Please give me input, dear brothers and sisters.
Yours in Christ,
Jason Michael Prewara,
IC XC NIKA
Part
Two of my blog series on Traditional Catholic Biblical authorship
This second part will deal with the
authorship of the Christian New Testament, those twenty-seven books held as
Sacred and Canonical by all three major branches of Christianity – Catholic,
Orthodox, and Protestant alike. Some of
my dates are approximate, and some of the books scholars have pinpointed to an
exact year and even possibly the season/month, but I will not include such
things, because our best chronologies are always being revised and revisited
due to new findings and new knowledge.
Thank you all for caring, God bless you for reading, and remember me in
your prayers.
The New Testament is broken into three
main divisions, the Gospels and Acts, the Epistles of Paul, and the Catholic
Epistles and Apocalypse. After much
thought, prayer, study and meditation on the subject, the following is what I’ve
come to believe to be the authentic dates of composition and identities of the
authors of the 27 canonical Books.
1)
The Holy Gospel according to
St. Matthew – it is my belief, after much study of the internal and external
evidence, much prayer, and in consideration of the uniform testimony of the
Church, the Gospel of Matthew is the first Gospel. Matthew the Apostle, Evangelist and Saint,
the former tax collecting sinner-publican Levi, was well equipped for the
task. I believe he recorded certain
sayings and sermons and acts of Jesus at the time they were performed, so parts
of this Gospel actually date back to the time of Jesus, ca. 27 – 33 A.D.,
approximately. I believe St. Matthew
wrote the first Gospel between 35 and 40 A.D., possibly in Aramaic. As far as the synoptic “problem” I am split
between two theories. The first theory
is the supernatural Independence Theory.
This theory states all 4 Gospels were written completely independently of
each other, and the similarities you see are due to God being the author. This theory seems plausible and would explain
quite a bit of the “problems”. The next
theory, which I find just as, maybe slightly more plausible, is the so called
Augustinian Hypothesis. This theory was
put forth first by St. Augustine in the 4th century A.D. It says that Matthew is the first Gospel
written, and that St. Mark compiled his Gospel from a series of recorded
sermons of St. Peter together with the Gospel of Matthew as a base, and then
St. Luke and St. John composed their Gospels.
Either one solves the synoptic “problem” just fine, however, I refuse to
believe the theory that states Mark came first and Mark and Matthew used a “Q”
source, etc. This theory, in my opinion,
is complete and utter trash, and completely ignores the uniform testimony of
the Church Fathers, and to me, is the epitome of human pride. How dare we think we know more than the
Saints and Doctors who lived only three centuries after the events and
testified. The pride and arrogance is
mind boggling. So, in summary, St.
Matthew was written by the Apostle Matthew and finished by 45 A.D.
2)
The Holy Gospel according to
St. Mark – the second Gospel was composed by St. Mark, the interpreter and
disciple of St. Pope Peter the Apostle.
It was written between 45 and 65 A.D. and used Peter’s oral tradition
together with Matthew’s written tradition as its main sources. There is conjecture there may have been a
Latin original, but this is highly doubtful, though possible.
3)
The Holy Gospel according to
St. Luke – the third Gospel, and probably the most eloquent. Written in the style of contemporary Greek
histories, St. Luke was not only a devout disciple, but also a physician and
historian, and possibly an artist. One
of the earliest polymaths, Luke used the preaching of St. Peter and St. Paul,
plus written sources such as Matthew and possibly Mark and others which are no
longer extant. The third Gospel was
composed between 50 and 68 A.D.
4)
The Holy Gospel according to St.
John – the fourth and final Gospel. The
only Gospel where modern scholarship is not at odds with the ancient Tradition
of the Church. Written no earlier than
60 A.D., and no later than 95 A.D., by St. John, the beloved Apostle. Possibly finished by Disciples of his by the
turn of the 1st century.
