The Scriptures and Writers of the New Testament of the First Order

OF THE SCRIPTURES AND WRITERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, which are numbered in the first order of the Canon

THE various supputations and the diverse partitions of the scriptures and writers of the old testament being completed — of the Protocanonical, which are placed in the first order of the canon — we must now proceed to the books of the same order which are had in the new testament: of which the most certain index, and through all the successions of the catholic fathers the undoubted and most approved, is this:

MATTHAEUS

MATTHAEUS — who is also Levi, an Apostle from a publican ¹ — first of all, in Judaea, for the sake of those who had believed from the circumcision, composed the Gospel of Christ, as Irenaeus witnesses, in Hebrew letters and words. ² Who afterward first translated it into Greek is not sufficiently certain. Moreover, Jerome testifies that the author’s Hebrew exemplar itself was preserved in his own times in the library of Caesarea, which Pamphilus the Martyr had built up; and that he himself obtained the faculty of copying it from the Nazaraeans, who, dwelling in Beroea, a city of Syria, used a similar Hebrew volume. Hence it is that, since Matthaeus wrote in Hebrew, in bringing forward the testimonies of the old scripture he does not follow the edition of the seventy interpreters cited by the other evangelists, but produces each testimony according to the Hebraic verity. ³ This gospel is divided by the more ancient latins, according to the partition of Hilary, into 33 canons; and according to the section of Christian Drutman [Druthmar], into 67 canons; but among the more recent Latins into 8 chapters; among the Greeks, according to Euthymius, or Oecumenius, into 68 chapters; but according to Suidas into 68 titles, and 355 chapters; Ammonius similarly, and Eusebius, into 355 chapters. This gospel was written, as Eusebius relates, in the third year of the Emperor Caius Caligula — that is, in the eighth year from the ascension of Christ. ⁴ Its author Matthaeus, having set out into Aethiopia for the preaching of Christ, and thence returned, fell asleep in Hiera, a city of Parthia, and there was buried, in the year from the birth of Christ 50. He is reported to have written certain other things also, of which it shall be spoken in the following book.

MARCUS

MARCUS, bishop of Alexandria, and evangelist, whose name was John, had for mother Mary — she who in her own house kindly received the apostles, as Lucas in the Acts of the Apostles thus testifies: But Peter, CONSIDERING, came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was surnamed Marcus; where many were gathered together, and praying. ⁵ He first, as Origen says, before the dominical passion, followed Christ among the seventy-two disciples ⁶; then, after the ascension of Christ, he was joined to Barnabas his uncle, and to Paul — as Lucas commemorates in the same book, and as Paul indicates, making mention of him in the epistle to the Colossians and in the second to Timothy. ⁷ Lastly — as Papias in the first book of The Dominical Words, and Clemens in the sixth book of the ὑποτυπώσεις [Hypotyposes, Outlines], write — he gave himself to Peter, the prince of the apostles, as companion, disciple, and interpreter: which the former epistle of Peter also demonstrates, in which he himself called Marcus his son according to the spirit. ⁸ Being asked therefore at Rome by the brethren, he wrote a brief gospel in the Greek speech ⁹, according to that which he had heard Peter relating — agreeing in all things so closely with those which Matthaeus had written a little before, that he seemed to be his follower and abbreviator. When Peter had heard this, he approved it, and by his own authority delivered it to the church to be read; whence also by some it has been called the gospel of Peter. ¹⁰ But Marcus, taking his own gospel, went on into Aegypt; and there, first of all announcing Christ at Alexandria, he established a church of such doctrine and continence of life that Philo, the most eloquent of the Jews, wrote a most lauded book about it. He died in the eighth year of Nero, leaving behind the codex of his gospel, which — after the tenth year from the assumption of the saviour, as Chrysostom says — he had published abroad in Aegypt. ¹¹ Our countrymen divide this gospel into 16 chapters; the Greeks, in Suidas, into 48 titles and 56 chapters; in Ammonius and Eusebius, into 235 chapters; in Oecumenius and Euthymius, into 48 chapters — of which the last, fore-noted OF THE ASKING FOR THE BODY OF THE LORD, ends in these words: Trembling and fear had seized upon them; and they said nothing to any man: for they were afraid ¹² — but the rest which follow, up to the end, they do not enumerate. It is said that some things besides these were written by Marcus, which are noted in the following volume.

