BTW... I have alot of respect for Mr Esmay so please be polite and reply in total Christian kindness.
Pretty simple really. No printing press, no Bibles.
Paul was not illiterate. He had the best Jewish education.
Peter did dictate to Mark.
The Jewish culture had literature but was mostly an oral tradition. It was a matter of routine for them to memorize scripture and be able to quote it and teach it word for word to their children.
The gospels are believed to have been written between 16 and 34 years after Jesus' death. The earliest reference we have to the gospels was ignatius who died in 115 A.D. So Mathew was clearly written before then. But since none of the gospels mention the destruction of Jerusalem which Jesus had prophesized. It's believed that they all must have been written prior to AD 70. The gospels are constantly pointing out fulfillment of prophecy, so for them not to include Jerusalem would be grossly out of character.
====================
1 Corinthians 16:21
21-I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.
Galatians 6:11
11See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
Colossians 4:18
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
2 Thessalonians 3:17
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.
Philemon 1:19
I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it backnot to mention that you owe me your very self.
==============
"The Bible itself never makes claim to the idea that it is the ultimate Word of God."
=======================
2 Timothy 3:16 16-All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Dean is apparently referring only to the New Testament.
Do you really want the historical answers? If so, use the following keywords and years in various combinations to search and begin study.
Early history:
Marcion Irenaeus Eusebius
Canonization of the New Testament:
New Testament canon 367 Bishop Athanasius Alexandria Constantine Council of Rome 382 Augustine Hippo 393 Carthage 397
From Martin Luther, obviously. He set more than a few folks straight on the issue since then-church authorities weren't doing their jobs.
Do you know the real reason Jesus was crucified?
If you are attempting to ask whether the so called lost books of the bible should have equal weight you are not asking the right questions.
The Canon of Marcion the heretic
Return to "Canon of the Bible" Home Page
A. Who was Marcion and when did he live?
1. Marcion was born about 110 AD, being the son of the wealthy Bishop of Sinope in Pontus.
2. By 144 AD, at age 34, Marcion had caused such a stir, that his teachings were the subject of an investigation and condemnation.
B. What did Marcion believe that made him a dangerous heretic:
1. Marcion believed that the God of the Old Testament was an evil creator god that Jesus came to destroy.
2. Marcion believed that this evil god did in fact reveal his will through the Old Testament. Thus he believed in the "inspiration" of the Old Testament from divine sources, although from an evil source.
3. Marcions canon
4. : Luke + Pauls writings. Marcion accepted only the gospel of Luke to the exclusion of the other three gospels. He also accepted all of Pauls writings but he would "cut out" any Old Testament quote or anything else that contradicted his theological views. He rejected all other books of the Bible except Luke + Pauls writings. "It is usually said that Marcion "rejected" the Old Testament and accepted in its place only his own canon of Luke plus Pauline Epistles, edited to remove all allusions to the Old Testament. This, however, obscures two important points. First, Marcion's rejection of the Old Testament was indeed total, in that he regarded it as completely alien to the revelation of salvation brought by Jesus and recorded in the New Testament documents he accepted. But this was not because he did not believe that the God of the Old Testament actually existed, or thought that the Old Testament itself was a purely human invention, pseudo-oracles of an imaginary god. On the contrary, Marcion firmly believed that the Old Testament God did exist, and that he was the Creator of the world. The problem was that his creation was evil, and he himself therefore a malign being; it was precisely the role of Jesus, and of the Unknown God now revealed in him, to deliver humankind from the malice of the evil Creator. Furthermore, the creator-god really had spoken the words attributed to him in the Old Testament: these were fully true and accurate oracles, not a human invention. They truly expressed the thoughts of the maker of the universe, and there could be no question of suggesting that they had been falsified in any way or contaminated by human intervention. "The Jewish Scriptures represent a true revelation of the Creator, but they do not speak of or for the God whom alone Christians ought to worship."" Marcion's "rejection" of the Old Testament thus needs to be qualified."" (Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, Editors: The Canon Debate; John Barton, Marcion Revisited, p 344, 2002)
