THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The New Testament as we have it today was not finalized until the fourth century, but even by 200 AD, the church recognized the general contents of the New Testament, especially the four gospels and the epistles of Paul. Edgar Goodspeed has theorized that in 95 AD, Paul's letters were collected following the publication of the book of Acts. The epistle of Paul to the Ephesians was compiled as an encyclical and included to head this collection. Many New Testament scholars believe that if this was true, the original nucleus of the New Testament was Paul's epistles to which were added the so-called “Catholic” epistles (James, Peter, John and Jude) and the “Pastoral” epistles (the two epistles to Timothy and Titus) in 100-105 AD. The Gospels were then gathered together into this collection around 150 AD, forming the bulk of the New Testament. From the end of the 2nd century, the contents of the New Testament were unchallenged. The contents was not chosen by any synod or decree, but by the test of daily usage, these books stood out in their ability to nourish, edify, and strengthen the early church.
There was delay in the case of two books, the epistle to the Hebrews and the Revelation of John. Perhaps because of its mysterious authorship, inclusion into the canon was promoted by the Eastern Church. In the case of the book of Revelation, it was the East that hesitated. The Western Church admitted it on the grounds that the future of the church was previewed.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Sovereignly, the New Testament was written in Greek, a language as common world-wide in the first century as English is today. This permitted the gospel to spread rapidly in early church history. Koine (common) Greek was spread across the middle east during the reign of Alexander the Great from 336 to 323 BC, and had become simpler and more uniform as time went on.
NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS
(Geisler and Nix)
The Uncial Manuscripts
The most important manuscripts are the oldest ones, the uncials, of which there are 29, which were written on parchment and vellum from the fourth to the ninth centuries. They are written in capital letters with no breaks between words and with a number of word contractions. There was practically no punctuation and no verse numbering or chapter divisions. When cursive writing became common, the more difficult uncials were relied upon less.
Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph)
Generally considered the most important witness to the New Testament because of its antiquity, accuracy, and lack of omissions, this fourth century Greek manuscript was discovered by German Count Tischendorf in the monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai in 1843. Finding a basket of scraps used by monks to light their fires, he was shown 129 leaves of what seemed to be the oldest Bible he had ever seen. The monks observed his excitement and only allowed him forty-three leaves of vellum (antelope skins), containing portions of the Septuagint. In 1859 he found a nearly complete portion of the scriptures. It was bought from the Soviet government in 1933 and is presently in the British Museum. The Codex Sinaiticus contains almost half of the Septuagint, and the entire New Testament.
Codex Vaticanus (B)
Perhaps the oldest uncial and one of the most important manuscript and also the oldest uncial on either parchment or vellum (325-350), it was made know to Biblical scholars since 1481, when it was cataloged in the Vatican Library. In 1843, Constantin Tischendorf, a German scholar, was allowed to view the manuscript for a brief six hours. The next year, De Muralt was permitted to view it for nine hours. In 1845, Tregelles, a British scholar, was allowed to view it but not to copy a single word. Tischendorf persevered, breaking the rules by copying twenty pages instead of merely collating difficult passages. This breach of etiquette resulted in restriction to his access, although in fourteen days of viewing the manuscript for only three hours at a time, in 1867 he was able to produce the most accurate edition up to that time.
Codex Alexandrinus (A)
A fifth century manuscript of the Old and New Testaments that ranks immediately following B and Aleph as representative of the New Testament text. In 1078 it was presented to the Patriarch of Alexandria. Although known to be in existence by the translators of the King James Bible, it was unavailable for use in their translation, having reached England in 1627. It is presently in the British Museum.
The Miniscule Manuscripts
Of the 4500 manuscripts, all but about three hundred are miniscules, or cursives, written between the ninth and fifteenth centuries. As a result of their more recent history, they are of less value than the earlier uncials.
THE CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
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