Covenant and law are central in the Old Testament, and JESUS CHRIST is central in the New Testament. The dominant theme is the interpretation of Yeshua's nature as CHRIST or MESSIAH (the anointed one), Son of man, Son of God, Lord (master, one in authority), and Prophet. This was a complete reinterpretation of the Jewish hope for an anointed king descended from David. Perhaps before Yeshua's death, his disciples had already acclaimed him as Messiah, but they became convinced of this from experiences that proved to them he was again alive. Thus the RESURRECTION is the second major theme. The Messiah now came to mean, not a conquering, successful king (Messiah ben David; the long-awaited for Messiah that would reverse the fortunes of Israel, once again making them the "head" and not the "tail"), but a crucified Lord (Messiah ben Joseph-a Suffering Servant) whose unique relationship to God could be suggested only partially by the titles applied to him.
Now I say now bears explaining. There is a big difference between the Jewish followers and Gentile followers of Jesus; a very big difference between the Jerusalem church and the churches of Paul, the gospel of James, Peter, and John and the gospel of Paul. Over time with the emerging Gentile Pauline churches we see a complete change in "religious beliefs" as compared with the most intimate Jewish followers of Jesus. Again we must go to the texts for our differences; there is a major difference between what the Jewish Masoretic texts teach concerning "the" Messiah and what the Greek texts teach concerning "the" Messiah.
Understand that following the destruction of the Temple and the scattering of the Jews that over the next 4-5 centuries the Jewish church would be persecuted out of existence. We are left with a Gentile Church of ever gaining strength; especially when "Christianity" became the religion of the state of Rome. Therefore, the non-Jewish "believers," and I say "believers" very loosely, in explaining and defending their faith, these Gentile disciples of Jesus found passages in the Greek Translation of the Old Testament that they believed were prophecies of his birth, death, resurrection, and nature (for example, Psalm 110:1, Isaiah 53; Daniel 7:13-14). As I have tried to show most of these are pure fabrications from the purposeful misquotations of the Jewish Bible which occurred long before the birth of Jesus. These were never prophecies about Jesus but re-modifications of the texts by the Essenes where they changed the concepts of the human Jewish Messiah more in the fashion of their cosmic sun-g-dman redeemer which comes straight out of astral, solar, sun-worship. These same non-Jewish and Gentile believers also preserved Yeshua's sayings and the stories of his life, which they interpreted in light of their faith.
Jesus had proclaimed the gospel ("good news") of the coming reign, or kingdom, of God and carried on a ministry of teaching, forgiveness, and healing. Although much of his teaching agreed with that of other Jews, his more radical and prophetic sayings made enemies. The high priest (Sadducee) and his associates feared Jesus (Pharisee) as a threat to the established order, and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate was persuaded to have Jesus crucified.
Other new experiences of ecstasy and prophecy were interpreted as gifts of the Holy Spirit when many of them were little more than emotionalism because the Holy Spirit will not "anoint" lies and error or contraction of the true Jewish Scriptures. Indeed, most books of the New Testament ponder the relation of the old and the new. Christians, and Jesus himself, believed in the same God as other Jews and recognized the authority of the Old Testament. Yet Jesus, as his accounts in the New Testament how, had supposedly made radical statements that undermined the separateness of Judaism and led logically to the admission of Gentiles into the community. Thus, there emerged a Church embracing Jews and non-Jews that was interpreted as based on a RENEWED COVENANT inaugurated by Jesus. Paul, the greatest apostle of the Gentile mission, defended his policies by teaching that the basis for acceptance by God is faith in Jesus Christ; yet Paul, who did not wish to break with the Jewish identity and community would end up doing the very same thing in his creation of a new religion build around "his gospel" and "his unique" understanding of Jesus which Israel and Judaism could not accept.
The New Testament contains a strong apocalyptic element owing to the Essene influence, whom upon study, can be shown to be the "first Christians" as set off from the Ebionites who were the first true followers of Yeshua. Yeshua's parables and sayings regarding the coming reign of God are enigmatic, and it is not certain that he expected the early end of the world; but many original Christians believed they were living in the last age. Nevertheless, much of the moral teaching of the New Testament is aimed at everyday life in this world, and Christian behavior is a constant theme. But understand that the audience to whom these New Testament writings were directed were heathen and were in desperate need of morality and ethics. The New Testament reflects other concerns of community life, including public worship and church organization, but equal emphasis is placed on individual prayer and and communion with God.
The process by which the canon of the New Testament was formed began in the 2d century, probably with a collection of ten letters of Paul. Toward the end of that century, Irenaeus argued for the unique authority of the portion of the Canon called the Gospels (NOTICE THE FIRST CALL (by Gentiles) TO RECOGNIZE THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITING CAME IN THE LATE SECOND CENTURY)!
Acceptance of the other books came gradually and Gentile church councils after Gentile church councils debated the issues endlessly. The church in Egypt used more than the present 27 books, and the Syriac-speaking churches fewer. The question of an official canon became urgent during the 4th century. It was mainly through the influence of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, and because Jerome included the 27 books in his Latin version of the Bible called the Vulgate, that the present canon came to be accepted.
Answer for yourself: Why did it take almost 400 years for the New Testament writings to be deemed "Scripture"?
Answer for yourself: Why didn't the Apostolic church under James decide that Paul's writings were to be Scripture, let alone the writing of men like Jude, Peter, and Titus?
Answer for yourself: Why didn't Paul (Acts 28) reason with the Jews in Rome from his own personal scriptures (Galatians, Romans, I Corinthians, etc.) instead of resorting to the Law and Prophets as recorded for us? The answer is obvious, Paul did not consider his writings on par, either authoritatively or having the same level of inspiration as those of the Old Testament, or else he would have used them.
