WE now turn to a few subjects of interest connected with the arrangement of the books, with their various divisions, &c.
It becomes a natural and an interesting question as to how far, and in what way, importance is to be placed in the order of the various books or the New Testament.
As each book was written separately, of course the writers had no hand in placing the several books in one volume. As to their being placed at all comes under the head of the "Canon of the New Testament;" we are now merely considering the order in which they stand in our Testaments.
Some, considering the order of the books to be of God, have endeavored to draw certain lessons from the way in which the contents of one book follow another as to their agreement, or their contrast, the gradual development of truth, &c. It becomes important, therefore, to see what light the history of the text throws upon the subject, and to ascertain the order of the books in the early copies of the New Testament.
In general, we may say that the early manuscripts do not place the books as we now have them, but generally in this order:—
The Gospels.
The Acts of the Apostles.
The Catholic Epistles (so-called).
The Epistles of Paul.
The Revelation.
We say "generally," for there are deviations from this order, and as many copies are only portions of the New Testament, we cannot gather from them the order of the whole. Codex Sinaiticus (St), with three or four others, places the Epistles of Paul before the Acts.
It is not easy to ascertain how the books became arranged as in our present order. If we refer back to the original copies of the common printed Greek text, we find our present order both in Stephens (1550) and the Elzevir (1624). But if we go farther back to the first printed Greek Testament (the Complutensian), we find the above order, namely, the Catholic Epistles placed before those by Paul. But inasmuch as this latter was not published until after the edition by Erasmus (this scholar having the honor of editing the first Greek Testament given to the church), the order of Erasmus—which is the same as in our Testaments-was afterward followed, rather than that of the Complutensian.
If we come to details, we find that the old Latin copies generally put the Gospels in the order of Matthew, John, Luke, Mark. In the Codex Bezæ (Greek and Latin) they are also in this order. In Greek copies generally they are in the order we have them. In the Syriac of Cureton they stand Matthew, Mark, John, Luke. Jerome, in revising the old Latin for his version, transposed the Gospels into the order of the Greek, in which we may say they have become fixed. In one manuscript the Apocalypse comes after the Gospel by John; and in two or three others the Gospels come at the end. But these are isolated cases.
We give a list of the books as they stand in the four oldest manuscripts, that our readers may have the earliest evidence before them.
By these lists the reader will see how the four oldest Greek copies differ in the order of the books. Not one has the same order that we have now. Those who first printed the New Testament, if they had had these copies, would have been perplexed as to which to follow, but they did not then possess them, and, as we have seen, how they determined the order is not now known. By examining these lists it will be seen that the principal transposition is by placing the Catholic Epistles before the Epistles of Paul, instead of after them; in transposing the Acts; and in putting the Hebrews before Timothy, instead of after Philemon. The four copies agree in this last with some of the cursives.
CODEX SINAITICUS (א).
CODEX ALEXANDRINUS (A).
Matthew Mark Luke John Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Hebrews 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Acts James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 33Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (2 John 3) John Jude Apocalypse
Matthew Mark Luke John Acts James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 33Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (2 John 3) John Jude Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Hebrews 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Apocalypse
Codex Vaticanus (B) agrees with A as far as Hebrews, after which all is lost.
Codex Ephraem (C) may also be said to agree with A; 2 John and 2 Thessalonians are lost.
Since the time of the first edition of Erasmus (1516), there can be no doubt that the order we now have has been very generally received and followed. How far this was overruled by God, doing so for the purpose of instruction (had we wisdom to discover it) is for the reader to judge; we are simply giving a sketch of its history. The Acts seems to follow more appropriately the Gospels than in any other place; and in the above lists we miss the Hebrews falling along with James and Peter; the former written to "the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad," and the latter to "the strangers scattered," &c. (the "dispersion"), which are brought together in our present order.