Question on moody radio on March 23, 2019 on openline: How was the order of the New Testament determined that is in our English Bible? Dr James Coakley: That's a very good question. Most of the time, people are surprised that it's not by when they were written, it's often by size. Romans start out as one of the largest of Paul's letter and we get smaller and smaller as we go, so it's not on a linear chronological timeline Dr Michael Rydelnik: First, you have the gospel, there's some sort of chronology, then you get Acts. When I teach Acts, I always tell everyone, here's what I want you to do, I want you to read the first verses of Romans and see if you know what this means if you don't have the book of Acts, it's the great bridge from the gospels to the epistles. And then you get the letters, so you got the story of Jesus, the story of the church, the letters to the church and then the culmination with Revelation, so it's size and chronology at the same time. Dr James Coakley: There's a little bit of both but the idea is Galatians is probably one of the early ones, how come it's not first that we read the book of Acts, it's because they were smaller than Romans, Romans is a very key book. Dr Michael Rydelnik: So that's how it was and I think that's really important but I think there are other books that are the in-between books.
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Question on openline moody radio on 23 March 2019: How was the New Testament Canon recognized? Dr Michael Rydelnik: It was a little bit different (from how the old testament canon was recognized), don't you think? Dr Steven Sanchez: In some ways it's different, in other ways it's the same, I think christians hear the voice of God, they know these texts, they recognized the people who are writing them, Peter is going to refer to Paul's writings and he's going to refer to them as scriptures, he recognized in them the same voice of God and so in that sense, the process is not that much different, they hear God speaking in these texts and they trust them. Dr Jim Coakley: Even in the first century, we have Clement of Rome who was already quoting from some of these books, already eight of the books were already mentioned by 95 AD, so they were clearly being already seen as authoritative very early on. Dr Michael Rydelnik: It is interesting because even the New Testament is accepting it right away. Here's what I mean by that, Jude cites Peter, Peter cites Paul as scripture and if you want to see that, that's in 2 Peter 3:15 and 16, he even says Paul's hard to understand. Dr Steven Sanchesz: Like the other scriptures ... Dr Michael Rydelnik: Yeah and so he sets them as scripture, Paul quotes Luke as scripture, 1 Timothy 5:18, he quotes Luke 10:7, obviously he knew about Luke's writing but he quotes it as scripture and so the New Testament is actually quoting other New Testament books and so it shows us these books were immediately being recognized as scripture and many times, the letters Paul wrote and Peter wrote and James wrote, they weren't just written to one ... Dr Jim Coakley: They were cyclical letters, they were being passed around ... Dr Michael Rydelnik: Yeah. Why? Because they were considered the word of God and it was important that we recognized that it was not Constantine. Trish can confirm this, we got a lot of questions asking if Constantine decided on what books would be in the New Testament. Related Scripture: 2 Peter 3 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. -nkjv 1 Timothy 5 18 For the Scripture Says, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, "The laborer is worthy of his wages.” -nkjv Luke 10 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. -nkjv
Psalms 105 16 Moreover He called for a famine in the land; He destroyed all the provision of bread. 17 He sent a man before them— Joseph—who was sold as a slave. 18 They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. 19 Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him. 20 The king sent and released him, The ruler of the people let him go free. 21 He made him lord of his house, And ruler of all his possessions, 22 To bind his princes at his pleasure, And teach his elders wisdom. -njkv