LUCAS

LUCAS the Evangelist — whom Paul, writing to the Romans, called Lucius ¹³ — Antiochene by country, physician by profession, most skilled in the Greek speech ¹⁴: first, as Origen writes, he adhered to Christ with the other seventy disciples, and received from him the seeds of piety; but afterward, made a follower of Paul and the inseparable companion of all his peregrination, he wrote — fifteen years after the assumption of the Saviour, by the permission of Paul, to Theophilus, a man most faithful and most loving of God — a gospel in the Greek tongue: of whom the same Paul says, We have sent with him our brother, whose praise is in the gospel through all the churches ¹⁵; and to the Colossians, Lucas, the most dear physician, saluteth you ¹⁶; and to Timothy, Only Lucas is with me ¹⁷. There are nevertheless those who think that Lucas was not with the lord in the flesh, and wrote not according to the things which he had seen, but as he had learned from Paul and the other apostles — which he himself seems thus to have shown in his preface: ACCORDING as they have delivered them unto us, who from the beginning themselves saw, and were ministers of the word. ¹⁸ Chrysostom judges that as often as Paul in his epistles says, ACCORDING TO MY GOSPEL ¹⁹, he signifies the volume of Lucas. But Origen, in the dialogue Of the right faith in God, writes that Paul learned the narration of the evangelical history from Lucas and Marcus. Lucas lived eighty-four years, having no wife; and when he had preached the gospel to the Alexandrians, and to the whole region which lies adjacent to it, as far as Pentapolis, he died at Alexandria; and there he was buried in Bucolis with Ictas [cum Ictare — so printed], who was the first martyr in Lycia; whom Alexander the bishop translated, and laid where all the bishops are buried. His bones were translated to Constantinople in the twentieth year of Constantius. Simon Metaphrastes wrote his life in Greek. Oecumenius and Euthymius distribute this gospel into eighty-three heads; Ammonius and Eusebius into 343 chapters; Ambrose into one hundred sixty-four titles; Beda into 93 chapters; but the more recent Latins dissect it into twenty-four chapters.

JOANNES

JOANNES, Apostle and Evangelist, brother of James the greater, son of Zebedee, from the village of Bethsaida of the region of Galilaea, a fisherman by trade, learned letters neither before nor after his vocation ²⁰: but when at the supper he reclined upon the breast of the lord, he drank in such knowledge as no one of mortals has ever obtained. ²¹ He therefore, the last of all, many years after the taking of Jerusalem, wrote a gospel in the Greek speech, being asked by the bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and other heretics, and chiefly against the dogma of the Ebionites then rising up ²², who asserted that Christ was not before Mary — whence he was even compelled to declare his divine nativity. But they report also another cause of this writing: that, when he had read the volumes of Matthaeus, Marcus, and Lucas, he approved indeed the text of the history, and confirmed that they had spoken true things, but [saw] that they had woven the history of one year only — that in which he also suffered — after the imprisonment of John. Passing over, therefore, the year whose acts had been set forth by the three, he narrated the deeds of the earlier time, before John was shut up in prison — as can be manifest to those who shall diligently read the volumes of the four gospels. Which thing also takes away the dissonance which seems to be between the other evangelists and the gospel of Joannes. This gospel our men distinguish into 21 chapters; Oecumenius and Euthymius — not counting the title of the woman taken in adultery — distribute it into eighteen chapters or titles; Ammonius and Eusebius, the same title being passed over, divide it into 232 chapters. He lived almost a hundred years, of which he passed nearly forty at Ephesus, down to Domitian, by whom he was banished to the island of Pathmos; on his being slain, and his decrees rescinded, under Nerva he returned to Ephesus, and there persevering until Trajan, he founded and ruled all the churches of Asia; and, worn out with old age, he died in the 68th year after the passion of the lord, and was buried near the same city. ²³ Many of the ancient Greeks judge that he is still alive, on account of those words which the lord spoke: THERE ARE some of them standing here that shall not taste death, till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom ²⁴; and, SO I will have him to remain till I come; what is it to thee? ²⁵ Simon Metaphrastes, a Greek author, wrote his life. Josephus the Jew, the Tiberine Count [Count Joseph of Tiberias], found his gospel, translated into the Hebrew speech by an uncertain author, in the treasury [gazophylacium] of Tyberias, and delivered it to the church in the year from the birth of Christ 370. But of the remaining writings, if any have been put forth under his name, we shall speak in the second volume of this work.

