The New Testament: A “Martyr’s Manual”

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Pastor Foley

Have you ever wondered how the New Testament came together as a single book?

You may know that each of the books and letters that makes up the New Testament were originally each sent to or used by individual churches (like Paul’s letters), or to the churches in a particular region (like the six churches mentioned in the book of Revelation). So what was it that brought all of the individual books together into a single book?

You may have heard that it happened in the fourth century at around the same time as the Nicene Creed, when the church was seeking to put down various heresies. And you may have heard that the question of what to include in and exclude from the New Testament was to ask simply: “Was this book written by an apostle?” If ‘yes’, then it was included. If ‘no’, then it was excluded.

 There’s certainly a lot of truth to that. But that’s really only the end of the story. The story of how the New Testament came to be begins back in the early second century. And it happened not because of something internal to the church but because of something external:

Persecution.

At the beginning of the second century, as the gospel began to spread throughout the world, it faced growing opposition. Christians—those carrying the gospel, especially the leaders of the churches—began to be persecuted, even unto death. These leaders each came to see the need to bring together in one collection all the individual letters and books of the apostles that would enable Christians to faithfully testify to the Lord Jesus—and to know how to respond to the opposition that arose from that testimony.

So it was from persecution—and because of persecution—that the New Testament was born.

By the beginning of the second century, most churches were using some or most of the books and letters that came to be included in the New Testament. But the books and letters were in many different orders, with certain books and letters being more emphasized by some churches and other books and letters being emphasized in other places. And there were some books and letters—for example, Acts, Hebrews, Revelation, 2 Peter, 3 John—that were missing from the collections of many churches, often because they were difficult for ordinary believers to understand. And some churches were using books and letters that were ultimately excluded from our New Testament—for example, The Didache (or “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”), and other books like the Revelation of Peter, the Letter of Barnabas, the Gospel of James, and the Shepherd of Hermas, all of which were quite popular.

But the New Testament wasn’t a collection of the most popular books about Jesus, nor was it simply a collection of writings related to the apostles.

Instead, the New Testament  was created as a martyr’s manual. It was designed to equip disciples to be faithful witnesses to the Lord Jesus even unto death.

In a sense, there were two “tests” that every book in the New Testament had to pass in order to be included in the New Testament:

First, the book had to teach that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, born of a woman, born of the seed of David, sent at the end of this present age in the flesh to die for our sins and offer the mercy of God as prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures, who was buried, who was raised on the third day in a visible, physical resurrected body as according to the Scriptures, who ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, who will come again soon to judge the living and the dead. If a particular book didn’t teach all these things, it at least had to be consistent with these teachings. If a book included or emphasized anything other than these things, or if it stated or implied or could be used to teach something different than these core truths, then it was excluded. That was the first test.

The second test was this:

Did the book make clear the cost of following Jesus? If a book showed Jesus as simply a teacher of wisdom or a giver of blessings; if it failed to make clear the suffering that disciples would face in this world, then that book was omitted.

These two “tests” weren’t formally applied at a specific meeting of church leaders that happened at a certain place on a certain date. But as we read the letters between church leaders—like Ignatius, Polycarp, Iranaeus, and Origen—and as we study the history of the church in the second century when the New Testament began to be assembled, it is clear that these were the two key tests for what books would be included in this “martyr’s manual” called the New Testament.

That’s because it was the reality of persecution in the early second century that made it urgent for churches—especially those in the areas facing persecution—to put together a single collection of reliable books to prepare Christians for faithful witness and martyrdom. Even the ordering of the books is designed to make it so that when we read the New Testament from the beginning to the end, we focus on who Jesus is, what he does, and the suffering we will face for testifying to him.

These days we are taught that we have a legal “right” to believe in Jesus (or whatever we want to believe in), and that persecution due to our faith is a “violation” of our legal “rights”. We are taught that we should fight for these rights by becoming involved in political, where we elect the right people, make the right laws, and protest to uphold the right values. We have been taught that belief and suffering for belief are two separate things. We have been taught that belief is good and suffering for belief is wrong and should be eliminated or prevented.

