Table of Contents:
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1
The Apostolic Drama Begins
The Resurrection Faith
What a Difference 50 Days Makes
The Resurrection and Modern Critics
The Testimony of the Apostle Paul
Chapter 2
The First Scattering
Apostles in France?
Chapter 3
The Last Days of the Temple
The Significance of the Temple
The Temple and First Century Judaism
The Holiness of the Temple
The Three-fold Warnings
The Five Year Grace Period
The Three Outrages of the Second Temple
Other Signs that the Temple Would Fall
Ezekielæs Prophecy Fulfilled
Chapter 4
The Jerusalem Church under James the Just
James - A Nazarite?
James - A Priest?
James - The First Pope?
Jewish Christianity
The Desire to be Jewish
The Martyrdom of James
Contents
Chapter 5
The Expectation of the Apostolic Church
Chapter 6
The Mystery of the Year 63 C.E.
Daniel - Key to Prophecy Run-Down
Significant Factors Concerning 63 C.E.
Chapter 7
The Post Years of Acts
Significant Post Acts Events
Correctly Placing the Prison Epistles
Chapter 8
The "Revelation" of the Apostle Paul
A New and Different Apostle Paul
The Revelation of the "Mystery"
The New Covenant versus the "Mystery"
Religious Ritual versus "the Mystery" The Reaction to Paul's Revelation
Chapter 9
The Prophetic Viewpoint of the Apostle Paul
Chapter 10
The Gospel unto Britain
Simon Zelotes
Aristobulus
The Apostle Paul's Threefold Commission
Paul and the British War Captives
Chapter 11
The Jerusalem Church Flees
Chapter 12
The Apostolic Church and the Roman War
Chapter 13
The Final Acts of the Apostle Paul
Chapter 14
Heresy - Impetus for Canonization
Chapter 15
The Responsibility to Canonize Scripture
Second Peter on Canonization
The Transfiguration and the Prophetic Gift
The "Prophet" like Moses
Jesus was the Prophet Like Moses
The Spirit of Prophecy Restored
The Binding Authority of Peter
Second Peter and Canonization
Chapter 16
The Martyrdom's of Paul and Peter
Peter Confronts Simon Magus
Was Peter Ever in Rome?
Chapter 17
The Initial New Testament Canon
The Design of Paul's Epistles
Hebrews - Key to the Order of Paul's Epistles
"Hebrews" and Paul's Message
The Order of the Gospels
Chapter 18
The Apostle John and the Canon
Backdrop to John's Final Works
John's Authority to Canonize
Why Did the Roman Bishops Reject John?
John and the Heretics
John's Addition to the Canon
Chapter 19
The Final Canon of John
Chapter 20
Background to the Post-Apostolic Church
Chapter 21
The Controversy that Divided the Church
Chapter 22
Conclusion
Appendix 1
Who Wrote Second Peter?
The Forgerer that Got Caught
Secretaries are not Pseudonyms
From First Peter to Second Peter
Second Peter - Earliest Quoted Book
Appendix 2
The Chronology of Acts and Beyond
The Resurrection and Beyond
The Outline of Acts
Paul Before Gallio
From Gallio to Felix
The Sequence of Sabbatical Years
The Daily Account between Felix and Festus
Paul before Festus
Objections Answered
The Final Years of the Apostle Paul
The Chronology of Beyond Acts
The Date of Paul's Mar om
The Date of Peter's Martyrdom
Did Peter Die on June 29?
Linus - Another Chronological Key
Significant Dates of the First Century
Appendix 3
When Was the Book of Revelation Written?
The Book of Revelation and the Canon
Appendix 4
Was the Apostle Peter the First Pope?
Appendix 5
When Were the New Testament Books Written?
Matthew
Mark Luke-Acts
The Gospel and Epistles of John
The Epistle of James
The Epistle of Jude
First Corinthians
Second Corinthians
Galatians
Philippians
Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon
First Thessalonians
Second Thessalonians
Hebrews
Hebrews and John's Circle
First and Second Timothy and Titus
Summary
Appendix 6
The Gospel unto Israel
Who Were the Parthians?
Parthia and Israel
The Mission of the Twelve Apostles
Appendix 7
A Lost Chapter of Acts Found?
The Credibility of the Sonnini Manuscript
Appendix 8
Canon Expansion Today?
