Here's a quick summary of points, so you know where we're going:
1. THESIS: From the sequence of the NT writings, it's apparent that the second generation of writers shifted the NT theology. 'Jesus' became 'Paul'. 'The Church' was born. And the Jesus-follower??
2. The current New Testament is sorted by book grouping (eg gospels, Paul, etc). The sort 'appears' like a history book ... Jesus first, then the early church, then Paul, etc.
Wayside Chapel 1963. It's a little bigger these days, but still so devout. Welcomes everyone through its doors! Sedona (our town namesake) contributed the bell, and the kids ring it each and every sunday.3. If you re-sort the books by their likely order of writing, logical problems begin to show up (as if the NT needs even more problems!). The most obvious is that for some reason 'four' believers independently thought it necessary to write down what Jesus actually said 30-50 years after Jesus died. Why? They don't even agree with each other. More importantly 'Paul' doesn't appear to even be familiar with what Jesus actually said. Divorce rules and preacher-support seem to be all Jesus remembered in Paul's Damascus Road vision (plus stop arresting 'the good guys').
Estimates of the NT writing sequence can come from various Bible scholars ... take your pick, since with a few variations, they're pretty much in common. But if you're suspicious like me, you can also order the writings by observing the shift in the greek syntax (you do know greek syntax patterns, right?!). I personally prefer the syntax patterns since they're not as judgmental, and you can see syntax shifts within books, suggesting multiple writings.
4. With re-sorted writings (which we'll display on this site), you can track the theology and see if it hovers around 'Jesus' (he's the one from God, remember). I did this ... took me almost six months going verse by verse, coloring Jesus-demanding sections 'green' and Jesus-resurrected-with-no-demands sections in 'red' (with color variations in-between).
5. If you do this, you'll quickly notice the early greek syntax sections are very Jesus-driven, and the late greek syntax sections are not. Hmmm. If you doubt syntax-ordering, no problem. Just use the scholarly experts noted above ... it's a little more judgmental, but their sequence still gets the job done.
6. I found that the Jesus-who? sections occur after Paul was 'gone' (Acts), and the Jerusalem church (along with Jerusalem!) was likely destroyed. It is also where promised 'end-times' disappear, and multiple-church management shows up (read 'bishops' or overseers). Even the 'Holy Spirit' seems on his last legs. Huh?
7. It's those 2nd generation 'bishops' that I believe gave us the 'smoking gun' ... a Jesus that demands almost nothing from us beyond 'belief' (whatever that is). Now, you could argue the Holy Spirit planned the whole thing out (he's up there with Jesus, so that should be ok). You just have to kind of ignore those pesky Jesus-sayings. 2,000 years of Christians didn't see any problem. Why change now?
In my mind, there's two reasons to worry about 'Jesus'. One is your own soul (Jesus' baptism of fire couldn't be that hot, could it?). The other reason is those folks that watched your un-Jesus behavior, read about 'Jesus', and then concluded both were bogus. Do those folks count? Nah, let'em burn. Besides ... God couldn't be that mean, could he?
Still a little suspicious of where we're going? Think about this. The gospel of John was written well after Paul's writings. We're not exactly sure who 'John' was (the author's name was added later). But most accounts assign John the apostle. Now, the gospel of John quotes Jesus, saying everything Jesus had, came from God, and Jesus gave everything he knew to his 12 disciples. Remember now, this is written after Paul. Now think about why John would include THAT quote?
More? See Jude 1:3. He references the 'faith once delivered'. Today's scholars think 'Jude' was a late writing because of that quote. Actually Jude likely wrote well before John. The 'faith once delivered' was in reference to Jesus. Read it again, before and after.
In the next section, we'll quickly go over the syntax-dating method, followed by the ordering of NT sections. Next page please.