Structure
The Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament includes 50 writings, of which only 38 are recognized by the Orthodox Church as inspired by God, that is, canonical. Among the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are four Gospels, 21 Apostolic Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles.
The Gospel consists of four canonical texts, with the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke being called synoptic, and the fourth Gospel of John was written somewhat later and is fundamentally different from the others, but there is an assumption that it was based on an even more ancient text.
Writing language
The Bible was written by different people over more than 1600 years, and, therefore, it combines texts in different languages. The Old Testament is predominantly written in Hebrew, but there are also writings in Aramaic. The New Testament was written primarily in ancient Greek.
The Gospel is written in Greek. However, one should not confuse that Greek not only with the modern language, but also with the one in which the best works of antiquity were written. This language was close to the ancient Attic dialect and was called the “Koine dialect.”
What are the similarities and differences between the Gospel and the Bible?
- Both manuscripts, the Bible and the Gospel, are directly related to the emergence of Christianity . It should be borne in mind that the Gospel is only the New Testament. But it was he who gave rise to a new religion and faith in Christ.
- Thanks to the Gospel, many believers around the world can turn to the Christian God and Jesus in any language, fulfill the commandments and hope for the salvation of their souls in another world. The Old Testament, on the other hand, generally gives more hope to the people of Israel.
- In the Gospel, the apostles describe in detail only the earthly life of Jesus , his deeds, and then his ascension to heaven and resurrection. The Bible additionally talks about the creation of the universe and the universe by the Almighty. It also talks about God’s direct participation in the life of the Israeli people, teaches morality, responsibility for one’s deeds and actions, love for one’s neighbor, gives important commandments, teaches love for all living things and for God.
- The Bible was written over a period of more than 1600 years . It contains many scriptures in different languages. Time interval for writing the Gospel 2-3 centuries . It is written in a specific dialect of the Greek language.
- The Bible was compiled by ordinary people , considered divinely inspired , whose lives are beyond doubt, since they are confirmed by numerous historical facts. The Gospel was recently considered to have been written by the apostles Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John. Now their authorship is disputed, and researchers and clergy cannot come to a consensus regarding the evangelists, because the Gospels contain many controversial statements and inaccuracies
Time of writing
In fact, today it is difficult to determine not only the decade, but also the century of writing of the Holy Books.
Thus, the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel date back to the second or third centuries AD, but there is evidence that the evangelists, whose names appear under the texts, lived in the first century. There is no evidence that the manuscripts were written at this time, except for a few quotations in texts dating from the late first to early second centuries.
With the Bible the question is simpler. It is believed that the Old Testament was written in the period from 1513 BC to 443 BC, and the New Testament from 41 AD to 98 AD. Thus, to write this great book it took not just one year or a decade, but more than one and a half thousand years.
What is the Bible
It is generally accepted that the Bible is the word of God . And yet many questions arise, in particular, believers and non-believers would like to know who and when wrote this enormous work.
If we take into account all the texts of the Holy Scriptures, it turns out that the Old Testament was written over a period of more than one and a half thousand years. From this we can understand that the Bible had many authors, which is true
Who wrote the Bible
Not all the authors of the Bible are known, although most of them have given their names. Who exactly wrote the texts and by what right, if authorship belongs to the Almighty? The fact of the matter is that all scriptures are considered divinely inspired, in other words, canonical.
Divine inspiration can be explained this way. The writer holds a pen or pen, and God guides him with his hand. Or the saint hears God’s voice and writes down everything he hears verbatim. This means that a person, be it a philosopher, chronicler, prophet or king of the Jews, became a co-author of the Almighty, fulfilling His holy will.
of King David appeared , in particular, the canonical songs of David, as well as the wise sayings of his son Solomon. The Bible was written by such famous prophets as Moses , Elijah , Isaiah , Job , Ezekiel and many others. From the uniqueness of the biblical texts, one can understand that the authors of the Old Testament were different people.
