Notes on Structure

The New Testament is the story of this coming, this fulfillment of the God’s events and plans. To better understand the structure of the New Testament, let us review the make-up of the writings. We have all heard the first five books of the Old Testament referred to as the “books of the law.” How does the New Testament break down in such a comparison? Consider some of the details.

OLD TESTAMENT

39 books

929 chapters

Written over 1100 years (1450 to 350 B.C.)

Covers over 4,000 years

About 31 authors

 

NEW TESTAMENT

27 books

260 chapters

Written over 50-55 years (A.D. 45 to 95-100)

Covers about 100 years

About 9 authors

Another break down concerns the divisions of materials:

TYPE	OLD TESTAMENT	NEW TESTAMENT
Beginnings / Law	Gen – Deut	Matt – John
History	Judges – Esther	Acts
Wisdom/Poetry	Job – Song of Soloman	Epistles Romans – Jude
Prophecy	Isaiah – Malachi	Revelation

 

The order of the New Testament is one of logical sequence, not one of chronology. This is especially true if one views the order of writing. The letter of James is probably the first of the books of the New Testament to be reduced to writing. It covers the concepts of how a Christian should live his life. James assumes his audience has already received salvation. The writings of John, including his Gospel, are the last books of the New Testament to be written. Viewed in this fashion, the order is wrong, since one cannot be a Christian and be concerned about the matters of James until one has learned who Christ is and how one brings Him into one’s life. This is the material of John’s Gospel!

There is much disagreement among scholars and learned pastors over the centuries on the dating of some of the books of the New Testament. Many think John wrote in the late 60s, not at the end of the century. Some think Galatians was written much later in Paul’s life (closer to A.D. 60) than in the late 40s. These differences do not affect the validity of what is said in the writings, nor their inclusion in God’s Bible. These differences generally arise from theological presuppositions rather than from any specific information supporting a different date. A generally accepted set of dates is as follows:

BOOK            DATE A.D.

James                   45

 

Galatians             49

 

1-2 Thess.            50/51

 

Mark                     50s or 60s

 

Matthew             50s or 60s

 

1 Cor                    54/55

 

2 Cor                    55/56

 

Romans               56/57

 

Colossians           61/63

 

Ephesians            61/63

 

Philippians           61-63

 

Philemon             61-63

 

Luke                      61-63

 

1 Peter                 63-67

 

1 Timothy            63/64

 

Titus                     63/64

 

Acts                      64/65

 

2 Peter                 64-67

 

2 Timothy            64/65

 

Hebrews              68/69

 

Jude                      68/69

 

John                      85-95

 

1,2,3 John           85-95

 

Revelation           85-95

 

Translations

With this background, a brief word is in order on the topic of Bible translations. You must understand that the Bible is the most documented work in the history of the ancient world. While our focus will be on the New Testament, the same proofs and arguments may be found for the Old Testament.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, the “world language” of the time. Today there exists over 24,000 New Testament ancient manuscripts, of which over 5,300 are Greek. Compared to other ancient manuscripts, the weight of authority favors the accuracy and reliability of the Bible manuscripts. For example, only 643 copies of Homer’s Iliad exist today. Homer wrote in about B.C. 900, but the most ancient manuscript dates only to B.C. 400. In comparison, the Rylands Fragment containing the Gospel of John dates to within less than 40 years of the actual writing of the Gospel. If one were to compare the manuscripts, noting differences, the Bible is 98-99% accurate, while the Iliad is only about 95% accurate.

McDowell, Josh, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Volume 1, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1972, 1979, Chapter 4, Pages 39ff.

Close In other words, there is little doubt about the basic concepts of God’s Word being authentic.

Keep in mind the meaning of accuracy here. We all know that all Scripture is inspired by God. This means the original manuscripts were 100% accurate. Over time, with all of the hand copying which was done, there were errors which entered into the copies. This is because the copies were from men. So when we speak of the accuracy of the manuscripts, we are referring to the composite accuracy when all existing manuscripts are considered and compared.

