EXPLANATIONS ABOUT
NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS AND THEIR AUTHORS
1. New Testament: It is the name of the second part of The Bible which
includes the holy texts of Christians. Although there are some differences in
the sequence of the books in New Testament, all Christians accept the same
text. All of the books of New Testament, the first official list of which was
ascertained between 150 and 200
A .D., were originally written in Greek. Among the old
manuscripts, John Rylands papyrus of 117 – 138 A .D. is displayed in
Manchester J. R. University library, Bodmer papyruses of 200 – 250 A .D. are displayed in
Library of Vatican, the codex which was found in a monastery in Mount Sinai by
a scholar named Tischendorf in 1844 and the Mount Sinai codex of 350 A .D. are displayed in
London Museum and Ephraim codex of 400 A .D. is displayed in Paris Public Library[1].
2.
The Evangel:
According to Qur’an the Evangel, which means “good news”, is the name of the
books which were sent to Jesus at a time in order to confirm “Torah” and to
show him the right path[2].
However, it is not known exactly whether this divine inspiration was collected
into a book or what had happened to it. It is accepted that Jesus did not want
to make it dictated to his apostles because of historical facts or he did not
have time to do this and current evangels (or Gospels) were written by his
apostles or by the people who loved him.
There aren’t any exact or convincing evidences about
“who the real author(s) was/were”, “with which language they were first
written” or “what the first manuscripts included” in the gospels taking place
in New Testament.[3] The
Gospels which include information compiled from different sources instead of
Jesus himself liken to the hadith books including the sayings of Prophet
Muhammad. And some of the Muslim scholars think these gospels are more like
Siyer/History books considering the way of compiling and they do not equate
them with Qur’an or hadith books.[4]
On the other hand Christians do not accept the fact
that God sent a book to Jesus with the name of The Evangel. According to them
“The Bible is Jesus himself and Jesus is the human form of God’s words.”
Christians carry their thoughts even further and claim that Jesus is the human
form of God after He came to Earth (incarnation). There are four gospels that
could take place in New Testament, which are known as Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John. Apart from these four gospels there are various gospels. However, during
the First Council of Nicaea where
thousands of delegates attended in 325 A .D. with the insisting of a minority these
four gospels were elected to be authentic,
and the others were declared as suspicious and apocryphal.
3. Matthew: Matthew is one of the apostles who used to be a tax
collector. It is rumoured that he was killed in Abyssinia where he went to
evangelize after Jesus. The gospel with his name is said to be written for
Jewish groups in Antioch by a Palestinian Christian in 70-75 A .D. He is careful about
introducing Jesus as “the prophet who fulfils the prophecies in Old
Testament”.
4. Mark: He isn’t
one of the apostles. He attended the first propaganda expeditions of Paul and
Barnabas. It is said that he wrote his gospel first for non-Jewish groups with
the help of the knowledge he learned from Peter. According to some Catholic
ecclesiastics Mark is “an inexperienced author who cannot even form a
sentence”.[5]
The gospel of Mark is the shortest book of New Testament Books. It tells about
the interest of people to Jesus instead of giving information about the birth
and childhood of Jesus and His doctrines.[6]
5.
Luke: He is known as the doctor
of Paul and a non-Jewish friend of him. It is indicated that he was from a
cultured family, he could speak Greek fluently and he wrote his gospel to
someone named Theophilus.
According to Marcion, who is
the son of a bishop, who lived in 2
A .D., and who was excommunicated as he believed in two
Gods, one of which is a “punisher” and the other one is “compassionate” who
sent Jesus and as he refused Old Testament, the most valid gospel can be
considered as the Gospel of Luke.[7]
6. Synoptic: Because of the similarities between Gospels of
Matthew, Mark and Luke they are called Synoptic Gospels in New Testament
Literature. There are 330 same or similar sentences in these three gospels. 178
sentences in Mark and Matthew Gospels, 100 sentences in Matthew and Luke
Gospels and 230 sentences in Matthew and Luke Gospels are similar.
