The Christian Scriptures Canon of the New Testament

Definition  The New Testament is a collection of books written from 50ce to 100ce. It was put together in about 150ce.  There are 27 books in Christian Scripture, even though there were hundreds of writings about Jesus.  The writings from the scriptures vary in style and have several different authors. Some of the books are letters, sermons, and some highly symbolic and imaginative writings.  The books contained in Scripture are called the Canon which means they were agreed upon by the early Church and accepted as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Theme  The overall theme of the Scriptures centers around the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus and the impact these events had on the community of believers emerging at that time.  Scripture tells the story of Jesus and answers the many questions people had about Him and His Ministry  The remainder of the scriptures were written to meet the needs of the growing, worshiping community.

CANON Of The New Testament  The 4 Gospels  The stories of Jesus preaching, suffering, death, and resurrection  Put together as chronological and historical but more concerned with the message than with historical details of Jesus life.  The Gospels are  MATTHEW  MARK  LUKE  JOHN

CANON  Acts of the Apostles  Written by Luke  This contains the records of the initial development of the early church  Stories of the missionary work, [preaching and baptizing] by the Disciples and Apostles. The teaching of Jesus’ message of Good News.

CANON  Pauline Epistles  13 epistles (letter)  Written to individuals and new communities to support and educate them about Jesus and His mission.  Corinthians 1 and 2  Thessalonians 1 and 2  Timothy 1 and 2  Philippians  Philemon  Titus  Romans  Galations  Colossians  Ephesians

CANON  Letter to Hebrews [14 th letter]  Unknown author. It was accepted because it was written in a similar style as Paul.  It is mainly an Extended sermon to a group in danger of losing faith in Jesus

CANON  Catholic Epistles  Catholic means universal  Seven letters attributed--written by the Apostles  Addressed to established believers, so as to teach and encourage. The letters are: The letters are:  James  1 and 2 Peter  1,2,3 John  Jude

CANON  Revelation  Attributed to/written by apostle John  Christians were being persecuted by the Romans  This book encourages believers to remain faithful to Christ and to persevere through the persecutions