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Jesus and the NT

Its nature

Jesus confirmed the OT directly and promised the NT indirectly:

Its extent

Christendom is unanimous on the 27 books of the NT

The apostles and NT prophets were given revelation from God.

To be an apostle on must have been an eye witness of the resurrection

Apostles and their associates were confirmed by miracles

After Pentecost, the special sign gifts were given only to and through the apostles.

When apostles died they were not replaced with other apostles

 Rather elders were appointed in each church o carry on the ministry

But Jesus promised to guide them into all truth and bring all things to their remembrance. Thus, the apostles (with their associates) were responsible by the guidance of the Spirit to produce and preserve the whole of Jesus’ teaching for the faith and practice for all future generations of believers. This teaching was the basis of the church until Jesus returns

Its acceptance

There is an unbroken chain of testimony after the time of the apostles accepting the 27 books of the NT. Polycarp was a disciple of John who wrote the Gospel of John, John 1,2 and 3 and the book of Revelation. Polycarp was followed by Irenaeus. The canon of the Bible was held by the vast majority of Christians to be God’s Word to the church.

This does not mean that there have not been books written and suggested as Scripture. Irenaeus (2nd cent) commented on such a book, “Indeed they have arrived at such a pitch of audacity, as to entitle their comparatively recent writing, “the Gospel of Truth” though it agrees in nothing with the Gospels of the Apostles, so that they have really no Gospel, which is not full of blasphemy …But that these Gospels (of the Apostles)  also are true and reliable, and admit neither an increase nor diminution of the aforesaid number [four], I have proved by so many and such arguments (Against Heresies 3.11.)

The Apocryphal Gospels

NT revelation was completed by the time the apostles died. Even critics agree the NT was finished by AD 100. All books after that (in the 2nd and 3rd centuries) are Apocryphal works. The only record we have is from the time of the apostles and consist of the 27 books of the NT. Hence, God’s revelation was complete with the NT.

Cults and critics are the primary deniers of the 27 book NT Canon. Recently the fictional DaVinci Code claimed that more than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a few were chosen for inclusion (Mathew, Mark, Like, and John). The Da Vinci Code developed a number of followers who seemed to believe it was history rather than fiction. Were 80 considered? NO, There are only four from the first century (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The others were later (2nd and 3rd century) and were never considered for the New Testament. While there are dozens of fragments there are only 15-20 apocryphal Gospels of note such as:

Were they authentic? To begin with that had false claims to be written by apostles who were long dead. They also had fanciful stories and false teachings. There were many false miracle claims. Two follow:

There are numerous false teachings. Gnosticism, Pantheism, Mysticism, Legalism, Docetism, Adoptionism, Arianism, and Pre incarnationism are all present. Some examples follow:

The Fathers of the Church rejected them.

If these documents are false does it mean that truth cannot be found outside the Bible? No, all truth is God’s truth. The Bible cites truth that is outside of itself.

OT References

NT References

The Bible says there is truth outside itself.

It does not mean there is no truth in other religions

Moral truths in other religions

Theological Truths in other religions

All of this leads to a conclusion that Christianity is the true religion. Everything it teaches is true

Its teachings are superior and what it reaches is sufficient for faith and practice.