New Testament

==Theological interpretation in Christian churches==
{{Main|Biblical authority}}
Though all Christian churches accept the New Testament as scripture, they differ in their understanding of the nature, extent, and relevance of its authority. Views of the authoritativeness of the New Testament often depend on the concept of ''[[Biblical inspiration|inspiration]]'', which relates to the role of God in the formation of the New Testament. Generally, the greater the role of God in one's doctrine of inspiration, the more one accepts the [[doctrine]] of [[biblical inerrancy]] or authoritativeness of the Bible. One possible source of confusion is that these terms are difficult to define, because many people use them interchangeably or with very different meanings. This article will use the terms in the following manner:
*''Infallibility'' relates to the absolute correctness of the Bible in matters of doctrine.
*''Inerrancy'' relates to the absolute correctness of the Bible in factual assertions (including historical and scientific assertions).
*''Authoritativeness'' relates to the correctness of the Bible in questions of practice in morality.

According to Gary T. Meadors:
{{Blockquote|The self-witness of the Bible to its inspiration demands a commitment to its unity. The ultimate basis for unity is contained in the claim of divine inspiration in 2 Timothy 3:16<ref>{{Bibleref2|2tim|3:16||2&nbsp;Timothy 3:16}}</ref> that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (KJV). The term "inspiration" renders the Greek word ''theopneustos''. This term only occurs here in the New Testament and literally means "God-breathed" (the chosen translation of the NIV).<ref name=Elwell>Meadors, Gary T. (1997). [http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/scripture-unity-and-diversity-of.html "Scripture, Unity and Diversity of"]. In Elwell, Walter A. (ed.). ''Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology.'' Grand Rapids: Baker Books.</ref>  }}

All of these concepts depend for their meaning on the supposition that the text of Bible has been properly interpreted, with consideration for the intention of the text, whether [[literal and figurative language|literal]] history, [[allegory]] or poetry, etc. Especially the doctrine of inerrancy is variously understood according to the weight given by the interpreter to scientific investigations of the world.

===Unity in diversity===
The notion of [[unity in diversity]] of Scripture claims that the Bible presents a noncontradictory and consistent message concerning God and redemptive history. The fact of diversity is observed in comparing the diversity of time, culture, authors' perspectives, literary genre, and the theological themes.<ref name=Elwell/>

Studies from many theologians considering the "unity in diversity" to be found in the New Testament (and the Bible as a whole) have been collected and summarized by New Testament theologian [[Frank Stagg (theologian)|Frank Stagg]]. He describes them as some basic presuppositions, tenets, and concerns common among the New Testament writers, giving to the New Testament its "unity in diversity":
#The reality of God is never argued but is always assumed and affirmed
#Jesus Christ is absolutely central: he is Lord and Savior, the foretold Prophet, the Messianic King, the Chosen, the way, the truth, and the light, the One through whom God the Father not only acted but through whom He came
#The Holy Spirit came anew with Jesus Christ.
#The Christian faith and life are a calling, rooted in divine election.
#The plight of everyone as sinner means that each person is completely dependent upon the mercy and grace of God
#Salvation is both God's gift and his demand through Jesus Christ, to be received by faith
#The death and resurrection of Jesus are at the heart of the total event of which he was the center
#God creates a people of his own, designated and described by varied terminology and analogies
#History must be understood eschatologically, being brought along toward its ultimate goal when the kingdom of God, already present in Christ, is brought to its complete triumph
#In Christ, all of God's work of creation, revelation, and redemption is brought to fulfillment<ref name="Stagg">Stagg, Frank (1962). ''New Testament Theology''. Broadman. {{ISBN|0-8054-1613-7}}.</ref>

===Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Classical Anglicanism===
For the [[Roman Catholic Church]], there are two modes of Revelation: Scripture and [[Sacred tradition|Tradition]]. Both of them are interpreted by the teachings of the Church. The Roman Catholic view is expressed clearly in the [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] (1997):
<blockquote>
§ 82: As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.
<br />
§ 107: The inspired books teach the truth. Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.
</blockquote>In Catholic terminology the teaching office is called the [[Magisterium]]. The Catholic view should not be confused with the two-source theory. As the Catechism states in §§ 80 and 81, Revelation has "one common source ... two distinct modes of transmission."<ref>[http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s1c2a2.htm "The Transmission of Divine Revelation"]. ''Catechism of the Catholic Church''. 2nd ed. 1997.</ref>

While many [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] writers distinguish between Scripture and Tradition, Bishop Kallistos Ware says that for the Orthodox there is only one source of the Christian faith, Holy Tradition, within which Scripture exists.<ref>Ware, Kallistos (1993). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2Z8bVDVMLEC&pg=PT243 "Holy Tradition: The Source of the Orthodox Faith"].''The Orthodox Church''. Penguin UK.</ref>

