1.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
2.
Gospel
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A gospel is an account describing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity places a value on the four canonical gospels, which it considers to be revelations from God. This position however, requires a view of Biblical inerrancy. The word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings, the gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and of redemption through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, the central Christian message. The Greek word euangelion is also the source of the terms evangelist, the authors of the four canonical Christian gospels are known as the Four Evangelists. Paul the Apostle used the term εὐαγγέλιον when he reminded the people of the church at Corinth of the gospel I preached to you, the earliest extant use of gospel to denote a particular genre of literature dates to the 2nd century. Justin Martyr in the Apology wrote of. the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, more generally, gospels compose a genre of early Christian writings. Gospels that did not become canonical also circulated in Early Christianity, many, such as the work known today as Gospel of Thomas, lack the narrative framework typical of a gospel. Scholars hold a wide spectrum of views on the origins and composition of the gospels, for example, the vast majority of material in Mark is also present in either Luke or Matthew or both, suggesting that Mark was a source for Matthew and Luke. He writes that the four gospels were probably all written by the end of the first century. But they did not yet at that time have a consistent narrative, in 170 Tatian sought to find a solution by composing a single narrative out of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with some additional oral material. Richies concludes that the gospel passages themselves can be unclear, and some of the messages within are straightforwardly ambiguous, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are considered synoptic gospels on the basis of many similarities between them that are not shared by the Gospel of John. Synoptic means here that they can be seen or read together, the fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, presents a very different picture of Jesus and his ministry from the synoptics. Of the many gospels written in antiquity, only four came to be accepted as part of the New Testament. An insistence upon there being a canon of four gospels, and no others, was a theme of Irenaeus of Lyons. Irenaeus was ultimately successful in declaring that the four gospels collectively and he also supported reading each gospel in light of the others. This canon, which corresponds to the modern Catholic canon, was used in the Vulgate, Gospel of Matthew Gospel of John Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark This order is found in the following manuscripts, Bezae, Monacensis, Washingtonianus, Tischendorfianus IV, Uncial 0234. Although there is no set order of the four gospels in patristic lists or discussions, moody Smith suggests that the standard order of Matthew-Mark-Luke-John projects a kind of intention that can scarcely be ignored
3.
Gospel of Matthew
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The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The narrative tells how the Messiah, Jesus, rejected by Israel, most scholars believe the Gospel of Matthew was composed between AD80 and 90, with a range of possibility between AD70 to 110. The title Son of David identifies Jesus as the healing and miracle-working Messiah of Israel, as Son of Man he will return to judge the world, an expectation which his disciples recognise but of which his enemies are unaware. As Son of God he is God revealing himself through his son, the gospel reflects the struggles and conflicts between the evangelists community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees. The original versions of the Gospel of Matthew and the gospels are lost. The oldest relatively complete extant manuscripts of the Bible are the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, besides these, there exist manuscript fragments ranging from a few verses to whole chapters. P104 and P67 are notable fragments of Matthew, in the process of recopying, variations slipped in, different regional manuscript traditions emerged, and corrections and adjustments were made. The Gospel of Matthew is anonymous, the author is not named within the text, the consensus is that Papias does not describe the Gospel of Matthew as we know it, and it is generally accepted that Matthew was written in Greek, not in Aramaic or Hebrew. The majority view of scholars is that Mark was the first gospel to be composed. The author of Matthew did not, however, simply copy Mark, an additional 220 verses, shared by Matthew and Luke but not found in Mark, from a second source, a hypothetical collection of sayings to which scholars give the name Quelle, or the Q source. The author also had at his disposal the Greek scriptures, both as book-scrolls and in the form of collections, and, if Papias is correct. The majority view among scholars is that Matthew was a product of the last quarter of the 1st century, the Christian community to which Matthew belonged, like many 1st-century Christians, were still part of the larger Jewish community, hence the designation Jewish Christian to describe them. The author of Matthew wrote for a community of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians located probably in Syria, Matthew, alone among the gospels, alternates five blocks of narrative with five of discourse, marking each off with the phrase When Jesus had finished. The Gospel of Matthew begins with the words The Book of Genealogy of Jesus Christ, John baptizes Jesus, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him. Jesus prays and meditates in the wilderness for forty days, and is tempted by Satan and his early ministry by word and deed in Galilee meets with much success, and leads to the Sermon on the Mount, the first of the discourses. The sermon presents the ethics of the kingdom of God, introduced by the Beatitudes and it concludes with a reminder that the response to the kingdom will have eternal consequences, and the crowds amazed response leads into the next narrative block. From the authoritative words of Jesus the gospel turns to three sets of three miracles interwoven with two sets of two stories, followed by a discourse on mission and suffering. Opposition to Jesus comes to a head with accusations that his deeds are done through the power of Satan, Jesus in turn accuses his opponents of blaspheming the Holy Spirit
4.
Gospel of Mark
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The Gospel According to Mark, the second book of the New Testament, is one of the four canonical gospels and the three synoptic gospels. It portrays Jesus as a man of action, an exorcist, a healer. Jesus is also the Son of God, but he keeps his identity secret, all this is in keeping with prophecy, which foretold the fate of the messiah as Suffering Servant. The gospel ends, in its version, with the discovery of the empty tomb, a promise to meet again in Galilee. Traditionally thought to be an epitome of Matthew, which accounts for its place as the gospel in the Bible. The Gospel of Mark is anonymous, early Christian tradition ascribes it to John Mark, a companion and interpreter of the apostle Peter. Hence its author is often called Mark, even though most modern scholars are doubtful of the Markan tradition and instead regard the author as unknown. It was probably written c. AD 66–70, during Neros persecution of the Christians in Rome or the Jewish revolt, as suggested by references to war in Judea. The author used a variety of pre-existing sources, such as stories, apocalyptic discourse. Mark was written in Greek, for an audience of Greek-speaking Christians, Rome, Galilee, Antioch. The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke bear a resemblance to each other. Their close relationship is termed the problem, and has led to a number of hypotheses explaining their interdependence. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that Mark was the first gospel and was used as a source by both Matthew and Luke, together with additional material. The strongest argument for this is the fact that Matthew and Luke agree with other in their sequence of stories. The 19th century recognition of Mark as the earliest gospel led to the belief that it must therefore be the most reliable, the modern consensus is that Marks purpose was to present a theological message rather than to write history. Marks gospel is nevertheless seen as the most reliable of the four in terms of its overall description of Jesuss life. This recognition allows scholars to chart the evolution of Jesus in the scriptures, Marks Christ, for example, dies with the cry, My God, my God, historical reconstruction suggests that the original despairing death of Jesus has become more and more victorious over time. From the outset, Christians depended heavily on Jewish literature, supporting their convictions through the Jewish scriptures and those convictions involved a nucleus of key concepts, the messiah, the son of God and the son of man, the Day of the Lord, the kingdom of God
5.
Gospel of Luke
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The Gospel According to Luke, also called the Gospel of Luke, or simply Luke, is the third of the four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, Luke is the second-longest of the four gospels, and together with Acts of the Apostles, the pair make up a two-volume work from the same pen, called Luke–Acts. The cornerstone of Luke-Acts theology is salvation history, the understanding that Gods purpose is seen in the way he has acted. The gospels sources are the Gospel of Mark, the collection called the Q source, and a collection of material called the L source. Luke-Acts does not name its author, the most probable date for its composition is around 80–100 AD, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century. Autographs of Luke and the other Gospels have not been preserved, as is typical for ancient documents, the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts. The author is not named in either volume and he admired Paul, but his theology was significantly different from Pauls on key points and he does not represent Pauls views accurately. The eclipse of the attribution to Luke the companion of Paul has meant that an early date for the gospel is now rarely put forward. Luke-Acts is a history of the Founder of the church and his successors. All three authors anchor the histories of their respective peoples by dating the births of the founders and narrate the stories of the founders births from God, each founder taught authoritatively, appeared to witnesses after death, and ascended to heaven. Crucial aspects of the teaching of all three concerned the relationship between rich and poor and the question of whether foreigners were to be received into the people. The author used as his sources the gospel of Mark, the collection called the Q source. Mark, written around 70 AD, provided the narrative outline, for these Luke turned to Q, which consisted mostly, although not exclusively, of sayings. Mark and Q account for about 64% of Luke, the remaining material, known as the L source, is of unknown origin and date. Most Q and L-source material is grouped in two clusters, Luke 6, 17-8,3 and 9, 51-18,14, Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lords supper. The author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large. He begins his gospel with a preface addressed to Theophilus, the name means Lover of God, here he informs Theophilus of his intention, which is to lead his reader to certainty through an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us. He did not, however, intend to provide Theophilus with a justification of the Christian faith – did it happen
6.
Gospel of John
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The Gospel According to John is one of the four canonical gospels in the New Testament. It traditionally appears fourth, after the gospels of Matthew, Mark. John begins with the witness and affirmation of John the Baptist and concludes with the death, burial, resurrection, although the Gospel of John is anonymous, Christian tradition historically has attributed it to John the Apostle, son of Zebedee and one of Jesus Twelve Apostles. C. K. Barrett, and later Raymond E. Brown, suggested that a tradition developed around the Johannine Community, and that this tradition gave rise to the gospel. The discovery of a number of papyrus fragments of manuscripts with Johannine themes has led more scholars to recognize that the texts were among the most influential in the early Church. The discourses contained with this gospel seem to be concerned with issues of the debate at the time of composition. It is notable that in John, the community appears to define itself primarily in contrast to Judaism, though Christianity started as a movement within Judaism, it gradually separated from Judaism because of mutual opposition between the two religions. The Gospel of John can be divided into four sections, a prologue, a Book of Signs, a Book of Glory, the narrative of Jesus public ministry, beginning with the introduction of the first disciples of Jesus. It consists of seven miracles, or signs, interspersed with long dialogues, discourses, Amen, amen sayings, in John it is this, and not the cleansing of the Temple, that prompts the authorities to have Jesus executed. The narrative of Jesus Passion, Resurrection, and post-Resurrection appearances and this is followed by Jesus Farewell Discourse, an account of his betrayal, arrest, trial, death, burial, post-Resurrection appearances, and final commission for his followers. Jesus mocking and crowning with thorns, the Ecce homo, the discovery of the empty tomb, the noli me tangere, the Great Commission, and the incredulity of Thomas. The section ends with a conclusion on the purpose of the gospel, that may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, a large majority of scholars believes this chapter to be an addition to the gospel. The Gospel of John is anonymous, traditionally, Christians have identified the author as the Disciple whom Jesus loved mentioned in John 21,24, who is understood to be John son of Zebedee, one of Jesus Twelve Apostles. These identifications, however, are rejected by the majority of biblical scholars. Nevertheless, the author of the fourth Gospel is sometimes called John the Evangelist, a significant minority consider the traditional account of John the Apostles authorship to be genuine. In addition, the ancient external attestation for Johannine authorship is strong, John is usually dated to AD 90–110. It arose in a Jewish Christian community in the process of breaking from the Jewish synagogue, scholars believe that the text went through two to three redactions, or editions, before reaching its current form. John, which regularly describes Jesus opponents simply as the Jews, is more hostile to the Jews than any other body of New Testament writing
7.
