HOW THE NT BOOKS ARE CLASSIFIED

HOW THE NT BOOKS ARE CLASSIFIED 

In the NT books were arranged according to their length. Longest to the Shortest.

GOSPELS: (4)

The term gospel literally means “ ευαγγελιον” which means ‘the good news’. Combination of two words ευ + αγγελς The basic meaning is ‘good news’ in generally. It also have a theological sense or meaning-salvific; eg. in the Imperial cult.

These books are traditionally ascribed as Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. The early church claimed that two of these authors were Jesus Disciples-Mathew and John. The other two were reportedly written by associates of Apostles- Mark, the secretary or interpreter of Peter and Luke who was a travelling companion of Paul.

Synoptic:

Synoptic comes from the greek word ‘συν’- together οψισ-optics, meaning the act of seeing together.

The Gospel contains only a truncated portion of Jesus. It describe about 400 days of his ministries. They are not biographies in a strict sense but they are narratives about Jesus that includes his works in a loose chronological frameworks.

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES: (1)

It contains the history of the church and is a sequel to the gospel in that it describe the history of early chrictianity, beginning with events immediately after the death of Jesus. It is chiefly concern to show how the new religion spread throughout the parts of Roman Empire, among Gentiles as well as the Jews. Principally, through the works of Apostle Paul.

EPISTLES (OR LETTERS): (21)

It comes from the greek word ‘επιστολη’. Epistles are occasional letters dealing with specific issues, concerns in the church. All the epistles writers follow an epistolary format. (Greeting, body or salutation and conclusion)

Traditionally, it is believed that Apostle Paul wrote 14 epistles (including Hebrew) but modern Scholars considered to be 13 where Hebrew is exempted.

Out of 13, only 7 were considered to be Genuine;:- I Thes., Romans, Galatians, I & II Cor., Philippians, Philemon, and known as Authentic Pauline Apistle or Letters.

Deutero-doubtfully Pauline Epistle-Colossians, Ephesians, II Thes.Some scholars considered these letters are written by Paul followers or those associated with him, as they are totally different from Paul’s Genuine Letters.

Pseudonymous: I & II Timothy and Titus. It is considered a pseudonymous because it seems to be written by other than Paul but make a claimed of Paul. This letters emphasize on

Out of these 13 letters, 9 letters are address to community or churches, 4 are personal letters, 4 are prisoner or Captivity Letters ( Philippians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians)

Regarding Authorship there are many questionable issues though it is included in the canon of the scripture. The reason for inclusion in a scripture is that though it is address individually but for a wider used for corporate worship.

Classification-

I & II Timothy are classified as Eschatological.

Galatians, I & II Corinthians and Romans are considered as Sotoriological.

Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians, Philemon are considered as Christological.

The pastoral-I & II Timothy and Titus are considered to be Ecclesiological.

Hebrew-Earlier Hebrew was considered to be written by Paul. But widely classified as Other or general Epistle. It contains lots of Greek vocabulary which are not in other epistle, the greek is more refine.

Other Epistles: James, I & II Peter, I & II, III John and Jude. They rae also termed as Universal/Catholic Epistle. They are called as Catholic because of the most part, they are intended audience seems to be Christian in general rather than individuals or complications. They deals with prevalent churches universally.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION: (1)

It is categorized as Apocalyptic Literature. It is put in the end because it

Apocalyptic comes from αποκαλυψις meaning revealing or unfolding of things not previously known and which could not be known apart from the veiling to unveiling. It contains the prophetic vision of the end times and the future events leading of the destruction of the world and the appearance of the world to come as such in this principally concern with the culmination of Christians.

CONCLUSION: All these books circulated individually and separately. It took almost 350 years long for its completion. They were only gradually collected together to form what we now known as the NEW TESTAMENT. This process took about 350years. In AD 397, the 27 books of the New Testament were officially accepted as NT Books.