The New Testament Books are the Earliest Christian Writings We Possess

canon fodder ^ | January 21, 2013 | Michael J. Kruger

[GreyFriar]

See my post # 60 and the link there: http://bswett.com/2012NTChron.html

[GreyFriar]

Agreed, all were early. See the link I posted in #60 to a study on the New Testament Chronology done in 2012.

http://bswett.com/2012NTChron.html

Please note that I am NOT the author of this study.

[xzins]

Thanks, GF. The paper seems reasonable to me and with an effort to be fair with dates.

I’d place Mark earlier than it does, and I’m not real sure I’d say Mark was copied as I’d say that they all had access to the same sources....notes, perhaps, taken by those who accompanied Jesus.

The following is evidence that notes were a real thing in that era:

***23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide mounts for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.” 25 He wrote a letter as follows: 26 Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen.***

[GreyFriar]

The same man did a very good, in my opinion, transaltion and examination of The Didache (The Teaching). It is at: http://bswett.com/1998-01Didache.html

His closing paragraph: Certainly Barnabas and Paul were “The Apostles to the Gentiles.” If the Didache is a sample of their teaching, as it certainly seems to be, then it must be dated no later than AD 49 because that was when they went their separate ways. The most probable date is either AD 44 or AD 47. In either case, those dates are earlier than anything in the New Testament. Therefore, I believe the Didache is the earliest Christian document we have. Although rightly regarded as a church handbook and not a Gospel or absolutely based on the teachings of Jesus, it provides valuable insights concerning the moral doctrines, theology, rituals, esoteric operations and congregational testing of apostles and prophets, and the basic organization of First Century Christianity.

[Lakeshark]

One of the interesting notes Luke records in the Book of Acts (late in Chapter 2) is how strongly the early Church converts were devoted to the Apostles teaching.

This was not a group that was interested in being kept ignorant of the specifics of who Jesus was and what he taught. They were quite focused on it, giving another hint that they either wrote it down very early (my hunch), or at least kept a full oral tradition alive for the twenty or so years before the three so called synoptic gospels were written down (My hunch: much was written earlier, then compiled by different people in different places with the help of others who lived through it and witnessed all of it).

Good links and info btw, much appreciated.

[bunkerhill7]

That`s what I Thought too 40-50 A.D.?

[rdb3]

“For I delivered to you [b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; . . .

I LOVE how the Apostle Paul stated this! All according to the Scriptures.

Jesus Christ: You can’t impeach Him and He ain’t going to resign.

[rdb3]

Yeshua’s coming was prophecied in Deuteronomy 18.

Yes! From a prophetic view, it's all laid out plainly in Genesis 5.

Homework must be done, but it is all right there!

Jesus Christ: You can’t impeach Him and He ain’t going to resign.

[Gamecock]

That is a great point!

[lonestar67]

Amen to that !

[editor-surveyor]

There is no significant evidence that The Didache is even authentic. Nobody ever mentioned it until centuries later.

[TBP]

The oldest actual texts we have date from at least a century or two after Jesus. We do not have originals. The earliest versions we have are not originals and almost certainly have been altered from what the authors originally wrote. And there are many revisions subsequent to those versions.

And the dates in which the books were originally written appear to be no earlier than at least 70-90 AD.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

“The oldest actual texts we have date from at least a century or two after Jesus”

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The oldest actual text would be a fragment from John from chapter 18 found in Egypt, dated between 125-160AD. Though, it was mentioned by Papias about 100AD, so obviously it would have to be even older than that. John was likely written about 80-90AD, by John himself who was then living. Irenaeus, born around 120AD, quotes from John here:

“Now the Gospels, in which Christ is enthroned, are like these. For that according to John expounds his princely and mighty and glorious birth from the Father, saying, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,’ and, ‘All things were made by him, and without him nothing was nothing made’ . Therefore this Gospel is deserving of all confidence, for such indeed is his person.” (Against Heresies, 3.11.8)

(Actually he quotes from all 4 Gospels more than 600 times.)

“The earliest versions we have are not originals and almost certainly have been altered from what the authors originally wrote.”

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“Almost” certain. Which basically means that you’re not certain at all. Good for you!

[ravenwolf]

“For I delivered to you [b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

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You have the evidence here with out doubt( at least in my mind ) that some of the Gospels were wrote before the time of Pauls letter to the Corinthians which would make them less than 27 or even less than 17 years after the crucifixion.

Makes sense to me.

[MHGinTN]

Paul received the Gospel both directly from Jesus, sort of, and directly from the Apostles. He returned after his first missionary journey to check with the living Apostles in Jerusalem, then went back into the mission field. His letters to the Corinthians reflect his explanation of this 'keeping in touch' with the living Apostles.

When Paul refers to 'according to the scriptures', it is generally accepted that he is referring to what we call the 'Old Testament' encoded instructions of Messiah coming to bring the Gospel of The Grace of God in The Christ. Jesus, during the period following His resurrection, before His Ascension, 'opened the scriptures' to show how The Gospel of Grace is foretold and how He fulfilled it.

[MHGinTN]

Here is a link to a wonderful session from Gary Habermas explaining the 'currency' of what Paul shared in his missionary journies. The first link is to part 1 of five or six parts, and the second link is to gary's video page online:

http://garyhabermas.com/video/habermas_unc_04-11-07_pt1.wmv

http://garyhabermas.com/video/video.htm

There is a glorious wealth of spiritually instructive and uplifting material at Dr. Habermas's website.

[MHGinTN]

The video lecture is ‘Lecture at UNC Chapel Hill - April 11, 2007’, where Gary Habermas makes an extremely strong case for the eyewitness testimony for the Ressurection and explains how Paul’s writing about the resurrection is very closely tied to the eyewitnesses of the events regarding Jesus, His death, burial, and resurrection.

[MHGinTN]

Pingaling ... thought you might enjoy this link.

[jodyel]

Thanks so much, MHGinTN.

I will take a look now.

God bless,
jodyel

[ravenwolf]

‘Old Testament’ encoded instructions of Messiah coming to bring the Gospel of The Grace of God in The Christ. Jesus,

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Don,t understand what you mean.