The Bible that Jesus and the earliest Church had
was The Old Testament

As our Lord Jesus taught, He did not create new Scripture – but instead properly interpreted and taught Scripture to show its true intent. Groups like the Pharisees, though well meaning, had twisted the Scripture through their own opinion. Jesus chastised them for this, saying:

Mark 7:6-9 Well hath Esaias {Isaiah} prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. 9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Note that as Jesus chastised them, He referred back to the Old Testament prophesies of …

Isaiah 29:13 Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Though the words are not exactly the same, Jesus is quoting Isaiah 29:13 (which is originally Hebrew) in Koine Greek (the language of the people). Jesus is most likely quoting from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Every Scripture Jesus quotes in His ministry are Old Testament texts, The Bible of His day. These quotes are probably from the Septuagint.

Jesus was recorded as quoting from the Old Testament texts of:

Deuteronomy 8:3; 6:4-5,13, 16; 17:6
Exodus 20:13-14
Isaiah 29:13; 56:7; 61:1-2
Hosea 6:6
Genesis 2:24
Malachi 3:1
Psalm 8:2; 22:1; 31:5; 35:19; 69:4; 110:1; 118:22-23

Jesus made the claim that all the Scripture (the Old Testament) spoke of Him, the Messiah:

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

John 5:45-47 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Again, the Scripture was just the Old Testament – and there was a need for a New Testament. Why? Because with Jesus’ death on the Cross, His resurrection on the third day, and His ascension into Heaven, the Old Covenant was passed – we are now under a New Covenant. This doesn’t mean that the Old Testament is of no use today. After His resurrection, Jesus taught His disciples:

Luke 24:44 These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

The Old Covenant foretold the coming of Christ, and Jesus in His lifetime fulfilled the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17-18). No one else has ever done that, proving that Jesus is the Messiah, the One Who brought in the “New Covenant in His Blood shed for us” (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 12:24). The Old Testament is valuable to the Christian because it proves that Christ is Messiah. One of the early Reformers of the Church, Martin Luther said:

“The Old Testament is the swaddling clothes and the manger in which Christ lies” (Luther’s Works, 35:235)

Dr. Brian Tabb, the President of Bethlehem College & Seminary wrote:

“The great church father Augustine once wrote, “The New {Covenant} is hidden in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New {Covenant}” (Writings on the Old Testament, pg 125). Indeed, the two testaments hang together in a way that reveals God’s grand plan of redemption and confirms the complete reliability of God’s word. Readers would be hard pressed to find a chapter of the New Testament that does not explicitly or implicitly reference the promises, patterns, and principles of the Old Testament.”

When Jesus introduced Himself to Nazareth as the Messiah of the New Covenant, He quoted Isaiah 61:1-2 …

Luke 4:18-19, 21 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. … 21 This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

God ordained men wrote the New Testament. These were:

Apostles Peter, Matthew, John & Paul
Evangelist John Mark
Gentile Doctor Luke
Jesus’ stepbrothers James & Jude

The stepbrothers of Jesus did not believe Him to be the Messiah until after the resurrection (see John 7:5; Mark 3:31-35).

The New Testament Scriptures were written to pass on the Apostolic Teachings of men who learned at the feet of Jesus, and were leaders in the early Church. Dr. Brian Cunningham (MA in Apologetics from Biola University, and a PhD in Theology and Apologetics from Liberty University) wrote:

“At the crucifixion, I think it’s a very big deal that Jesus entrusted his mother to his disciple John (John 19:26-27). I’m assuming James is the oldest sibling after Jesus, since he is always listed first. And one would think that Jesus would have entrusted Mary to James.”

Jesus did not entrust Mary His mother to either James nor Jude, because as He hung on the Cross they in unbelief abandoned Him. As the believing Apostle John was standing at the foot of the Cross as Jesus died, Jesus entrusted His mother to him. However, the Lord always gives us a second chance. The Bible via the Apostle Paul tells us that after His resurrection,

1 Corinthians 15:7-8 {the resurrected Jesus} was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me {Paul} also, as of one born out of due time.

Through this visit James and Jude became believers – and ended up writing Scripture as God the Holy Spirit led them to do.