5. "Marcion, we may conclude, was important for two reasons. He rejected the Old Testament as the document of an alien religion; and he taught that Jesus had come to save humankind from the control of the evil Creator to whom the Old Testament witnesses. These are precisely the two aspects of his work on which patristic condemnations, from Tertullian onwards, focus. In the process he denied the validity of allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament, which he saw as a means of accommodating it to Christian belief; this too is picked up by Tertullian. In short, Marcion was not a major influence on the formation of the New Testament; he was simply a Marcionite." (Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, Editors: The Canon Debate; John Barton, Marcion Revisited, p 354, 2002)
C. Others quickly identified Marcion as a dangerous heretic:
1. At any rate, it is clear that Tertullian was not the first to realize that there was a problem with Marcion's Bible and try to answer his claims. (Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, Editors: The Canon Debate; Everett Ferguson, Factors Leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon, p 311, 2002)
2. Tertullian too contrasted Marcion's reductionism with what he considered Valentinus's expansion of the gospel material: Of the scriptures we have our being before there was any other way, before they were interpolated by [heretics]. . . . One man perverts the scriptures with his hand, another their meaning by his exposition. For although Valentinus seems to use the entire volume, he has nonetheless laid violent hands on the truth only with a more cunning mind and skill than Marcion. Marcion expressly and openly used the knife, not the pen, since he made such an excision of the scriptures as suited his own subject-matter. Valentinus, however, abstained from such excision, because he did not invent scriptures to square with his own subject-matter ... and yet he took away more, and added more, by removing the proper meaning of every particular word.... (Praescr. 38) (Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, Editors: The Canon Debate; Everett Ferguson, Factors Leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon, p 312, 2002)
D. Marcions canon was much less than what was already accepted as scripture by Christians in general.
1. Marcion's concern was to exclude books that he disapproved of from his "canon." He was not assembling a collection of Christian books, but making a (very restricted) selection from the corpus of texts which already existed and which must already have been recognized as sacred by many
2. in the church-otherwise he would not have needed to insist on abolishing them. (Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, Editors: The Canon Debate; John Barton, Marcion Revisited, p 342, 2002) The New Testament books, or at any rate the central "core" of the Gospels and the Pauline and Catholic Epistles, were already used very widely in the time before Marcion
3. , and continued to be so used after him. (Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, Editors: The Canon Debate; John Barton, Marcion Revisited, p 343, 2002) In his attitude to the Old Testament Marcion really does look more like an innovator than he was in his "canonization" of the New Testament. Nevertheless it is unlikely that his theology seemed so new to him. Rather, he regarded it as the continuation of a central theme in Paul: the supersession of the law by the gospel. Paul "spoiled" the novelty of this theme by continuing to quote the Old Testament as though it were authoritative for Christians, and Marcion accordingly had to expurgate even the Pauline letters that he retained. (Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, Editors: The Canon Debate; John Barton, Marcion Revisited, p 351, 2002)
D. Roman Catholic and Orthodox get Marcion wrong:
Father James Bernstein, an Orthodox church leader wrote: "The first person on record who tried to establish a New Testament canon was the second-century heretic, Marcion. ... Many scholars believe that it was partly in reaction to this distorted canon of Marcion that the early Church determined to create a clearly defined canon of its own." (Which Came First: The Church or the New Testament?, Fr. James Bernstein, Orthodox churchman, 1994, p 7)
Refutation of James Bernstein (Orthodox):
1. It is clear from our documentation that most scholars today reject the idea that Marcion had any direct influence on the development of the canon. But the Orthodox church wants to desperately to believe that there was no Bible till the 4th century and that church tradition was the rule of the day.
2. The consensus of scholars is the Marcion started with a larger list of New Testament books and from this list of universally known inspired books, started removing books from the list.
