Introduction

Judaism preceded Christianity in existence. It is attributed to Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes. However, it did not gain an independent entity until the Prophet Moses. Before the migration to Egypt, the Hebrews were a nomadic people. In Egypt, they worked for the Egyptians, and their last days were filled with humiliation. Moses brought them out of Egypt miraculously, and brought them into the Sinai Desert, where they wandered like nomadic tribes for 40 years. Finally, Joshua bin Nun brought them into Palestine, where they dispersed like nomads. Finally, the Prophet David and his son Solomon united them. Then Solomon’s sons divided the kingdom into two parts, northern and southern. The prophets appeared one after the other. Finally, over long periods, they had their holy book, which Christians call the “Old Testament.” It is a religious book that contains doctrine and rituals, in addition to a historical and legislative section. Judaism is both a religion and a world. The royal lineage of David is one of its pillars.

The spiritual, prophetic and hymnological section is very important. The hopes of the Jews are pinned on the coming of the Messiah who will expel foreign rulers and establish a world kingdom for them. Their worship revolves around the Temple of Jerusalem. That is, since the eighth century they have been subjected to humiliation at the hands of foreign conquerors: the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans. In the year 70 the Romans destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem and dispersed the Jews. The disasters were repeated around the year 134 (?), so they wandered the earth pinning their hopes on the coming of the Messiah who would gather them together and build their temple of worship.

But Christ appeared and they rejected Him. He told them that their temple would be destroyed forever and that they would be led to the vast house of God scattered. Despite this, they became more envious and disbelieving of Him, and poured out their wrath on Him. They mentioned Him and His mother, the Virgin Mary, in an ugly manner in their books, and accused His mother of adultery. (*1).

Before the coming of Christ, the science of interpretation had developed among the Jews, and when it was written down it reached volumes known as the “Talmud.” Their Talmud distorted the meanings of the Bible. Christ rebuked them for this repeatedly. He tried in vain to return them to the original meanings of the Bible. The chief priests did not believe in the existence of the soul, angels, or resurrection (Matthew 22:23, Mark 12:18, Luke 20:27, Acts 23:8). Therefore, they were materialists. During the Passover feasts, they would turn the temple into an animal market to trade in the emotions of the people who were obliged to sacrifice. Christ twice expelled the animals and the money changers from the temple (John 2:13-15, Mark 11:15-16, Matthew 21:12).

Christ confined his preaching to the Jews almost exclusively, because their book was the best guide to knowing him. However, they hardened their hearts and were unable to be guided, despite the flood of miracles and the loftiness of his teachings. The tension between Christ and the Jewish religious authorities reached an obscene level. The chief priests saw him as a competitor. The Pharisees, who were responsible for preserving and interpreting the Bible, saw him as a dangerous teacher who rivaled the traditions of the Talmudic fathers. In the end, they arrested him, sentenced him to death, and brought him to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who ordered his crucifixion.

Christ left no books. His teaching was oral.

1- Sources of Christian education

The Jewish Old Testament is part of the Bible of Christ. The apostles first preached to the Jews, relying on the Old Testament as their argument. When rejected, the missionaries turned to the Gentiles. The Jews were spread throughout the Roman and Persian empires. On the day of Pentecost, the Acts of the Apostles mentions Jews from the Roman Mediterranean basin, Media, Persia, Daylam, Arabia, and the Black Sea region (Acts 2:9-11). In the Roman Empire (outside Palestine and the Aramaic-speaking regions), the Jews read their Bible in a Greek translation from the 3rd-2nd century BCE. Therefore, the preaching was in Greek. In the Acts of the Apostles, we see the missionaries quoting the Old Testament to lead the Jews to Christ. On the day of Pentecost, about 3,000 Jews or converts were baptized. Those who returned spread the Christian religion. We learn from the Gospel of John about the interest of the Jews of the Diaspora in Jesus (chapters 7 and 12).

With the spread of Christianity, it was necessary to record the life of Christ and the teachings of his apostles. According to history, we know that the Apostle Matthew was the first to write in Aramaic, the language of the present-day Arab East. However, the predominance of Greek culture among believers forced the apostles to write in Greek. The four evangelists recorded their gospels in it, which is the biography of Christ. In the course of the evangelism, the apostles touched upon the topics of the new religion, and their writings were sacred. Luke the Evangelist chronicled the spread of the religion, so he wrote the Book of Acts of the Apostles. As for John the Evangelist, he wrote a prophetic book about the fate of the Church in history and what would befall it from the injustice of the Romans. Thus, a new holy book called the “New Testament” was formed. A large part of it revolves around arguing with the Jews to prove that Jesus is the awaited Messiah, and that the Jewish law was completed by the law of Christ, as it was a shadow of it (Hebrews 8-11).

Christianity received the Old Testament from the Jews and turned it into a sword in the belly of Judaism that announces its end because the shadow is nullified by the appearance of the truth. The truth is Christ. The Christian-Jewish dialectic is based, therefore, on the Old Testament’s evidence of the disappearance of Judaism with the appearance of Christianity, because Judaism is a stage of preparation for Jesus.

Of course, the shock was very great. The Jews were very upset by Jesus’ words that made them feel that he was greater than Abraham (John 8:58-59) and others (John 6:27-34) and that he was equal to God his Father (John 5:17-18). And so on (John 10:29-33).

One can realize the depth of the osmosis between the Old Testament and the New Testament if one carefully examines the so-called “seen” editions of the Bible.