Who translated the Bible
Translators of the Holy Scriptures appeared much later. In general, the Bible was translated many times, into various languages of the world and in different years, not only of our era, but also before our era.
It is known that the original text of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and partly in ancient Aramaic . And yet, out of fifty texts, only 38 scriptures .
Authorship
Every book, every text has an author. But who, then, is the author of the Bible?
A believer, without hesitation, will answer that “The Bible is the word of God.” It turns out that the author is the Lord God himself. Then where does the Bible include, say, the Wisdom of Solomon or the Book of Job? It turns out there is more than one author? It is assumed that the Bible was written by ordinary people: philosophers, farmers, soldiers and shepherds, doctors and even kings. But these people had a special inspiration from God. They did not express their own thoughts, but simply held a pencil in their hands while the Lord moved their hand. And yet, each text has its own writing style, it feels like they belong to different people. Undoubtedly, they can be called authors, but still they had God himself as a co-author.
For a long time, no one doubted the authorship of the Gospel. It was believed that the texts were written by four Evangelists, whose names are known to everyone: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In fact, they cannot be called authors with complete certainty. What is known for certain is that all the actions described in these texts did not take place with the personal testimony of the evangelists. Most likely, this is a collection of so-called “oral literature”, told by people whose names will forever remain a secret. This is not the final point. Research in this area continues, but today many clergy have preferred to tell parishioners that the Gospel was written by unknown authors.
GOSPEL
GOSPEL [Greek. εὐαγγέλιον – good news], in Christianity, the preaching of Jesus Christ about the coming of the Kingdom of God and the preaching of the apostles about the saving action of God through the Messiah; the general name for the stories (originally oral) about the earthly ministry, Death on the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, on the basis of which it was developed by one. lit. genre. From the 2nd century. the term "E." used in a narrow sense in relation to the four canonical E. (from Matthew, from Mark, from Luke, from John; see Evangelists), according to ancient tradition, separated from the New Testament into a special book for liturgical use (the Four Gospels).
In ancient Greek authors, starting with Homer, the word “E.” meant “reward for the good news” or “news of victory.” It is used in the same meaning in the translation of the books of the Old Testament into Greek. language (Septuagint; see Bible) - always in the plural or feminine and in all cases without religion. filling. To Rome practice of the cult of emperors "E." called oral news of the birth of an heir or the accession of an emperor to the throne.
The word “E.” was probably used by Jesus Christ Himself and His first disciples in connection with the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about the salvation and reign of God (Is. 40:9, 52:7, 61:1; Joel 2:32, etc. ).
In the Christian sense, the earliest use of the word "E." recorded in the Epistles of St. Paul (eg: 1 Cor. 9:14, 15:1; Phil. 4:15; Rom. 1:1), as well as in E. Matthew and Mark (eg: Mark 1:1, 14 –15; Matthew 4:23; in Luke it is found only in verbal form; in John it is not used; the words “life” or “eternal life” are used as synonyms). Mark "E." is first called a letter. proclamation of Jesus Christ. According to app. Paul, E. not only talks about salvation, but also itself has saving power that transforms life.
Church tradition emphasizes that E. is one, although there are four texts accepted by the Church. This idea is expressed in the title of the canonical E., in which the Greek is used before the names of the evangelists. the preposition ϰατά (lit. - according to, in the version; in the Slavic tradition - “from”, due to the introductory phrase when reading during worship), emphasizing that they are not the authors of the text in the usual sense of the word, but convey the Good News from God , who is the true author. In the most ancient manuscripts the names of the evangelists are not indicated at all (they first appear in the testimonies of Christian writers of the 2nd century).
