Q.
74
How did it get in its current order?
chronology of when the books were written isn’t always perfectly clear, either.
Some believe that the order of the gospels in the Bible is the order in which
they were written, but most theologians agree that Mark was actually the fi rst
gospel written, not Matthew.
As for the letters in the New Testament, they were ordered with the com-
munity letters fi rst, from longest to shortest, then the personal letters, longest
to shortest. There was some push for the letters to be ordered chronologically,
but just as with the gospels, the chronological order believed then and the
chronological order argued for now is not always the same. The dates of many
of the letters are hotly contested.José F. Morales Jr.
A.
The biblical scholar Brevard Childs said that the order of scripture
speaks to the purpose or function of each book or each section.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke copied large chunks from
Mark, which came fi rst, when writing their versions. So why is Matthew fi rst
in the New Testament? Since the beginning, the ancients referred to it as “the
church’s gospel.” When you read it, you can see why. Matthew is concerned
with church authority, instruction, and stability, ending with the Great Com-
mission. Matthew is placed fi rst in the New Testament to remind us that
scripture is the church’s book, and that the livelihood of the church depends
on God’s action in Christ.
Also, the way that Jews order the Old Testament, which they call the
Tanakh, is telling. Protestants and Jews canonized the same books but put
them in different order. For example, fi ve books that are scattered throughout
the Christian Bible are put together into one section in the Tanakh, called the
“Five Scrolls.” This was done because of the purpose they serve: They’re read
during the fi ve major festivals of the Jewish faith:- Song of Songs: Passover
- Ruth: Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)
- Lamentations: Ninth of Av (commemorates the destruction of the temple)
- Ecclesiastes: Feast of Booths
- Esther: Purim
Also, Protestants and Jews end the Old Testament/Tanakh differently.
The Tanakh ends with Second Chronicles, which concludes with a promise
of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, central to most Jewish eschatology.
Protestants end it with Malachi, which prophesizes the coming of the prophet