We may well approach such a subject with unshod feet. May the Lord give us grace to have due reverence for all His Word.
The writing of the Old Testament covers a period of 1500 years; the New was finished before 100 A. D. It is impossible to estimate the truth that was revealed during the few short years when the New Testament was written. The completeness and perfection of it shows the manifest hand of God. The apostles, who were expecting the Lord’s return at any moment, did not attempt to write a symmetrical and complete volume for the guidance of the church in future ages, nevertheless the Lord’s hand was over the writing of the gospels, and lie used the special occasions on which epistles were written, to form a complete whole, and to present the whole truth under many different aspects.
Someone has said that James carries us on to Peter; Peter commends us to Paul, and finally the work is crowned by the Gospel and Epistles of John.
As to the exact dates of the different books of the New Testament it would be impossible to give them with certainty. Some have thought that the Epistle to the Galatians, others that to the Thessalonians was the first New Testament book to be written. Practically all students of Scripture are agreed that the Gospel and first Epistle of John (which was probably issued with it) were the last to be written. But there is ample proof that all were finished, though, not of course collected into one volume, before the close of the first century.
In considering the writing of the New Testament let us begin with the gospels, against which the swelling tide of higher criticism has been beating for the last 100 years. And in passing let me advise all who are afflicted with doubts, not to be afraid to look thoroughly into the matter. It is better to seriously read and weigh the actual writings of Christians of the first and second centuries than to blindly accept the self-made reasonings of the higher critics. There are positively no reliable facts of history on the side of the higher critics. In fact all the oldest sources of church history, all the allusions to the church in secular writers bear out the New Testament. The explanations of the higher critics are based on hypotheses, deductions and probabilities which cannot possibly be proved.
But though it may be possible to refute the higher critics on their own ground, such a refutation can never be the ground of faith. There must be a leap in the dark, a certain risk taken, before we realize the perfect certainty and peace of Christ’s presence. Like Peter, we encounter the dark night, the waves boisterous, then comes the cry for help, and then the answer—Christ’s own hand holding us up. “No man can pluck them out of My hand.”
After the resurrection of the Lord, the disciples saw Him as it were intermittently. He appeared in the midst of them suddenly and mysteriously, the doors being shut. He vanished out of their sight in the act of breaking the bread. He was seen by none but by believers; but even after the end of the forty days, when He had ascended into the heavens and a cloud received Him out of their sight, they never felt their intimacy with Him was at an end. May we not say that in their after lives of witness and service they came to know Him far better than they had ever done before? The Holy Spirit was dwelling in them and taking of the things of Christ and revealing them unto them. The sense of His presence was very real. “They went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.” (Mark 16:2020And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:20)).
On occasions He was even seen by them. Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
Saul of Tarsus, overwhelmed and heartbroken, saw and heard the One he had resisted so long. But even to a humble disciple like Ananias of Damascus the Lord said, in a vision, “Ananias!” And he said, “Behold, I am here, Lord”—the simple response of one who was not surprised to hear His Lord’s voice directing him to service.
With such a sense of the reality, the imminent presence of the Lord, the first Gospel sermons had little of doctrine or dogma. They were plain statements of facts. The main facts of the Lord’s life and death, and above all, His resurrection were put before the people, and in view of the tremendous import of these facts they were urged to repent, to submit themselves to Him “who had gone about doing good,” who “by wicked hands was crucified and slain,” and Who now “was exalted to be a Prince and a Savior.”
Thus, no doubt the main facts of the Lord’s life, His miracles, His parables, His teachings about the Kingdom, came to be known by the constantly increasing body of believers. When the angel of the Lord released the disciples from prison, He bade them go and speak in the temple all the words of this Life.
“And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,” said Peter to Cornelius.
An inexhaustible store of precious memories the apostles must have had of those three years and a half in company with the Lord. And yet in the first three gospels comparatively few of His works and words are preserved. But of these we often have two or perhaps three accounts according to each gospel. The selection of these passages in the life of our Lord was of the Holy Spirit. “These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” We may conclude that they were passages most often preached to the multitude, most often remembered and repeated to each other by the disciples.
The belief in the Lord’s return for His own was very intense. In fact it is evident that this belief governed all their actions. They made no provision for the future, in the way of organization or creed. Even in material things, the money which the rich believers contributed to the common purse in the beginning of Acts was freely spent, and later on, “Collections are made for the poor saints at Jerusalem.”
They expected the Lord so soon that the things of this life became infinitely unimportant to them. The apostles were given to prayer and the ministry of the Word. There is no hint in the book of Acts of any written Gospel being used by the churches; therefore we may conclude that for the first years of the church nothing was written down. As some one has said, “The Holy Ghost distributed tongues, not pens, at Pentecost.”
None the less, during this time, perhaps twenty years, perhaps more, the Gospels were being worked out, their sacred and spiritual meaning being apprehended more and more, as by the Holy Spirit the apostles meditated upon Him who is the Word of Life. That which they had not understood at the time, now became clear to them. (See Mark 9:3232But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. (Mark 9:32); Luke 18:3434And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. (Luke 18:34); John 2:2222When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. (John 2:22)).
Thus for some years before any of the gospels were written down, the great body of the gospel teaching was in existence, treasured up in the hearts and memories of believers. This may explain why the same narratives often appear in each of the gospels. The first three evangelists, in writing their gospels, drew from the common body of teaching, which had been known for many years. And, yet we can see that writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit each gospel has its own peculiar character, and presents the Lord’s life and work under a different aspect.
(To be continued)