THE MAKING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE The Catholic Church is the Mother of the Bible It is simply amazing to discover how few of our friends have ever stopped to inquire: Where did we get our Bible? Who assembled its various parts? Who determined what book were inspired by God and which were not? Who vouches for it as the authoritative and inspired of God? The answer to all these queries is: Catholic Church. The chances are that if they stopped to inquire into the origin of the Bible, into the institution which framed its canon, and mothered it for eleven centuries before the first Protestant was born, they would not long remain protesters. Many are heard to speak of the Bible as if they thought it as a single book. In reality it is a whole library, a vast collections of 73 different books, 46 belonging to the Old Testament and 27 to the New. These books were not written at the same time or in one era: from Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament to Apocalypse of St. John, the last book of the New Testament, there stretches a period of approximately 1,500 years. Thus if we were to stand by the bier of Moses and read the Scriptures in existence, we would be limited to the first five books of the Old Testament. Even the Books of the New Testament did not appear at the same time, but at varying intervals over almost three quarters of a century. It was the Catholic Church which gathered up all these books, placed them within the covers of a single volume, and thus gave to the world what is known today as the Bible. The chart, “The making the of the New Testament”, shows when the various parts were written and when they were first assembled within the covers of a single volume. The chart brings into clear relief the following important facts: 1. The New Testament was written in its entirety by Catholics. 2. St. Peter, the first Pope of the Catholic Church, is the author of the two of its epistles. 3. The Catholic Church determined the canon or list of the books to constitute the New Testament. 4. The declaration of the Catholic Church that the books of the New Testament are all inspired by God constitutes the sole authority for the universal belief of both Catholics and Protestants in their inspired character. 5. The Catholic Church existed before the New Testament. 6. The Catholic Church is the mother of the New Testament. If she had not scrutinized carefully the writings of her children, rejecting some and approving others as worthy of inclusion in the canon of New Testament, and there would be no New Testament today. If she had not declared the books composing the New Testament to be the inspired word of God, we would not know it. The only authority which non-Catholics have for the inspiration of the Scriptures is the authority of the Catholic Church. If the latter be rejected, there remain no logical grounds for retention of the cardinal tenet of all Protestants – the inspired character of Scripture. With the possible exception of St. John, none of the Apostles ever saw all the writings which now make up the New Testament. If the Church had not preserved the Bible, shielding it from the attacks of barbarians, copying it in her monasteries throughout the long centuries before the art of printing was invented, the modern world would be without the Bible. The chart shows that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ, was teaching and preaching the word of God for nine years before a word of the New Testament was written and for sixty-seven years before it was completed. The truths enunciated by her divine founder were deep in her heart and fresh in her memory; she was busily engaged in parting these orally to mankind. Christ wrote nothing; neither did He command the Apostles to write. He commissioned them to teach His doctrines to all mankind. “Go ye into the world,” He said, “and preach the gospel to every creature.” The Apostles fulfilled the command of Christ by their oral preaching. Peter, Matthew, John, James and Jude supplemented their preaching by writing. It is well to remember , however, that the Church was a going concern, a functioning institution, teaching, preaching, administering sacraments, saving souls, before the New Testament saw the light of day. The Church is not the child of the Bible, as many non-Catholics imagine, but its mother. She derives neither her existence nor her teaching authority from the New Testament. She had both before the New Testament was born. She secured her being, her teachings, her authority directly from Jesus Christ. If all the books of the Bible and all the copies thereof were blotted out, we would still be in possession of all the truths of Christ and could still continue to preach them as she did before a single word of the New Testament was written; for those truths are deep in her mind, heart and memory, in her liturgical and sacramental life, in the traditions, written and unwritten, which go directly back to Christ.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 04:22:03 +0000
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