5)
The Acts of the Apostles – the
second part of Dr. Luke the Saint’s work on the history of Christ and His
Church. Written by St. Luke, along with
or shortly after his Gospel, between 50 and 69 A.D.
This finishes the first
of the three divisions of the New Testament.
Next up we have the Pauline Epistles.
6)
The Epistle of St. Paul to the
Romans – written by St. Paul who dictated it to his Scribe St. Tertius between
52 and 60 A.D.
7)
The First Epistle of St. Paul
to the Corinthians – written by St. Paul and St. Sosthenes between 55 and 60
A.D.
8)
The Second Epistle of St. Paul
to the Corinthians – written by St. Paul and St. Timothy between 56 and 62 A.D.
9)
The Epistle of St. Paul to the
Galatians – authored by St. Paul and various unnamed Disciples with him,
possibly St. Timothy, St. Barnabas and St. Silvanus, to the Galatian Church
approximately 48 to 52 A.D.
10)
The Epistle of St. Paul to the
Ephesians – written by St. Paul between 60 and 65 A.D.
11)
The Epistle of St. Paul to the
Philippians – written by Sts. Paul and Timothy between 52 and 60 A.D. This Epistle, together with Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon, are aka the "captivity epistles" because in them Paul states he's writing from Prison. St. Timothy may have been imprisoned with him, or may have finished editing the work later.
12)
The Epistle of St. Paul to the
Colossians – written by Sts. Paul and Timothy between 55 and 60 A.D.
13)
The First Epistle of St. Paul
to the Thessalonians – written by St. Paul, St. Timothy and St. Silvanus
approximately 48 – 54 A.D.
14)
The Second Epistle of St. Paul
to the Thessalonians – written by St. Paul, St. Timothy and St. Silvanus
approximately 48 to 55 A.D.
15)
The First Epistle of St. Paul
to Timothy – written by St. Paul between 60 and 64 A.D.
16)
The Second Epistle of St. Paul
to Timothy – written by St. Paul between 64 and 66 A.D.
17)
The Epistle of St. Paul to
Titus – written by St. Paul between 60 and 66 A.D.
18)
The Epistle of St. Paul to
Philemon – written by St. Paul and St. Timothy between 60 and 65 A.D.
19)
The Epistle to the Hebrews –
written in a Pauline style, possibly by St. Paul and finished by disciples of
his, possibly St. Barnabas or St Apollos, between 60 and 68 A.D. The only one of the Pauline epistles which we
are not absolutely certain St. Paul the Apostle wrote, however even if he didn’t
pen the entire Epistle, it was penned in the spirit of St. Paul, with great
love for his Hebrew brethren. Also remarkable
for being one of the only Epistles outside of the Catholic Epistles which were
hotly contested in the early Church.
Martin Luther also thought lowly of this book along with the Book of St.
James.
The Epistle to the
Hebrews ends the Pauline corpus. The
final 8 books are what are called the Catholic Epistles, and a few of them – 2nd
Peter, 3rd John, Jude and Revelation, were not accepted universally
until the 5th century, although they were accepted by a majority of
Fathers and Saints since they were penned in the second half of the first
century.
20)
The Epistle of St. James –
this epistle was written possibly by St. James the Apostle, if by him by 45
A.D. due to his martyrdom, if not him it was written by St. James the brother
of the Lord, between 45 and 69 A.D.
21)
The First Epistle of St. Peter
– the first writing of the New Testament penned by the Prince of the Apostles,
the Proto-Pope, the Great Saint Peter.
Written by the Holy Apostle between 60 A.D. and his glorious martyrdom in
Rome in 67 A.D.
22)
The Second Epistle of St.
Peter – the sequel to the Holy Fathers first Epistle, the authorship has been
debated for twenty centuries. It is my
personal opinion it was penned by the Prince of the Apostles himself, possibly
tweaked or finished under influence of his spirit by his disciples, between 62
and 80 A.D.