Acts of the Apostles
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The Acts of the Apostles, often referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament, it tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a work, Luke–Acts, by the same anonymous author. The first part, the Gospel of Luke, tells how God fulfilled his plan for the salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Acts continues the story of Christianity in the 1st century, beginning with Jesuss Ascension to Heaven, the early chapters, set in Jerusalem, describe the Day of Pentecost and the growth of the church in Jerusalem. Initially the Jews are receptive to the Christian message, but soon turn against the followers of Jesus. Rejected by the Jews, under the guidance of the Apostle Peter the message is taken to the Gentiles. The later chapters tell of Pauls conversion, his mission in Asia Minor and the Aegean, and finally his imprisonment in Rome, the title Acts of the Apostles was first used by Irenaeus in the late 2nd century. It is not known whether this was a title or one invented by Irenaeus, it does seem clear, however. The Gospel of Luke and Acts make up a work which scholars call Luke–Acts. The author is not named in either volume. )He admired Paul, the earliest possible date for the composition of Acts is set by the events with which it ends, Pauls imprisonment in Rome c.63 AD, but an early date is now rarely put forward. In either case there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century. Luke aligned his work, Luke–Acts, to the narratives which many others had written, Acts, the second part, is widely thought of as a history, but it lacks exact analogies in Hellenistic or Jewish literature. The title Acts of the Apostles would seem to identify it with the telling of the deeds and achievements of great men. By and large the sources for Acts can only be guessed at, but Luke would have had access to the Septuagint, the gospel of Mark and the collection of sayings of Jesus called the Q source. )There are also points of contacts with 1 Peter, the Letter to the Hebrews, and 1 Clement. Other sources can only be inferred from internal evidence—the traditional explanation of the three we passages, for example, is that they represent eye-witness accounts, the search for such inferred sources was popular in the 19th century, but by the mid-20th it had largely been abandoned. Acts was read as a history of the early church well into the post-Reformation era. The mid-19th century scholar Ferdinand Baur suggested that Luke had re-written history to present a united Peter and Paul, Baur continues to have enormous influence, but today there is less interest in determining Lukes historical accuracy than in understanding his theological program. Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lords supper, the author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large
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Epistle
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An epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum, the letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians are usually referred to as epistles. Those traditionally attributed to Paul are known as Pauline epistles and the others as catholic epistles, the ancient Egyptians wrote epistles, most often for pedagogical reasons. Egyptologist Edward Wente speculates that the Fifth-dynasty Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi—in his many letters sent to his viziers—was a pioneer in the epistolary genre. Its existence is attested during the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. A standardized formulae for epistolary compositions existed by the time of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, the epistolary formulae used in the Ramesside Period found its roots in the letters composed during the Amarna Period of the Twentieth Dynasty. Epistle letters were written to the dead, and, by the Ramesside Period, to the gods. Epistles in prose and verse were a genre of literature among the Greeks. The letters of Cicero are one of the most important sources on the history of the late Roman Republic, the letters of Pliny the Younger likewise are studied as both examples of Latin prose with self-conscious literary qualities and sources for historical information. The epistles of Seneca, with their moral or philosophical ruminations, Epistles are written in strict accordance to formalized, Hellenistic tradition, especially the Pauline epistles. This reflects the amount of Hellenistic influence upon the epistle writers, any deviancy is not the result of accident but indicates an unusual motive of the writer. In contrast to letters, epistles usually named the author at the very beginning. The scribe who wrote down the letter may be named at the end of the episte, in the absence of a postal system, the courier may also be named. After the names of the author and recipient, Pauline epistles often open with the greeting, Grace was a common Hellenistic greeting, while peace was the common Jewish greeting, this reflected Pauls dual identity in Jewish faith and Hellenistic culture. There may also be a word of thanks to the audience, in secular letters, a prayer or wish for health followed. The body begins with a brief statement introducing the main topic of the entire body and they are generally considered to form part of the basis of Christian tradition. In the Roman Catholic Mass and Anglican Eucharist, epistles are read between the Collect and the Gospel reading, the corresponding Gregorian chants have a special tone. When the epistle is sung or chanted at Solemn Mass it is done so by the subdeacon, Epistles are also read by an Elder or Bishop in the Lutheran Divine Service, between the gradual and the Gospel
9.
Epistle to the Romans
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The Epistle to the Romans or Letter to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that salvation is offered through the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the longest of the Pauline epistles and is often considered his most important theological legacy and magnum opus. N. T. Wright notes that Romans is. neither a systematic theology nor a summary of Pauls lifework and it dwarfs most of his other writings, an Alpine peak towering over hills and villages. Not all onlookers have viewed it in the light or from the same angle. Not all climbers have taken the route up its sheer sides. What nobody doubts is that we are dealing with a work of massive substance. The scholarly consensus is that Paul authored the Epistle to the Romans, cranfield, in the introduction to his commentary on Romans, says, The denial of Pauls authorship of Romans by such critics. Is now rightly relegated to a place among the curiosities of NT scholarship, today no responsible criticism disputes its Pauline origin. The evidence of its use in the Apostolic Fathers is clear, every extant early list of NT books includes it among his letters. The external evidence of authenticity could indeed hardly be stronger, and it is borne out by the internal evidence, linguistic, stylistic, literary. The letter was most probably written while Paul was in Corinth, probably while he was staying in the house of Gaius, There are a number of reasons why Corinth is considered most plausible. Paul was about to travel to Jerusalem on writing the letter and this probably implies Corinth as it was the location of Paul’s greatest missionary success in Greece. Erastus, mentioned in Romans 16,23, also lived in Corinth, being the commissioner for public works and city treasurer at various times. The majority of writing on Romans propose the letter was written in late 55/early 56 or late 56/early 57. Early 55 and early 58 both have some support, while German New Testament scholar Gerd Lüdemann argues for a date as early as 51/52, following on from Knox, Lüdemann is the only serious challenge to the consensus of mid to late 50s. For ten years writing the letter, Paul had traveled around the territories bordering the Aegean Sea evangelizing. Churches had been planted in the Roman provinces of Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Asia, Paul, considering his task complete, wanted to preach the gospel in Spain, where he would not build upon another man’s foundation. This allowed him to visit Rome on the way, an ambition of his
10.
First Epistle to the Corinthians
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The First Epistle to the Corinthians, usually referred to simply as First Corinthians and often written 1 Corinthians, is one of the Pauline epistles of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This epistle contains some well-known phrases, including, all things to all men, through a glass, darkly, there is consensus among historians and Christian theologians that Paul is the author of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. The letter is quoted or mentioned by the earliest of sources, the personal and even embarrassing texts about immorality in the church increase consensus. However, two passages may have been inserted at a later stage, the first passage is 1 Corinthians 11, 2–16, dealing with praying and prophesying with head covering. The second passage is 1 Corinthians 14, 34–35, whose authenticity has been hotly debated, part of the reason for doubt is that in some manuscripts, the verses come at the end of the chapter instead of at its present location. Furthermore, Paul is here appealing to the law which is uncharacteristic of him, lastly, the verses come into conflict with 11,5 where women are described as praying and prophesying. The epistle was written from Ephesus, a city on the west coast of todays Turkey, according to Acts of the Apostles, Paul founded the church in Corinth, then spent approximately three years in Ephesus. The letter was written during time in Ephesus, which is usually dated as being in the range of AD 53–57. In 16,8 Paul declares his intention of staying in Ephesus until Pentecost and this statement, in turn, is clearly reminiscent of Pauls Second Missionary Journey, when Paul traveled from Corinth to Ephesus, before going to Jerusalem for Pentecost. Thus, it is possible that I Corinthians was written during Pauls first stay in Ephesus, at the end of his Second Journey, however, it is more likely that it was written during his extended stay in Ephesus, where he refers to sending Timothy to them. Also, his references to Apollos show that Apollos was known to Paul and the church at the time of writing, the salutation reinforces the legitimacy of Pauls apostolic claim. Thanksgiving The thanksgiving part of the letter is typical of Hellenistic letter writing, in a thanksgiving recitation the writer thanks God for health, a safe journey, deliverance from danger, or good fortune. In this letter, the thanksgiving introduces charismata and gnosis, topics to which Paul will return, greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you and my love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Some time before 2 Corinthians was written, Paul paid them a visit to check some rising disorder. They had also visited by Apollos, perhaps by Peter. Paul wrote this letter to correct what he saw as erroneous views in the Corinthian church, Paul then wrote this letter to the Corinthians, urging uniformity of belief and expounding Christian doctrine
11.
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
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The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, is a Pauline epistle and the eighth book of the New Testament of the Bible. Paul the Apostle and Timothy our brother wrote this epistle to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia. While there is little doubt among scholars that Paul is the author,1 Corinthians The Severe Letter, Paul refers to an earlier letter of tears in 2 Corinthians 2, 3–4 and 7,8. 1 Corinthians does not match that description, so this letter of tears may have written between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthian 7,1 states that in that letter Paul was replying to questions regarding which the church had written to him. Those who disagree with this assessment usually say that the letter of tears is no longer extant. The book is divided as follows,1, 1–11 – Greeting 1,12 –7,16 – Paul defends his actions and apostleship. 8,1 –9,15 – Instructions for the collection for the poor in the Jerusalem church and he then leaves Corinth and spends about 3 years in Ephesus. Paul writes the letter in his first year from Ephesus. Paul writes 1 Corinthians from his year at Ephesus. Paul visits the Corinthian church a second time, as he indicated he would in 1 Corinthians 16,6, probably during his last year in Ephesus. 2 Corinthians 2,1 calls this a painful visit, Paul writes the letter of tears. Paul writes 2 Corinthians, indicating his desire to visit the Corinthian church a third time, the letter doesnt indicate where he is writing from, but it is usually dated after Paul left Ephesus for Macedonia, from either Philippi or Thessalonica in Macedonia. Paul presumably made the visit after writing 2 Corinthians, because Acts 20. In his letter to Rome, written at this time, he sent salutations from some of the members of the church to the Romans. It is shorter in length in comparison to the first and a little confusing if the reader is unaware of the social, religious, Paul felt the situation in Corinth was still complicated and felt attacked. Some challenged his authority as an apostle, and he compares the level of difficulty to other cities he has visited who had embraced it and he is criticized for the way he speaks and writes and finds it just to defend himself with some of his important teachings. Eastons Bible Dictionary writes, This epistle, it has well said
12.