Paul did not ever consider his writings to have replaced the Bible Jesus used as seen from the example at the end of his life when he was teaching other Gentiles and Jews in Rome concerning Yeshua it is recorded for us that he did not choose "his own writings" but rather chose to teach from the Law and the Prophets for Paul knew something that the Gentile Christian Church has never learned or forgotten.....nothing will ever replace or take the authority of the Jewish Scriptures. Let us look as this example and learn from it.
Acts 28:23 23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he (Paul) expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. (KJV)
The New Testament consists of FOUR GOSPELS,, the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, and collections of EPISTLES.
The Gospels. Originally gospel meant "good news" (Greek evangelion). The term was later applied to books embodying this message. These are not biographies but proclamations of the good news in story form. Although all dates for New Testament books are debated, prevailing opinion dates MARK AD 68-72, LUKE and MATTHEW c.85, and JOHN 95-100. The first three, called synoptic because they can be compared side by side, have a complicated literary relationship with each other. Probably Matthew and Luke used Mark and a lost document called Q (German Quelle, "source"), consisting mainly of Yeshua's sayings. The parables--short illustrative stories told by Yeshua, usually reflecting daily life--are prominent in the synoptics. The Gospel of John differs from the others in structure and reflects the theological development of the first century, but it contains traditions independent of the synoptics.
The Acts. The Acts of the Apostles was evidently written by Luke as a sequel to his Gospel. It recounts the traditions of the earliest churches in Palestine and gives the details of Paul's missionary journeys as he continues to take and teach the religion of Yeshua to Gentiles throughout the world. Sadly, the unlearned often come to see that Paul was to start a new religion for the Gentile, but upon Hebrew and Greek studies, you will that nothing was further from the truth. Paul continued to take the Festivals, Holy Days, and Sabbaths of Yahweh to the Gentiles in his message of the Gospel.
The Epistles. Two kinds of Epistles are attributed to St. Paul in the New Testament. Nine of them (ten, if EPHESIANS is included) are letters addressed by Paul to specific churches (not for general circulation or correction) and deal mainly with problems of faith, morals, and community life in specific congregations. These letters disclose Paul's interpretation of Pharisaical Judaism as he draws from it the practical expressions of belief an conduct for Gentiles who are turn to faith in Yeshua and his God. Today we look backward and call his preaching a form of "Christianity," but in reality, his teachings embraced little of what we practice today as we have fallen from the mark in obedience when compared with the standard. NOTICE ALSO, ALMOST ALL OF PAUL'S LETTERS ARE INTENDED FOR CORRECTION AND REBUKE OF GENTILES, ALWAYS CALLING FOR THEIR REPENTANCE, EITHER IN THOUGHT, BELIEF, OR ACTION. Paul's preaching was to lead the heathen to the God of Israel, to the faith of Israel, and to the religion of Israel and not a new religion but yet that is what had been done after Paul.
The remainder are not actual letters; rather they are writings in letter form, intended for the whole church or large parts of it. Thus, the pastoral Epistles--1 and 2 TIMOTHY and TITUS--written in Paul's name, contain directions for church leaders and warn against errors in doctrine and behavior. HEBREWS is a carefully constructed sermon by an unknown author and interprets Christ as high priest and urges fidelity in time of persecution.
The general, or catholic, Epistles are so called because they are directed to the church as a whole. The Epistle of JAMES emphasizes the importance of good deeds against an empty type of belief that involves no right action. The first Epistle of PETER proclaims joy in the face of persecution and is addressed particularly to congregations with newly baptized members. The Epistles of JOHN resemble the fourth Gospel. St. John teaches the intimate relationship between love of the brotherhood and the true doctrine about Christ; he also attacks division within the church.
Revelation. The Book of Revelation was written to encourage Messianic Believers (called the "Way," "Nasoreans," or "Nazarenes" in the first century and not "Christians," for only the adversaries of this movement called the Messianic Believers "Christians" (a term of contempt) at this time). It would be these believers who would be persecuted under Domitian (AD 81-96), and let me remind you,this was to happen in their day and time, NOT IN OURS! Others, especially today with the advent of Dispensationalism, feel that it portrays the future through many symbols, and the prophet expects God's judgment on the Roman Empire, a 1,000-year reign of Christ, and a new heaven and a new Earth. I do not wish to get into this at this time in this letter, however, if you study you will find that the word "thousand" in Revelation 20 (thousand years) is PLURAL...meaning "thousands of years." This is another example of poor translation.
Answer for yourself: Now knowing this, what does that do to DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY and their endless parade of last-days charts and anti-Christ teachings?
Several Aramaic targums (free translations or paraphrases) of the Old Testament exist; some of them may be older than the Christian Era. The Greek Septuagint, whose canon was not strictly defined, was gradually produced during the last three centuries BC. An Old Latin version of both Testaments was revised by Jerome, producing the Vulgate. Ancient versions exist in Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and other languages.
During the Middle Ages, parts of the Bible were put into Anglo-Saxon and Middle English. The first English versions of the entire Bible were made (1380-93) by John WYCLIFFE and his associates who used the Latin text. The REFORMATION gave further impulse to translations into modern languages, notably that of Martin LUTHER in German and William TYNDALE in English. Among later versions are the following: Miles COVERDALE's Bible (1535), Matthew's Bible (1537), the Great Bible (1539), Geneva Bible (1560), Rheims-Douai Bible (1582, 1609), King James, or Authorized, Version (1611), English Revised Version (1881-85), American Standard Version (1946-57), New English Bible (1961-70), Jerusalem Bible (1966), New American Bible (1970), Today's English Version (1966-76), and the Revised Standard Version (1946-1971).
more to follow