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Podcast Episode

How the New Testament Came To Be

At first glance, the New Testament can seem wildly different from the Old Testament—but is it? Jesus saw himself as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures and the climax of the story that began thousands of years before his birth. In this episode, join Tim, Jon, and Carissa as they explore the unity of the New Testament and the intricate yet consistent storyline of the Bible.

Episode 4
53m
Oct 4, 2021
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Show Notes
Episodes

QUOTE

The Bible isn’t one scroll—it’s a collection of scrolls. But we encounter it as one volume bound between two covers, which constricts our imaginations. So did Paul think he was writing a text that would end up in the Bible? He didn’t have that category. Did Paul think that he was offering divine guidance commissioned by Jesus to early church communities? If he knew somebody was reading [his writing] alongside Genesis in the Sunday gathering, Paul would feel great about that.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Because Jesus saw himself as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament writings about him continue the unity of the story that began thousands of years prior.
  • The New Testament was written collaboratively by people of numerous socioeconomic positions living all over the ancient world. God’s Spirit was the central player who brought unity to all parts.
  • The key elements that unify the collection of New Testament writings are the centrality of Jesus and the distinctly Jewish way the authors describe him.

The Fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible

In part one (00:00-10:40), Tim, Jon, and Carissa continue a conversation on the paradigm through which we view the Bible. It’s the paradigm the Bible itself presents as central, that the Bible is one unified story that leads to Jesus.

In our last episode, the team discussed what it means for the Bible to be unified literature and zeroed in on the unity of the Hebrew Bible. In this episode, they turn their attention to the unity within the New Testament.

The process to compile the writings of the Hebrew Bible spanned more than 1,000 years, but the New Testament was written in its entirety in about 50 years by the first generation of Jesus movement leaders. Jesus saw himself as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures, and so the New Testament writings about him continue the unity of the story that began thousands of years prior.

The New Covenant Storyline

In part two (10:40-23:30), Tim, Jon, and Carissa discuss the foundational narrative of the New Testament. Just as the Hebrew Bible traces a foundational storyline from the creation of the cosmos to Israel’s exile in Babylon, the Gospels and book of Acts form a foundational story for the New Testament.

Unlike the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament tells its foundation story four times over in the Gospel accounts, leaving readers with the impression that no single perspective could ever do justice to or exhaust the story of Jesus’ life. Each of the Gospels closes with a commission to Jesus’ followers to continue his ministry to the world. The book of Acts picks up those calls to action with the work of the early Church to carry the message of Jesus beyond the boundaries of Israel. After the foundational narrative of the Gospels and Acts, the rest of the New Testament is a collection of letters and an apocalypse at the end (Revelation).

Unique to the New Testament is the decentralized nature of its writing process. It was written collaboratively by people of numerous socioeconomic positions living all over the ancient world. God’s Spirit was the central player who brought unity to all parts.

Unifying Elements in the New Testament

In part three (23:30-34:50), the team explores the major literary elements that bring unity to the New Testament collection, the most obvious of which is the centrality of Jesus in each book.

Every book in the New Testament describes either the events of Jesus’ life and death or the implications of his life and death for his followers.

Another key unifier of the New Testament is that each of the authors writes about Jesus from a distinctly Jewish standpoint, using symbols and themes prevalent throughout the Hebrew Bible. Following Jesus’ ascension, heretical offshoots of the early Jesus movement emerged that attempted to disassociate Jesus from his Jewish heritage and from the Hebrew Scriptures. The Gospel of Thomas (which is not a true Gospel account and is connected to ancient Gnosticism) and The DaVinci Code are notable examples of this.

Did Paul Know He Was Writing the Bible?

In part four (34:50-End), Jon asks the question, “When Paul wrote his New Testament letters, did he think he was finishing the canon? Was he intentionally writing in a way that would maintain unity with the literature of the TaNaK?”

1 Thessalonians 2:13
For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

Paul writes with an awareness that he had been commissioned by Jesus to preach the good news that had come from the God of Israel, in keeping with the Jewish Scriptures. In 2 Peter 3:14-16, Peter also describes his own writings and the writings of Paul as Scripture.

Of course, Paul and Peter would have had no idea they were producing writings that would become our modern Bible because books (codices) weren’t used during their lifetime. But they did know they were writing on behalf of God himself, offering divine guidance to Jesus’ followers.

In the last episode, Tim shared an illustration he adapted from Julius Steinberg and Timothy Stone in their book, The Shape of the Writings. They compare the Hebrew Bible to a grove of aspen trees. They are from the same root ball, genetically identical and interconnected on a deep level, but they sprout in various places and at different sizes and rates. If we extend this illustration to the New Testament, we can think of the New Testament like a collection of potted trees that were all planted by the founders, inspired by one master gardener who taught them everything they knew. As the trees grew, they were grouped together.

Referenced Resources

  • The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance, Bruce M. Metzger
  • The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate, Michael J. Kruger
  • All Things New: Revelation As Canonical Capstone, Brian Tabb
  • The Oxford Handbook of Christology
  • Interested in more? Check out Tim’s library here.