Three E. (from Matthew, from Mark and from Luke), having many common passages and a similar order of presentation of events, are called synoptic (from the Greek σύnoψις - general overview, view). They are the oldest of all E. and have apostolic authority (it is believed that Mark and Luke reproduced the sermons of the apostles Peter and Paul, and Matthew and John stated everything as eyewitnesses). Modern Science considers these E. as historically reliable descriptions of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. However, the exact dates of their composition are unknown. Most scientists date synoptic E. to the time either shortly before the start of the Jewish revolt against Rome (66–73) (conservative scientists), or to the 70–80s. 1st century (moderate liberal scientists). E. from John is usually dated to the end. 1st century
The degree and nature of the similarities between the three E. allow us to talk about their lit. dependence on each other. But the question of which of the E. was compiled first has not yet received an unambiguous solution. In church tradition, dating back to the 2nd century, the first is called E. from Matthew, who wrote it in Hebrew. language. In modern In biblical studies, most scholars recognize the priority of E. from Mark. Mn. researchers support the hypothesis that Matthew and Luke, in addition to Mark, used another text, which is commonly called Q (from German Quelle - source).
In addition to the canonical ones, there are many apocryphal E., which contain words and revelations allegedly belonging to Jesus Christ, as well as fantastic ones. stories about His childhood and ministry. Their authenticity is rejected both by the Church and by modern times. science, although the existence of independently transmitted sayings of Jesus Christ (the so-called agraf) is recognized by everyone, including as part of these Gospels.
Conclusions TheDifference.ru
- The Gospel is an integral part of the Bible and refers to the texts of the New Testament.
- The Bible is an earlier scripture, begun in the 15th century BC and spanning 1600 years.
- The Gospel describes only the life of Jesus Christ on earth and His ascension to heaven; the Bible, in addition, tells about the creation of the world, about the participation of the Lord God in the life of the Jews, teaches us to bear responsibility for each of our actions, etc.
- The Bible includes texts in different languages. The Gospel is written in ancient Greek.
- The authors of the Bible are considered to be divinely inspired ordinary people; the authorship of the Gospel is controversial, although not so long ago it was attributed to the four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
When were the Gospels written?
As far as I know, the modern text of the Gospels was not recorded until the 4th century.
Where is the guarantee that these texts correspond to the early, authentic Gospels, since the latter, as I understand it, have not survived? And where is the guarantee that there WERE early texts at all; perhaps the Gospel was composed several centuries after the so-called crucifixion? SV., Moscow
It may be a little surprising for someone to learn that the texts of many of the ancient authors that we read and whose existence is beyond doubt have not reached us - there were no photocopiers then. For example, none of the works of Plato, Aristotle, or many other ancient philosophers have been preserved in the original. In the Middle Ages, Aristotle “came” to Europe through the Arabs, so the works were read in translation from Arabic (although early Latin translations were later found). All this in no way undermines the confidence of the scientific world either in the fact of the existence of Aristotle, or in the fact that the works we read were actually written by this Greek philosopher.
And although the earliest Gospel manuscripts date back to the 11th-111th centuries. this does not undermine confidence in the Gospel text from a purely scientific point of view, because Compared with any ancient author, with the works of ancient classics, the Gospels and all the books of the New Testament are in a very advantageous position. This applies to the number of manuscripts found (more than 5 thousand!), and to the shortness of time separating the oldest of them from the original, and to the seriousness and volume of critical work carried out on the text.
The Church believes that the Gospels were written in the 1st century AD, when the authors who wrote them lived: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But the Tradition preserved by the Church, until recently, was not directly confirmed by the finds of Gospel manuscripts dating back to the 1st century.
But even before that, there were testimonies from church writers of the 2nd-4th centuries, telling about the Evangelists and the circumstances of their writing of the Gospels. Most of this evidence was collected at the beginning of the 4th century by Eusebius of Caesarea in his famous “Ecclesiastical History”: these are the testimonies of Panius (c. 130), St. Irenaeus of Lyons (late 2nd century), Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian (late 2nd - early 1st centuries), Origen (1st half of 1Mb.), etc. It is significant that, in support of their words, church writers, as a rule, , refer to an older tradition that has reached them.
