The Legacy of Paul

THE NEW TESTAMENT

DefinitionsCanon

• Rule or “standard”

• Used by religious groups to refer to list of books officially accepted as scripture

Apostolic Tradition

•Chain of connection to Jesus and Paul• Early churches copied and shared writings within this tradition

Second Century

Gnosticism: • Valued the spiritual and despised the

material

Marcion (ca. 110-160):

• Wanted to remove Jewish influence over Christianity to make it purely Gentile• He rejected or edited many writings

corrupt due to their “Jewishness”

Other Christians:• Created gnostic writings then attributed

them to Apostles• Continued until 4th Century

Gospel of Judas

Criteria for Writings to be Included in Canon•Orthodoxy

•Apostolic origin

•General acceptance

•Citations by bishops

Determining Canonization• Books of NT were written by 150CE

• Origen of Alexandria (ca. 185-254): using our 27 books by the 200’s

• Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria (ca. 296-373): listed the 27 books we use now and called them canonized in his Easter Letter written in 367CE.

• St. Augustine of Hippo (ca. 354-430): Councils of Carthage, 397, 419 recognized canon and considered it closed.

“…the New Testament is not just a collection of early Christian writings; rather, it is a selection of those writings.”

Powell, p51

Western Acceptance• Pope Damasus (ca. 305-384):• commissioned Jerome to produce Latin

vulgate of Bible• completed in 405CE• Led to acceptance of the 27 books of New

Testament we have now.

Today’s CanonCatholic: • Canon of Trent 1546 CE• Included deuterocanonical books i.e. Apocrypha

• Used Jerome’s Latin vulgate translations, not Greek and Hebrew texts

Protestant:• Reformation 1517-1685• Luther rejected deuterocanonical books

New Testament Contents• Gospels (4)

• Acts

• Letters from Paul to churches (9)

• Letters from Paul to individuals (4)

• Letter to the Hebrews

• Letters by others (7)

• Revelation

Letters/Epistles“…It [a letter] conveyed the personal presence of the one who sent it.” Powell, p229

Salutation:• Author• Recipient• Greetings (Grace)

Thanksgiving:• Good Health

Main Body:• Reason for Writing

Closing:• Good Health• Farewell

Method 1 of organizing Letters:• Letters by Paul to churches• Letters by Paul to individuals• Anonymous letter to the Hebrews• Letters by James, Peter, John and Jude

21 Letters

Method 2 of organizing Letters:Pastoral Epistles : 3 letters addressed to pastoral leaders of churches:

• 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus

Captivity Epistles (Prison letters): 5 Letters that appear to have been written from prison:

• Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 2 Timothy, Philemon

“Catholic” Epistles (General Letters): 7 letters written to the church at large:

• James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude

21 Letters - Continued

Paul’s Letters7 Undisputed: (Pauline)• Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians,

Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon

3 Not written by Paul: Deutero-Pauline• Written in Paul’s name several years after his death• 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus

3 Disputed Authorship• No scholarly consensus, majority see them as not

from Paul or ”post Paul”

• Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians

Resources• Introducing the New TestamentMark Allan Powell

•The Movie “Luther”Fiction 2003 (entertainment)

Powerpoint By Stacey Atkins

This Presentation is the Intellectual Property of Stacey Atkinswww.SomethingDifferentMinistries.org

Copyright 2014