New Testament

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New Testament the distinctively Christian portion of the Bible , consisting of 27 books of varying lengths dating from the earliest Christian period. The seven epistles whose authorship by St. Paul is undisputed were written c.AD 50–AD 60; most of the remaining books were written in the era AD 70–100, often incorporating earlier traditions. All were written in the koinē idiom of the Greek language .

The works are, in the conventional order: the Gospels of Matthew , Mark , Luke , and John ; the Acts of the Apostles , a history of apostolic missionary activity; 21 letters written in apostolic times, called epistles, named for their addressee (or, in the case of the last seven, for their putative author)— Romans , First and Second Corinthians , Galatians , Philippians , Philemon , First and Second Thessalonians , Ephesians , Colossians , First and Second Timothy , Titus (these 13 comprising the Pauline corpus, although Paul's authorship of the last six is disputed), Hebrews , James , First and Second Peter , First, Second, and Third John , and Jude ; and finally Revelation , or the Apocalypse. Most present problems of date, composition, or authorship. All reflect the needs of the community addressed, as well as their religious convictions and cultural heritage. Consequently, they reflect a diversity of viewpoints while agreeing that Jesus' death and resurrection marks the decisive intervention of God in human affairs.

The 27 books of the New Testament represent only a portion of early Christian literature (see patristic literature ). There are other gospels, epistles, narratives, and apocalypses among the Pseudepigrapha and in the Nag Hammadi corpus. The selection of books considered canonical, i.e., authoritative, evolved over the first four centuries of the Christian era. The first canon was compiled by the heretic Marcion in the mid-2d cent. Marcion accepted only the letters of Paul (though not Titus or First and Second Timothy) and a truncated version of the Gospel of St. Luke. The earliest extant orthodox list is the Muratorian canon (c.190 or possibly later), which contains most of the books finally accepted as canonical. There was, however, dispute for some time over seven books (Hebrews, James, Second Peter, Second and Third John, Jude, and Revelation) eventually included in the canon, and over others (including the letters of Ignatius of Antioch , First Clement , the Shepherd of Hermas , the Epistle of Barnabas (see Barnabas, Saint , and the Didache ). The present New Testament canon appears for the first time in the Festal Letter of St. Athanasius (367). The criterion was that works written by an apostle or by a colleague of one could be trusted to preserve the authentic apostolic witness to Jesus. The traditional view has been that a canonical work must also be divinely inspired. All major Christian traditions use the same New Testament.

Bibliography: See studies by H. Koester (1982); L. T. Johnston (1986); D. E. Aune (1987); E. J. Epp and G. W. MacRae (1989); R. A. Spivey and D. M. Smith (1989); J. D. G. Dunn (1990); R. Price (1996); R. E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (1997).

New Testament The twenty-seven books comprising the second part of the Christian Bible, not arranged in the chronological order of writing but roughly according to subject matter: first, the narratives about Jesus, followed by the response to him in the life of the primitive Church (the Acts of the Apostles); then the letters of Paul, of which seven are generally thought to be from his own hand; letters by other early Christians; and finally the Revelation to John. This last is sometimes called the Apocalypse, and is a Christian vision of the future hope, couched in the form of an address to seven Churches in Asia Minor. The name ‘New Testament’ is an alternative translation of ‘New Covenant’, which looks back to the prophecy of Jeremiah (31: 31–4) of a new relationship between God and people. As the title for a collection of writings the name can be traced to the end of the 2nd cent., and was standard usage by the 4th cent. But the precise contents of the NT took time to be established: there were doubts about 2 Peter (a very late writing), 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Rev. The last two books were also regarded by Martin Luther in the 16th cent. CE and his followers as lacking the authority of the rest, and Luther also gave less value to Hebrews and James. The present list of twenty-seven was set out by Athanasius in Alexandria (367 CE). See canon.

All the NT writings are in Hellenistic (koine) Greek. The divisions into chapters date only from the 13th cent., and into verses from the Greek NT of Stephanus in 1551, adopted for the English translation of William Whittingham (1557).

New Testament Second part of the Bible, consisting of 27 books all originally written in Greek after ad 45 and concerning the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. It begins with the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), which present a common narrative of Christ's life and ministry, and a fourth gospel (John), which is more of a theological meditation. The Acts of the Apostles follows, which records the early development and spread of Christianity. Next come 21 letters (the Epistles) addressed to specific early Church communities. The New Testament ends with the Revelation of St John the Divine (otherwise known as the Apocalypse), which is an interpretation of history designed to demonstrate the sovereignty of God.

New Tes·ta·ment • n. the second part of the Christian Bible, written originally in Greek and recording the life and teachings of Jesus and his earliest followers. It includes the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, twenty-one epistles by St. Paul and others, and the book of Revelation.

New Testament. The Canonical Books belonging exclusively to the Church, as contrasted with those styled Old Testament, which it shares with Judaism. The NT contains the four Gospels, Acts, the Pauline and ‘Catholic’ Epistles, and Revelation. See also CANON OF SCRIPTURE.

New Testament. The collection of books which in addition to the Jewish scriptures make up the Christian Bible. The Greek word diathēkē, ‘covenant, testament’, in the sense of writings goes back to Paul (2 Corinthians 3. 14).