7.
John: It is
accepted that he was the most favourite student of Jesus and he wrote his
gospel in 65-90 A .D.
in Ephesus. As it has sufistic / gnostic elements, Gospel of John is considered
as different from others. However, it is stated that the last part of it was
written by the church of Ephesus as its style did not match its time
period.
Moreover, it is also claimed that Gospel of John was
written by Mary Magdalene (or Mary of Magdala) who was bond with Jesus at
heart.[8]
The three epistles in the New Testament and Revelation that takes place at the
very end bear John’s name as well. In his epistles John declares that God is
“love” and Jesus is “the son of God”.[9]
He claims that believing in God is essential for human beings being accepted by
God and their being able to cope with the difficulties of the world.
In The Book of Revelation
there are some bizarre expressions like “a scroll with seven seals”[10],
“a lamb having seven horns and seven eyes”[11],
“seven angels
who had the seven trumpets”[12], “seven angels with
seven plagues”[13],
“seven bowls”[14],
these expressions cannot be explained even by Christians at all. The fact that
the Book of Revelation, which doesn’t take place in Syriac and Armenian
translations of New Testament, was written by John is generally criticized.[15]
8.
Gospels that don’t take place in New
Testament: There are
various Gospels that are announced as suspicious and apocryphal by Christians, like Gospel of the Hebrews,
Gospel of Egyptians, Gospel of Jacob, Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Barnabas,
Arabic and Syriac Gospels etc. Among these Gospels of Barnabas and Thomas were
translated into Turkish.
9.
The Gospel of Barnabas: This is the gospel which is important
for Muslims as it gives information about the prophet (Muhammad) who will come
after Jesus. Gospel of Barnabas which was hidden by Christians for centuries
was translated into English by two English scholars in the second half of the
20th century. Scholars like Anselmo Turmeda who converted
into Islam and took the name of Abdullah-i Tercüman and Abdulahad David
emphasized the importance of The Gospel of Barnabas in their works. On the
other hand Christians claim that Gospel of Barnabas was written by a priest who
converted into Islam towards the end of 16th century.[16]
10.
The Gospel of Thomas: The 105th sentence of this
book which is accepted as one of the suspicious and apocryphal gospels, which includes 114 sentences of
Jesus and some of the sentences of which bear similarities with New Testament
has a bizarre and immoral expression of “Jesus said that: one who knows both
his father and mother is called child of a harlot”.[17]
11.
The Gospel of Philip: Just like The Gospel of Thomas it was
found among the manuscripts of Nag Hammadi Kipti[18] which are considered
as “the oldest Christian records” in Egypt in 1945. It was announced to be apocryphal by Christian authorities. The Gospel of
Philip which was thought to be written by one of the apostles includes some
sentences that are in accordance with Qur’an about the fact that Jesus didn’t
die on the Cross, but he is thought to be dead. It gives information about the
marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene
and about their children and grandchildren.
12.
Acts: This part which was thought
to be written by Luke is included in the Historical Parts of New Testament (The
first five book of New Testament) and is considered as the sequence of Luke. It
tells about the improvement of Christian community.[19]
The first ten chapters give some information about the apostles and the rest
tells about the activities and propaganda trips of Paul.
13.
Didactic Books: the epistles generating the
second part of New Testament are called Didactic Books. The first nine epistles
of Paul are called Pauline Epistles[20],
the others are called Pastoral Epistles[21]
and the ones written by Peter, John, Jacob and Jude are called Catholic
Epistles[22].
The basic beliefs of Christianity can be found in the epistles part.
14.