Show Music

  • “Defender (Instrumental)” by TENTS
  • “Day One” by Deric Torres
  • “Day Two” by Deric Torres
  • “Temple Garden” by BVG

Show produced by Cooper Peltz, Dan Gummel, and Zach McKinley. Show notes by Lindsey Ponder.

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14 Episodes

Episode 14
Applying the Paradigm
How do we apply the biblical paradigm to our own Bible reading? It starts with reading the Bible in movements—the thematic patterns in which the biblical authors organized their ideas long before chapters and verse numbers were printed. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa introduce us to biblical movements and walk through how to identify and trace biblical themes on our own.
58m • Dec 20, 2021
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Episode 13
Is the Bible Trustworthy?
How do we teach the Bible to our children? How can a book written by humans be divinely authoritative? Is the Bible historically accurate? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa wrap up the Paradigm series by responding to your questions!
1hr 9m • Dec 13, 2021
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Episode 12
How (Not) To Read the Bible
What do we do with the passages in the Bible that are really difficult? Violence, slavery, the treatment of women—what the Bible has to say about these topics has, at times, been misinterpreted and misused. Join Tim, Jon, Carissa, and special guest Dan Kimball as they discuss his book, *How (Not) to Read the Bible*, and explore how any topic in the Bible looks different when we see it as part of a unified story.
57m • Dec 6, 2021
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Episode 11
The Last Pillar: Communal Literature
Are there ways to read the Bible other than a private quiet time? For most of Church history, followers of Jesus read the Bible out loud in groups and passed along its message verbally. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa talk about what it means for the Bible to be communal literature and how knowing that might just change the way we experience it today.
1hr 3m • Nov 29, 2021
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Episode 10
What the Bible’s Authors Took for Granted
Have you ever figured out halfway through a conversation that you and another person were on totally different pages? Reading the Bible can feel like this at times. We’re all products of our cultures, families, and environments, and it affects how we understand others. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa prepare us for a cross-cultural conversation with the Bible by discussing the cultural values of the biblical authors.
1hr 11m • Nov 22, 2021
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Episode 9
The Bible Wasn’t Written in English
What makes the biblical languages so important? Because the Bible was written in another time and culture, we need to honor its ancient historical context and original languages as we read and study it. In this week’s podcast episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa explore why an awareness of the Bible’s culture—and our own—can help us be better interpreters of the Bible.
59m • Nov 15, 2021
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Episode 8
Wisdom for Life’s Complexity
How can we know we are making the “right” choice in situations the Bible doesn’t address? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa talk about the Bible as wisdom literature designed to reveal God’s wisdom to humanity—even for complex circumstances it doesn’t explicitly address.
1hr 2m • Nov 8, 2021
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Episode 7
Inspiration, Quiet Time, and Slaying Your Giants
How were the books of the Bible selected? What should we do if we have a hard time reading the Bible? How does the Bible apply to daily life? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa respond to your questions from the Paradigm series so far. Thanks to our audience for all your incredible questions!
1hr 19m • Nov 1, 2021
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Episode 6
Literature for a Lifetime
What’s the ideal way to study the Bible? Is it 20 minutes of reading every morning or larger blocks of time throughout the week? In this episode, join Tim, Jon, and Carissa as they discuss what it means for the Bible to be ancient Jewish meditation literature. The biblical authors intended for it to be understood over the course of a lifetime of rereading, not in one sitting.
56m • Oct 18, 2021
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Episode 5
Who Is the Bible About?
Is the story of the Bible about humans or God? Because the Bible is about the Messiah—the God who became human—it’s about both God and humans. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa discuss how the story of the Bible and all of its main themes come to their fulfiillment in Jesus, making it a redemption story for all of us.
56m • Oct 11, 2021
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Episode 4
How the New Testament Came To Be
At first glance, the New Testament can seem wildly different from the Old Testament—but is it? Jesus saw himself as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures and the climax of the story that began thousands of years before his birth. In this episode, join Tim, Jon, and Carissa as they explore the unity of the New Testament and the intricate yet consistent storyline of the Bible.
53m • Oct 4, 2021
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Episode 3
The Bible Had Editors?
How can a collection of ancient manuscripts written by numerous people over thousands of years tell one unified story? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa dive into how the Bible was written and how such a diverse collection of authors, literary styles, and themes can form one divinely inspired, unified story.
59m • Sep 27, 2021
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Episode 2
Who Wrote the Bible?
How does God work in the world and communicate with humanity? In this episode, Tim and Jon explore God’s relationship with his creation and the relationship between the Bible’s divine and human origins. They also discuss how God uses human words to communicate his divine word.
53m • Sep 20, 2021
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Episode 1
How Do You Read the Bible?
Have you ever read the Bible and felt like you're not "getting it"? In this episode, Tim and Jon take a look at the (often unhelpful) paradigms through which we interact with Scripture. They explore how seeing the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus not only gives the Bible space to do what it was created to do, but frees us to be transformed by the story it’s telling.
1hr 5m • Sep 13, 2021
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