The First New Testament Scripture Written
Was Not The Gospels, But The Epistle Of James

In our Bibles the first New Testament Books are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts. The reason they are presented this way is because they cover the early ministry of Christ and the Church. However, none of these Books were the first Scripture written. That distinction goes to the Epistle of James. Though Mary was a virgin (Luke 1:27), after she had Jesus her husband Joseph loved her, and they had several children together (Matthew 1:25). Jesus had four half-brothers, as we are told in …

Matthew 13:55 (ESV) Is not this the carpenter ‘s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas (or Jude – not Iscariot)?

After Jesus resurrected and appeared to James, James along with Jude prayed in the upper room until the Day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14).

James is one of the Pastors of the Church in Jerusalem, and was considered a “pillar of the Church”. When the Pharisee named Saul was converted on the Damascus Road to become Paul the Apostle, he wrote in his testimony:

Galatians 1:18-19 … after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

When Peter is imprisoned for the faith by King Herod, and an Angel released him from prison and two soldiers, the Angel of God recognized the authority of James, telling him …

Acts 12:17 … Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren.

James supported preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. When God began to lead Gentiles into the Church under the preaching of Paul and Barnabas, James, the leader of the Jewish Church at Jerusalem, stood up for them. James quoted Amos 9:11-12 when he endorsed Gentiles becoming members of Christ’s Church, saying:

Acts 15:13-17 (ESV) … James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’

James was an Elder of the Church, a Shepherd (Galatians 2:9) at Jerusalem, and his endorsement of Paul and Barnabas to preach to the Gentiles carried a lot of weight.

Pastor John MacArthur notes that James wrote his Epistle sometime between 44-49 AD.

My commentary notes ..

“James’ speech at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:14-21 reveals his reliance on Scripture, his desire for peace within the church, his emphasis of grace over the law, and his care for Gentile believers, although he himself ministered almost exclusively to Jewish Christians. Also worthy of note is James’ humility—he never uses his position as Jesus’ blood relative as a basis for authority. Rather, James portrays himself as a “servant” of Jesus, nothing more.”

The focus of the teachings of the Book of James is that those who are saved by faith in Christ will undergo internal spiritual changes that will effect their outward actions. “You MUST be BORN AGAIN”

James Epistle primarily addresses a Jewish Christian audience that was being persecuted by unconverted Jews and Gentiles.

James 1:1 (ESV) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

James encouraged them to continue to follow Christ, regardless as to the cost. James does not preach easy believism, the nonsense that you heard from many pulpits today, but taught that trials are God’s way of purifying and guaranteeing the genuineness of our faith. Just as James went from unbeliever to the Pastor of the Church at Jerusalem on meeting Christ, the believer in Jesus undergoes a profound change. James points out that this is consistent from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Those coming to Christianity from Judaism were being cast out of their families, treated as criminals, and sometimes killed by both Jews and Gentiles. James tells us today:

James 2:18-22 (NKJV) But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

James wanted the Christians in his charge to know that for a faith to save, that faith must stand. God will save anyone – but He saves from the inside out. You are not saved by good works, but by believing in the work that Jesus did on the Cross and at the empty tomb. But once saved, that which is in your heart will show in your hands, your feet, your lips. Faith without the proof of works is like a corpse – it is dead! “As the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26, NKJV).

James was martyred for his faith in 62 AD after writing his epistle. It is fitting that the Scripture God wrote through James was the first written book of the New Covenant.

The Second Book Of The New Testament Written Was By God Through Paul The Apostle

It is reckoned that the Book of Galatians was written from
49-50 AD by the Apostle Paul.

Paul was a Pharisee, a “hit-man” sent by the Sanhedrin or the Ruling Council of the Jews to round up Christians. Known then as Saul, he was present at the stoning to death of the Evangelist Stephen (Acts 7:58). After killing Stephen, Saul ravaged the Church, leading people into Christian homes to drag them off to prison (Acts 8:3). As Joseph told his brothers who had betrayed him to Egypt …

Genesis 50:20 (AP) … you meant evil against me, BUT GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD, to bring it about that many people would be preserved to life

Though Jesus had commanded His Church to go into

Acts 1:8 … (ESV) Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

The Church largely stayed in Jerusalem, and Jews were the primary ones saved. When God allowed Saul to rise up, it scattered the witness of the Church from the Temple in Jerusalem, throughout Samaria and into Damascus. This is what brought Saul to the Damascus Road. Here Jesus knocked Saul down, blinded him, and said …

Acts 9:5-6 (ESV) … I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city {of Damascus}, and you will be told what you are to do.