The Criteria for Canonicity
Appendix 9
Design of the Canon of Scripture
The Proper Order of the Biblical Books
Appendix 10
The Text of the New Testament
The Alexandrian Text Type Myth
The Vanishing Caesarean Text Type
Base Text versus Eclecticism
Bibliography
Excerpt:
THERE is one area of New Testament research that is in an abysmal status – an area that needs a whole new approach in order to make sense out of one of the worst areas of New Testament studies that exists today. This area of New Testament studies pertains to the origin of the New Testament canon.
False assumptions and a priori conclusions have dogged this area of studies from time immemorial. Beyond Acts reinvestigates first century canonization as the only viable explanation that finally corrects the mistakes of the past. Once we look into the traditional reasons for post apostolic canonization, it then becomes obvious why there are many fundamental issues that force scholars to such conclusions. And with a revised chronology of the New Testament, it becomes obvious that such reasoning can really no longer be sustained. Here are a few pieces of the puzzle that Beyond Acts at last contributes toward a whole new approach in canon studies:
1. The apostle Paul ordained the British war captive, Linus, as first bishop of Rome in 56 C.E.;
2. The book of Acts ends in 58 C.E.;
3. Ancient testimony, from Clement on up, declares that Paul did go on a far western campaign after Acts concludes, which may have been a five year journey encompassing Spain, Gaul, and (so Eusebius and other important witnesses), Britain;
4. The Apostles originally believed that Jesus would return within their lifetimes. But to believe that they held onto that belief all the way down to the end of the first century is a mistake. (This is due mostly because the erroneous dating of the book of Revelation to 95 C.E.);
5. The book of Revelation was originally compiled around 57 C.E.---not in 96 C.E., as is wrongly believed by most today;
6. Peter ordained Clement as second bishop of Rome in 67 C.E.;
7. The letter of First Clement was written just after the death of Peter, in 68 C.E. or 69 C.E., also not in 95 C.E., as is wrongly adhered to today;
8. Clement loosely quotes 2 Peter. Therefore, 2 Peter can not be a second century document, but written in 67 C.E.;
9. 2 Peter is THE most important book that exists anywhere for the proper understanding of canonization;
10. 2 Timothy is second in importance to 2 Peter for unraveling this mystery;
11. Paul did not die, as most believe, in 62 C.E., nor in 64 C.E., but in early 67 C.E., after meeting with Peter;
12. The crucial year that the apostle Paul changed his mind concerning Jesus’ return can now be pinpointed to the very year of 63 C.E.;
13. There is some evidence for an Ephesian imprisonment for the Apostle Paul. (Because of the false assumption that Paul supposedly died in 62 C.E., or at the conclusion of Acts), most scholars see no evidence of it in the book of Acts, for which they are correct. But because of an erroneous chronology, they are unfortunately prevented from looking after the book of Acts concludes;
14. A corrected Pauline chronology (finally!) declares that all seven of Paul’s imprisonments mentioned by Clement can now be identified and correctly dated;
15. It was during Paul’s sixth imprisonment at Ephesus in 63 C.E. (beyond the period of Acts), that Paul received his important revelation of the “Mystery.” Scholars have completely overlooked the huge significance of this great revelation. (The significance is that after this revelation, Paul changed his mind on many theological and prophetical beliefs that he had previously held. This is one of the greatest keys to unlocking the history of beyond Acts;
16. The Apostle Peter finally revamped his thinking, in line with Paul’s, in 66 C.E., with the witnessing of the miraculous events in Jerusalem recorded by Josephus for that year;
17. Both Peter and Paul then became extremely concerned over, and then warned about, a coming apostasy in the church and felt compelled to secure their writings for the future church against such apostasy;
18. Internal evidence indicates that the apostle Paul in Rome sent Peter’s secretary, John Mark, on a “service” mission in 65 C.E., first to bring to Paul in Rome his collected writings, but then to go back to Jerusalem to bring the Apostle Peter to Rome to help him secure his writings for the future of the church;
19. When Peter writes his First Epistle, he is still in Jerusalem, and John Mark is now with him there, sending greetings from the “sister church” in Rome (Babylon), where he had just come from;
20. Peter then goes to Rome with John Mark in 66 C.E., meets with Paul in prison, and then later on endorses “all” of Paul’s writings as “Scripture” after Paul’s martyrdom the following year;
21. The writing styles of both Paul and Peter show a significant difference after the year of 63/66 C.E. respectively. Scholars, believing that Paul and Peter would still hold onto their belief that the Parousia would occur in their lifetimes, and that they were martyred right after the book of Acts ends, feel compelled to accept post-apostolic authorship. What many have missed is that significant events, such as the death of James, the seeming failure of prophecy, and a growing apostasy in the church, forced both Paul, and then later Peter, to rethink the time of the end. With that change in mind, these apostles changed their whole direction and purpose. They then became concerned with establishing churches, ordaining ministers, and settling in for the long haul. Most importantly, with this realization, was their paramount belief that the church should have an authoritative body of literature from the apostles, that only they could produce;
22. The binding authority that was given Peter by Jesus was for the very distinct purpose of binding up the testimony of the disciples;
23. The “Transfiguration” event is the most important event to understanding the subject of canonization;
24. All of the New Testament books were written before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Thus, the entire concept of pseudonymity, and post apostolic authorship, is a misguided attempt to bring down the authority of the New Testament to the level of all the other spurious literature that some believe today is on an equal par as the New Testament books.