Epistle to the Galatians
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The Epistle to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia, scholars have suggested that this is either the Roman province of Galatia in southern Anatolia, or a large region defined by an ethnic group of Celtic people in central Anatolia. Paul is principally concerned with the controversy surrounding Gentile Christians and the Mosaic Law during the Apostolic Age. Paul argues that the Gentile Galatians do not need to adhere to the tenets of the Mosaic Law, particularly circumcision, Galatians has exerted enormous influence on the history of Christianity, the development of Christian theology, and the study of the apostle Paul. No original of the letter is known to survive, the earliest reasonably complete version available to scholars today, named P46, dates to approximately the year 200 AD, approximately 150 years after the original was presumably drafted. Some scholars date the composition to c. Other scholars agree that Galatians was written between the late 40s and early 50s, Biblical scholars agree that Galatians is a true example of Pauls writing. The main arguments in favor of the authenticity of Galatians include its style and themes, which are common to the core letters of the Pauline corpus. Moreover, Pauls possible description of the Council of Jerusalem gives a different point of view from the description in Acts 15, 2–29, if it is, in fact, describing the Jerusalem Council. Another indicator that the letter is early is that there is no hint in the letter of an organization within the Christian community at large. This puts it during the lifetime of Paul himself, nevertheless, a small number of scholars have questioned Pauls authorship of Galatians, such as Bruno Bauer, Abraham Loman, C. H. Weisse and Frank R. McGuire. Pauls letter is addressed to the churches of Galatia, but the location of churches is a matter of debate. Acts of the Apostles records Paul traveling to the region of Galatia and Phrygia, some claim the New Testament says that the churches of Galatia were founded by Paul himself. They seem to have been composed mainly of converts from paganism, the Galatians appear to have been receptive to the teaching of these newcomers, and the epistle is Pauls response to what he sees as their willingness to turn from his teaching. The identity of opponents is disputed. However, the majority of modern scholars view them as Jewish Christians, the letter indicates controversy concerning circumcision, Sabbath observance, and the Mosaic Covenant. It would appear, from Pauls response, that cited the example of Abraham. They certainly appear to have questioned Pauls authority as an apostle, the North Galatian view holds that the epistle was written very soon after Pauls second visit to Galatia
13.
Epistle to the Ephesians
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The Epistle to the Ephesians, also called the Letter to the Ephesians and often shortened to Ephesians, is the tenth book of the New Testament. The main theme of Ephesians is “the Church, which is the Body of Christ. ”As a prisoner for the Lord, then, be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, the Church is to maintain the unity in practice which Christ has brought about positionally. According to New Testament scholar Daniel Wallace, the theme may be stated pragmatically as “Christians, maintain the unity practically which Christ has effected positionally by his death. ”Another major theme in Ephesians is the keeping of Christs body pure and holy. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. From Ephesians 4, 17–6,20 the author of the Epistle to the Ephesians gives practical advice in how to live a holy, pure, according to tradition, the Apostle Paul wrote the letter while he was in prison in Rome. This would be about the time as the Epistle to the Colossians. However, many scholars have questioned the authorship of the letter. The first verse in the letter identifies Paul as its author, there are four main theories in biblical scholarship that address the question of Pauline authorship. Robert, and André Feuillet, Sanders, Schille, Brooke Foss Westcott, for a defense of the Pauline authorship of Ephesians, see Ephesians, An Exegetical Commentary by Harold Hoehner, pp 2–61. A second position suggests that Ephesians was dictated by Paul with interpolations from another author, some of the scholars that espouse this view include Albertz, Benoit, Cerfaux, Goguel, Harrison, H. J. Holtzmann, Murphy-OConnor, and Wagenfuhrer. Currently, most critical scholars think it improbable that Paul authored Ephesians, among this group are Allan, Beare, Brandon, Bultmann, Conzelmann, Dibelius, Goodspeed, Kilsemann, J. Knox, W. L. Knox, Kümmel, K and S Lake, Marxsen, Masson, Mitton, Moffatt, Nineham, Pokorny, Schweizer, still other scholars suggest there is a lack of conclusive evidence. Some of this group are Cadbury, Julicher, McNeile, for these reasons, most regard Ephesians to be a circular letter intended for many churches. However, scholars who dispute Pauls authorship date the letter to between 70–80 AD, in the latter case, the possible location of the authorship could have been within the church of Ephesus itself. Ignatius of Antioch himself seemed to be well versed in the epistle to the Ephesians. The major theme of the letter is the unity and reconciliation of the whole of creation through the agency of the Church and, in particular, a general account of the blessings that the gospel reveals. This includes the source of blessings, the means by which they are attained, the reason why they are given
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Epistle to the Philippians
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The Epistle of Paul and Timothy to the Philippians, often referred to simply as Philippians, is the eleventh book in the New Testament. Paul and Timothy first visited Philippi in Greece during Pauls second missionary journey, Philippi was the location of the first Christian community established in Europe. Biblical scholars are in agreement that the letter was indeed written by Paul of Tarsus. The estimated date of the letter is 62 AD, about 10 years after Pauls first visit to Philippi, according to the document itself, the Philippians had sent Epaphroditus, their envoy, with contributions as an expression of their partnership and concern to meet the needs of Paul. During the execution of his responsibilities of travel to deliver their gift and it is at this time, whether premeditated or due to an extended stay with the apostle, various internal matters are revealed to Paul on the part of Epaphroditus. Moreover, Paul sends counsel regarding spiritual adversaries among the Philippians, lastly, he provides receipt of both Epaphroditus heroism and the arrival of the gift, along with his promise of a divine accounting. With this communication Epaphroditus sets out on his homeward journey, there has been ongoing debate regarding where Paul was when he wrote this letter. Internal evidence in the letter itself points clearly to it being composed while Paul was in custody, Some suggest the Roman imprisonment at the end of the Book of Acts. Others suggest the earlier Caesarean imprisonment, still others suggest an earlier imprisonment again, and postulate an Ephesian imprisonment during Pauls lengthy stay in that city. Until recently no one seems to have advocated the second period of Roman imprisonment, jim Reiher considered and speculated on this theory in a 2012 article. This second Roman imprisonment theory is still to be debated in the wider theological community. The letter begins in standard form for an ancient Hellenistic letter structure, with author – or senders – first, the address and the greeting is clear, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, the letter was written to the church at Philippi, one of the earliest churches to be founded in Europe. They were very attached to Paul, just as he was fond of them. Of all the churches, their contributions are among the ones he accepts. The generosity of the Philippians comes out very conspicuously and this was a characteristic of the Macedonian missions, as 2 Cor.8 and 9 amply and beautifully prove. As with all epistles, the original was composed in Greek, veronica Koperski views Philippians 3,10 as the beginning of the analysis of the knowledge of Christ
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Epistle to the Colossians
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The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, usually referred to simply as Colossians, is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy to the Church in Colossae, scholars have increasingly questioned Pauls authorship and attributed the letter to an early follower instead. The authenticity of the letter, however, has been defended with equal strength, during the first generation after Jesus, Pauls epistles to various churches helped establish early Christian theology. According to Bruce Metzger, it was written in the 50s while Paul was in prison, Colossians is similar to Ephesians, also written at this time. Some critical scholars have ascribed the epistle to a follower of Paul. The epistles description of Christ as pre-eminent over creation marks it, for some scholars, defenders of Pauline authorship cite the works similarities to Philemon, which is broadly accepted as authentic. The letter may have been written by Paul at Rome during his first imprisonment, other scholars have suggested that it was written from Caesarea or Ephesus. If the letter is not considered to be a part of the Pauline corpus, then it might be dated during the late 1st century. Like some of his epistles, this seems to have been written in consequence of information which had been conveyed to Paul of the internal state of the church there by Epaphras. A faithful minister to the Colossians, Epaphras was visiting Paul when the epistle was written, the letters authors claim to be Paul and Timothy, but authorship began to be authoritatively questioned during the 19th century. Pauline authorship was held to by many of the churchs prominent theologians, such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen of Alexandria. However, as with several epistles attributed to Paul, critical scholarship disputes this claim, a second ground is that the epistle features a strong use of liturgical-hymnic style which appears nowhere else in Pauls work to the same extent. A third is that the themes related to Christ, eschatology. Those who are advocates of Pauline authorship defend the differences that there are elements in this letter and those commonly considered the genuine work of Paul. If this is the case, the language and style are not indications of pseudonymity. Not only that, but it has noted that Colossians has indisputably Pauline stylistic characteristics. Advocates of Pauline authorship also argue that the differences between Colossians and the rest of the New Testament are not as great as they are purported to be, Colossae is in the region of the seven churches of Revelation 1–3. In Colossians 4,13 there is mention of local brethren in Colossae, Laodicea, Colossae was approximately 12 miles from Laodicea and 14 miles from Hierapolis
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First Epistle to the Thessalonians
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The first letter to the Thessalonians was likely the first of Pauls letters, probably written by the end of AD52, making it the oldest book in the New Testament. For the most part, the letter is personal in nature, Pauls main purpose in writing is to encourage and reassure the Christians there. Paul urges them to go on working quietly while waiting in hope for the return of Christ, unlike all subsequent Pauline epistles,1 Thessalonians does not focus on justification by faith or questions of Jewish–Gentile relations, themes that are covered in all other letters. Many scholars see this as an indication that this letter was written before the Epistle to the Galatians,1 Thessalonians matches other accepted Pauline letters, both in style and in content, and its authorship is also affirmed by 2 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 2, 13–16 have often regarded as a post-Pauline interpolation. There were no extensive historical persecutions of Christians by Jews in Palestine prior to the first Jewish war, the use of the concept of imitation in 1 Thes. The aorist eftasen refers to the destruction of Jerusalem,2, 13–16 deviates significantly from that of the surrounding context. It is also suggested that 1 Thes. 5, 1–11 is an insertion that has many features of Lukan language. Other scholars, such as Schmithals, Eckhart, Demke and Munro, have developed complicated theories involving redaction and interpolation in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Paul claimed the title of the Apostle to the Gentiles, and established gentile churches in several important cities in the Roman Empire. According to Bart D. Paul stresses how honorably he conducted himself, reminding them that he had worked to earn his keep and he did this, he says, even though he could have used his status as an apostle to impose upon them. Paul goes on to explain that the dead will be resurrected prior to those still living, authorship of the Pauline epistles Imitation of Christ Second Epistle to the Thessalonians This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Easton, Matthew George. Epistles to the Thessalonians entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia Online Bible at GospelHall. org Thessalonians public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions
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Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