2- The New Testament

The New Testament consists of the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, 14 Epistles of Paul the Apostle, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude, and the Revelation of John. These books were written by well-known apostles. Matthew, John, Peter, and Jude, the brother of the Lord, one of the twelve apostles. Mark, a disciple of Peter and Paul. Luke, a disciple of Paul. James, the brother of the Lord in the flesh. Paul, an enemy of the Church who was converted at the gates of Damascus. The Epistle to the Hebrews does not bear the name of its author. It owes its ideas to Paul. Scholars believe that it was written by Apollos, his disciple and friend.

3- The concept of divine inspiration

The Old Testament authors are an army. After more than 2000-4000 years, we cannot dig up the names of people who wrote during more than 1200 years B.C. Today we are in the year 1993, probably 1997 A.D.

We know the New Testament better because the Church is younger, and because it received most of its books in a short period of no more than 20-35 years. It immediately dealt with it by citing, interpreting and reciting it in prayers and at home. The book “The Teaching of the Apostles” was written - according to the opinions of recent critics - between 50 and 70 AD. It quotes the Gospel of Matthew a lot. Ignatius of Antioch, who died in 107 AD, quotes the New Testament a lot. And so on, Clement of Rome, the Epistle of Barnabas and other writings that date from 50-150 AD. With the spread of Christianity, the use of the New Testament as a source of faith, piety and worship increased. It was translated early on into Syriac and Latin and then into other languages of the world. Today, no language is without it.

As for the Old Testament, the Church continued to use it in Greek, and it was translated from it into Syriac and Latin. However, Saint Irenaeus (Jerome) translated it in the fourth century from Hebrew into Latin, and it became popular in the West. As for others, it remained in Greek.

4- Inspiration in Christianity

The Christian teaching on inspiration is clear. The Apostle Peter said that the Holy Spirit inspired the scribes to do so (2 Peter 1:20-21). The Apostle Paul said, “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16; see Romans 15:4).

The Holy Spirit moves the religious scribes to write. The opening of Luke's Gospel indicates that many began to write down the story of the events that had unfolded. He explains this in great detail. He mentions that the witnesses and servants of Jesus delivered it to them. He writes to his dear Theophilus to verify the accuracy of the teaching he has received.

So: Luke investigated, examined, asked, scrutinized, and took matters from their original sources. The Holy Spirit prompted him to write, but he placed his energies and abilities at the disposal of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit did not dictate to him. The human element is not passive, but active. The Holy Spirit and the apostles worked together, and they created the New Testament. Those who witnessed the events of life are known: the Virgin Mary, the apostles, in general the first generation of Jesus’ witnesses and servants. Theophilus received an education. The Gospel of Luke came to confirm to him the truth of what he learned.

There is the oral teaching that has penetrated the churches of the world. On the basis of it, the church decides what is true and what is false. The authenticity of the attribution of the writing to an apostle must be proven and the book must be in accordance with the prevailing teaching in the church. The church is the judge. What it rejects is rejected and what it accepts is accepted.

There are many books that the Church has called “Apocrypha”. The word is Greek. It means “hidden, hidden, unknown…” Its name indicates it. Its nature is mythical. The complete, well-written, carefully edited edition is in 4 parts in Italian. From its name one realizes that it is suspicious and dangerously esoteric.

5- The Church’s preservation of its book

The Jews were very careful to preserve their book, counting its words and taking great care in copying and preserving it. The Christians preserved the New Testament. They have fragments, incomplete copies, fragments and complete copies dating back to 300 and before until 125 AD. There are thousands of copies in the treasuries of Europe and America. One sees a brief list of them in the last Greek editions printed in Stuttgart, Germany, on behalf of the United Bible Societies.

In addition, there are numerous editions of the works of the ancient Church Fathers, the most famous of which are the Paris editions in Greek, Latin and Syriac. Their huge volumes may exceed 470 volumes. The Greek section of them is 161 volumes, of which 96 volumes were published until the death of John of Damascus in 749/750. The Church was keen everywhere on the purity of education.

Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna (d. 156) used the Greek word “Catholic” for the straight church, i.e. orthodox in faith and worship. As for the sects, they are called “heretical” because they chose matters that were unique to them from the right faith. A distinction was made early on between the Catholic Church, i.e. orthodox, and those who uniquely hold a special teaching that the church did not receive from the apostles. On this basis, the Gospels and the Apocrypha were also rejected.

Since the time of the apostles, heresies have arisen. In the year 49, the Council of the Apostles and Disciples was held in Jerusalem against the Christians of Jewish origin who said that it was necessary to preserve the Law of Moses. The Council decided to reject their claims (Acts 15, especially 15:28).

The Church has preserved this principle, holding ecumenical and regional local councils against heresies. The most famous of these councils among the Orthodox and Catholics are the seven ecumenical councils, which confirmed the inherited faith and separated heresies and their proponents. These councils are a very important framework for basic doctrines. Lutherans accept the content even if they do not recognize the number 7. Some other Western sects agree with them, although it is difficult to list them because their number is large and complex.

The Syriacs, Copts, Armenians and Ethiopians accept the first three councils. However, in their meetings with the Orthodox, they accepted the content of the six councils without declaring their acceptance of the number 6. The Armenians refused to sign the 1971 statement issued at a meeting in the Orthodox Monastery of Balamand in Lebanon. Their argument was that they were a religion and a nationality. But now everyone has accepted the seven. (*2)

(*1) This accusation did not appear until a long period of time later - as is clear from the sequence of events in the line above - exceeding 200 years after the ascension... (Al-Shabaka)

(*2) Please review “Between Ephesus, the robbers, and ChalcedonTo find out the writer’s opinion in 2005 on this issue… (Al-Shabaka)