How the New Testament Came Together

How The New Testament Came Together

The Greek word canon can be translated as a straight rod or a carpenter's tool of measurement. The Christian religion in its early stages used the canon with considerable vagueness. Later the canon came to be a testing rule in many areas of life. Eventually the general idea of a canon was applied to the God inspired writings, thus receiving the name "Canon of the Scriptures."

The New Testament canon was slowly compiled though out the years from books that were written well after Jesus' ascension into heaven. The work of the apostles was to convey and provide a personal testimony to the principal details of Jesus' Gospel and teaching history. The teachings of the Apostles were at first oral, and it was not their intention to develop a literature that billions would follow for centuries after. Though out history many devout followers toiled to commit this oral Gospel in to readable text. When the apostles went to be with the Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven, it became extremely important that the records be committed to text. Thus the Gospels came into existence, two are confirmed written by the apostles themselves, and two by friends and close companions of the apostles.

Now many persecutors of the written Holy Scripture demanded that the Scriptures should be given up and reverted back to only an oral tradition if a conclusive list of what books were from divine inspiration. The Christians refused to do. Thus the question of "What books are apostolic?" became very important. The answer lies in our New Testament. At that time many false and spurious gospels and epistles surfaced by various author. Careful, prayerful, and deliberate examination, however, proved which were genuine and which were false. The church as the inspired writings of the apostles and others whose names the books received the genuine stamp of God's divine inspiration. Thus arose the New Testament canon.