3. Marcion clearly proves that all the writings of Paul were considered inspired and universally distributed. The Orthodox church practices countless things the contradict the writings of Paul.
Conclusion:
1. When we study Marcion, it should be obvious that the vast majority of New Testament books were already recognized as part of the New Testament canon.
2. Marcions specific removal and denial of many New Testament books from his own canon, including all of Peter, James and John, proves they were already in use between 125-144 AD and widely accepted as scripture.
Luke 1From the text above, shows that at the time Luke wrote this there was both a written and oral tradition. It was also early enough that eyewitnesses to events that Luke refers to will be around to refute or support Luke's writings.
Dedication to Theophilus
1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled[a] among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Luke, writing before 70AD, was refering to other writings that existed and is providing a written account for another that has already been instructed.
If Luke's gospel contradicted the writings and oral tradition or the witnesses that were still alive, the book would have been fully discredited by the Christian community at the time.
This icon is taken from Orthodox Byzantine Icons. The artist and date are unknown. A larger version is available. |
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch in Syria, is known mainly as the author of 7 letters that had exceptional influence in the early church. A Catholic Encyclopedia article is online at St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was apparently anxious to counteract the teachings of two groups: the Judaizers, who did not accept the authority of the New Testament (although the NT did not really exist at that time); and the Docetists, who held that Christ's sufferings and death were only apparent. The letters have often been cited to determine what beliefs were held in the early church. These letters are:
Ignatius does not refer to older Christian writings by name, but his letters have quotations (of approval) from these writings:
Ignatius is held in high regard in the West Syrian Church (an independent Christian Church). Every patriarch since 1293 bears the surname "Ignatios" in his honor. The present (1982) patriarch, Ignatios XXXIX Jacob III, rules from Damascus over 11 metropolitans and 3 bishops and over the Syrian Orthodox Church in Malabar.
The quotations below follow [Richardson]. For a summary of this evidence see the Cross Reference Table.
Ignatius | Matthew | |
---|---|---|
Eph. 14:2 | No one who professes faith falls into sin, nor does one who has learned to love hate. "The tree is known by its fruit". Similarly, those who profess to be Christ's will be recognized by their actions. For what matters is not a momentary act of professing, but being persistently motivated by faith. |
12:33 |
Smyr. 6:1 | Let no one be misled: heavenly beings, the splendor of angels, and principalities, visible and invisible, if they fail to believe in Christ's blood, they too are doomed. "Let him accept it who can". Let no one's position swell in his head, for faith and love are everything -- there is nothing preferable to them. |
19:12 |
Poly. 2:2 | In all circumstances be "wise as a serpent", and perpetually "harmless as a dove". The reason you have a body as well as a soul is that you may win the favor of the visible world. But ask that you may have revelations of what is unseen. In that way you will lack nothing and have an abundance of every gift. |
10:16 |
Ignatius | I Thessalonians | |
---|---|---|
Eph. 10:1 | "Keep on praying" for others too, for there is a chance of their being converted and getting to God. Let them, then, learn from you at least from your actions. |
5:17 |
Ignatius | Colossians | |
---|---|---|
Eph. 10:2 | Return their bad temper with gentleness; their boasts with humility; their abuse with prayer. In the face of their error, be "steadfast in the faith". Return their violence with mildness and do not be intent on getting your own back. |
1:23 |
Ignatius | I Corinthians | |
---|---|---|
Eph. 18:1 | I am giving my life (not that it's worth much!) for the cross, which unbelievers find a stumbling block, but which means to us salvation and eternal life. "Where is the wise man? Where is the debater?" Where are the boasts of those supposedly intelligent? |
