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Post by CowboysDad on Apr 9, 2018 11:04:54 GMT -6
How did we get the modern order of the 27 books of the NT?
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Post by brianwagner on Apr 9, 2018 11:44:52 GMT -6
Hi Daniel! Hope all is well. I have to do some more looking, but it appears Augustine is responsible for the order of the four Gospels, which he felt was their chronological canonical order. The Western "church" then came up with Acts followed by Paul's longer letters to his shorter ones and then the General Epistles followed by Revelation. I am going to make a guess that Jerome is responsible for that order, but it would be interesting to see if that's not the case.
The Eastern "church" evidently still follows a different order, I think but need to confirm, putting the General Epistles before Paul's. They may be following the order Athanasius gave in his Easter Letter (#39) which is the oldest complete list of the 27 we know of. Here is what he said -
>>5. Again it is not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Afterwards, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, viz. of James, one; of Peter, two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; after these, to the Galatians; next, to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians, and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly, that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John.
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Post by CowboysDad on Apr 9, 2018 12:49:33 GMT -6
I only started looking at this earlier today when asked the question, so I have not had much time to poke around myself. But yes, I've seen in passing some of the things you have noted, particularly the General Epistles being put both before and after the Pauline Epistles and that Jerome was largely responsible for certain aspects of the order, but I'd like to discover some point in history where all the lists converge to what we have today. Perhaps the order was formalized with the printing press, but whose order? I had not heard that the Eastern church might have a different order.
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Post by brianwagner on Apr 9, 2018 13:00:39 GMT -6
Can you let me know what is the motivating factor in your interest in the order? Are you thinking of publishing a new version with a better order? 😊
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Post by Rich Klein on Jun 9, 2018 12:55:19 GMT -6
Sinaiticus has an interesting New Testament order if I remember correctly. And, a few extra books now expunged from the NTs we purchase today.
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