Can Books of the New Testament Be Written Today?
Books of the Bible cannot be written today for a number of reasons.
First, the Old Testament ended with the prophet Malachi promising that the next major event in redemptive history would be the coming of John the Baptist who would prepare
the way for Jesus (Mal. 3:1).There were then four hundred years of silence during which no book of the Bible was written until John came as promised (Luke 1:11-17)
Likewise, the New Testament ends with its final book, Revelation, telling us that no other books of the Bible are to be written after it (Rev. 22:18-19) and that we will again have silence until Jesus comes for the second time. Rev. 22:20-21.
Today, we are like God’s people in the days between Malachi’s promise and Jesus’ coming. We are in a season of long silence where we know the future but are awaiting its coming. For this reason we do not need any more information but rather the fulfillment of the promises we have already received.
In addition, the Bible tells us that Jesus is God’s final word to us (Heb 1:1-2) and that we should not add anything to the Bible (Dt 4:2). If someone were to claim to write a book of
the Bible today, they would need to meet all of the criteria that the New Testament authors met, which includes
-either being an eyewitness or depending upon eyewitness testimony,
-writing without any error in absolute consistency with the rest of the Bible,
-and being inspired by the Holy Spirit in a miraculous way.
Furthermore, we have no need for any new book of the Bible because we already have all we need for faith and godliness. If there were some knowledge that we desperately needed, God would certainly not have waited some two thousand years to reveal it while his people sat in the darkness of partial knowledge.
Does the New Testament Contain Any Errors or Contradictions?
The Bible says that God cannot speak falsely (2 Sam. 7:28 Titus 1:2, Heb 6:18) and so all of the Bible is without any error or contradiction (Num 23:19, Ps 12:6, Pro. 30:5-6.)
The Bible always tells the truth concerning everything that it talks about.
But the Bible also teaches that, though it is perfect, sometimes our interpretation of it is not, for the following reasons:
• God’s thoughts are much loftier than ours. Is. 55:9
• God has secrets that he has not revealed to anyone. Dt 29:29
• Sometimes we see the truth as if through a dirty and fogged window. 1 Cor. 13:12
• We are prone to resist God’s truth because it forces us to repent, and sometimes we are simply hard-hearted. Rom 1:18-19
• We know in part. 1 Cor. 13:9
• Some parts of the Bible are just hard to understand. 2 Peter 3:15-16
Therefore, if it appears that there is a contradiction in Scripture, we should first dig deeply into our Bible to see if what appears to be an error is, in fact, not an error
once we have examined it more closely. In the end, it is perfectly reasonable to simply say that at this time we do not have an answer for every question we may
have, though we may as we learn more, or when we get to heaven and get the final word on everything.
How Were the New Testament Books Chosen as Scripture?
Canonization is the process by which some books were included in the New Testament while others were excluded. Canon is a word meaning “a measuring rod.” The
canon is the standard that all scriptural books must meet. The books of the New Testament were authoritative and shared particular traits that distinguished them
from other mere books:
1. They were written based upon eyewitness testimony to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
2. They told the truth about God and agreed with the rest of what Scripture teaches.
3. They were received by God’s people and showed God’s power in changing lives.
Importantly, all but a few New Testament writers were eyewitnesses to the events they recorded.
Though not eyewitnesses, Luke received his information from Paul and numerous eyewitnesses, while Mark received his information from Peter who was an eyewitness.
James and Jude were closely associated with the apostles in Jerusalem and were probably Jesus’ brothers, which would have also made them eyewitnesses.
The fact of eyewitness testimony is indeed significant. In days when photos and videotape did not exist, the testimony of an eyewitness was the most powerful and
trustworthy of all evidence. Because of this, the Bible is clear that events such as Jesus’ resurrection were witnessed by crowds of up to five hundred people at a time who
were willing to testify.The question persists, if we are not to trust the many eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry, then who do we have that is more credible
that we can trust?
Although all of the New Testament books were written by the end of the first century, were circulated among God’s people, and were accepted as God’s Word,
there were still some people who questioned which books should be included in the New Testament canon. Some people wanted to go too far, and others did not want
to go far enough in regards to the New Testament canon.