1:20 |
Trall. 1:3 | Those too who are deacons of Jesus Christ's "mysteries" must give complete satisfaction to everyone. For they do not serve mere food and drink, but minister to God's Church. They must therefore avoid leaving themselves open to criticism, as they would shun fire. | 4:1 |
Trall. 12:3 | Out of love I want you to heed me, so that my letter will not tell against you. Moreover, pray for me. By God's mercy I need your love if I am going to deserve the fate I long for, and not prove a "castaway". |
9:27 |
Rom.5:1-2 | Even now as a prisoner, I am learning to forgo my own wishes. All the way from Syria to Rome I am fighting with wild beasts, by land and sea, night and day, chained as I am to ten leopards (I mean to a detachment of soldiers), who only get worse the better you treat them. But by their injustices I am becoming a better disciple, "though not for that reason am I acquitted". What a thrill I shall have from the wild beasts that are ready for me! I hope they will make short work of me. I shall coax them on to eat me up at once and not to hold off, as sometimes happens, through fear. |
4:4 |
Rom. 6:1 | Not the wide bounds of earth nor the kingdoms of this world nor the kingdoms of this world will avail me anything. "I would rather die" and get to Jesus Christ, than reign over the ends of the earth. That is what I am looking for -- the One who died for us. That is whom I want -- the One who rose for us. | 9:15 |
Ignatius | Romans | |
---|---|---|
Eph. 20:2 | I will do this especially if the Lord shows me that you are all, every one of you, meeting together under the influence of grace that we owe to the Name, in one faith and in union with Christ who was "descended from David according to the flesh" and is Son of man and Son of God. At these meetings you should heed the bishop and presbytery attentively, and break one loaf, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote which wards off death but yields continuous life in union with Jesus Christ. |
1:3 |
Ignatius | Acts | |
---|---|---|
Mag. 5:1 | Yes, everything is coming to and end, and we stand before this choice -- death or life -- and everyone, will go "to his own place". Once might say similarly, there are two coinages, one God's, the other the world's. Each bears its own stamp -- unbelievers that of this world; believers, who are spurred by love, the stamp of God the Father through Jesus Christ. And if we do not willingly die in union with his Passion, we do not have his life in us. |
1:25 |
Ignatius | Luke | |
---|---|---|
Smyr. 3:1-2 | For myself, I am convinced and believe that even after the resurrection he was in the flesh. Indeed, when he came to Peter and his friends, he said to them, "Take hold of me, touch me and see that I am not a bodiless ghost.". And they at once touched him and were convinced, clutching his body and his very breath. For this reason they despised death itself, and proved its victors. Moreover, after the resurrection he ate and drank with them as a real human being, although in spirit he was united with the Father. |
24:39 |
Ignatius | Ephesians | |
---|---|---|
Poly. 1:2 | God grant I may never forget it! By the grace which you have put on, I urge you to press forward in your race and to urge everybody to be saved. Vindicate your position by giving your whole attention to its material and spiritual sides. Make unity your concern -- there is nothing better than that. Lend everybody a hand, as the Lord does you. "Out of love be patient" with everyone, as indeed you are. |
4:2 |
Poly. 5:1 | Tell my sisters to love the Lord and to be altogether contented with their husbands. Similarly urge my brothers in the name of Jesus Christ "to love their wives as the Lord loves the Church". |
5:25,29 |
This icon is taken from Holy Transfiguration Monastery. A larger version is available. |
Polycarp, Greek bishop of Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey) was the leading 2nd-century figure in Roman Asia by virtue of his intermediary position between the apostolic and patristic ages and his work during the initial appearance of the fundamental theological literature of Christianity. A Catholic Encyclopedia article is online at St. Polycarp.