Paul: The real name of Paul is
Saul; he lived between 5/10 – 62/67 A.D.; he was
born in Cydnus and he is believed to be the true builder of Christianity. He
was a Roman-Jewish who earned his life by selling tents. When he was one of the
major enemies of Jesus and his community, all of a sudden he tried to give a
direction to Christianity claiming that “Jesus appeared to him”. Despite not
being an apostle and being criticized by them, he announced himself as “neo
being in the least inferior to these
super-apostles”[23],
“servants of Christ” and “stewards of God’s mysteries”.[24]
In his epistles there are
some expressions which are contrary to Jesus’ personality and disciplines and
to the rules of Old Testament which are statutory for Christians. He arranged propaganda trips
to East Anatolia, Macedonia and Greece. “An uncompromising monotheist”,
“Hellenist”, “sufi”, “hysteric”, “an epileptic
whose visions change constantly”, “a lover who wasn’t loved back and who wants
to revenge on Jews” etc. are some of the expressions that were used for him.[25]
He was arrested and attacked as he changed the basics of Jesus and was killed
during the time of Nero in Rome. For Christians Paul is more important than the
apostles as they think most of the apostles are simple fishermen while Paul is
a scholar who closely examined the writings and traditions of Jews. They
believe that God bestowed “simple and strong belief” to the apostles but
“education desire and skill of producing theological ideas” to Paul.[26]
In his epistle
to Romans: It emphasizes the facts that the ties with Old Testament should
be broken[27],
one can be absolved only if he believes and obeys Jesus, and “sin cannot
capture human beings”. He advises to be considerate to the authorities.[28]
In his epistles to Corinthians: They try to avoid
the division in the congregation.[29]
He wants everybody to be subjected to him. He underlines the fact that
everything can be overcome, and he advises marriage and donation to the
churches.
In his epistle
to Galatians: It wants to people to quit the tradition of being circumcised
[30]
and reprehends Peter as he was estranged from people who were uncircumcised[31].
He warns the people not to rely on anyone apart from himself (even if it is an
angel).[32]
In his epistle
to Ephesians: It claims that he was given one of the mysteries of God which
was hidden for ages.[33]
There are some advices about the love of Jesus[34],
humane behaviours[35]
and the relationship between a husband and a wife[36].
In his epistle
to Philippians: It talks about the fact that
Jesus should be modelled[37]
and anything other than belief in Jesus is harmful and rubbish[38],
he also indicates his gratitude for the donations. It is thought that he wrote
this letter when he was under arrest in Rome in 61 A .D.[39]
In his epistle to Colossians:
It mentions that Jesus is “the image of the
invisible God” and “for in him all things in heaven and on earth
were created.”[40]
He claims that with Jesus all the trespasses would be forgiven[41] and human
commands like “Do not handle”, “Do not taste”, or
“Do not touch” are useless.[42]
In his epistles to Thessalonians:
The first epistle is considered both as the first epistle of Paul and as the
oldest text of New Testament. It was written in 51 A .D. It gives clues about
how to please God[43]
and emphasizes the fact that “Jesus will rose again”.[44]
It recommends everyone to earn his own life.[45]
In his letters to Timothy: It gives details
about the qualifications of the leaders and personnel of the churches.[46]
In his letter
to Titus: It is about the fundamentals
of a leadership ceremony of a community, presumably, in Crete.[47]
In his letter to Philemon: It tells about the
request about a fugitive slave whom he met while he was under arrest from the
leaders of the Colossians who were the owners of that slave.
15.
Peter: Peter who is the first
apostle in the list of the apostles and who is known as “prince” became the
leader of the community. He is considered as the leader and founder of the
Roman Church (Catholics) as he lived in Rome for a long time. He was executed
in Rome in 64 or 67 A .D.[48].
The epistles of Peter were included in New Testament corpus as of 3 A .D. It talks about accepting
the authority of every human institution[49],
the relationship between a husband and a wife[50]
and spread of false beliefs within the community[51]
16.
James: He is one of the apostles.
