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To: dangus

Yes. I’m just referring to the idea that some of Paul’s letters had not even been written yet, likewise, Revelation.

Not every Christian has had a complete bible and many (think Gentile converts) never saw any “old testament” writings. The bible is a powerful tool, but a person can be a Christian without having ever seen a bible or read a word of its content.


23 posted on 09/02/2014 11:17:21 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: cuban leaf; dangus
Not every Christian has had a complete bible and many (think Gentile converts) never saw any “old testament” writings.

As dangus said above, the really early church had the Greek Septuagint, which was a ~250 BC Greek translation of the Old Testament. Literacy was at best 10%. So the early church was still highly oral in tradition.

The early church did not compile the various writings which now comprise the New Testament until after a couple of hundred years. But they did circulate the letters and Gospels between churches from the beginning. Paul encouraged it in his writing. Part of the "fullness of time" cited by Christ was the preparation of the world for the planting of the church. Briefly, the preparation included: (1) dispersion of Jewish communities around the Mediterranean, (2) Pax Romana allowing peaceful travel, (3) Roman road system, (4) translation of the Old Testament into Greek, and (5) universal use of Greek around the Mediterranean.

Notice that the groundwork for many of these prerequisites was laid centuries before the first coming of Christ! :)

33 posted on 09/02/2014 11:32:27 AM PDT by the_Watchman
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