Theimmortalone warcraft 3 maps11/14/2023 ![]() The oral tradition of the gospels (doubtless that tradition contained most of what forms the gospels that we have today) predates the written gospels by decades. This is more than a decade or two before those gospels are held to have been written. He specifically says that he traditioned (ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα ὑμῖν) to them what he himself had received by tradition (παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου), that “In the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread…” He then relates, pretty much word-for-word, the account of the institution of the Eucharist as it is given in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth of the oral tradition of the Eucharist. Paul and his fledgling communities were not strangers to this oral tradition. They clearly have much material in common (sometimes word for word). They were not entirely the compositions of four different men (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). The gospels (all four) which we now have, show clear evidence of having first been known and taught orally. This last instruction points to the reality of the Church’s life. It was this beloved Church that he called, “the Body of Christ.” It was this beloved Church that he called, “The Pillar and Ground of Truth.” It was her inner life, described as “traditions,” taught “by word or our epistle,” that he instructed his fellow workmen to “hold fast” (2 Thess. Everything he wrote, he wrote as an extension of his work in and for the Church. What else did he do for 35 years? He established communities of Christians all across the Mediterranean he taught he communicated the Tradition He trained and ordained leaders He revisited communities He trained a team to assist him. In that time he wrote 14 letters (at most). The Apostle Paul’s ministry stretched over 35 years (more or less). It is this labor that occupied all of their time and their attention. What the Apostles completed in their lifetime (and even before its end) was the founding of the Church. The Scriptures that today comprise the New Testament were completed by the end of that century, but they had not yet become the Scriptures that they would be. Those who struggle to anchor the Christian faith in a first-century Scripture, fail to notice what the Apostles actually did complete by the end of the first century. How was the early Church able to decide what was authentic and what was false? The modern NT scholar, Bart Ehrman, has created a small cottage industry by playing off this problem. Of course, unlike the American Constitution, the New Testament did not include a method of “ratification.” By the time of the last Apostle, there were already documents claiming to be “Apostolic” or the “Secret teachings of Jesus” in circulation. However, once they died, the Scriptures become the sole authority ( Sola Scriptura). ![]() The Scriptures were not utterly necessary until they died. While the Apostles were alive, they reason, they functioned as a sort of living New Testament. ![]() How can you establish the authority of the New Testament before the New Testament is complete? With advocates of a “New Testament Church,” this problem is usually obviated by reference to the Apostles. There is, first, the problem of circular logic. But, we will note, they have established a requirement that not even the early Church observed. It is that same method that they use to justify their own beliefs and practices. For them, only those things that can be “proven” by reference to the New Testament are considered authoritative or true. There are a number of modern Christians who speak of the New Testament as though it were the definitive achievement of the early Church. Why did the so-called “New Testament Church” wait for over a century to declare what would be the New Testament? Yet, the Church did not declare what writings were to be considered Scripture for more than a century after that. The writings that are today described as being the New Testament were largely or completely finished by the end of the first century – that is – within the lifetime of the longest surviving disciple (St. Interestingly, the process did not happen right away. ![]() How did the Scriptures become the Scriptures? In particular, how did early Christians decide which books would be included in the Scriptures and which books would not – for there were far more writings of the time that were set aside than those that were accepted as being Scripture? ![]()
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