Traditional [[Anglican Communion|Anglicans]] believe that "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation", (Article VI), but also that the Catholic Creeds "ought thoroughly to be received and believed" (Article VIII), and that the Church "hath authority in Controversies of Faith" and is "a witness and keeper of Holy Writ" (Article XX).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://anglicansonline.org/basics/thirty-nine_articles.html |title=Articles of Religion |publisher=Anglicans Online |access-date=19 November 2010}}</ref> Classical Anglicanism, therefore, like Orthodoxy, holds that Holy Tradition is the only safe guardian against perversion and innovation in the interpretation of Scripture.

In the famous words of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells: "As for my religion, I dye in the holy catholic and apostolic faith professed by the whole Church before the disunion of East and West, more particularly in the communion of the Church of England, as it stands distinguished from all Papal and Puritan innovations, and as it adheres to the doctrine of the Cross."{{quote without source|date=September 2021}}

===Protestantism===
Following the doctrine of ''[[sola scriptura]]'', Protestants believe that their traditions of faith, practice and interpretations carry forward what the scriptures teach, and so tradition is not a source of authority in itself. Their traditions derive authority from the Bible, and are therefore always open to reevaluation. This openness to doctrinal revision has extended in [[Liberal Protestant]] traditions even to the reevaluation of the [[doctrine of Scripture]] upon which the Reformation was founded, and members of these traditions may even question whether the Bible is infallible in doctrine, inerrant in historical and other factual statements, and whether it has uniquely divine authority. The adjustments made by modern Protestants to their doctrine of scripture vary widely.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

====American evangelical and fundamentalist Protestantism====
Within the US, the [[Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy]] (1978) articulates evangelical views on this issue. Paragraph four of its summary states: "Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/icbi.html |title=The Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy |publisher=Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics |access-date=19 November 2010}}</ref>

====American mainline and liberal Protestantism====
{{more citations needed section|date=December 2021}}
[[Mainline (Protestant)|Mainline]] American [[Protestant]] denominations, including the [[United Methodist Church]], [[Presbyterian Church USA]], [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|The Episcopal Church]], and [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]], do not teach the doctrine of inerrancy as set forth in the Chicago Statement. All of these churches have more ancient doctrinal statements asserting the authority of scripture, but may interpret these statements in such a way as to allow for a very broad range of teaching—from evangelicalism to skepticism. It is not an impediment to ordination in these denominations to teach that the scriptures contain errors, or that the authors follow a more or less unenlightened ethics that, however appropriate it may have seemed in the authors' time, moderns would be very wrong to follow blindly.

For example, [[ordination of women]] is universally accepted in the mainline churches, [[abortion]] is condemned as a grievous social tragedy but not always a personal [[sin]] or a crime against an unborn person, and [[homosexuality]] is sometimes recognized as a genetic propensity or morally neutral preference that should be neither encouraged nor condemned. In North America, the most contentious of these issues among these churches at the present time is how far the ordination of gay men and lesbians should be accepted.

Officials of the Presbyterian Church USA report: "We acknowledge the role of scriptural authority in the Presbyterian Church, but Presbyterians generally do not believe in biblical inerrancy. Presbyterians do not insist that every detail of chronology or sequence or prescientific description in scripture be true in literal form. Our confessions do teach biblical infallibility. Infallibility affirms the entire truthfulness of scripture without depending on every exact detail."<ref>{{cite news |last=Chismar |first=Janet |date=20 June 2001 |title=Homosexual Ordination Vote Widens Gap Between Presbyterian Factions |url=https://www.christianheadlines.com/articles/homosexual-ordination-vote-widens-gap-between-presbyterian-factions-526076.html |work=Religion Today |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524162339/https://www.christianheadlines.com/articles/homosexual-ordination-vote-widens-gap-between-presbyterian-factions-526076.html |archive-date=24 May 2021 |via=www.christianheadlines.com}}</ref>

Those who hold a more liberal view of the Bible as a human witness to the glory of God, the work of fallible humans who wrote from a limited experience unusual only for the insight they have gained through their inspired struggle to know God in the midst of a troubled world. Therefore, they tend not to accept such doctrines as inerrancy. These churches also tend to retain the social activism of their evangelical forebears of the 19th century, placing particular emphasis on those teachings of scripture that teach compassion for the poor and concern for [[social justice]].

The message of personal [[salvation]] is, generally speaking, of the good that comes to oneself and the world through following the New Testament's [[ethic of reciprocity|Golden Rule]] admonition to love others without hypocrisy or prejudice. Toward these ends, the "spirit" of the New Testament, more than the letter, is infallible and authoritative.

