We’ve covered a lot of ground in our discussion about the New Testament canon and its history.
For your review and quick reference, here’s a quick summary of the main points we discussed.
Consider these to be 14 facts that your average believer knows nothing about.
-Contrary to what modern Christianity teaches and promotes, for a period of 200 years starting from after Yeshua was crucified, the early church NEVER held to the notion that the New Testament supersedes or has done away with the “Old” Testament.
-The earliest Christian Bible for a full two centuries after Yeshua’s death was ONLY what gentiles today call the “Old” Testament or the TANAKH in Hebrew.
-The first books to be added to the so-called Christian Bible were NOT the four gospels nor any of Paul’s epistles. Instead the first books to be added to the Christian Bible were the 15 books of the Apocrypha, books that had been important to Judaism for several centuries (but not considered to be on the same level as Torah or the Prophets by the Jews).
-It was only after the Apocrypha was added to the so-called Christian Bible that a separate Biblical section labelled the “New Testament” was canonized and declared as Holy Scripture.
-Even after the New Testament was added to the so-called Christian Bible, there still wasn’t any church-wide universal agreement on exactly which books and letters should be part of the New Testament canon. It wasn’t until the Tridentine Council in 367 A.D. that an official NT canon was established.
-The original Christian church evolved into the Eastern Church and the Western Church. Each of these churches had different religious centers, different religious governments and leaders and held to different religious practices and doctrines. The Eastern Church was based in Byzantium (Istanbul, Turkey today) and the Western Church was based in Rome. They remain separated to this day.
-The Western Church is the father of the Catholic Church and then much, much later all of the Protestant sub-branches.
-To this day, the Catholic Church accepts all 7 books of the Apocrypha as being Holy Scripture. However, at Martin Luther’s order in the 1500’s, the Protestants threw out the Apocrypha from their Bibles. The reason Martin Luther abolished the Apocrypha was because in his mind these books were just too Jewish.
-Contrary to the Western Church, the Eastern Church, depending on the branch, recognizes anywhere from 7 to all 15 of the Apocryphal books as being Holy Scripture.
-The Western Church’s version of the New Testament contains the Book of Hebrews but the Eastern Church’s version of the New Testament does not.
-Yeshua says in Matthew 5…”Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets”. Therefore, it is self-evident that the New Testament must be interpreted in light of the “Old” Testament and NOT vice versa.
-As written in Deuteronomy Chapter 30, we’re shown that the Torah was set beside the Ark of Covenant with the most precious item inside the Ark being the two tablet stones that had the 10 Commandments engraved on them. This ceremonially demonstrated that the Torah was subservient to the 10 Words of God handed down to Moses. In the same way, the New Testament should also be set beside the Torah as being subservient to it.
-Just as the foundation of the Older Testament (“Older”, NOT “Old”) is the 10 Words of God, so is the foundation of the New Testament, the Older Testament.
-Yeshua himself in his relationship with his Father demonstrated the importance of respecting a “Holy Hierarchy” so to speak. He did in everything in his Father’s Will up until his very last hours in the Garden of Gethsemane when he said “If it be possible, take this cup from me, but may Your Will be done…”
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 32
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