But this understanding goes against the whole New Testament.

The New Testament is, and always has been, a martyr’s book. It never separates belief in Jesus from suffering for his name. The New Testament is consistent in saying that to believe in Jesus is to suffer for Jesus. And the New Testament is consistent in saying that suffering for Jesus is an honor, a blessing, and a gift, not a tragedy.

When we believe in Christ but don’t suffer for our belief in him, we are like a flower without roots, stuck in a vase: It can look pretty for a while, but soon it will wither and die. It is only in suffering for our belief in Christ that we become rooted deeply in Christ, and he will nourish us through those roots of suffering for his name until he returns and we see him face to face

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What we believe about Christ’s return is the most important factor in how we relate to God, each other, and the world

Posted on December 10, 2024 by Pastor Foley

Last Sunday was the first Sunday in the Advent season, which is the season of the church year before Christmas. We sometimes (wrongly) think that Christmas is the beginning of the church year, and thus we sometimes (wrongly) think that the Advent season is the season of preparation for Christmas. We (wrongly) think that just like Lent is about “preparing our hearts” to receive salvation from Christ’s death and resurrection, Advent must be about “preparing our hearts” to receive the coming of Christ at Christmas.

But in fact, Advent is the beginning of the church year. So last Sunday was like New Years Day in church. And instead of Advent being preparation for Christmas, in Scripture it is Christmas which is preparation for Advent!

That is because Advent is about the visible, physical return of Christ to the earth, to rule and reign forever over a new heavens and a new earth, where those of us who have put our trust in him will be resurrected bodily from the dead with bodies like his.

Scripture calls this “the blessed hope” in Titus 2:13. The blessed hope is NOT that we will leave our bodies behind and go to heaven to make our home with God. The blessed hope is that God will descend to earth to make his home among men, as John writes in Revelation 21:3:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

Scripture tells us that those who die before Christ returns are present with Christ in heaven, but they are not presently feasting at a heavenly banquet with others who have died. Instead, they are presently doing what we are doing: Waiting eagerly for his return, when they will come with him and the New Jerusalem to the new earth to join us for that banquet. This is why the writer of Hebrews says of those who have died in faith (in Chapter 11 verses 39-40):

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

And this is what Advent is about: Waiting. Not “waiting to go to heaven when we die so that we can join in the heavenly banquet that’s already started so we can see our relatives and have a great time there” but “waiting for the completion—the perfection—of God’s plan, which is the physical, visible return of his Son Jesus with his resurrected body, accompanied by all those who died in faith, who return with him to join us and, as the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:52 , we all together will be changed:

in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

So the Scriptures that are given to us in the lectionary to read during Advent all relate to Christ’s return—what the Bible calls “The Day of the Lord”, “The Day”, or “That Day”, or what we sometimes call “Judgment Day” or “The Second Coming”.

We know that even now, the Son, the messiah, the Lord Jesus, rules over all the kings of the earth, seated on the heavenly throne with his Father. The Father has given the Son all power and authority (Matthew 28:18), yet we know this only by faith: As the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 2:8, “At present we do not see everything subject to him”. The kings of the earth still rebel against him.  

But as Christ Jesus told Paul in Acts 26:14 when he was still Saul, the persecutor, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads”. That is, resistance is futile; what we know now by faith, we will soon see: On that day, which the Bible calls the day of the Lord, the end will come: All rebellion will be crushed—not only human rebellion, but the rebellion of the serpent, sin, and death. And:

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:24)

Because we have this “blessed hope”, the Apostle Paul tells Titus:

It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

That’s what we do during Advent: We say “no” to this present age. Or as Jesus says in today’s scripture reading from Luke 21, in verses 34-36:

Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.

Jesus, Paul, and all of Scripture tells us that in fact it is only our belief that Christ will return soon that prevents our hearts from being weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life. It is only our belief in the soon-coming Day of the Lord that teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

Or, to say it the other way around:

If we lose our belief that Christ will return soon, then our hearts will become weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and we will say “yes” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and we will find ourselves unable to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

What we believe about the return of Christ is the most important factor in how we relate to God, to the world, and to each other. If you don’t believe that, then ask yourself why tomorrow, the first Sunday in Advent, is designated as the Christian’s New Year’s Day. Scripturally we can even say that a Christian is someone who, more than anything else, is eagerly awaiting and primarily focused on the Lord’s return.

You may have heard people say things like, “Well, if you’re focused on the Lord coming back, you’re not going to be useful or good at making a difference in the world around you.”

But Scripture strongly disagrees with that claim. It is only when you are eagerly awaiting and primarily focused on the return of Christ that you can say to this world what it doesn’t want to hear, show to this world what it doesn’t want to see, and be in this world what the world despises: a faithful witness to Christ.

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What does it mean that Christianity is a canonical faith, and why is that so important for the church to remember?

Posted on November 19, 2024 by Pastor Foley

Christianity is a canonical faith. This means that the Bible is put together in the order it is for a certain reason, and that reason comes to be understood as the scripture moves from the beginning to the end. The New Testament is not “the New and Improved Testament”. Instead, the New Testament is the fulfillment of God’s promises in the Old Testament. God is doing the same thing from the beginning to the end. The New Testament doesn’t change that. The New Testament tells us how to read and receive the message of the Old Testament.

To be canonical means that our preaching, our faith, our teaching, our understanding of what God is doing must always be grounded in the beginning and end of the canon: Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21-22. God doesn’t change his mind in the middle, and his purpose is clear from the beginning…and the end.

Any time you hear a preacher jumping around to build a supposedly biblical teaching by adding this verse in the middle to that verse at the end to this other verse at the beginning, you are hearing a false teaching because our faith is simple and canonical. Canonically, God decides what He is going to do. Then he announces it. Then he does it. Thus, the message of the Bible is very simple:

  • God creates.
  • Humans sin.
  • God appoints a day for judgment.
  • In advance of that day, he sends his Son on a mission of mercy to save all who will believe.
  • Those who believe are called to serve as his witnesses. They witness to two things: The Lord’s offer of mercy, and the coming Day of the Lord where He will judge the world.
  • Jesus is the appointed bringer of mercy and judgment, proof of which is given by his suffering and his resurrection from the dead.

In the New Testament, Jesus adds nothing to that message. He doesn’t change it at all. He simply is it, which he says becomes clear when we read canonically under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit. He is the fulfillment of all those promises of God. And he is our one Teacher.

“Neither be called teacher, for you have one teacher, the Christ.” (Matthew 23:10).

This canonical message can be heard clearly in Jesus’ words to the apostles on the night of his resurrection:

“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’ (Luke 24:44-49)

Judgment is an essential part of the canonical gospel:

“And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:42)

When the Apostles preach, you can hear those same key points of their message repeated over and over again: There is a coming day of judgment, in which all sin of all people will be punished, but mercy is available for those who believe now in God’s messiah. That’s not only the Apostles’ message. It’s also the message of Jesus, and of the prophets in the Old Testament.

But as the Apostles were martyred, and as the church moved into all the world, it gradually became like those to whom it was called to testify, just as Israel had also become like the nations around it. The first Christians cried out, “Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” But Christians, under the influence of Greek and Roman culture, exchanged that canonical ending for the non-canonical idea of going to the Lord Jesus, leaving behind our bodies and living in heaven forever.

It turns out that if you get the end wrong, then you get the middle wrong as well. Like King Saul making sacrifices to God too early while corrupting his simple commands, the church has wrongly taken the end of the world into its own hands, appointing mediators other than Christ Jesus–priest, politicians, even itself–to stand between God and the world, and to do something more and other than witness faithfully to God’s mercy and judgment.

But the canonical witness of scripture says that in these last days there is only one mediator: Christ Jesus. When he comes, the times of God’s mercy will end, and then Christ himself will judge the world.

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