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE BOOK whose title is Πράξεις ἀποστόλων — that is, the acts of the Apostles — Lucas the Evangelist wrote in the Greek speech to Theophilus, a most perfect man, after his gospel was finished: which, although it be inscribed the Acts of the Apostles, yet chiefly it contains the acts of the holy spirit ²⁶: so that, as the gospels comprehend the actions of Christ, so this book narrates the actions which the holy spirit wrought through the apostles after he descended into them — fulfilling that vaticination which Christ had promised in the gospel, saying: AMEN I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater than these shall he do. ²⁷ Which indeed this book testifies to have been fulfilled in the apostles: whose tongue converted the whole circle of the earth to the true worship of God, and the very shadow of whose body, and whose half-girdles [aprons], put forth unheard-of miracles. ²⁸ Moreover, the greatest part of the things which are treated here are the acts of Paul, who labored more than all, and underwent greater perils than the rest ²⁹: which Lucas, knowing exactly — as one who had journeyed together with him and lived in his company — wrote most diligently ³⁰, from the beginning of his conversion down to the two years of Paul’s abiding at Rome; that is, down to the fourth year of Nero, which was the sixty-first from the birth of Christ. This book — translated into the Hebrew tongue — Josephus the Jew, the Tiberine Count, found in the Treasury of the Jews of Tyberias, in the year from the birth of Christ three hundred and seventy. The Greeks distinguish this volume into forty chapters; but the Latins into twenty-eight chapters. There is a report that Lucas wrote some things beyond these, to be noted in the following book.

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL

PAULUS the Apostle — who before was Saul, outside the number of the twelve apostles; of the tribe of Benjamin, from Gischala, a town of Judaea; brought up at Tarsus of Cilicia; erudited in the law at Jerusalem by Gamaliel; and compelled to the faith by Christ through an unlooked-for revelation ³¹ — wrote the thirteen epistles written below.

TO THE ROMANS, one, sent from Corinth by Phoebe, a minister of the church of Cenchrae: in which he strives to recall to mutual concord the Romans, lately converted from the Jews and from the gentiles, who were contending with grave and perilous altercation among themselves about the dignity and merits of those who were to be admitted to the Christian religion and chosen for the ecclesiastical ministries. This epistle is divided among the Greeks into 20 chapters; among the more recent Latins into sixteen chapters; but among the old Latins — as appears from the commentaries of Ambrose — into 50 chapters.

TO THE CORINTHIANS, two. Of which he wrote the former from Ephesus, by Stephanas and Fortunatus [printed Fortunarum], studying to allay their dissensions and the diverse factions which certain arrogant professors of worldly wisdom had stirred up, chiefly concerning the preachers of the gospel, concerning the divine sacraments, and the ministers of the sacraments. It has among the Greeks 9 chapters; among the younger Latins sixteen; among the old, seventy-three.

THE LATTER he sent from Philippi of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas, admonishing them to follow the sincere ministers of the Gospel and dispensers of the sacraments, but to reject the false and evil. It is distinguished by the Greeks into ten chapters; by the neoteric Latins into thirteen; by the ancients into twenty-seven.

TO THE GALATIANS, one, from Rome: in which he gravely chides the Galatians, drawn back to Judaism by false Apostles, and recalls them from the servitude of the Mosaic law, into which they had relapsed, to Evangelical liberty. It contains among the Greeks 12 chapters; among the Latins, six.

TO THE EPHESIANS, one, from Rome, by Tychicus, out of the prisons: in which he briefly prescribes the form of Christian life which they, already built up in the faith, had earnestly asked of him at Ephesus. It has among the Greeks ten chapters; among the Latins, six.

TO THE PHILIPPIANS, one, from the prisons of the city of Rome, by Epaphroditus: exhorting the clergy of the Philippians to mutual concord, and to the guarding of Ecclesiastical unity against the pseudo-apostles who were thrusting in Judaism and contriving the division of the Church. The Greeks divide it into eight chapters; the Latins into 4.