Another important confirmation that the Gospels were written already in the 1st century is the presence of Gospel quotations in the works of the late 1st - early 2nd centuries: in the First Epistle of St. Clement of Rome (90s of the 1st century), in the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles” (late 1st-beginning of the 1st century), in the Epistles of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer (c. 107) and in other texts.
In addition, there is a whole series of evidence from opponents of Christianity, who cannot in any way be accused of hidden sympathy. These testimonies confirm the historicity of the personalities of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist and James the Lord's brother. To them
include Josephus Flavius, Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny Secundus the Younger, Lucian, Celsus and others.
And, of course, the manuscripts of the New Testament with the Gospel texts serve as confirmation of Church Tradition. The oldest of them are written on papyrus and, unfortunately, only fragments of the text are conveyed to us, since papyrus is a short-lived material. They were found mostly in Egypt, where climatic conditions allowed them to be well preserved.
The oldest record of the Gospel until recently was the Ryland papyrus, dating back to 120-130 AD. It preserves a fragment of the 18th chapter of the Gospel of John, which conveys Christ’s conversation with Pilate during the trial. It was found in Lower Egypt, in an insignificant village, among the letters of the soldiers who garrisoned here. This find is only 20-30 years distant from the time the Gospel was written, supposed by church tradition (96-YOgg.) - a very short period of time, considering that during this time the Gospel text should have managed to get to Egypt from Asia Minor (Ephesus), where he wrote the Gospel of St. Apostle John the Theologian.
Another ancient text, the Bodmer II papyrus, dates back, according to recently updated data, to the first half of the 2nd century. It may have been created later than the Ryeland papyrus, but it contains in very good preservation the text of almost the entire Gospel of John, written on 108 pages.
These findings, especially the Ryland papyrus published in 1935, have led even atheistic critics to place the date of the writing of the Gospels as we now know them at the end of the first century.
And yet, the lack of direct confirmation of the Gospel text by finds dating back to the 1st century gives rise to some modern researchers to assert that the primary text of the Gospel could be very different from what we know from manuscripts of the 2nd-3rd centuries, and to build different, sometimes intricate hypotheses about ways of creation and history of the formation of the Gospel.
But just recently a message appeared (book by K.P. Tied, 1996) about the text of the Gospel of Matthew, dated 64-69 years of the 1st century. This manuscript was known before (papyrus No. 64, containing part of Chapter 26 of the Gospel of Matthew, is kept in Oxford), only before it was dated to about the year 200, and now the time of creation has been determined more precisely. This text is probably the earliest known manuscript of the Gospel.
This recent rediscovery is of great scientific importance. It can be compared to the discovery of the image of Jesus Christ on the Shroud of Turin. And just as then, at the end of the 19th century, when science seemed to undermine faith in the reality of Christ and His Resurrection, the Shroud of Turin, studied by scientific methods, testified to the contrary, so now the oldest manuscript of the Gospel again tells us about Christ and confirms the Church Tradition about creation of the Gospel.
Vyacheslav ARTAMONOV,
student of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Theological Institute
Literature:
1. Eusebius Pamphilus. Church history. - M.: Publishing house. Spaso-Pre-arr. Valaam Monastery, 1993 -446 pp.
2. Cassian (Bezobrazov), Christ and the Christian generation. -3rd ed. - Paris - Moscow: YMCA -Press. Russian way, 1996.- pp. 156-158, $78; 283-285, 303-306, 310-313, 317-318, 324-325, 348-349.
3. Metzger, Bruce M. Textology of the New Testament. -'M., 1996
4. Carsten Peter Thiede. Jesus selon Matthieu La nouvelle datation du papyrus Magdalen d'Oxford et I origine des Evangiles. Examen et discussion des dernieres objections scientifiques. P.: Francois-Xavier de Guibert. 1996-(118 p.)