There are some movements that believe the Bible contains the teachings of Jesus but who reject the churches that were formed following its publication. These people believe all individuals can communicate directly with God and therefore do not need guidance or doctrines from a church. These people are known as [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchists]].

===Messianic Judaism===
[[Messianic Judaism]] generally holds the same view of New Testament authority as evangelical Protestants.<ref name="Beit Simcha">{{cite web
 | url         = http://www.beitsimcha.org/our-beliefs/
 | title       = Our Beliefs
 | publisher   = Beit Simcha
 | access-date  = 7 June 2012
 | quote       = To study the whole and authoritative Word of God, including the Tenach (Hebrew Scriptures) and the B'rit Chadasha (New Covenant) under the leading of the Holy Spirit.
}}
</ref> According to the view of some Messianic Jewish congregations, Jesus did not annul the Torah, but that its interpretation is revised and ultimately explained through the Apostolic Scriptures.<ref name="KehilatTNuvahSOF1">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.graftedin.com/essential-statement-of-faith/
 |title       = Essential Statement of Faith
 |access-date  = 7 June 2012
 |publisher   = The Harvest: A Messianic Charismatic Congregation
 |quote       = We believe that the Torah (five books of Moses) is a comprehensive summary of God's foundational laws and ways, as found in both the Tanakh and Apostolic Scriptures. Additionally, the Bible teaches that without holiness no man can see God. We believe in the Doctrine of Sanctification as a definite, yet progressive work of grace, commencing at the time of regeneration and continuing until the consummation of salvation. Therefore we encourage all believers, both Jews and Gentiles, to affirm, embrace, and practice these foundational laws and ways as clarified through the teachings of Messiah Yeshua.
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20151127195443/http://www.graftedin.com/essential-statement-of-faith/
 |archive-date = 27 November 2015
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

===Jehovah's Witnesses===
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] accept the New Testament as divinely inspired Scripture, and as infallible in every detail, with equal authority as the Hebrew Scriptures. They view it as the written revelation and good news of the [[Messiah]], the [[Atonement in Christianity|ransom sacrifice of Jesus]], and the [[Kingdom of God]], explaining and expounding the Hebrew Bible, not replacing but vitally supplementing it. They also view the New Testament as the primary instruction guide for Christian living, and [[church discipline]]. They generally call the New Testament the "Christian Greek Scriptures", and see only the "covenants" as "old" or "new", but not any part of the actual Scriptures themselves.<ref>{{cite book |date=1946 |title=Equipped for Every Good Work |url=https://archive.org/download/WatchtowerLibrary/1946_eqd_E.pdf |location=Brooklyn, New York |publisher=Watchtower Bible and Tract Society & International Bible Students Association |pages=12–13}}</ref>

===United Pentecostals===
[[Oneness Pentecostalism]] subscribes to the common Protestant doctrine of ''[[sola scriptura]]''. They view the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and as absolutely [[Biblical inerrancy|inerrant]] in its contents (though not necessarily in every translation).<ref>See, for example, {{cite web |last=Raddatz |first=Tom |date=26 October 2000 |url=http://www.1lord1faith.org/wm/Oneness/1TrinDebate.htm |title=A Response to the Oneness-Trinity Debate |publisher=1Lord1Faith.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050320000616/http://www.1lord1faith.org/wm/Oneness/1TrinDebate.htm |archive-date=20 March 2005}}</ref><ref>Dulle, Jason. [http://www.onenesspentecostal.com/howgetbible.htm "How We Get Our Bible"]. Institute for Biblical Studies. Retrieved 15 April 2013.</ref> They regard the New Testament as perfect and inerrant in every way, revealing the Lord Jesus Christ in the Flesh, and his Atonement, and which also explains and illuminates the Old Testament perfectly, and is part of the Bible canon, not because church councils or decrees claimed it so, but by witness of the Holy Spirit.<ref>Dulle, Jason. [http://www.onenesspentecostal.com/inerrancycanon.htm "Defending the Inerrancy and Canon of Scripture"]. Institute for Biblical Studies. Retrieved 15 April 2013.</ref><ref>Dulle, Jason. [http://www.onenesspentecostal.com/inspiration.htm "The Nature of Inspiration"]. Institute for Biblical Studies. Retrieved 15 April 2013.</ref>

