie

On this subject, I have read Metzger's book referred to above and FF Bruce, The Canon of Scripture.

Hebrews was not written by Paul. It was by an unknown writer. It's not very clear who wrote the other epistles. There's a dispute. Only the Pauline corpus of 13 epistles was more accepted universally. And the gospels and Acts too. Hebrews got in only because some people were mistaken and they thought it was a part of the Pauline corpus.