New Testament, The (>) Kaivi) SiaBqKr]), the general title appropriated by early and inveterate usage tliroughout the Western Church to the latter portion of the Holy Scriptures— to the collection of writings forming the authoritative records of the Christian, as contrasted with the earlier Jewish, revelation. As the various questions relating to the genuineness of the several books of the New Testament, their title to a place in the sacred volume, and their special character- istics, are discussed in the separate articles devoted to them [see Canon, and each book], we have now to speak only of those matters which relate to the collec- tion as a whole. For the title, see Testament.
I. Contents and A rrangemenf.— The New Testament differs remarkably from the Old in this respect, that while the writings comprehended in the earlier collec-
NEW TESTAMENT
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tion ranfje over a period of a thousand j'ears, those in- cluded in the later -were produced almost contempo- raneously, within the compass of one generation — most of themprobably between A.D. 50 and A.D. 70. The collection consists of twenty-seven writings, proceeding either from apostles or from persons who were intimately associated with the apostles in their labors. Five of the works are in the form of historical narratives; four of which relate the history of the Saviour's life on earth with such variety of form, and with such differences in the selection and treatment of materials, as seemed needful to meet the wants of different readers ; and the fifth describes the formation and extension of the Church by the ministry of the leading apostles. Twenty-one are epistolary. Thirteen of the letters express^ bear the name of Paul as their author; nine being address- ed to various Christian communities, three — called the Pastoral Epistles — to office-bearers in the Church, and one to a private individual (Philemon). An anony- mous letter addressed " to the Hebrews" is associated with the Epistles of Paul. Seven other letters — one bearing the name of James, two that of Peter, three that of John, and one that of Jude — are frequently com- prehended under the common name of Catholic (that is general) Epistles, as having been intended for the use of Christians in general, or as having (most of them at least) no express individual or local destination. The volume closes with a prophetic vision, the Apocal3'pse of John.
The writings thus associated in the New Testament seem to have at the first glance a somewhat uncon- nected and desultory character; and it may readily be admitted that the form in which the inspired records of Christianity have come down to us is not that which the wisdom of man would have conceived or expected. The Christian revelation has not assumed the shape — which men might have deemed, a imori, probable or desirable— of an abstract system of truth, of a formal didactic treatise elaborately setting forth doctrines in logical order, like the creeds and confessions in which men have striven at different times to define and com- prehend the fulness of the scriptural teaching; or en- joining duties in methodical succession, like those codes of law in which men seek to provide beforehand for every contingency. Its actual form exhibits a far more admirable accommodation to the conditions of human nature — in its history of a life, its records of personal experience, its teachings by concrete examples, its presenting Christianitj^ in action. The great majority of those for whose benefit a revelation is given have but little interest in pure theory or relish for abstract truth ; the pattern affects them more than the precept, and they apprehend the more readily whatever comes into contact with the wants, feelings, and exigencies of their daily life. The form of the New Testament — mainly narrative and epistolary — is one especially fitted to stimulate our attention, to enlist our sympathies, to quicken our human interest in its contents, and to bring the matters of which it treats home to us, not as sub- jects of theor}-, but as facts of experience, as personal and practical realities. " The book which shall have a deep and practical influence on real life must reflect its image, must present that real mixture of facts, thoughts, and feelings which is found to exist there."
But we have to recognise in the composition of the New Testament a further peculiarity, deviating from what we should perhaps have expected, but constitut- ing in reality the most remarkable evidence of the di- vine superintendence that shaped the whole. The books of the New Testament present no formal bond of unity, profess no absolute completeness, make no direct claim, in most cases, to universal acceptance. On the con- trary, they seem to have originated independently of each other, and to have been prepared with immediate reference to local or temporary objects — to the special circumstances and wants of churches, or even of in- dividuals. Christ himself wrote nothing; and we do
not find in what his disciples have left any professed design of giving a full record of his teaching or a con- tinuous and perfect exposition of his doctrine. No apostle or evangelist avows it as his purpose to furnish an authentic standard of Christian doctrine and duty for all future time. Their works, moreover, bear no traces of mutual concert or prearranged co-operation towards a common object. They address themselves to matters in which tliey feel a personal interest, and to persons with whom they have more immediate re- lations; and they write seemingly with reference to these alone, betraying no consciousness of any ulterior aim or further destination. Their writings present the appearance of having been as casual in origin as they are occasional in form. But this very occasional and seemingly accidental character impressed on the in- dividual elements of the New Testament as human writings will be found, when we examine them more close!}', to yield the highest evidence of tlie divine origin and purpose of the whole, and to furnish varied means for the illustration and confirmation of their truth. The parts, regarded in themselves, seem isolated and frag- mentary ; but the whole, which results from their com- bination, reveals a unity and completeness that can only be explained through the hidden but all-pervading agency of one divine Designer. The several narratives and letters have been obviously produced without any concert among the writers; each bears the stamp of in- dividuality and independence ; and yet, when they are placed side by side, they are found so marvellously to fit into each other, to sustain such mutually complementarj' relations, to be knit by so many links of connection, and to exhibit so entire a harmony of general design, that the unbiassed reader cannot but recognise in their deeper interdependence a providential arrangement, and refer the whole to the common inspiration of one and the same Spirit guiding the several agents in their parts for the furtherance of his own gracious purposes. These occasional writings, proceeding from different authors, and brought together from different localities, con- stitute, when combined, an organized body fitly joined together and pervaded by one inward life. " When it is felt," as has been well said, "that these narratives, letters, visions, do in fact fulfil the several functions, and sustain the mutual relations, which would belong to the parts of one design, coalescing into a doctrinal scheme which is orderlj-, progressive, and complete, then is the mind of the reader in conscious contact with the mind of God ; then the superficial diversity of the parts is lost in the essential unity of the whole; the many writings have become one Book; the manj' writers have become one Author" (Bernard, Bumptmi Lecture for 18G4, p. 235).