TO THE COLOSSIANS, one, written from Ephesus, out of bonds, by Tychicus: in which he corrects the Colossians, still entangled in many Jewish and Greekish superstitions, showing that there is no access to God from any other quarter than through Christ. In Greek it is divided into ten chapters; in Latin into four.

TO THE THESSALONIANS, two. Of which he wrote the former from Athens, by Tychicus, animating them that, as they had stood firm in the faith once received, so they should bear the persecutions brought upon them for Christ with an eager and unbroken spirit. It has among the Greeks seven chapters, and among the Latins likewise.

THE LATTER he wrote from the same place, and by the same man: again confirming their souls to the manly toleration of afflictions for Christ’s sake, promising that neither should the reward be wanting to them, nor vengeance to their adversaries. It has among the Greeks five chapters; among the Latins, three.

TO TIMOTHY, two. Of which he sent the first from Laodicea of Phrygia, by Tychicus the deacon, instructing him in the things which become a master and pastor of the church. It has among the Greeks eighteen chapters, but six among the Latins.

THE SECOND, however, from Rome, out of bonds: confirming him, detained in the Church; and at the same time admonishing him not to be cast down by the storms of persecutions, but by his [Paul’s] example to prepare his soul for martyrdom. The Greeks part it into 9 chapters; the Latins into four.

TO TITUS, one, from Nicopolis of Macedonia: instructing him how — the ministers of the church being ordained, and the false Apostles hissed off — he should govern the sheep entrusted to him. The chapters of the Greeks are four; of the Latins, three.

TO PHILEMON the Phrygian, one, from the bonds of the city of Rome, by Onesimus: in which he reconciles the same Onesimus — the fugitive slave of Philemon, and a pilferer — to his master, demonstrating the duties of a lord toward his slave and of a slave toward his lord. The Greeks divide it into two chapters; the Latins into none.

PAULUS the Apostle DIES in the city of Rome — after he had preached thirty-five years, from Jerusalem even into Spain — beheaded in the thirteenth year of Nero, that is, in the seventieth year from the advent of the Saviour, on the twenty-ninth day of the month of July. ³² And he is reported, besides these, to have written very many things, which are reviewed in the second book of this work.

## THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF PETER

SIMON PETRUS, son of Joannes, of the province of Galilaea, of the village of Bethsaida, brother of Andrew the Apostle, and prince of the Apostles — after the episcopate of Antioch, bishop of the Roman Church and first pontiff of the whole Christian church — wrote, by Sylvanus, a faithful brother, one epistle, which is named Catholic, to the Christians of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who had lately come from Judaism to the faith of Christ: confirming them in the faith, and admonishing them that, their former life being left behind, they should enter upon a new one, and, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from carnal desires, prepared to render an account of all things in the day of judgment. This epistle the Latins divide into four chapters, but the Greeks into eight. He dies at Rome, when he had held the pontifical chair for twenty-five years, in the last year of Nero: by whom he was fastened to a cross with his head turned to the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his lord. And he was buried at Rome in the Vatican, beside the triumphal way, in the year from the birth of Christ the seventieth. Writings of various kinds are cited by the ancient fathers under the name of Peter, noted by us in the following book.

THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF JOHN

JOANNES, Apostle and Evangelist, whom our Lord Jesus Christ loved exceedingly, wrote one epistle, which is styled Catholic, to every age of Christians — boys, young men, and old men. In it he treats Theologically of the eternal word, teaching the causes of his advent and manifestation; and he discourses most copiously of the charity of God toward us, and of the mutual love to be exercised among us. It is divided among us into five chapters, but by the Greeks into seven chapters. The divine Augustine, in the second volume of the Evangelical Questions, seems to indicate that this epistle was sent by Joannes to the Parthians, writing thus: IT WAS SAID by Joannes in the epistle to the Parthians: DEARLY BELOVED, now we are the sons of God, and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be; we know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him, because we shall see him as he is ³³ — which words indeed are read in the third chapter of this epistle. This same thing Higinus, the seventh pontiff of the Roman Church after Peter, insinuates in his first epistle to all the faithful of Christ, where he has these words: AND AGAIN Joannes the Evangelist himself to the Parthians: THERE ARE THREE, saith he, that give testimony in heaven — the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one ³⁴ — which words are contained in the 5th chapter of this epistle.