The Muratorian Fragment

The Muratorian fragment is a remarkable find to the Christian faith. Most Christians look to Athanasius (367 CE) or the councils in North Africa and Carthage (390 CE) to see a completed list of the New Testament (Ferguson, 2013). The Muratorian fragment, dated around 180 CE, gives believers an ancient record of 22 of the 27 New Testament books; this is a fantastic discovery (Caius, 1886)! This discovery means that, within just 150 years of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the core writings of the New Testament were already being circulated, accepted, and deemed authoritative within the universal catholic Church. In just these New Testament books, doctrines of Jesus’ deity, His human nature, His death for sinners, His resurrection, and forgiveness for sins found in Him alone can easily be justified (1 Cor. 15:3; Acts 1:3; 2:24-36; 13:38-39; Gal. 2:15-16; John 1:1-3; 6:47; Phil. 2:6-8; Romans 10:9). Furthermore, this fragment also shows us what the Church did not deem authoritative, and it warns believers to stay away from specific letters and teachers (e.g., Marcion, Arsinous, Valentinus, and Miltiades).

In addition to the Muratorian fragment, Apostolic Fathers quote the New Testament as well. For example, Clement of Rome (95 C.E.), uses material from almost all of the New Testament with the exception of Philemon, James, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John. Ignatius from Rome (110 CE), quotes Matthew, Luke, Acts, Ephesians, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, and 1 Thessalonians. Then there is Polycarp who is Ignatius’s successor, who quotes at least 17 N.T. books!

Christians should feel confident that God through the influence of the Holy Spirit, allowed the early Church to discover all the books that He wanted to be in the completed Canon of Scripture. It is no accident that some letters were included and some were left out, it all happened through the sovereign hand of God. From this fragment, we can see that God was already working in the hearts and minds of His children and that soon, the Canon would be finalized and completed so that the whole world would have no doubt who Jesus truly claimed to be, the Son of God/Man.

References

Caius, P. of R. (1886). Fragments of Caius. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), S. D. F. Salmond (Trans.), Fathers of the third century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix (Vol. 5). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

Ferguson, E. (2013). Church history: From Christ to the pre-Reformation (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 

Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., & Coxe, A. C. (Eds.). (1885). The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. (1946). The Epistles of St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. (J. Quasten & J. C. Plumpe, Eds., J. A. Kleist, Trans.) (1st ed.). New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.

Difficult Passages: Genesis 22:2

Abraham is Called to Sacrifice Isaac

There are quite a few difficult passages that have readers thinking or questioning the Bible. One of these passages starts in chapter 22 when God commands Abraham to sacrifice his one true son Isaac to Him (Gen. 22:2). Initially, the readers question this type of command from God to sacrifice a human since this is what the pagan gods of the land would require. Why on Earth would God command such a thing? As one unfolds the story though, the true meanings begin to leak out. The theme of faith, love, testing, obedience, and most importantly the shadow of what God would do Himself is displayed for all to see. God is simply giving Abraham and all of humanity a picture to understand that God does not require this of us, but rather this is what will be required of Him, to sacrifice His only begotten Son to atone for the sins of many (John 3:16; 8:56; Isa. 53:7). Here are some interesting facts to take away from these themes:

The Theme of Testing – This is the first time that the Hebrew word nsh is used to describe a test. Many times, in our lives, God will test us to see if we are in the faith and for us to know that our faith is real. God frequently does this to His children to refine them, to purify them, and for them to take deeper roots in Him. This theme is seen all throughout scripture (1 Peter 1:6-7; Dan. 3:16-18; Isa. 48:10; Jas. 1:2-4, 12; Job 1:22; 2:7; Ps. 66:10; Rom. 8:28).

The Theme of Love – Again, this is the first time that the Hebrew word hb is used to describe love. It is noteworthy to see that love is first described in Scripture between a father and a son. As the theme of love unfolds in Scripture, the readers will see the archetype of love culminates in the love that God has for His one and only Son whom He will offer as a lamb to be slain for many. How fitting it is to see this type of love described in the life of Abraham as a shadow of this type of love (John 15:13).

The Theme of Faith – Faith is the very thing that the Holy Spirit gives us in order to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8). Faith has always been the key element in what saves a person and what is interesting is both Paul and James appeal to this very narrative to make their point about justification by faith and justification by works (Jas. 2:21-24; Rom. 3:28; 4:3). Furthermore, Abraham is listed as the greatest man in the hall of faith in the book of Hebrews and is given the most space in this chapter because of the faith he had in God to work out this test for God’s glory and his good (Heb. 11:17; John 8:56). 

The Theme of Obedience – All throughout scripture one will begin to see that without obedience, God will not rain down blessing upon His people. In fact, if God’s children are disobedient; judgement, chastisement, and the cutting off of the covenantal promises are seen in Scripture. Abrahams obedience is crucial here in this test and we see Abraham pass with flying colors never questioning God and he even wakes up in the early morning to go to accomplish this task that God has given him (Gen. 22:3). 

The Theme of Sacrifice – The theme of sacrifice is the highlight and purpose of this entire text. This sacrifice will be the epicenter in which God will later lay down the sacrificial laws to Israel to atone for their sins by the sacrifice of animals. This will be a picture or a type to make way for the future archetype, Jesus Christ, who will be the final sacrifice. What I love the most about this particular text in Genesis 22, is Abraham tells his son that God will provide a lamb for this sacrifice, but yet instead, God provides a ram. The narrator is pointing us that in the future, God will provide His lamb which will be His Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for the world (John 1:29; 3:16).

So, there you have it, one of the hardest texts in all of scripture to swallow but yet as one looks at it closely, it provides us with the greatest picture we can possibly see about faith, obedience, love, testing, and sacrifice. What glorious truths we find in God’s Word!