===Seventh-day Adventists===
The [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]] holds the New Testament as the inspired Word of God, with God influencing the "thoughts" of the Apostles in the writing, not necessarily every word though. The first fundamental belief of the Seventh-Day Adventist church stated that "The Holy Scriptures are the [[Biblical infallibility|infallible]] revelation of [God's] will." [[Seventh-day Adventist theology|Adventist theologians]] generally reject the "verbal inspiration" position on Scripture held by many conservative [[evangelical Christians]]. They believe instead that God inspired the thoughts of the biblical authors and apostles, and that the writers then expressed these thoughts in their own words.<ref>{{cite book|title=Seventh-day Adventists Believe|author=Ministerial Association, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists |year=2005 |publisher=Pacific Press Publishing Association |edition=2nd |pages=14–16}}</ref> This view is popularly known as "thought inspiration", and most Adventist members hold to that view. According to Ed Christian, former ''[[Journal of the Adventist Theological Society|JATS]]'' editor, "few if any [[Adventist Theological Society|ATS]] members believe in verbal inerrancy".<ref>{{cite web |last=McLarty |first=John |url=http://www.atoday.com/magazine/2001/11/adventist-theological-society-0 |title=The Adventist Theological Society |website=Adventist Today |date=15 November 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225063148/http://www.atoday.com/magazine/2001/11/adventist-theological-society-0 |archive-date=25 December 2007 }}</ref>

Regarding the teachings of the New Testament compared to the Old, and the application in the New Covenant, Adventists have traditionally taught that the [[Ethical Decalogue|Decalogue]] is part of the moral law of God, which was not abrogated by the ministry and death of [[Jesus Christ]]. Therefore, the fourth commandment concerning the Sabbath is as applicable to Christian believers as the other nine. Adventists have often taught a distinction between "moral law" and "ceremonial law". According to Adventist beliefs, the moral law continues into the "New Testament era", but the ceremonial law was done away with by Jesus.

How the [[Mosaic Law]] should be applied came up at Adventist conferences in the past, and Adventist theologians such as [[A. T. Jones]] and [[E. J. Waggoner]] looked at the problem addressed by Paul in [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] as not the ceremonial law, but rather the wrong use of the law ([[legalism (theology)|legalism]]). They were opposed by [[Uriah Smith]] and [[George Ide Butler|George Butler]] at the 1888 Conference. Smith in particular thought the Galatians issue had been settled by Ellen White already, yet in 1890 she claimed that justification by faith is "the [[Three Angels' Messages|third angel's message]] in verity."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=E. G. |title=Repentance the Gift of God |journal=Advent Review and Sabbath Herald |date=1 April 1890 |volume=67 |issue=13 |pages=193–94 |url=https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH18900401-V67-13.pdf |access-date=30 December 2020|quote=Several have written to me, inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's message, and I have answered, "it is the third angel's message in verity." ... Brightness, glory, and power are to be connected with the third angel's message, and conviction will follow wherever it is preached in demonstration of the Spirit.}}</ref> White interpreted Colossians 2:14<ref>{{bibleverse||Colossians|2:14|NIV}}</ref> as saying that the ceremonial law was nailed to the cross.<ref>White, Ellen (2015). [https://books.google.com/books?id=yKqXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT409 ''Patriarchs and Prophets'']. Start Publishing LLC. p. 365.</ref>

===Latter-day Saints===
Members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) believe that the New Testament, as part of the [[Christian biblical canons|Christian biblical canon]], is accurate "as far as it is translated correctly".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mormon.org/articles-of-faith |title=Articles of Faith |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints |access-date=17 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531162806/http://mormon.org/articles-of-faith |archive-date=31 May 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> They believe the Bible as originally revealed is the word of God, but that the processes of transcription and translation have introduced errors into the texts as currently available, and therefore they cannot be regarded as completely inerrant.<ref name="Givens2015">{{cite book|first=Terry L.|last=Givens|title=The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7c0fCgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-977836-2|pages=124–25}}</ref><ref name="LDSInerrancy">{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/bible-inerrancy-of?lang=eng|title=Bible, Inerrancy of|date=2016|publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|access-date=23 May 2016}}</ref> In addition to the Old and New Testaments, the [[Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ|Book of Mormon]], the [[Doctrine and Covenants]] and the [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|Pearl of Great Price]] are considered part of their scriptural canon.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |title=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo01ludl |url-access=registration |date=1992 |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-02-879600-4|pages=106–107}}</ref><ref name="PaulsenMusser2007">{{cite book|last1=Paulsen|first1=David Lamont|author-link1=David L. Paulsen|last2=Musser|first2=Donald W.|title=Mormonism in Dialogue with Contemporary Christian Theologies|url=https://archive.org/details/mormonismindialo00paul|url-access=registration|year=2007|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0-88146-083-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/mormonismindialo00paul/page/277 277]}}</ref>