He is said to be the step brother of Jesus. It is known that after Jesus he
directed Ebionites, a Jewish-Christian sect, in Palestine
and he struggled with the ideas of Paul. The epistle of James is the oldest one
among the epistles in New Testament. It includes almost 40 recommendations like
to be careful about what one says, not to be discriminate, the fact that action
is as important as belief etc. Martin Luther King, the founder of
Protestantism, called the epistle of James “an epistle of straw”.[52]
17.
Hebrews: Although the author of this
epistle is unknown, it is thought to be written between 80 and 90 A .D. and was included in
New Testament corpus as of 360
A .D. In the book thesis like “this world was created by
means of Jesus Christ, Jesus was superior to Moses and the promise about a new
period and a new order was accrued” take place. Although this book was claimed
to be written by Paul in Hippo and Kartaca Councils in 393 A .D., in later periods it
was announced that the author of this work was unknown.
Yusuf
Ulucan
Translation
: H. Neslihan Demiriz
[2] Al-Maidah (5):46
[4] Look: Dr. M. Hamidullah, Sacred Qur’an, Turkish
translation, Introduction
[5] Dr. S. Yıldırım, Christianity
according to the Current Sources
[6] Look: The Bible, Mark, Turkish translation,
Introduction part.
[7] . Dr. Y. Özemre, The Gospel of Thomas
[8] Y. Özemre, The Gospel of Thomas, page 34-
quoted from Ramon J. Justino
[9] 1 John: 4/7 – 16, 5/ 9
[10] Revelation: 5/1 – 4
[11] Revelation: 5/6
[12] Revelation: 8/6
[13] Revelation: 15/1
[14] Revelation: 16/1
[15] Look: Turkish Religious Foundation
Encyclopaedia of Islam
[16] Thomas Michel, Introduction to Christian
Theology
[17] The Gospel of Thomas 114 Hadith of Jesus
translated by Yüksel Özemre
[18] Don Brown who criticized the attitude of
Vatican about the manuscripts of Nag Hammadi Coptic says that: “…and of course
there are Coptic manuscripts which were found in Nag Hammadi. These documents
not only tell stories but also explain the prophethood of Jesus with human
terms. Of course Vatican, who continue the tradition of misinformation, did its
best to hide these documents. Why didn’t they do this? The manuscripts bring
the historical mistakes and fabrication and prove the fact that the current
Bible was falsified. They deified Jesus Christ and used his domination for
their own sakes. (DaVinci Code,).
[19] The period between 30-63 A .D.
[20] The epistles written to the communities in West
Anatolia and Macedonia.
[21] The epistles written to religious leaders
[22] The epistles written to all Christians
including all districts and communities.
[23] 2 Corinthians: 11/5-6
[24] 1 Corinthians: 4/1
[25] For more information look: Şinasi Gündüz, Paul:
the architect of Christianity
[26] Thomas Michel, Introduction to Christian
Theology,
[27] Look: Romans: 7th chapter
[28] Romans: 13/1 – 7
[29] 1 Corinthian: 1/10 – 14
[30] Galatians: 5/2
[31] Galatians: 2/14
[32] Galatians: 1/8
[34] Ephesians: 3/16 – 19
[35] Ephesians: 5/ 22, 6/4
[36] Ephesians: 3/8 – 9
[37] Philippians: 2/1 – 11
[38] Philippians: 3/8 – 9
[39] The Bible, Turkish New Translation Introduction Part.
[41] Colossians: 2/13
[42] Colossians: 2/20-21
[45] 2 Thessalonians: 3/6-13
[46] 1 Timothy: 4/6-22
[47] Titus: 2/1 – 3/11
[48] Die Bibel – Einheitübersetzung, Anhang X – The
appendix of the German Catholic Translation
[49] 1 Peter: 2/13 – 17
[50] 1 Peter: 3/1-7
[51] 1 Peter: 2nd chapter
[52] Translation of Izhar-ul-Haqq (Truth Revealed)
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