23)
The First Epistle of St. John –
the first Epistle of the Beloved Disciple, St. John, with its striking
resemblance to the Gospel of John, the Johannine authorship is undoubted, not
by all, but by most who have faith in the Testimony of the Church. Penned between 70 and 92 A.D.
24)
The Second Epistle of St. John
– the second Epistle of St. John, written by him between 70 and 94 A.D.
25)
The Third Epistle of St. John –
written by St. John between 70 and 95 A.D.
26)
The Epistle of St. Jude – an epistle
written by St. Jude the Apostle, it’s still debated whether Jude wrote first
and Peter borrowed from him, or Peter wrote first and Jude borrowed from
him. It is my opinion neither borrowed
from either, and the similarities are due to the same Holy Spirit being the
author of the Epistle. However, I’m also
the guy who believes the Gospels were written independently of each other, and
Moses actually wrote the Pentateuch, so take my opinion with a grain of
salt. I’m sure I’d be laughed to scorn
in a university classroom. But God made
wise the simple of the earth to shame the so-called wise, so blessed be His
Name. This Epistle was penned between 60
and 80 A.D.
27)
The Revelation or Apocalypse
of St. John – the twenty seventh book of the New Testament, the seventy sixth
book of Scripture, the final written Word of God given to humanity, penned by
St. John between 95 and 99 A.D., most likely in 96 A.D. while in exile on the
Isle of Patmos. It is debated whether
this John is the same St. John the Apostle and the same as the Evangelist and
writer of the Epistles. It is my
opinion, due to internal evidence, external testimony of the Church, similarity
between style, vocabulary and spirit, that the Gospel, this work, and all three
epistles were penned by St. John the Apostle.
It is possible disciples of his compiled his works into there final and
current form, however.
Here we will end this work. I did not take the time to write about the
occasions or contents of the New Testament books, as it was not what I set out
to do when I began writing this short work.
I simply wanted to clarify and give testimony as to who wrote these
books and when they were written, as believed by our Holy Mother, the Church
Catholic, and by many Saints, Doctors, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Monks, Nuns,
Prophets, and laity of the Church down through the ages.
In summation, the New Testament was penned
by approximately 20 original inspired authors, all of whom were Apostles and
Saints of Jesus Christ, over a 70 year period, beginning between 30 and 35 A.D.
and ending by the turn of the 1st century, 99-100 A.D. These works are all extant and were all
originally penned in Koine Greek, however the Gospels and some of the Epistles have a
heavy Semitic influence, due to the fact the sayings were originally spoken in Aramaic, or possibly because Aramaic was the authors mother tongue, or a combination of both of these. Certain books
(especially Mark and Romans) have a densely Latinate vocabulary, most likely
owing to their proximity to Rome at the time of authorship, but possibly due to
no longer extant Latin originals which were translated into Greek during the
first century.
This ends the Second Part of my work on
the Composition of the Holy Bible, that miraculous work which was written by
approximately one hundred and ten original inspired authors, 90 of which wrote
the Old, 20 of which wrote the New.
These men came from all walks of life, and were variously Priests,
Prophets, Judges, Kings, Queens, Saints, Scribes, Sages, Apostles, Disciples,
these were Holy men and women who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit
of God. They wrote over a period of
2,000 years, beginning with the first written traditions of approximately 1,800
B.C., coming down through the ages, ending by the turn of the first century,
100 A.D. These holy men and women, these
saints of God wrote over three continents, in three original languages (four if
you count the Latin influence and possibility of a couple Latin originals),
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. These men and
women sacrificed all they had, even their lives, for the Gospel of God. These seventy three inspired, holy, canonical
Sacred Books are made in the image of God, they are both fully Divine, being written
by the Holy Spirit of God, and fully human, being products of the times they
were authored and showing the quirks and uniqueness of the human authors behind
them. They have One Sacred Writer who is
ultimately responsible for them, as He is for all things which exist, seeing as
how He Is Existence, and One Subject:
The Word of God, the Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, His Father and
His Holy Spirit, Which is blessed forever.
Halleluiah, Amen!
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