Reading The Bible (Part #3)

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Part #1
Part #2
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Part #4


In part #3 we are going to list every book of the New Testament in the order of the date it was probably written.

There is an ongoing debate among bible scholars regarding the dating of the books of the New Testament. Consider the Second Letter of Peter for example. Some scholars say it was written by Peter just a few years after Jesus died, while others say it was a forgery written by an unknown author more than one hundred years after the death of Jesus.

We should be wary of scholars who opt for very early dates, however, because those scholars are usually devout Christians with an ulterior motive. In order to give the New Testament some authenticity, they have declared that the various books were written by the people who actually witnessed the events that occurred during the ministry of Jesus. In the case of Second Peter, for example, they  are convinced the book was written by the apostle Peter himself - and since he is reputed to have died in 65AD, his letter must have been written before that date; probably in 60AD. These devout Christian scholars simply will not entertain the idea that the letter could have been forged by another Christian in 160AD - even if there is solid evidence suggesting that it was.

John A.T. Robinson - Bishop of Woolwich, Dean of Trinity College, and New Testament Scholar - has actually gone to the extreme and declared the every book of the New Testament was written before 70AD. He produces no real evidence for that claim, and he makes it for no other reason than to convince himself that the stories about Jesus were written by actual eyewitnesses. Hardly any other biblical scholar agrees with him.

The debate will continue but here's my thoughts on the matter: Paul wrote his letters to the various churches during the years 50AD to 60AD - probably in this order:

1 Thessalonians
Galatians
Philemon
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Romans
Philippians

These are the seven 'genuine' letters that scholars agree were written by Paul. There are seven more Pauline letters (listed below) that are regarded as forgeries.

Then, as Christianity began to grow, the new converts began seeking more information about Jesus and local preachers responded by writing new gospels:

Mark in 70AD
Matthew in 80AD
Luke in 90AD.
Acts in 90AD

During the same period as these gospels were being written, there were other Christians who wanted to push their own ideas onto the flock, and, in an effort to get their writings accepted, they forged them in the name of Paul. They are listed in the bible as letters written by Paul, but most scholars agree that they are forgeries written years after Paul had died.

2 Thessalonians
Colossians
Ephesians
Hebrews

Then, in about 95AD the gospel of John appeared for the first time. It was quite different from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and included all sorts of weird inventions - like the idea that Jesus had existed since before the creation of the universe and that he was not just the Son of God, but actually God himself.

Gospel of John

And not long afterwards, in 100AD, another Christian took the ratbaggery to a whole new level and wrote the truly idiotic Book of Revelation.

Revelation

These new ideas caused major splits in the church and the old-time preachers immediately retaliated with warnings about false prophets who preached a false gospel. The book of Jude, for example is little more than that - a warning against false teachers.

Jude

And the book of First Peter was written at about the same time.

First Peter

As the dispute continued more books were written and once again the authors tried to gain some authority for their letters by releasing them in the name of the apostle Paul. One of the major themes (in 1 Timothy for example) was "beware of false prophets". These are the last three of the seven forgeries written in Paul's name:

1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus

And there was a final rush of books written in the second century AD:

1 John
2 John
3 John
Second Peter
James

But don't forget that the dating of the New Testament will never be finalised and no matter when you decide a particular book was written, there will be plenty of bible scholars who will say you are wrong. Let me remind you, again, of Second Peter: it has been variously dated at anywhere from 60AD to 160AD.

On the other hand, you can be sure that my list is accepted by very many scholars (including bible believing Christian scholars) so you wont be in the minority if you read the books in the order listed. And if you read them in that order, you will easily see (as described earlier) that the Jesus story is nothing more than a legend that grew and grew as the years passed by.