The Author and Finisher

Sunday, 25th February 2008

Yesterday, I blogged about the authors of the Old Testament books. Today, I shall blog about the New Testament authors.

I just discovered from GotQuestions that Moses also wrote the book of Job, and that Jeremiah also wrote 1 Kings and 2 Kings.

The New Testament's authorship is more intuitive. The gospels were written by the apostle Matthew, John Mark (who was a good friend of the apostle Peter), Luke (who was a historian/doctor who followed the apostles and also wrote the book of Acts) and the apostle John.

Peter and John also wrote the books of Peter and John respectively, with John also writting the last book, Revelation. James and Jude also wrote the books named after them.

The rest of the New Testament (about 2/3 of it) was written by the apostle Paul.

The only book whose authorship is not certain is that of the book of Hebrews. Some accredit it also to Paul, but unlike the other epistles that he wrote, he does not identify himself in this particular letter. That is why some think that the author could be one of the other disciples, such as Luke, Barnabas or Apollos.

Be that as it may, the book of Hebrews is a fascinating book because it was written to the Jews and helps explain how Jesus more than fulfilled many of the customs and practices that are recorded in the Old Testament. Such as Jesus being our High Priest, Jesus being our perfect once-for-all sacrifice, Jesus being superior to the angels and to Moses, Jesus being a priest of in the order of Melchizedek on the basis of the power of an indestructible life, etc.

And of course, he records for us the names of the partriachs in the hall of faith in chapter 11. And chapter 12:2 also says that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.