Jesus had a plan for Saul, the persecutor of the Church. Jesus told His disciple Ananias,

Acts 9:15-16 … {ESV} Go {to where Saul is}, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine to carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

Though Saul – later called Paul the Apostle – would preach Christ to Israel, his primary mission was to share Christ with Gentiles and Gentile Kings. Paul as a Roman citizen (though Jewish) would be executed by Emperor Nero after sharing the Gospel with him. Paul died under the sword shortly after Nero burned Rome, 67-68 AD.

Galatians was written to the churches of Southern Galatia, mixed audiences of both Jew and Gentile. One of the common problems in the early Church was that the saved Jews believed that the Gentiles, once saved, needed to keep the rituals and feasts of the Mosaic Law. In Galatians the Apostle addresses this, explaining that salvation does not come through outward ritual (like circumcision or the keeping of feasts) but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a “Pharisee of the Pharisees” Paul was well acquainted with the Law of Judaism. He wrote in

Philippians 3:4-7 (ESV) … If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

In Galatians Paul addresses why God gave the Law, and why the New Covenant supersedes the Old Covenant.

1 & 2 Thessalonians and 1 & 2 Corinthians

As an Apostle commissioned to go to the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul next wrote his letters to the Church at Thessalonica, 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Written between 51-52 AD in Corinth, the Bible says in

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 (ESV) … not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

As Paul notes they “turned from IDOLS to serve the LIVING GOD”, those in Thessalonica were not converted Jews but GENTILES. The primary focus of 1 Thessalonians is…

“… to encourage Jesus’ believers to continue to progress in their faith” (Oxford Bibliographies)

The focus of 2 Thessalonians is the impending judgment of God’s enemies. As the Thessalonians were being persecuted for their faith, the Apostle wanted to encourage them. They were an example of how Christians are to stand up under persecution. The Apostle wrote:

2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 (ESV) … your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

As Paul wrote Thessalonians from Corinth, it makes sense that he wrote 1 & 2 Corinthians as God led him to establish Churches. The Corinthians Epistles were written 55-56 AD. Corinth was a large, international metropolis, filled with people from many different backgrounds. There was extensive idol worship and unrestrained sexuality in Corinth. This had crept into the Church, and brought division and fighting.

Paul chastised the Church on its compromise with the world, reminding its members that they were to be light, not darkness.

Paul wrote 2 Corinthians because many responded to his first letter by rejecting his Apostleship. Chuck Swindoll writes:

“Just as Paul wrote to the Corinthians in the wake of their repentance from divisions and quarrels, the message for today is clear: living in unity requires us to humbly forgive one another and to follow our leaders. Second Corinthians reminds us that even as Christians, we hurt each other and need to forgive those who wrong us (2 Corinthians 2:7). That Paul was willing to exhort the Corinthian believers to forgive those who had fallen away and repented, even as he defended his own apostleship against a vocal opposition”

Paul’s Epistle To The Romans – AD 57

Paul had not been to Rome when he wrote Romans. He wrote in:

Romans 1:9-12 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Paul would end up in Rome a year later, but as a prisoner of Rome. This wasn’t his first imprisonment for preaching the Gospel. He was imprisoned in:

Macedonia (51 AD – Acts 16:23-34)
Jerusalem (Acts 21:11-23:11)
Rome (Acts 28:30-31)

Placed under house arrest in Rome, Paul was allowed to preach the Gospel. Every time he was imprisoned, Paul focused on his mission to preach the Gospel.

Paul wrote to the Roman Church just three years after Nero ascended to the throne as Emperor of Rome. At this time the Church was relatively safe. Nero wouldn’t sponsor attacks on the Church until he sets Rome on fire in 64 AD. Chuck Swindoll writes:

“The letter to the Romans stands as the clearest and most systematic presentation of Christian doctrine in all the Scriptures. Paul began by discussing that which is most easily observable in the world—the sinfulness of all humanity. All people have been condemned due to our rebellion against God. However, God in His grace offers us justification by faith in His Son, Jesus. When we are justified by God, we receive redemption, or salvation, because Christ’s blood covers our sin. But Paul made it clear that the believer’s pursuit of God doesn’t stop with salvation; it continues as each of us is sanctified—made holy—as we persist in following Him.”

We’ll continue this study in two weeks, after Father’s Day and our VBS Graduation. May God bless you all richly!