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The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, often referred to as Second Thessalonians or Two Thessalonians is a book from the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars who support its authenticity view it as having been written around 51-52 AD and those who see it as a later composition, assign a date of around 80 -115 AD. The authenticity of this epistle is still in widespread dispute, the structures of the two letters include opening greetings and closing benedictions which frame two, balancing, sections. In 2 Thessalonians these begin with similar successions of nine Greek words, the opening letter section itself comprises two halves,1, 3–12 and 2, 1–12. The second, balancing, letter section also comprises two halves,2, 13–3,5 and 3, 6-16c, of the twelve pieces in 2 Thessalonians seven begin with brother introductions. Of the eighteen pieces in 1 Thessalonians fourteen begin with brother introductions, in both letters, the sections balance in size and focus, and in many details. In 2 Thessalonians, in 2,5 and 3,10, for example, and when we were with you. Of the books in the New Testament suspected of pseudepigraphy,2 Thessalonians has the most evidence to support its authenticity, while Pauls authorship of Second Thessalonians has been questioned more often than his authorship of 1 Thess. There is more evidence from early Christian writers for his authorship of Second Thessalonians than for First Thessalonians, the epistle was included in Marcions canon and the Muratorian fragment, it was mentioned by name by Irenaeus, and quoted by Ignatius, Justin, and Polycarp. G. Milligan observed that a church which possessed a letter of Paul would be unlikely to accept a fake addressed to them. So also Colin Nicholl who has put forward an argument for the authenticity of Second Thessalonians. He points out that the view is. More vulnerable than most of its advocates conceded, the lack of consensus regarding a date and destination. Reflects a dilemma for this position, on the one hand, the other hand, the date and destination need to be such that the author could be confident that no contemporary of 1 Thessalonians. Could have exposed 2 Thessalonians as a. forgery, pp. 5–6 Another scholar who argues for the authenticity of this letter is Jerome Murphy-OConnor. Admitting that there are stylistic problems between Second Thessalonians and First Thessalonians, he argues that part of the problem is due to the nature of First Thessalonians. Bruce Metzger writes, Paul calls attention to his signature, which was added by his own hand as a token of genuineness to every letter of his, other scholars who hold to authenticity include Beale, Green, Jones, Morris, and Witherington. At least as early as 1798, when J. E. C, schmidt published his opinion, Pauls authorship of this epistle was questioned
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Second Epistle to Timothy
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The three epistles are called pastoral because they relate to the conduct of church leaders, thought of as pastors. It is traditionally considered to be the last epistle he wrote before his death and it is addressed to Timothy, a fellow missionary. The Epistle advocates endurance as the quality for a preacher of the gospel. As a good soldier for Jesus Christ, he is to be pure, noble, in Pauls farewell, he describes himself as at the end of his career and awaiting the crown of righteousness. They are speculated to have written between 90 and 140. They do not address Pauls common themes, such as the unity with Christ. Scholars refer to the author as the Pastor. Albert Barnes demonstrates that Paul the Apostle wrote this letter in AD61 or 65, but whether it was written during his first imprisonment there, or during a second imprisonment, is a question, on which critics even now are by no means agreed. If the supposition of a second imprisonment at Rome, during which this Epistle was written, is correct, lardner, however, who supposes it was written during the first imprisonment, places its date in May, AD61, Hug, also, in the same year. Some modern critical scholars argue that 2 Timothy was not written by Paul, the language and ideas of this epistle are notably different from the other two Pastoral letters yet similar to the later Pauline letters, especially the ones he wrote in captivity. This has led scholars to conclude that the author of 2 Timothy is a different person from 1 Timothy. Raymond E. Brown proposed that this letter was written by a follower of Paul who had knowledge of Pauls last days. Jerome Murphy-OConnor, however, argues that this epistle was written by Paul, and that it is the only still-extant letter written by Paul subsequent to Romans. According to the letter, Paul urges Timothy not to have a spirit of timidity and he also entreats Timothy to come to him before winter, and to bring Mark with him. Paul clearly anticipates his being put to death and realities beyond in his valedictory found in 2 Timothy 4, 6–8, For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 2 Timothy contains one of Pauls Christological Hymns in 2, 11–13, or For a discussion of 2 Timothy 3, 16-17 on Biblical inspiration, portions of 2 Timothy parallel the Epistle to the Philippians, also believed to be written near the time of Pauls death. In sharp contrast to his dispute with Barnabas over Mark, which resulted in the two parting ways, Paul now considered Mark to be profitable to the ministry. The chapter also features the only Biblical mention of Linus, who in Roman Catholic tradition is listed as Peters immediate successor as Bishop of Rome
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Epistle to Titus
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The Epistle of Paul to Titus, usually referred to simply as Titus, is one of the three Pastoral Epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle and is part of the New Testament. It is addressed to Saint Titus and describes the requirements and duties of elders, some consider it, along with 2 Timothy, to be Pauls final instructions to early church leaders before his final departure. Not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Titus was noted in Galatians where Paul wrote of journeying to Jerusalem with Barnabas and he was then dispatched to Corinth, Greece, where he successfully reconciled the Christian community there with Paul, its founder. Titus was later left on the island of Crete to help organize the Church, according to Eusebius of Caesarea in the Ecclesiastical History, he served as the first bishop of Crete and remained there in his old years. He was buried in Cortyna, Crete, his head was removed to Venice during the invasion of Crete by the Saracens in 832 and was enshrined in St Marks Basilica, Venice. Scholars are not unanimous about the authenticity of the pastoral epistles, Titus is usually one of the three Pastoral epistles attributed to Paul. Titus has a close affinity with 1 Timothy, sharing similar phrases and expressions. The author of Titus identifies himself as Paul, a servant of God, according to Eastons Bible Dictionary, The Epistle was probably written about the same time as the First Epistle to Timothy, with which it has many affinities. Scholars who believe Paul wrote Titus date its composition from the circumstance that it was written after Pauls visit to Crete. That visit could not be the one referred to in the Acts of the Apostles 27,7, when Paul was on his voyage to Rome as a prisoner, and where he continued a prisoner for two years. Thus traditional exegesis supposes that after his release Paul sailed from Rome into Asia, passing Crete by the way, and that there he left Titus to set in order the things that were wanting. However, works written under a name would have been very problematic since the early church clearly excluded from the apostolic canon any works they thought to be pseudonymous. Tertullian wrote that when it was discovered that a church elder had composed a work, The Acts of Paul. The Pastoral epistles are regarded by majority of scholars as being pseudepigraphical, on the basis of the language and content of the pastoral epistles, these scholars today doubt that they were written by Paul and believe that they were written after his death. The early Church did not agree and these scholars date the epistle from the 80s CE up to the end of the 2nd century. One of the peculiarities of the Epistle to Titus is the reference to the Epimenides paradox, One of the Cretans. The statement by a member of a group all members are liars is a famous logic problem. Textual variants in the Epistle to Titus Authorship of the Pauline epistles Faithful saying This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Easton
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Epistle to Philemon
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The Epistle of Paul to Philemon, known simply as Philemon, is one of the books of the Christian New Testament. It is a letter, co-authored by Paul the Apostle with Timothy, to Philemon. It deals with the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation, Paul does not identify himself as an apostle with authority, but as a prisoner of Jesus Christ, calling Timothy our brother, and addressing Philemon as fellow labourer and brother. Onesimus, a slave that had departed from his master Philemon, was returning with this epistle wherein Paul asked Philemon to receive him as a brother beloved, Philemon was a wealthy Christian, possibly a bishop of the house church that met in his home in Colosse. This letter is now regarded as one of the undisputed works of Paul. It is the shortest of Pauls extant letters, consisting of only 335 words in the Greek text, the epistle of Philemon is attributed to the apostle Paul, and this attribution has rarely been questioned by scholars. Along with six others, it is numbered among the undisputed letters, the main challenge to the letters authenticity came from a group of German scholars in the nineteenth century known as the Tübingen School. Their leader, Ferdinand Christian Baur, only accepted four New Testament epistles as genuinely written by Paul, the opening verse of the salutation also names Timothy alongside Paul. This, however, does not mean that Timothy was the epistles co-author, rather, Paul regularly mentions others in the address if they have a particular connection with the recipient. In this case, Timothy may have encountered Philemon while accompanying Paul in his work in Ephesus, according to the majority interpretation, Paul wrote this letter on behalf of Onesimus, a runaway slave who had wronged his owner Philemon. Sometime after leaving, Onesimus came into contact with Paul, although again the details are unclear and he may have been arrested and imprisoned alongside Paul. Alternatively, he may have previously heard Pauls name and so travelled to him for help, after meeting Paul, Onesimus became a Christian believer. An affection grew between them, and Paul would have been glad to keep Onesimus with him, however, he considered it better to send him back to Philemon with an accompanying letter, which aimed to effect reconciliation between them as Christian brothers. The preservation of the letter suggests that Pauls request was granted, Onesimus status as a runaway slave was challenged by Allen Dwight Callahan in an article published in the Harvard Theological Review and in a later commentary. Callahan argues that, beyond verse 16, nothing in the text indicates that Onesimus was ever the chattel of the letters chief addressee. Moreover, the expectations fostered by the fugitive slave hypothesis go unrealized in the letter. Modern commentators, even committed to the prevailing interpretation, have tacitly admitted as much. Ben Witherington III has challenged Callahans interpretation as a misreading of Pauls rhetoric and they shall make known unto you all things which are done here
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Epistle to the Hebrews
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The Epistle to the Hebrews, or Letter to the Hebrews, or in the Greek manuscripts, simply To the Hebrews is one of the books of the New Testament. Scholars of Greek consider its writing to be polished and eloquent than any other book of the New Testament. The book has earned the reputation of being a masterpiece and it has also been described as an intricate New Testament book. Scholars believe it was written for Jewish Christians who lived in Jerusalem and its purpose was to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The theme of the epistle is the doctrine of the person of Christ, the epistle opens with an exaltation of Jesus as the radiance of Gods glory, the express image of his being, and upholding all things by his powerful word. The epistle presents Jesus with the pioneer or forerunner, Son and Son of God, priest. The epistle casts Jesus as both exalted Son and high priest, a unique dual Christology, Hebrews uses Old Testament quotations interpreted in light of first century rabbinical Judaism. Although the author of Hebrews was not directly influenced by Qumrans Messiah of Aaron, to conceive Jesus similarly as a priest making atonement and eternal intercession in the heavenly sanctuary. By the end of the first century there was not a consensus over the author’s identity, Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Paul the Apostle, and other names were proposed. Others later suggested Luke the Evangelist, Apollos and Priscilla as possible authors, though no author is named, the original King James Version of the Bible titled the work The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews. However, the KJVs attribution to Paul was only a guess and its vastly different style, different theological focus, different spiritual experience, different Greek vocabulary—all are believed to make Pauls authorship of Hebrews increasingly indefensible. At present, neither modern scholarship nor church teaching ascribes Hebrews to Paul, because of its anonymity, it had some trouble being accepted as part of the Christian canon, being classed with the Antilegomena. Eventually it was accepted as scripture because of its theology, eloquent presentation. In antiquity, certain circles began to ascribe it to Paul in an attempt to provide the work an explicit apostolic pedigree. Scholars argued that in the 13th Chapter of Hebrews, Timothy is referred to as a companion, Timothy was Pauls missionary companion in the same way Jesus sent disciples out in pairs of two. Also, the states that he wrote the letter from Italy. The difference in style is explained as simply an adjustment to a distinct audience, many scholars now believe that the author was one of Pauls pupils or associates, citing stylistic differences between Hebrews and the other Pauline epistles. Recent scholarship has favored the idea that the author was probably a leader of a predominantly Jewish congregation to whom he or she was writing
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Epistle of James
