In the New Testament writings, revelation and response came together in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the one hand, Jesus was God's perfect revelation of Himself - He was the divine Word in human form. His work of mercy and power portrayed God in action, especially His supreme act of sacrifice to bring about the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. His teaching expressed the mind of God. - Rom. 3:21-26 - "Jesus Christ, who is just; he is the sacrifice that takes our sins away, and not only ours, but the whole world's." - 1 John 2:2 -

In Jesus life and ministry, He illustrated the perfect human response of faith, love and obedience to God. Jesus was "the Apostle [God's Messenger to us] and High Priest [our representative with God] of our confession. Therefore, Jesus performed the mighty acts of God and He spoke authoritatively as God's Messenger and Prophet.

That is why all you who are holy brothers and have the same heavenly call should turn your minds to Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our religion. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just like Moses, who stayed faithful in all his house; but he has been found to deserve a greater glory than Moses. It is the difference between the honor given to the man that built the house and to the house itself. Every house is built by someone, of course; but God built everything that exists. It is true that Moses was faithful in the house of God, as a servant, acting as witness to the things which were to be divulged later; but Christ was faithful as a son, and as the master in the house. And we are his house, as long as we cling to our hope with the confidence that we glory in. - Heb. 3:1-6 -

The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is a written, authoritative record by which any teaching or theory may be judged. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. The message of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given literary form. But the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible owes its preservation to the fact that all these oral narratives were eventually reduced to writing. Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Words for future generations.

The first person to write anything down was Moses. God instructed Moses to write as a permanent memorial the divine vow that the name of Amalek would be blotted out. From that time until the end of the New Testament age, the writing of the many books and parts of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible continued.

With the edge of the sword Joshua cut down Amalek and his people. Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'Write this action down in a book to keep the memory of it, and say in Joshua's hearing that I shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.' - Ex. 17:13-14 -

None of the original scriptural or biblical documents - referred to by scholars as the "original autographs" has survived. No scrap of parchment or papyrus bearing the handwriting of any of the scriptural or biblical authors has been discovered. But before the original documents disappeared, they were copied. These copies of the original writings are the texts on which current translation of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible are based.

The process of copying and recopying the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible has continued to our time. Until the middle of the 15th century A.D. all the copying was done by hand. Then, with the invention of printing in Europe, copies could be made in greater quantities by using this new process. Each copy of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible had to be produced slowly by hand with the old system, but now the printing press could produce thousands of copies in a short time. This made the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible available to many people, rather than just the few who could afford handmade copies.

The older handwritten copies of Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible texts are called manuscripts. Early manuscripts for the books were written on papyrus or skin. Papyrus was a type of ancient paper manufactured from a reed plant that grew in the Nile Valley and similar environments. Papyrus was inexpensive, but it was not very durable. It rotted quickly when exposed to dampness.

The ancient papyrus manuscripts which have been discovered were found in the dry sands of Egypt and other arid places. Great quantities of inscribed papyri have been recovered from the Egyptian sands during the last hundred years dating from the period shortly before and after the beginning of the Christian era, about A.D. 30. A few scraps of papyri containing ancient texts of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible have been among the recovered manuscripts.

The skins of animals proved to be much more durable writing materials than papyrus. Many different writing materials were manufactured from such skins. Some were a coarse form of leather. Others were subjected to a special refining process, emerging as a writing material known as parchment. Vellum, another valued writing material, was made from calfskin. Some of the most important manuscripts of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible were written on vellum.

The Canon of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible - The word canon means a "rod' - specifically, a rod with graduated marks used for measuring length. This words refers to the list of individual books that were eventually judged as authoritative and included as a part of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The early formation of the canon of the Old Testament is not easy to trace. Its threefold division in its early history - the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings - may reflect the three stages of its formation. From, the beginning, the Law was accepted, even if it was not always obeyed. Evidence of its acceptance would include Moses' reading of "the Book of the Covenant" to the people at Mount Sinai and the people's response, "All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient." - Ex. 24:7 -

Further evidence of acceptance of the Law includes the discovery of the "Book of the Law" probably the Book of Deuteronomy, in the Temple of Jerusalem during king Josiah's reign and the religious reform which followed. - 2 Kin. 22:8-23:25 -

Following the return of the Jewish people from Babylonian Captivity, "the Book of the Law of Moses" was read to the people of Jerusalem under Ezra's direction. This book became the constitution of their new nation. - Neh. 8:1-18 -

The second division of the Old Testament accepted by the Jewish people was the Prophets. The prophets' words were preserved from the beginning by their disciples or by others who recognized the prophets as messengers of God. In general, their words were probably written shortly after they were spoken, for their authority as God's messengers came before their widespread acceptance by the Jewish people. The words of the prophets were included because they were considered to be authoritative.