So, then, why so many translations? This is a complex question. One answer is that in this day and age, the economy drives some decisions. Publishers each want a Bible they can sell with unique notes. This has added to the list of translations and to the over abundance of study Bibles. But I want to, at least, suggest to you that there is no one “good” translation. The issues involve many difficult concepts which are present in any language-to-language translation. For example, how does one recognize slang? And, how do you translate it? Or, for that matter, what about terms that have changed their meaning over the centuries

Further, there are in the scholarly community differences of opinion over which old manuscripts, if any, should be given priority when there are differences in the Greek texts. How does one solve such a problem? Do you use the majority? Or some other method? What other methods are there? All of these questions give rise to emotional debates. The books on each side are often written with much sarcasm and ridicule. Many of the conclusions on all sides are subjective in nature. There is much about the Greek language, the early manuscripts, and the culture that is unknown. In other words, there are no finite answers to many of these questions.

Remember that the intent of most translating committees does involve an attempt to be faithful to the Word of God. After careful study, it is my opinion that there are so few actual differences, and no doctrinal differences, between the key, major translations that it makes no difference which version of the Bible you use. For this purpose, I would define major translations as being the King James (KJV), the New King James (NKJV), the New American Standard (NASB), and the New International (NIV).

There is also a new translation, the New English Translation or NET. This title was adopted because this translation was first published solely online at the translator’s WEB site. Since it is available for free, there seems to be no commercial intent behind the translation. The translating groups are graduates or professors from Dallas Theological Seminary, the school where Chuck Swindoll is now President. The Southern Baptist Convention and Broadman-Holman Publishers have recently announced a new translation which is to be available about 2002.

Keep in mind as well that the idea of translations is not new. What is new is the large number which has arisen in a comparably short time mixed with the controversy over the King James versus other translations. Look at the list:

Greek Translation of Old Testament

Septuagint (c. 250 b.c.)

Taverner Bible (1539)

The Holy Bible

Knox (1944-1955)

Latin Vulgate

Jerome (c. A.D. 400)

 

Greek New Testament

Stephanus (1550)

Revised Standard Version Old Testament,

Apocrypha (1952)

Anglo-Saxon

Paraphrases (c. 700-1000)

Greek New Testament

Beza (1557)

NT in Plain English

Williams (1952)

Gospel of John

Bede (735)

Geneva Bible (1560)

Confraternity Bible (1952, 1955)

9th-century Bible mss

Oldest known until 1947

Bishops Bible (1568)

The Authentic New Testament

Schonfield (1955)

English Bible

Wycliffe (c. 1380-1384)

Rheims NT (1582)

NT in Modern English, Phillips (1958)

Printed Latin Bible

Gutenberg (c. 1456-1457)

Douay OT (1610)

The Modern Language Bible

Berkeley (1959)

Printed Hebrew OT (1482)

King James Bible [KJV] (1611)

The Amplified Bible (1958-1965)

Printed Greek NT

Erasmus (1516)

Textus Receptus (1624)

Anchor Bible (1964)

German NT

Luther (1522)

Important Manuscripts Discovered (1840)

The New Jewish Version

Printed English NT Tyndale (1525, 1535)

English Pentateuch

English Revised NT [RV] (1881)

JPS (1962-1982)

Printed Latin Bible

Pagninus (1528)

English Revised OT [RV] (1885)

New American Standard Bible [NASB] (1966)

German OT

Luther (1534)

Papyri Discovered (1897)

Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Printed English Bible

Coverdale (1535)

American Standard Version [ASV] (1901)

New English Bible [NEB] (1970)

Matthew’s Bible (1537)

Weymouth New Testament (1902)

New American Bible [NAB] (1970)

Great Bible (1539)

Centenary New (1904)

The Living Bible (1971)

English Old Testament

Jewish Publication Society [JPS] (1917)

Good News Bible [TEV] (1976)

Papyri Discovered (1930)

New International Version [NIV] (1979)

Moffatt Bible (1924-1926-1935)

Reader’s Digest Bible (1982)

Smith-Goodspeed Bible (1927, 1935)

JPS Tanakh [OT] (1985)

Revised Standard Version

New Testament (1946-1952)

New Kings James Version [NKJV] (1982)

Confraternity New Testament

Roman Catholic (1946)

New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered (1947)