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The Epistle of James, the Book of James, or simply James, is one of the twenty-two epistles in the New Testament. The author identifies himself as James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, the epistle is traditionally attributed to James the brother of Jesus, and the audience is generally considered to be Jewish Christians, who were dispersed outside of Palestine due to persecution. Framed within a theme of patient perseverance during trials and temptations. He wants his readers to mature in their faith in Christ by living what they say they believe and he condemns various sins, including pride, hypocrisy, favouritism, and slander. He encourages believers to live by godly rather than worldly wisdom. Within the New Testament canon, the Epistle of James is noteworthy in that it makes no reference to the death, resurrection and it refers to Jesus twice, as the Lord Jesus Christ and as our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. According to Robert J. Foster, there is consensus as to the genre, structure, dating. The writer refers to only as James, a servant of God. As many as six different men may be referred to in the Bible as James, Jesus had two apostles named James, James, the son of Zebedee and James, the son of Alphaeus, but it is unlikely that either of these wrote the letter. According to the Book of Acts, James, the son of Zebedee, was martyred about 44 AD and that would be very early for him to have been the writer. The other apostle James, the son of Alphaeus, is not prominent in the Scriptural record, rather, evidence points to James, the brother of Jesus, to whom Jesus evidently had made a special appearance after his resurrection described in the New Testament. This James was prominent among the disciples, furthermore, the salutation of his letter includes the term “Greetings. That was same way as the letter on circumcision that was sent to the congregations, in the latter instance it was apparently Jesuss brother, James, who spoke prominently in the assembly of the apostles and the older men at Jerusalem. From the middle of the 3rd century, patristic authors cited the Epistle as written by James, the brother of Jesus and he is traditionally considered the first of the Seventy Disciples. Pseudonymous authorship implies that the person named James is respected and doubtless well known, moreover, this James, brother of Jesus, is honored by the epistle written and distributed after the lifetime of James, the brother of Jesus. John Calvin and others suggested that the author was the Apostle James, son of Alphaeus, the cultured Greek language of the Epistle, it is contended, could not have been written by a Jerusalem Jew. Some scholars argue for a version of the letter composed by James. The epistle was only accepted into the canon of the New Testament
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First Epistle of Peter
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The First Epistle of Peter, usually referred to simply as First Peter and often written 1 Peter, is a book of the New Testament. The letter is addressed to various churches in Asia Minor suffering religious persecution, the authorship of 1 Peter has traditionally been attributed to the Apostle Peter because it bears his name and identifies him as its author. Although the text identifies Peter as its author the language, dating, style, many scholars are convinced that Peter was not the author of this letter because the author had to have a formal education in rhetoric/philosophy and an advanced knowledge of the Greek language. Current scholarship has abandoned the persecution argument because the described persecution within the work does not necessitate a time period outside of the period of Peter, others argue that it makes little sense to ascribe the work to Peter when it could have been ascribed to Paul. One theory used to support Petrine authorship of 1 Peter is the secretarial hypothesis, on the one hand, some scholars such as Bart D. On the other hand, some argue that there is not enough evidence to conclude that Peter did not write 1 Peter. For instance, there are similarities between 1 Peter and Peters speeches in the Biblical book of Acts, and the earliest attestation of Peters authorship comes from 2 Peter, ultimately, the authorship of 1 Peter remains contested. 1 Peter is addressed to the “elect resident aliens” scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, the five areas listed in 1,1 as the geographical location of the first readers were Roman provinces in Asia Minor. The order in which the provinces are listed may reflect the route to be taken by the messenger who delivered the circular letter. The recipients of this letter are referred to in 1,1 as “exiles of the Dispersion. ”In 1,17, while the new Christians have encountered oppression and hostility from locals, Peter advises them to maintain loyalty to both their religion and the Roman Empire. David Bartlett lists the following outline to structure the literary divisions of 1 Peter, based on such internal evidence, biblical scholar John Elliott summarizes the addressees’ situation as one marked by undeserved suffering. Verse, Spirits in prison, is a theme in Christianity. A number of verses in the epistle contain possible clues about the reasons Christians experienced opposition, however, scholars differ on the nature of persecution inflicted on the addressees of 1 Peter. Some read the epistle to be describing persecution in the form of social discrimination, some scholars believe that the sufferings the epistles addressees were experiencing were social in nature, specifically in the form of verbal derision. Internal evidence for this includes the use of words like “malign” and it is significant to him that the author notes that “your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering”, indicating suffering that is worldwide in scope. On the other hand, scholars who support the official persecution theory take the exhortation to defend ones faith as a reference to court proceedings. They believe that these persecutions involved court trials before Roman authorities, one common supposition is that 1 Peter was written during the reign of Domitian. Domitians aggressive claim to divinity would have rejected and resisted by Christians
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Second Epistle of Peter
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Some modern scholars regard it as pseudepigraphical. It is the only New Testament book to treat other New Testament writings as scripture, Second Peter was one of the last letters included in the New Testament canon and is one of the texts that were in dispute before the canon was finalized. According to the Epistle itself, it was composed by the Apostle Peter and it criticizes false teachers who distort the authentic, apostolic tradition, and predicts judgment for them. 2 Peter explains that God has delayed the Second Coming of Christ so that people will have the chance to reject evil. It calls on Christians to wait patiently for the parousia and to study scripture, the date of composition has proven to be very difficult to determine. Commentaries and reference books have placed 2 Peter in almost every decade from AD60 to 160. Many believe that it was written between 65-68 A. D. because Peter was martyred around 68 A. D. by Nero, most biblical scholars have concluded Peter is not the author, considering the epistle pseudepigraphical. The questions of authorship and date are closely related, for Petrine authorship to be authentic, it must have been written prior to Peters death in c. The letter refers to the Pauline epistles and so must post-date at least some of them, regardless of authorship, thus a date before 60 is improbable. Further, it goes as far to name the Pauline epistles as scripture — the only time a New Testament work refers to another New Testament work in this way — implying that it postdates them by some time. Chester & Martin say scholars consider the epistle to be written between c, AD 100–150 and so contend that it is pseudepigraphical. For an argument for a late date see Harris, for a middle date see Bauckham who opts for a date between AD 80–90 as most probable. For an early date and for a defense of the Apostle Peters authorship see Kruger, Zahn, Spitta, Bigg, jeremy Duff argues that the various strands of evidence point towards the period 60–130 CE, with some reason to favour 80–90 CE. Acceptance of the letter into the canon did not occur without some difficulty, however, nowhere did doubts about the letters authorship take the form of definitive rejection. ”Origen, in both content and style this letter is very different from 1 Peter. This epistle presciently declares that it is shortly before the apostles death. The epistle contains eleven references to the Old Testament, in 3,15,16 a reference is made to one of Pauls epistles, which some have identified as 1 Thessalonians 4, 13–5,11. Because the Epistle of Jude is much shorter than 2 Peter, and due to various stylistic details, tartarus is mentioned in 2 Pet 2,4 as devoted to the holding of certain fallen angels. It is elaborated on in Jude 6, Jude 6 however, is a clear reference to the Book of Enoch
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Second Epistle of John
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The language of this epistle is remarkably similar to 3 John. It is therefore suggested by a few that a single author composed both of these letters, the traditional view contends that all the letters are by the hand of John the Apostle, and the linguistic structure, special vocabulary, and polemical issues all lend toward this theory. This establishes that, from the time the epistle was first written, there were those who had docetic Christologies, alternatively, the letters acknowledgment and rejection of gnostic theology may reveal a later date of authorship than orthodox Christianity claims. This can not be assured by a study of the context. Gnosticisms beginnings and its relationship to Christianity are poorly dated, due to an insufficient corpus of literature relating the first interactions between the two religions, adherents of gnosticism were most numerous during the second and third centuries. A late date of the composition, I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, and this is love, that we walk according to his commandments, this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it. Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, any person is the deceiver. Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God, whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching, for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person. Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink, instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, the children of your elect sister send you their greetings. The doctrines of Doceticm and Gnosticism had made inroads among the followers of Jesus in the half of the First Century. Some said that Jesus never assumed human flesh, but only had the appearance of flesh, others said that Christ was raised as a spirit only, and did not experience a bodily resurrection. In this epistle John condemns such doctrines in no uncertain terms with the statement that such persons were antichrist, the text is addressed to the elect lady and her children, and closes with the words, The children of thy elect sister greet thee. However, some prefer to transliterate the Greek word for lady with the proper name Kyria. The person addressed is commended for her piety, and is warned against false teachers, the lady has traditionally been seen as a metaphor for the church, the church being the body of believers as a whole and as local congregations. The children would be members of local congregation. He also includes a greeting from another church in the last verse, the term the elect was a fairly common term for those who believe in the gospel and follow Christ
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Third Epistle of John
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The purpose of the letter is to encourage and strengthen Gaius, and to warn him against Diotrephes, who refuses to cooperate with the author of the letter. Early church literature contains no mention of the epistle, with the first reference to it appearing in the middle of the third century. The language of 3 John echoes that of the Gospel of John, others contest this view, such as the scholar John A. T. Robinson, who dates 3 John to c. The location of writing is unknown, but tradition places it in Ephesus, the epistle is found in many of the oldest New Testament manuscripts, and its text is free of major discrepancies or textual variants. Third John is the shortest book of the Bible by word count and it is the only New Testament book which does not contain the names Jesus or Christ. The letter is written to a man named Gaius, the Elder may have converted Gaius, since he calls Gaius his child in the faith. The Apostolic Constitutions VII.46.9 records that Gaius was made bishop of Pergamon, the name Gaius occurs three other times in the New Testament. First, a Christian Gaius is mentioned in Macedonia as a companion of Paul. One chapter later, a Gaius from Derbe is named as one of Pauls seven traveling companions who waited for him at Troas. Next, a Gaius is mentioned residing in Corinth as being one of only a few there who were baptised by Paul. Lastly, a Gaius is referred to in a final greeting portion of the Epistle to the Romans as Pauls host and also host of the whole church, however, there is no reason to suppose that any of these men were the Gaius of 3 John. The Elder continues the letter by commending Gaius for his loyalty, the brothers are brothers in the faith or missionaries, who in accordance with Jesus command in Mark 6, 8–9 have set out on a journey without any money. The Elder then goes on to request that Gaius provide for the brothers to continue their journey, the Elder next describes his conflict with Diotrephes, who does not acknowledge the Elders authority and is excommunicating those, like Gaius, who welcome missionaries sent by the Elder. The Elder mentions a letter which he has written to the church which was suppressed by Diotrephes. The church is known to Gaius, but he is likely not a member of it. The dispute between Diotrephes and the Elder seems to be based on leadership and authority rather than doctrine. John Painter, however, argues the Elder is in referring to 2 John. The Elder closes this section with an entreaty to Gaius, Beloved, do not imitate evil, whoever does good is from God, whoever does evil has not seen God
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Epistle of Jude