The third division of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Writings, may have remained 'open' longer than the first two. Scholars know less about the formation of this division than the first two. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible which Jesus used was the Hebrew Old Testament. He left no instructions about forming a new collection of authoritative writings to stand beside the books which He and His disciples accepted as God's Word.

The Old Testament was also the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible of the early Church, but it was the Old Testament as fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. Early Christians interpreted the Old Testament in the light of His person and His work. This new perspective controlled the early Church interpretation to such a degree that, while Jews and Christians shared the same Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, they understood it so differently that they might almost have been using two different Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.

The deeds and words of the Lord Jesus Christ were first communicated in spoken form. The apostles and their associates proclaimed the Gospel [Good News] by word of mouth. Saint Paul taught the believers orally in the Church when he was present. But when he was absent, he communicated through his epistles or letters.

Quite early in its history, the Church felt a need for a written account of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. His teachings did provide the basis for the new Christian way of life. But the Church grew so large that many converts were unable to rely on the instruction of those who had heard and memorized the teachings of Jesus. From about A.D. 50 onward, probably more than one written collection of sayings of Jesus circulated in the Church. The earliest written Gospel appears to have been the Gospel According To Saint Mark, written about A.D. 64.

An individual Gospel, a letter from an apostle, or even several works circulating independently, would not amount to a canon. A canon implies a collection of writings. There is evidence that two collections of Christian writings circulated among the Church at the beginning of the second century. One of these was the Gospel collection - the four writings which are commonly called the 'Four Gospels.' The other collection was the Pauline collection, or the letters or epistles of the apostle Paul. The anonymous letter to the Hebrews was added to this second collection at an early date.

Early Christians continued to accept the Old Testament in the light of Jesus' deeds and words only if they had a reliable record of them. So, alongside Moses and the prophets, they had these early writings about Jesus and letters from the apostles, who had known Jesus in the flesh.

When officials of the early Church sought to make a list of books about Jesus and the early Church which they considered authoritative, they retained the Old Testament, on the authority of Jesus and His apostles. Along with these books they recognized as authoritative the writings of the new age - Four Gospel, the 13 letters or epistles of apostle Paul, and the letters of other apostles and their companions. The Gospel collection and the apostolic collection were joined together by the book of 'The Acts Of The Apostles' which served as a sequel to the Gospel story, as well as a narrative background for the earlier epistles.

The primary standard applied to a book was that it must be written either by an apostle or by someone close to the apostles. This guaranteed that their writing about the Lord Jesus Christ and the early Church would have the authenticity of an eyewitness account. As in the earliest phase of the Church existence, "The apostles doctrine" was the basis of its life and thought. The apostolic writings formed the charter, or foundation documents of the Church.

These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, and to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. - Acts 2;42 -

None of the books written after the death of the apostles were included in the New Testament, although early Church officials recognized they did have some value as inspirational documents. The fact that they were written later, ruled them out for consideration among the Church foundation documents. These other writings might be suitable for reading aloud in Church because of their edifying character, but only the apostolic writings carried ultimate authority. They alone could be used as the basis of the Church belief and practice.

In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third teachers; and after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good teachers, those with many languages. - 1 Cor. 12:28 -

Behind the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is a thrilling story of how God revealed Himself and His will to human spokesperson and then acted throughout history to preserve His Word and pass it along to future generations. In the words of the prophets:

The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God remains for ever. - Isaiah 40:8 -

Lasting to eternity, your word. - Psalms 119:89 -

I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all these things will have taken place. heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. - Matthew 24:34-35 -

In the beginning was the Word:
the Word was with God
and the Word was God. - John 1:1 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -