I've considered many different scenarios, but I find myself now concluding that the most likely explanation for the development of the New Testament is that a foundational collection was produced by Justin Martyr's students after Justin died. Justin had the resources, he clearly possessed multiple Gospels which weren't quite the canonical Gospels, and his theology is the earliest expression of orthodoxy.
I think what happened was after Justin died one or more of his students took the materials in his library and cobbled together a large collection that consisted of the majority of works we now find in the New Testament. These individuals heavily revised some of the works and edited everything together. One of them may have actually written the Gospel of Matthew. I suspect strongly that the writing of Matthew, the editing of John, including the writing of John 21, the editing of Acts of the Apostles, etc. was all done by either the same person or as part of the same effort by a small group of people.
The person or people who produced this collection were engaged in conscious fraud. The motivation may have been money, in order to sell the collection in the Roman book markets. The job is poorly done. Quite frankly, the fact that is has taken "biblical scholars" so long to come as far as they have is an embarrassment. The New Testament is clearly a work of fraud, through and through. The editing is so poor and so ridiculous, how anyone could ever think these were independent unities is beyond me.
This was a work of fraud perpetrated by students, who were ransacking their teacher's library after he died. And Irenaeus fell for it hook line and sinker and everyone else was dumb enough to believe Irenaeus.
I think what happened was after Justin died one or more of his students took the materials in his library and cobbled together a large collection that consisted of the majority of works we now find in the New Testament. These individuals heavily revised some of the works and edited everything together. One of them may have actually written the Gospel of Matthew. I suspect strongly that the writing of Matthew, the editing of John, including the writing of John 21, the editing of Acts of the Apostles, etc. was all done by either the same person or as part of the same effort by a small group of people.
The person or people who produced this collection were engaged in conscious fraud. The motivation may have been money, in order to sell the collection in the Roman book markets. The job is poorly done. Quite frankly, the fact that is has taken "biblical scholars" so long to come as far as they have is an embarrassment. The New Testament is clearly a work of fraud, through and through. The editing is so poor and so ridiculous, how anyone could ever think these were independent unities is beyond me.
This was a work of fraud perpetrated by students, who were ransacking their teacher's library after he died. And Irenaeus fell for it hook line and sinker and everyone else was dumb enough to believe Irenaeus.
Statistics: Posted by rgprice — Thu Oct 03, 2024 6:38 am