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The Epistle of Jude, often shortened to Jude, is the next-to-last book of the New Testament and is attributed to Jude, the servant of Jesus and the brother of James the Just. The letter of Jude was one of the books of the Canon. Although its canonical status was contested, its authenticity was never doubted by the Early Church, the links between the Epistle and 2 Peter, its use of the Apocryphal Books, and its brevity raised concern. It is one of the shortest books in the Bible, being only 25 verses long, Jude urges his readers to defend the deposit of Christs doctrine that had been closed by the time he wrote his epistle, and to remember the words of the apostles spoken somewhat before. He describes in terms the apostates of his day. And to keep themselves in Gods love, before delivering a doxology, Jude quotes directly from the Book of Enoch, part of the scripture of the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches but rejected by other churches. He cites Enochs prophecy that the Lord would come many thousands of his saints to render judgement on the whole world. He also paraphrases an incident in a text that has been lost about Satan, the Reason for the Change, The Presence of Godless Apostates III. Warning against the False Teachers A, historical Examples of the Judgement of Apostates 1. Description of the Apostates of Judes Day 1, concluding Doxology The Epistle of Jude is held as canonical in the Christian Church, conservative scholars date it between 70 and 90. More remarkable is the evidence that by the end of the second century Jude was widely accepted as canonical, clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and the Muratorian canon considered the letter canonical. The first historical record of doubts as to authorship are found in the writings of Origen of Alexandria, eusebius classified it with the disputed writings, the antilegomena. The letter was accepted as part of the Canon by Church Fathers such as Athanasius. The Epistle title is written as follows, Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, there is a dispute as to whether brother means someone who has the same father and mother, or a half-brother or cousin or more distant familial relationship. This dispute over the meaning of brother grew as the doctrine of the Virgin Birth evolved. The debate has continued over the identity as the apostle. Others have drawn the conclusion, i. e. that, as an apostle. The naming of many Judes in the gospels and among the relatives of Jesus, not a lot is known of Jude, which would explain the apparent need to identify him by reference to his better-known brother
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Apocalypse
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‹See Tfd› An apocalypse is a disclosure of knowledge or revelation. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something hidden, today, the term is commonly used in reference to any prophetic revelation or so-called end time scenario, or to the end of the world in general. The revelation may be made through a dream, as in the Book of Daniel, or through a vision, in biblical accounts of revelations the manner of the revelation and its reception is generally described. According to the Book of Daniel, after a period of fasting, Daniel is standing by a river when a heavenly being appears to him. Symbolism is a frequent characteristic of apocalyptic writing, one instance of this occurs where gematria is employed, either for obscuring the writers meaning or enhancing it, as a number of ancient cultures used letters also as numbers. Thus the symbolic name Taxo, Assumptio Mosis, ix,1, the Number of the Beast, in the Book of Revelation 13,18, the number 666, Sibyllines, i. 326–30. Similar is the frequent prophecy of the length of time through which the events predicted must be fulfilled, judgments, Revelation 16, the dragon, Revelation 12, 3–17, Revelation 20, 1–3, the eagle, Assumptio Mosis, x.8, and so on. In the Hebrew Old Testament some pictures of the end of the age were images of the judgment of the wicked, in the Book of Job and in some Psalms the dead are described as being in Sheol, awaiting the final judgment. The wicked will then be consigned to eternal suffering in the fires of Gehinnom, the Apocalypse on In Our Time at the BBC. Its the End of the World,8 Potential Armageddons, Fox, from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
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Book of Revelation
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Its title is derived from the first word of the text, written in Koine Greek, apokalypsis, meaning unveiling or revelation. The Book of Revelation is the apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon. The author names himself in the text as John, but his identity remains a point of academic debate. Modern scholarship generally takes a different view, and many consider that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet, Some modern scholars characterise Revelations author as a putative figure whom they call John of Patmos. The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the emperor Domitian, the book spans three literary genres, the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean and he then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Whore of Babylon and the Beast, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus. The title is taken from the first word of the book in Koine Greek, ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis, the author names himself as John, but it is currently considered unlikely that the author of Revelation was also the author of the Gospel of John. All that is known is that this John was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets and his precise identity remains unknown, and modern scholarship commonly refers to him as John of Patmos. 70 AD is the date of writing according to Martha Himmelfarb in the recently published Blackwell series. Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, Apocalypse means the revealing of divine mysteries, John is to write down what is revealed and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven churches are introductions to the rest of the book. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author himself as a Christian prophet, Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times. The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, almost every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the stem from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms. He very frequently combines multiple references, and again the style makes it impossible to be certain to what extent he did so consciously. Revelation was the last book accepted into the Christian biblical canon and it was considered tainted because the heretical sect of the Montanists relied on it and doubts were raised over its Jewishness and authorship. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, disciple of Origen wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer and he regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle
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Biblical manuscript
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A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek biblia, manuscript comes from Latin manu, the original manuscript is called the autographa. The study of manuscripts is important because handwritten copies of books can contain errors. The science of textual criticism attempts to reconstruct the text of books. The Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex were the oldest Hebrew language manuscripts of the Tanakh, in 1947 the finding of the Dead Sea scrolls at Qumran pushed the manuscript history of the Tanakh back a millennium from the two earliest complete codices. Before this discovery, the earliest extant manuscripts of the Old Testament were in Greek in manuscripts such as Codex Vaticanus, out of the roughly 800 manuscripts found at Qumran,220 are from the Tanakh. Every book of the Tanakh is represented except for the Book of Esther, however, notably, there are two scrolls of the Book of Isaiah, one complete, and one around 75% complete. These manuscripts generally date between 150 BCE to 70 CE and these variations are not seen to affect the meaning or interpretation of NT scriptures and are usually given reference to as in-page footnotes in most of todays bibles. The difficulty is in where the manuscripts are coming from, the first was to simply wash the manuscript and reuse it. This was very common in the ancient world and even up into the Middle Ages, the most famous palimpsest is probably the Archimedes Palimpsest. If this was not done within a period of time after the papyri was made, then washing it was less likely since the papyri might deteriorate. The third option was simply to leave them in what has become known as a manuscript gravesite, in addition, texts thought to be complete and correct but which had deteriorated due to heavy usage or had missing folios would also be placed in these caches. Once in a cache, insects and humidity would often contribute to the deterioration of the documents. Complete and correctly copied texts would usually be placed in use and thus usually would wear out fairly quickly. Would be determined by the one commissioning the work and this is part of the reason why scholars are more likely to find incomplete, and at times conflicting, segments of manuscripts than complete and largely consistent works. Distribution of Greek manuscripts by century The task of copying manuscripts was generally done by scribes who were trained professionals in the arts of writing and bookmaking, some manuscripts were also proofread, and scholars closely examining a text can sometimes find the original and corrections found in certain manuscripts. In the 6th century, a room devoted to the practice of manuscript writing and illumination called the scriptorium came into use. Sometimes a group of scribes would make copies at the time as one individual read from the text
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Johannine epistles
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The Johannine epistles, the Epistles of John, or the Letters of John are three of the catholic epistles of the New Testament, thought to have been written AD 85–100. The author of letters is alternatively believed to be John of Patmos, John the Evangelist, John the Apostle. This Epistle is written as a letter from the Apostle to an unnamed elect lady whom he loves. Within the letter John warns about opening home to false teachers, the third epistle, also a short letter, is addressed to a man named Gaius and mentioned as a dear friend. It talks about a man named Diotrephes whom Gaius excommunicated from the church and had gone on to create an anti-missionary sentiment and it is believed that the letter was delivered by a third person, Demetrius
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Events of Revelation
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The events of Revelation are the events that occur in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. An outline follows below, by Chapter, in linear format, the Revelation of Jesus Christ is communicated, through an angel, to John the Apostle when he was on the island of Patmos. John records the vision, in written text, and is instructed to send the document to the seven churches of Asia. John addresses the church of Ephesus to repent from the ways of the Nicolaitans, John addresses the church of Smyrna to warn them of ten days of tribulation that may cost them their lives or imprisonment. John addresses the church of Pergamum to repent from the doctrines of Balaam, John addresses the church of Thyatira to repent from the teachings of the prophetess Jezebel. John addresses the church of Sardis for being dead or unaware of things to come, John addresses the church of Philadelphia to persevere with what little strength they have, to hold fast so that no one takes their crown. John addresses the church of Laodicea to repent from investing in material riches that make them miserable, rather, the heavenly throne with a rainbow around it, having the One seated in it, is revealed. Twenty-four surrounding thrones seated with twenty-four crowned elders appear, the four living creatures present themselves, each having six wings full of eyes, one having the face of a lion, another as a calf, the third as a man, and the last as an eagle. The first vision that the experiences is that of entering Heaven. In Revelation, God is described as having the appearance like that of jasper, around Gods throne are twenty four other thrones, on which sit elders in white robes. From the throne come thunder and lightning and, in front of the throne, the author sees seven torches, the author then sees four creatures which have six wings and are covered in eyes. The creatures are giving eternal thanks to God and, whenever one of them bows down to worship God, a book secured by seven seals is revealed in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. It is made known only the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah is worthy to open this book. The Lamb, with seven horns and seven eyes, takes the book from Him who sits on the throne, all heavenly beings sing praise and honor the Lamb. The first seal is broken and the first of the four living creatures introduces a white horse whose crowned rider, equipped with a bow, the second seal is broken and the second of the four living creatures introduces a red horse, whose rider wields a great sword. The third seal is broken and the third of the four living creatures introduces a black horse, whose rider carries a pair of scales, goes out. The fourth seal is broken and the fourth of the four living creatures introduces an ashen horse comes out, whose rider has the name Death, the fifth seal is broken revealing the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God. Mankind hides themselves in the caves and mountains acknowledging the presence of Him who sits on the throne, the servants of God are revealed, those who are to be sealed before the destruction of the Earth
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Authorship of the Johannine works
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The authorship of the Johannine works has been debated by scholars since at least the 2nd century AD. The main debate centers on who authored the writings, and which of the writings, if any, there may have been a single author for the gospel and the three epistles. Orthodox tradition attributes all the books to John the Apostle, however, in the 6th century, the Decretum Gelasianum argued that Second and Third John have a separate author known as John, a priest. 90-110, but perhaps, according to scholars, from Syria. Some scholars, however, argue that the apostle John wrote none of these works, although others, Robinson, F. F. Bruce, Leon Morris, and Martin Hengel hold the apostle to be behind at least some, in particular the gospel. In the case of Revelation, many scholars agree that it was written by a separate author, John of Patmos. While evidence regarding the author is slight, some believe this gospel developed from a school or Johannine circle working at the end of the 1st century. Some 19th-century scholars, however, agreed with the traditional authorship view, in favor of the historical and eyewitness character of the Gospel, a few passages are cited. Fredriksen sees the Fourth Gospels unique explanation for Jesus arrest and crucifixion as the most historically plausible, The priests motivation is clear and commonsensical, the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation. Caiaphas continues, It is expedient that one man should die for the people and these three epistles are similar in terminology, style, and general situation. They are loosely associated with the Gospel of John and may result from that gospels theology and these epistles are commonly accepted as deriving from the Johannine community in Asia Minor. Early references to the epistles, the organization of the church apparent in the text, and the lack of reference to persecution suggests that they were written early in the 2nd century. The phraseology of the first letter of John is very similar to that of the fourth gospel, so the question of its authorship is often connected to the question of authorship of the gospel. The two works use many of the characteristic words and phrases, such as light, darkness, life, truth. In both works, the basic concepts are explored, the Word, the incarnation, the passing from death to life. The two works also bear many stylistic affinities to one another, given the similarity with the Gospel, the great majority of critical scholars assign the same authorship to the epistle that they assign to the Gospel. Starting with Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, however, and continuing with C. H. Dodd, some scholars have maintained that the epistle, there are at least two principal arguments for this view. The second is that the author of the epistle, uses the sentence in a variety of rhetorical figures which are unknown to the gospel