His major writing, The Letter to the Philippians, is intimately connected with the epistles and martyrdom of Ignatius. About 110 CE, while en route to Rome where he suffered martyrdom, Ignatius passed through Smyrna and was warmly greeted by the church and its bishop. Subsequently he was taken by his guards to Philippi, where local Christian leaders visited him. After his departure they wrote to Polycarp requesting him to send them copies of the epistles that Ignatius had written to him and to several churches in Asia Minor. This he did, adding a covering letter of his own. In it Polycarp urges the reader to stand fast in the faith, to avoid heretical teachings, to look to the examples of martyrdom suffered by Ignatius and others, and to persevere in philanthropy and good works. He concludes by saying that he is sending them copies of the epistles of Ignatius as they requested, and asks them to send him the latest news about Ignatius and his companions.
By his letter, and by his widespread moral authority, Polycarp combated the Marcionites (from Rome) and frustrated their attempts to establish Churches in Roman Asia. That sect advocated a rejection of the Hebraic Old Testament deity for the New Testament God. He also struggled against the Valentinian communities, esoteric Gnostic groups that claimed religious salvation exclusively through their arcane spiritual knowledge. Polycarp's anti-Gnostic thesis, an exemplary statement of post-apostolic theology, refuted the sectarian argument that God's incarnation in Christ, his death, and Resurrection were all imaginary phenomena of purely moral or mythological significance.
Despite the proximity in time between Ignatius and Polycarp, as well as the obvious affinity of their spirits in Christian fortitude, one recognizes in Polycarp a temperament much less oriented to ecclesiastical polity and possessing a much wider acquaintance with the New Testament. Proportionate to the length of what they wrote, Polycarp has two or three times more quotations and reminiscences from the New Testament that does Ignatius. Of 112 Biblical reminiscences, about 100 are from the New Testament with only a dozen from the Old Testament. Polycarp does not refer to older Christian writings by name, but The Letter to the Philippians has quotations (of approval) from these writings:
In fact, The Letter to the Philippians is a mosaic of quotations from both Old Testament and Christian writings. The letter is important for its early testimony to the existence of various other New Testament texts. English translations of the letter are in the books [LHH] and [Richardson] , and online at Noncanonical Homepage and Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The quotations below follow [Richardson]. For a summary of this evidence see the Cross Reference Table.
Polycarp | Matthew | |
---|---|---|
2:3 |
"Judge not, that you be not judged; forgive and you will be forgiven; be merciful, that you may be shown mercy; the measure you give will be the measure you get".... |
7:1,2 |
7:2 |
..."to lead us not into temptation"... |
6:13 |
7:2 |
..."The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak". |
26:14 |
12:3 |
..."for those who persecute and hate you" |
5:44 |
Polycarp | Mark | |
---|---|---|
5:2 |
...."a servant of all".... |
9:35 |
Polycarp | Luke | |
---|---|---|
2:3 |
...."blessed are the poor and those persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of God". |
6:20 |
Polycarp | Acts | |
---|---|---|
1:2 |
... "whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of Hades". |
2:24 |
2:1 |
...."judge of the living and the dead",... |
10:42 |
Polycarp | Romans | |
---|---|---|
6:2 |
... "everyone shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ and each of us shall give an account of himself". |
14:10,12 |
Polycarp | I Corinthians | |
