2 Cents

One argument against the current formation of the NT that we saw in Part 2 is the assertion that these books are 100% human and have no divine element to them at all.  God did not inspire the authors nor did he oversee the process of the authors' writing.

Along with this argument, critics of the NT will argue that the biblical authors never intended their writings to be taken as more than mere human letters from one person to another or from one person to a group of people.  They never saw their writings as authoritative or lifted up to the place of divine Scripture.  Furthermore, they would never have considered anything outside the Old Testament itself as authoritative Scripture.

This argument is easily disproved however with a simple reading of a few letters in the New Testament.

Jesus' Words as Scripture

First let's look at what Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:18.  This is Paul's first letter to Timothy, a personal correspondence between Paul and his apprentice in the faith and ministry.  He writes...

For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages."

Notice Paul includes two quotations from elsewhere here in 1 Tim. 5:18.  The first quotation is directly from Deuteronomy 25:4, which at that time everyone accepted as divine Scripture.

The second quote is from Matthew 10:10 and is spoken by Jesus.  This is extremely significant because as Paul notes at the beginning of the two quotes, "the Scripture says."  So Paul is saying not only does he consider Deuteronomy "Scripture" but he considers the words of Jesus "Scripture" as well.

So even as early as the first century we have a biblical writer claiming that something outside the OT is Scripture.  You can't argue that the biblical authors had no concept of something like a New Testament.

The Apostles Knew They Were Writing Scripture

Next let's take a look at Peter's second letter.  In 2 Peter 3:15-16 he writes...

Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.  There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own distraction, as they do the other Scriptures.

First, let's take some encouragement that we're not the only ones that have a hard time understanding Romans or Ephesians!  Peter did too!

But let's focus on the last phrase he uses... "as they do the other Scriptures."

This phrase reveals two things.  First, Peter views Paul's writings as "Scripture."  And second, Peter knows of "other Scriptures" besides the letters of Paul.

This is extraordinary because it shows us that not only Paul but Peter also had this idea that there was some collection of writings called Scripture outside the Old Testament that were going around in his day - in the very first century!

So these two passages together show us that contrary to what Dan Brown put forth in The DaVinci Code, the collection of "Scriptures" was not decided upon at some council in the fourth century where influential men argued their opinions.

The Scriptures were written by men inspired by God during the first century and they knew they were writing authoritative works that would be seen as divine Scripture.


Click here for Part 1

Click here for Part 2