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NASB | Luke 1:4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 1:4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught [that is, the history and doctrine of the faith]. |
Bible Question:
Hank and Reformer Joe: What are your opinions on this question? Were the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament written primarily for the building up and catechising of those who had already converted to Christ or for the purpose of evangelizing non christians? I am not saying that the Gospel is not to be preached to the unblievers for purposes of conversion or that the substance of the preaching should not be from the Gospels, Epistles, Acts and Revelation. But there is a school of thought which holds that the written Gospels as well as the rest of the NT were written primarily by believers for believers to strengthen believer and that there is a preumption of faith in Christ in them. This of course is more apparent and explicit in the Epistles and Revelation, but what doe you think about the Gospels in this regard? Emmaus |
Bible Answer: It seems that some of them were definitely written for that primary purpose. Luke was (Luke 1:1-4). We know that the churches were recipients of the epistles. John seems to be a lot more evangelical (John 20:30-31). The other gospels are not as explicit, but it would seem that the Jews are the initial recipients of Matthew, since it appears to be largely an defense of the ministry and Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth based heavily on the Old Testament. Mark reads like an abbbreviated evangelical tract It would seem that the New Testament books would have beem used largely in the same way as they are today, as written records of the apostolic tradition, both as bases of doctrinal decisions and as communication to the unbelieving world, especially as the apostles began to die. You see, while Paul is writing to the Romans, for example, he has never seen them, and that work takes the form of the most complete theological treatise in the New Testament. The whole book starts from scratch and basically assumes that the Romans know next-to-nothing about God, sin, the law, grace, the life of the unbeliever, and the life of a Christian. I haven't studied in great detail the use of the Scriptures in the sub-apostolic era. They were obviously referred to as standard, authoritative documents by the early church fathers, adn Christians such as Justin Martyr used them in his Apology as well. Therefore, as far back as we can go in church history outside the Bible, it would seem that they served as a standard for both purposes. --Joe! |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Luke 1:4 | Author | ||
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Emmaus | ||
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Reformer Joe | ||
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Emmaus | ||
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mastery |