---|---|---|
4:3 |
... "the secrets of the heart". |
14:25 |
5:3 |
... "neither fornicators nor the effeminate nor homosexuals will inherit the Kingdom of God", ... |
6:9,10 |
10:1 |
... "steadfast and immovable" ... |
15:58 |
11:3 |
... "do we not know that the saints will judge the world", as Paul teaches? |
6:2 |
Polycarp | II Corinthians | |
---|---|---|
2:2 |
For "he who raised him from the dead will raise us also", ... |
4:14 |
4:1 |
... let us arm ourselves "with the weapons of righteousness", ... |
6:7 |
6:1 |
...but "always taking thought for what is honorable in the sight of God and men" ... |
8:21 |
10:1 |
...in "the gentleness of the Lord preferring one another", and despising no one. |
10:1 |
Polycarp | Galatians | |
---|---|---|
3:3 |
... -- "which is a mother of us all", ... |
4:26 |
5:1 |
... "God is not mocked", ... |
6:7 |
12:3 |
...and in "his Father who raised him from the dead". |
1:1 |
Polycarp | Ephesians | |
---|---|---|
1:3 |
... "you are saved by grace, not because of works", ... |
2:5,8,9 |
3:1 |
... "the word of truth". |
1:13 |
12:1 |
... as it is said in these Scriptures "be angry but sin not" and "let not the sun go down on your anger". |
4:26 |
12:3 |
"Pray for all the saints". |
6:18 |
Polycarp | Philippians | |
---|---|---|
2:1 |
... "to whom he subjected all things, whether in heaven or on earth", ... |
3:21 |
9:1 |
... "did not run in vain",.. |
2:16 |
12:3 |
..."the enemies of the cross",.. |
3:18 |
Polycarp | I Thessalonians | |
---|---|---|
11:2 |
"Shun evil of every kind". |
5:22 |
Polycarp | II Thessalonians | |
---|---|---|
11:4 |
..."do not consider such persons as enemies",... |
3:15 |
Polycarp | I Timothy | |
---|---|---|
4:1 |
But "the love of money is the beginning of all evils". |
6:10 |
4:1 |
... "we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out", ... |
6:7 |
12:3 |
"Pray also for emperors and magistrates and rulers", ... |
2:1 |
Polycarp | II Timothy | |
---|---|---|
5:2 |
..."we shall also reign with him"... |
2:12 |
9:2 |
For they "loved not this present world", ... |
4:10 |
11:4 |
"May the Lord grant them true repentance". |
2:25 |
Polycarp | Hebrews | |
---|---|---|
6:3 |
So then let us "serve him with fear and all reverence", ... |
12:28 |
12:2 |
May God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and "the eternal High Priest" himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth and in all gentleness ... |
6:20, 7:3 |
Polycarp | I Peter | |
---|---|---|
1:3 |
In him, "though you have not seen him, you believe with inexpressible and exalted joy", -- ... |
1:8,12 |
2:1 |
"Therefore, girding your loins, serve God in fear" ... |
1:13 |
2:1 |
... "believing on him who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and gave him glory" ... |
1:21 |
2:2 |
... "not returning evil for evil or abuse for abuse", ... |
3:9 |
5:3 |
... "every passion of the flesh wages war against the Spirit", ... |
2:11 |
7:2 |
... "watching unto prayer" ... |
4:7 |
8:1 |
..."who bore our sins in his own body on the tree, who committed no sin, neither was guile found on his lips".... |
2:24 |
10:1 |
..."loving the brotherhood".... |
2:17 |
10:1 |
..."cherishing one another".... |
3:8 |
Polycarp | I John | |
---|---|---|
7:1 |
For "whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is antichrist", and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross "is of the devil"; ... |
4:2,3 |
Polycarp | III John | |
---|---|---|
10:1 |
... "fellow companions in the truth"; ... |
1:8 |
A Baptist pastor preached "we don't build on tradition; we don't build on liturgy, we build on scripture". That's fine but what if the Bible is a liturgical book? What if you can't separate the Bible from tradition, from liturgy. The elements of the Mass can be found in the Apocalypse.
The Bible is the Word of God whether anyone reads it or not.