25. The New Testament evidence declares emphatically (by virtue of the Transfiguration event!) that only Peter and John had the authority to produce a New Testament canon of literature. No one in post apostolic times even came close to having such authority;
26. The apostles Paul and Peter, and later, John, could see heresy beginning to occur in their day, and, therefore, were on an urgent mission to secure their writings from the hands of later heretics WITHIN THE CHURCH!;
27. Any body of literature that the later Gentile (Catholic) church would have produced would never have remotely resembled the very Jewish canon that has come down to us today;
28. If later church authorities ever had a hand in forming a canon of New Testament literature, the makeup of the New Testament would certainly have included such books as 1 Clement, Barnabas, and so many other books, and may have eliminated such books as Matthew, Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation;
29. Canon definition as just a list of books must be replaced by what the internal evidence defines it to be (by virtue of the Transfiguration event)---it is the binding decision of Peter and John of which books belong in the New Testament;
30. Scholars look vainly in the second, third, and fourth centuries for any scrap of evidence to sustain post-apostolic canonization activities, but only find evidence of confusion, just as the apostles predicted. They then turn around and interpret that confusion as a “gradual acceptance” process, when in fact if proves just the opposite---that later, bickering church clerics, didn’t have a clue as to how to decide upon a church canon;
31. It is entirely a mistake to believe that local churches preserved the writings of the apostles. The apostle John, and his “elders,” had the genius to protect the writings of the apostles from corruption by local church clerics, and later book burnings, by depositing them as a completed body of literature in the great library of Caesarea;
32. The so-called “Alexandrian” text-type is a complete fiction and misnomer. It should rightly be designated as the Caesarean text type, because it emanated from the great library of Caesarea, where the original canon was initially deposited by John and his elders before the end of the first century;
33. The scraps and pieces of Greek portions of NT books that have been discovered came from corrupted church copies, which demonstrate the tendency that Paul, Peter, and John predicted, i.e., a changing the text to suit later doctrine. Scholars turn around and tell us that this means a text in flux during this time. Modern “eclectic” versions based on this mishmash of texts are a departure from the original;
34. There never was a list of “criteria for canonization” that supposedly later church clerics all checked off as a step in a fictitious notion of centuries of gradual acceptance;
35. Codex Vaticanus may just well be the closest thing that we have to a purest form of the true text!
This is not pure speculation! It is based upon the rejected internal evidence that must now be given a chance to speak. Therefore, if anything, we must come to understand that the gradual acceptance theory is a mirage that is like admiring the non-existent emperor’s new cloths, which a young lad could see was absolutely invisible! Canon scholarship today appears to be wrapped in just such fabric.
Fortunately, the time has come to shed new light in an area of total darkness. Beyond Acts will be the book that many a scholar will wish that they could have written. But like the young lad of the Emperor’s new cloths story, it is only fitting that out of the mouths of babes comes the truth. Let Beyond Acts be your guide in one of the greatest advances in New Testament research to date. Read now the fresh evidence that will finally make sense out of the one of the biggest mysteries of the Bible --- the time period of Beyond Acts!