Some wanted to add books to the New Testament. The Montanists wanted to elevate ongoing prophetic utterances to the same level of authority as the New Testament. Liars who were not eyewitnesses to or apostles of Jesus pretended to be. They wrote false gospels such as Peter, Thomas, and Andrew, along with the false Acts of
Andrew, the false Acts of Paul and Thecla, and the false Apocalypse of Peter. The New Testament itself speaks of such false writings to warn God’s people against believing them.
Some people wanted to take books out of the New Testament. One such person was the heretic Marcion, who rejected all of the Gospels (except his highly edited
version of Luke), and sought to remove many of the New Testament letters.
Without a central authority to resolve these issues, it is a testimony to the unity of God’s people and the leading of the Holy Spirit that despite geographic, cultural, and
theological differences, Christians in the early New Testament church generally accepted all of the twenty-seven books that comprise our current New Testament. There
was, admittedly, some debate about the place of books such as Hebrews, James, and Jude in the canon. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, listed each of the twenty-seven
books of our New Testament in his Easter letter of AD 367. The entire New Testament canon as we have it today was formally accepted at the Third Council of Carthage in
AD 397, which was attended by Augustine. The Third Council of Carthage did not decide something that the church had not previously believed; rather, it confirmed the
books that Christians had already embraced—since their writing—as divine Scripture.
It was ultimately God the Holy Spirit who determined the New Testament canon.
ADDITIONAL NOTES -
Summarized Historical Timeline of Scripture -
Old Testament
• Prophets spoke, “Thus says the Lord.”
• Some prophets wrote their books (Jeremiah 36; Josh. 24:26; Isa. 30:8; Ezek. 43:11; Hab. 2:2; Dan. 7:1–2; 2 Chron. 21:12).
• Some prophets had a scribe (Ex. 17:14; 34:28).
• Books were treated as sacred.
• Placed in ark (Deut. 31:24–26).
• Placed in sanctuary (Josh. 24:26).
• Placed before God (1 Sam. 10:25).
• Books showed the power of God changing peoples’ lives (2 Kings 22–23; Ex. 24:7; Nehemiah 8).
• Old Testament books appeal to each other for authority as God’s Word:
• Joshua 1:8 refers to the Pentateuch.
• Daniel 9:2 refers to Jeremiah.
• Ezekiel 14:14 refers to Noah, Daniel, and Job.
• Old Testament ends with the last prophet Malachi:
• Promises that the next event will be Jesus coming to the Temple (Mal. 3:1).
• Promises that the next prophet will be John the Baptizer (Mal. 4:4–6)
Intertestamental Period (400 years between Old and New Testaments)
- No New books of Scripture are given.
- The Old Testament canon is settled without any significant debates regarding certain books.
- Apocryphal (“hidden”) books are written as history, fiction, wisdom, and apocalyptic literature that become popular books but are never considered to be Scripture.
Life of Jesus - 0-4ish A.D. through 33 A.D.
• Four hundred silent years end with John the Baptizer and Jesus (Matt. 3:1–17; 17:9–13; Luke 1:8–17).
New Testament - 45-95 A.D.
• Jesus spoke of Old Testament history as existing from Abel (Genesis) to Zechariah (the time of Malachi) (Matt. 23:35; Luke 11:51).
• Jesus described the Old Testament as Law, Prophets, and Psalms (Luke 24:44).
• Jesus quoted the Old Testament freely for teaching.
• Jesus and the New Testament writers never quote any apocryphal books. They accepted the Old Testament as we have it.
• Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would inspire his disciples (John 14:26; 16:13).
• New Testament writers were nearly all eyewitnesses (e.g., 1 John 1:1–3).
• New Testament books claim to be Scripture (1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Thess. 2:15; Col 4:16; Rev. 1:3).
• New Testament authors claim works of other disciples were Scripture (2 Pet. 3:15–16).
• After all eyewitnesses died, some pseudepigraphal (pen named) books were written by people pretending to be apostles.
• Almost all New Testament books were accepted by the second century, and all were finalized by the fourth century.
• No apocryphal books were accepted until the Catholic Council of Trent in 1546.
(side note. There are writings entitled the Psuedopigrapha. These writings have authors under pen names pretending to be eyewitnesses to
Jesus and write various false gospels (e.g., the Gospel of Thomas).
(notes taken from "A Book You'll Actually Read on the New Testament" by Mark Driscoll