An early Christian authority is included in this survey if he or it gives important evidence on the development of the canon of the New Testament (perhaps even having some influence on it) and did so before ~400 CE, when the first complete manuscripts of the Vulgate were issued. The early 'authorities' fall into these categories:
Authority | Date CE | Form of evidence provided on the development of the canon of the New Testament |
---|---|---|
Ignatius of Antioch | ~110 | 7 letters with quotations and allusions to Christian writings as scripture. There are no citations by name. |
Polycarp of Smyrna | ~110 | 1 letter with ~100 quotations and allusions to Christian writings as scripture. There are no citations by name. |
Marcion | ~140 | founded a sect with its own "New Testament" collection. There was one Gospel, based mostly on the Gospel according to Luke |
Valentinus | 140-150 | Valentinus and his followers - Heracleon, Ptolemy, Marcus - were Gnostic heretics so their doctrines mostly survive in the writings of the orthodox, such as Irenaeus, who summarized the Valentinian views before attacking them. The Gospel of Truth from Nag Hammadi probably derives from the Valentinians, but this is not certain. |
Justin Martyr | 150-160 | many of his writings survive; he was the most prolific Christian writer up to his time. |
Irenaeus | ~180 | two of his writings survive in translations (Latin and Armenian). There are quotations and allusions to Christian writings as scripture, and citations by name. |
Clement | 180-200 | many of his writings survive; in them are about 8000 citations - over 1/3 of them from pagan sources. There are citations by name. |
Tertullian | 200-210 | Tertullian was the most prolific writer of the Latin Fathers in pre-Nicene times (before 325 CE). There are citations by name. |
Muratorian Canon | 200-300 | a manuscript discovered in the Ambrosian Library in Milan with a catalogue (in Latin) of the New Testament writings with comments |
Origen | 220-350 | only a small part of his works survives, but this fills volumes There are citations by name. |
Eusebius | 300-330 | much of the works of Eusebius survives, but here we only use his famous classification in [Eusebius] |
codex Sinaiticus | ~350 | a manuscript discovered in 1859 containing a 4th-century New Testament |
Athanasius | ~367 | his 39th Festal Epistle of 367 CE has a list of canonical books |
Didymus the Blind | 350-398 | some of his exegetical writings have survived, including six commentaries discovered in 1941 |
Peshitta | ~400 | a series of manuscripts of the Bible in Syriac including 22 New Testament books |
Vulgate | ~400 | a series of manuscripts (over 10,000) of the Bible in Latin, whose New Testament coincides (more or less) with the present one |
Why should we be required to reply in Christian kindness to a man that is as much a liar and non-scholar as Dan Brown? This guy obviously has no clue whatsover regarding the REAL FACTS regarding the bible and seems to be content to wallow in his misinformation.
There is plenty of fact to refute every single statement he makes but it isn't worth my effort to reply to it because you can be certain a guy like this is not at all interested in the truth. Just in maintaining his anti-God, anti-Christian worldview. The bible says not to waste your time arguing with fools.
To me, as a student of the bible for over 30 years, I grow every year in my opinion of it--it is truly a miracle and the KING of all literature (ancient or modern) from a historical, archaeological, prophetical, spiritual, philosophical basis and as a historic text.
Yet, Jesus admitted that the way is narrow and few will walk it. Your favorite blogger will soon see (sadly) how wrong he is to commit the one unforgiveable sin of calling God a liar.
A few points which tend to downplay the srgument posed is that Scripture still existed prior to the Gospel. The Torah was well written and recieved within the Jewish community and early Church.
The Holy Spirit provided many gifts to the early Church, and the gift of Pastor-teacher was among them. Divine revelation was also available and simply because an anthology we name 'the Bible' wasn't immediately available, doesn't imply God didn;t have a purpose and plan for every believer's life predetermined and planned in eternity past. It also didn't preclude Him from revealing His will by His grace to believers at that time.
A great perspective is to consider how much more blessed we are today to have such a wealth of divine revelation made so easily available to us to study through faith in Him.
The current attack from all sides against the veracity of the bible serves only to further convince me that the end of the day of grace is near at hand, and the time of the Great Tribulation is not too far off. No truly born again Christian, that would be anyone whose salvation is based solely on faith and trust in the blood atonement made by Jesus Christ for his or her sin, will be deceived by these agents of the enemy no matter how cleverly old smutty face camouflages his deceptive schemes in scholarly garb. God said that his word is forever settled in Heaven, and according to Jesus Christ's own words no amount of Satanic deception will change or destroy one jot or tittle of it.