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John the Apostle
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John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament, which refers to him as Ἰωάννης. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome and his brother was James, who was another of the Twelve Apostles. The traditions of most Christian denominations have held that John the Apostle is the author of books of the New Testament. Church tradition has held that John is the author of the Gospel of John, in the Gospel, authorship is internally credited to the disciple whom Jesus loved in John 20,2. John 21,24 claims that the Gospel of John is based on the testimony of the Beloved Disciple. The authorship of some Johannine literature has been debated since about the year 200, some doubt that the Gospel of John was even written by an individual named John. Nevertheless, the notion of John the Evangelist exists, and is considered by some the same as the Apostle John. In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius says that the First Epistle of John, however, Eusebius mentions that the consensus is that the second and third epistles of John are not his but were written by some other John. Eusebius also goes to some length to establish with the reader that there is no consensus regarding the revelation of John. The revelation of John could only be what is now called the book of Revelation, the Gospel according to John differs considerably from the Synoptic Gospels, likely written decades earlier than Johns gospel. The bishops of Asia Minor supposedly requested him to write his gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebionites, who asserted that Christ did not exist before Mary. John probably knew and undoubtedly approved of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, around 600, however, Sophronius of Jerusalem noted that two epistles bearing his name. Until the 19th century, the authorship of the Gospel of John had been attributed to the Apostle John, however, most modern critical scholars have their doubts. Some scholars place the Gospel of John somewhere between AD65 and 85, John Robinson proposes an initial edition by 50–55 and then a final edition by 65 due to similarities with Paul. Other scholars are of the opinion that the Gospel of John was composed in two or three stages, other scholars think that an even later date, perhaps even the last decade of the first century AD right up to the start of the 2nd century, is applicable. Nonetheless, today many scholars continue to accept the traditional authorship. The Gospel of John was written by an anonymous author, according to Paul N. Anderson, the gospel contains more direct claims to eyewitness origins than any of the other Gospel traditions. F. F. Bruce argues that 19,35 contains an emphatic, bart D. Ehrman, however, does not think the gospel claims to have been written by direct witnesses to the reported events
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Disciple whom Jesus loved
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The phrase the disciple whom Jesus loved or, in John 20,2, the disciple beloved of Jesus is used six times in the Gospel of John, but in no other New Testament accounts of Jesus. John 21,24 states that the Gospel of John is based on the testimony of this disciple. Since the end of the 1st century, the Beloved Disciple has been identified with John the Evangelist. Scholars have debated the authorship of Johannine literature since at least the third century, according to Stephen L. Harris, this view is rejected by modern scholars. Later at the crucifixion, Jesus tells his mother, Woman, here is your son, when Mary Magdalene discovers the empty tomb, she runs to tell the Beloved Disciple and Peter. The two men rush to the empty tomb and the Beloved Disciple is the first to reach the empty tomb, however, Peter is the first to enter. In John 21, the last chapter of the Gospel of John, also in the books final chapter, after Jesus implies the manner in which Peter will die, Peter sees the Beloved Disciple following them and asks, What about him. Jesus answers, If I want him to remain until I come, again in the gospels last chapter, it states that the very book itself is based on the written testimony of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The other Gospels do not mention anyone in parallel circumstances who could be linked to the Beloved Disciple. For example, in Luke 24,12, Peter runs alone to the tomb, Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not mention any one of the twelve disciples having witnessed the crucifixion. There are also two references to an unnamed other disciple in John 1, 35-40 and John 18, 15-16, which may be to the same person based on the wording in John 20,2. The closing words of Johns Gospel state explicitly concerning the Beloved Disciple that It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. Eusebius writing in the 4th century recorded in his Church History a letter which he believed to have been written by Polycrates of Ephesus in the 2nd century. The assumption that the Beloved Disciple was one of the Twelve Apostles is that he was present at the Last Supper which Matthew. Thus the most frequent identification is with John the Apostle, who would then be the same as John the Evangelist, merril F. Unger presents a case for this by a process of elimination. Some scholars have suggested a homoerotic interpretation of Christs relationship with the Beloved Disciple. Tilborg suggests that the portrait in the Gospel of John is positively attuned to the development of homosexual behaviour. However, he cautions that in the code, such imaginary homosexual behaviour is not an expression of homosexuality
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John the Evangelist
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John the Evangelist is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, the Gospel of John refers to an otherwise unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved, who bore witness to and wrote the Gospels message. Christian tradition says that John the Evangelist was John the Apostle, the Apostle John was a historical figure, one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church after Jesus death. He was one of the twelve apostles and is thought to be the only one to have lived into old age. John is associated with the city of Ephesus, where he is said to have lived, some believe that he was exiled to the Aegean island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. However, this is a matter of debate, with some attributing the authorship of Revelation to another man, the authorship of the Johannine works has been debated by scholars since at least the 2nd century AD. The main debate centers on who authored the writings, and which of the writings, if any, orthodox tradition attributes all the books to John the Apostle. In the 6th century, the Decretum Gelasianum argued that Second and Third John have an author known as John. Historical criticism rejects the view that John the Apostle authored any of these works, many modern scholars conclude that the apostle John wrote none of these works, although others, notably J. A. T. Robinson, F. F. Bruce, Leon Morris, and Martin Hengel hold the apostle to be behind at least some, there may have been a single author for the gospel and the three epistles. Some scholars conclude the author of the epistles was different from that of the gospel, the gospel and epistles traditionally and plausibly came from Ephesus, c. 90-110, although some argue for an origin in Syria. In the case of Revelation, many scholars agree that it was written by a separate author, John of Patmos. In the Tridentine Calendar he was commemorated also on each of the days up to and including 3 January. This Octave was abolished by Pope Pius XII in 1955, the traditional liturgical color is white. John the Evangelist is usually depicted as a young man, in Christian art, John is symbolically represented by an eagle, one of the creatures envisioned by Ezekiel and in the Revelation to John. The use of the chalice as a symbol for John is sometimes interpreted with reference to the Last Supper, another explanation is to be found in the words of Christ to John and James, My chalice indeed you shall drink. According to some authorities, this symbol was not adopted until the 13th century, the painting Saint John the Evangelist by Domenico Zampieri was auctioned in London in December 2009, for an estimated US$16.5 million
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John of Patmos
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John of Patmos is the name given to the author of the Book of Revelation, the apocalyptic text forming the final chapter of the New Testament. Traditionally, the writer of Revelation is widely considered to be John the Apostle, however, others identify the author as John the Elder and many modern scholars believe it was written by an otherwise unknown author, to whom they have given the name John of Patmos. The author of the Book of Revelation identifies himself only as John, traditionally, this was often believed to be the same person as John, son of Zebedee, one of the apostles of Jesus, to whom the Gospel of John was also attributed. The early 2nd century writer, Justin Martyr, was the first to equate the author of Revelation with John the Evangelist, the assumption that the apostle John was also author of the Book of Revelation is now widely rejected in modern critical scholarship. John is considered to be exiled to Patmos, undergoing a time of persecution under the Roman rule of Domitian. Revelation 1,9 states, I, John, both brother and companion in tribulation. was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God. Adela Yarbro Collins, a scholar at Yale Divinity School, writes. This tradition is credible because banishment was a punishment used during the Imperial period for a number of offenses. Among such offenses were the practices of magic and astrology, prophecy was viewed by the Romans as belonging to the same category, whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. Prophecy with political implications, like that expressed by John in the book of Revelation, three of the islands in the Sporades were places where political offenders were banished
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Acts of John
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The Acts of John is a collection of narratives and traditions ascribed to John the Apostle, who was the author of the Gospel of John. It is long known in fragmentary form, together with the Acts of Paul it is considered one of the most significant of the apostolic Acts in the New Testament apocrypha. It was condemned as a Gnostic heresy by the Church, the traditional author was said to be one Leucius Charinus, a companion of John, who was associated with several 2nd century Acts. Conventionally, the Acts of John was ascribed to Prochorus, one of the Seven Deacons discussed in Acts of the Apostles and it is difficult to know when the Acts of John was composed, but many scholars locate it to the second half of the second century. It may have originated as a Christianized wonder tale, designed for an urban Hellenic audience accustomed to things as having ones portrait painted. The Acts of John was eventually rejected by the church for its docetic overtones. However, although the Acts of John was condemned as heretical, the surviving Latin fragments, by contrast, seem to have been purged of unorthodox content, according to their translator M. R. James, the Latin fragments contain episodes now missing in the Greek. The Stichometry of Nicephorus gives its length as 2500 lines, an on-line translation presents the confrontation of John and Domitian during Domitians persecution of Christians, described as instigated by a letter of complaint from the Jews. Specifically, the account narrates two journeys of John, son of Zebedee, to Ephesus, filled with events, miracles. Lycomedes recounts a vision he received from the God of John, telling him that a man from Miletus was coming to heal his wife, Cleopatra, who had died seven days before from illness. Upon arrival, Lycomedes curses his situation and, despite Johns pleas to have faith that his wife will be back to life by the power of God. The entire city of Ephesus is stirred by his death and comes to his house to see his body, John then asks Christ to raise the two of them from the dead in order to prove Christs own might, quoting Matthew 7,7 in his request. Both Cleopatra and Lycomedes are resurrected, leaving the people of Ephesus in awe of the miracle that was performed before them. Later, during a festival celebrating the birthday of the Greek goddess Artemis, John rebukes them, threatening to have his God kill them if they are unable to convince their goddess to make him die on the spot with her divine power. Knowing that John has performed many miracles in their city, the people at the temple beg John not to destroy them, upon seeing this destruction, the people immediately see the error of their ways and acknowledge the God of John as the only true God. In a more comical account mentioned in the narrative, John, the author, and their companions stay overnight at an inn plagued with a bedbug infestation. The next morning, the author, joined by two of his companions, Verus and Andronicus, awakes to find the bugs gathered in the doorway. The three men wake John, who allows the creatures to return to the bed because of their obedience to the will of God, immediately following Johns encounter with the bedbugs, the traveling party journeys to the house of Andronicus in Ephesus in section 62
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Signs Gospel
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The Signs Gospel or the semeia source is a hypothetical gospel account of the life of Jesus Christ which some scholars have suggested could have been a primary source document for the Gospel of John. This theory has its basis in source criticism, since the commentary of Rudolf Bultmann was published in 1941, the hypothesis of a semeia source has gained some acceptance. One possible construction of the internal states that the Beloved Disciple wrote an account of the life of Jesus. However, this disciple died unexpectedly, necessitating that a revised gospel be written, in other words, it may be that John “is the source of the Johannine tradition but not the final writer of the tradition. The hypothesis of the Gospel of John being composed in layers over a period of time originated in the work of Rudolf Bultmann in 1941, Bultmann suggested that the author of John depended in part on an author who wrote an earlier account. This hypothetical Signs Gospel listing Christs miracles was independent of, and not used by and it was believed to have been circulating before the year 70 AD. Bultmanns conclusion was so controversial that heresy proceedings were instituted against him, nevertheless, this hypothesis has not disappeared. Scholars such as Raymond E. Brown believe that the author of the Signs Gospel to be the Beloved Disciple. They argue that the disciple who formed this community was both a person and a companion of Jesus Christ. Brown also suggests that the Beloved Disciple had been a follower of John the Baptist before joining Jesus and it is now widely agreed that the Gospel of John draws upon a tradition of Miracles of Jesus which is substantially independent of the three synoptic gospels. The Jesus Seminar has detected at least two distinct writing styles contained in the Gospel of John, the later style contains midrash and theological essays placed in the mouth of Jesus. The other - earlier - style is the original Signs Gospel and it is simple, direct and historical in style and can be reconstructed as follows, Text of the Signs Gospel
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Logos (Christianity)
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In Christology, the Logos is a name or title of Jesus Christ, seen as the pre-existent second person of the Trinity. It has been important for establishing the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus and his being God the Son by Trinitarian theologians as set forth in the Chalcedonian Definition. The concept derives from the prologue to the Gospel of John, which is translated into English as, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. In the translations, Word is used for Λόγος, although the term is often used transliterated but untranslated in theological discourse. Christian theologians often consider John 1,1 to be a text in their belief that Jesus is God, in connection with the idea that the Father, the Son. Though only in verse and the fourteenth verse of the prologue is Jesus referred to as the Word. Theologian N. T. Wright characterizes Word as being incomprehensible in human language and he claims that through belief the Logos will transform people with its judgment and mercy. According to Wright, Johns view of the Incarnation, of the Word becoming flesh, theologian Stephen L. Harris claims the author of John adapted Philos concept of the Logos, identifying Jesus as an incarnation of the divine Logos that formed the universe. To the rabbis who spoke of the Torah as preexistent, as Gods instrument in creation, to the Gnostics who would deny a real incarnation, Johns answer was most emphatic, the Word became flesh. To those who stopped with John the Baptist, he made it clear that John was not the Light, although the term Logos is not retained as a title beyond the prologue, the whole book of John presses these basic claims. As the Logos, Jesus Christ is God in self-revelation and redemption and he is God to the extent that he can be present to man and knowable to man. The Logos is God, as Thomas stated, My Lord, yet the Logos is in some sense distinguishable from God, for the Logos was with God. God and the Logos are not two beings, and yet they are not simply identical. In contrast to the Logos, God can be conceived apart from his revelatory action─although we must not forget that the Bible speaks of God only in his revelatory action. The paradox that the Logos is God and yet it is in some sense distinguishable from God is maintained in the body of the Gospel. That God as he acts and as he is revealed does not exhaust God as he is, is reflected in sayings attributed to Jesus, I and the Father are one and also, the Logos is God active in creation, revelation, and redemption. Jesus Christ not only gives Gods Word to us humans, he is the Word and he is the true word─ultimate reality revealed in a Person. The Logos is God, distinguishable in thought yet not separable in fact and this was decreed at the First Council of Constantinople
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Holy Spirit in Johannine literature
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Three separate terms, namely Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth and Paraclete are used in Johannine literature. The Spirit of Truth is used in John 14,17,15,26 and 16,13, the First Epistle of John then contrasts this with the spirit of error in 1 John 4,6. 1 John 4, 1-6 provides the separation between spirits that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God and those who in error refuse it - an indication of their being evil spirits. In John 14,26 Jesus states, But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the identity of the Comforter has been the subject of debate among theologians, who have proposed multiple theories on the matter. Paraclete considered as the Spirit of Truth is used three times in the Gospel of John, in 14, 15-17,14,26 and 15, 26-27, where it is viewed as the Spirit which communicates Truth
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John's vision of the Son of Man
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Johns vision of the Son of Man is described in the scriptural Revelation 1, 9-20. John sees a vision of the risen, ascended and glorified Jesus Christ, Jesus is portrayed in this vision as having a robe with a golden sash, white hair, eyes like blazing fire, feet like bronze and a voice like rushing waters. He holds seven stars in his hand and has a double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. John, the author of Revelation, was exiled to the island of Patmos and he says that on the Lords Day he was in the Spirit, and heard a loud voice like a trumpet. When he turned around, he saw this Son of Man figure, in 1,18, the figure whom John sees identifies himself as the First and the Last, who was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever — a reference to Jesus resurrection. Some of the used in Revelation 1 is also used in Revelation 19 to describe the Rider on the White Horse. In both places he has a coming out of his mouth and has eyes like blazing fire. The Son of Man in this passage is portrayed as walking among seven lampstands, chapters 2 and 3 report letters written to the seven churches by John as it was revealed to him by the Son of Man. William Hendriksen suggests that the whole of the vision is symbolical of Christ, the Holy One, coming to purge His churches, One aspect of the vision is the portrayal of Jesus holding seven stars in his right hand. Such a motif is found on coins of the emperor Domitian. Sometime between 77 and 81, Domitians infant son died and he was subsequently deified, and is portrayed on coins of Domitian, with seven stars. Austin Farrer, on the hand, takes them to be the seven classical planets. Although Domitians son cannot be said to be holding the stars, frederick Murphy notes that Revelations image of Jesus with seven stars in his hand may be an allusion to that coin and an implicit critique of it. It is not the Roman imperial family that has cosmic significance, John tells us in Revelation 1,20 that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches In commenting on this verse, C. I. Scofield states, The natural explanation of the messengers is that they were men sent by the seven churches to ascertain the state of the aged apostle, but they figure any who bear Gods messages to a church. In the New Testament, the Greek word for angels is not only used for heavenly angels, merrill Unger is of the opinion that human messengers is the meaning of the stars. Chronology of Revelation Resurrection appearances of Jesus
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New Testament people named John
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The name John is prominent in the New Testament and occurs numerous times. Among Palestinian Jews of this period, the name was one of the most popular, thus, it has long been debated which Johns are to be identified with which. Simon Peter is at times called “Simon, son of John”, the latter appears to be untranslated Aramaic, with bar meaning “son of” and Iona being Jonah, or according to Bauckham, Jôhana‘, an Aramaized form of John. John the Baptist, son of Zechariah, figures prominently in the beginning of each of the four Gospels, the Synoptic Gospels distinguish him as “the Baptist”, but the Gospel of John omits this epithet, as no other John is therein mentioned by name. John the Baptist was beheaded during the ministry of Jesus, so in most cases he is distinguished from other Johns. Ford proposes that Revelation originated as prophecy of John the Baptist, expanded by his followers to produce the book in its current form, John, son of Zebedee was one of the Twelve Apostles, along with his brother James. This John is mentioned frequently in the Synoptic Gospels, but always in company with his brother James or with Peter or often with both, but after the execution of his brother James in 44, this John is never again mentioned. There are many indications that James and John were killed together. Indeed, Papias records that James and John “were killed by the Jews”, nevertheless, many ancient sources and many modern scholars identify John the Apostle as the author of some or all of the Johannine books, thereby claiming apostolic authority for them. Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, Polycrates of Ephesus writes that John the Evangelist “was a priest, wearing the petalon”—i. e. specifically that he had served as High Priest. In this, he seems to identify the Evangelist with this high-priestly John mentioned in Acts, “John, called Mark” is mentioned several times in Acts. Such use of one Semitic name and another Greek name was a practice among Jews of the time. He is usually identified with the Mark mentioned in various epistles and this John is occasionally proposed as author of some of the Johannine works as well. Tarazi even goes so far as to attribute to him the Gospels of both Mark and John and all the other Johannine books. Since antiquity, many have considered the entire Johannine corpus to be the work of an author, a certain John of Ephesus. On the other hand, this identification and the authorship of works have also been disputed since antiquity. Thus, the authors of the Johannine works are conventionally called more explicitly—without prejudice to the issues of actual authorship. The author of the Gospel is termed John the Evangelist, in the Gospel, the name John occurs exclusively in reference to John the Baptist, and without that epithet, though “the sons of Zebedee” are also mentioned once
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Ephesus
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Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic, during the Classical Greek era it was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The city flourished after it came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC, the city was famed for the nearby Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Among many other buildings are the Library of Celsus. Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation, the Gospel of John may have been written here. The city was the site of several 5th century Christian Councils, the city was destroyed by the Goths in 263, and although rebuilt, the citys importance as a commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. It was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD, the area surrounding Ephesus was already inhabited during the Neolithic Age, as was revealed by excavations at the nearby höyük of Arvalya and Cukurici. Excavations in recent years have unearthed settlements from the early Bronze Age at Ayasuluk Hill, according to Hittite sources, the capital of the Kingdom of Arzawa was Apasa. Some scholars suggest that this is the later Greek Ephesus, in 1954, a burial ground from the Mycenaean era with ceramic pots was discovered close to the ruins of the basilica of St. John. This was the period of the Mycenaean Expansion when the Achaioi settled in Asia Minor during the 14th and 13th centuries BC, Ephesus was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC on the Ayasuluk Hill, three kilometers from the centre of ancient Ephesus. The mythical founder of the city was a prince of Athens named Androklos, according to the legend, he founded Ephesus on the place where the oracle of Delphi became reality. Androklos drove away most of the native Carian and Lelegian inhabitants of the city and he was a successful warrior, and as a king he was able to join the twelve cities of Ionia together into the Ionian League. During his reign the city began to prosper and he died in a battle against the Carians when he came to the aid of Priene, another city of the Ionian League. Androklos and his dog are depicted on the Hadrian temple frieze, later, Greek historians such as Pausanias, Strabo and Herodotos and the poet Kallinos reassigned the citys mythological foundation to Ephos, queen of the Amazons. The Greek goddess Artemis and the great Anatolian goddess Kybele were identified together as Artemis of Ephesus, Pausanias mentions that the temple was built by Ephesus, son of the river god Caystrus, before the arrival of the Ionians. Of this structure, scarcely a trace remains, about 650 BC, Ephesus was attacked by the Cimmerians who razed the city, including the temple of Artemis. After the Cimmerians had been away, the city was ruled by a series of tyrants. Following a revolt by the people, Ephesus was ruled by a council and his signature has been found on the base of one of the columns of the temple
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "article name needed". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
Bible: 1 John public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions
