Number of Books in the New Testament
The New Testament consists of 27 books, which form part of the larger collection of sacred writings known as the Bible [1, 3]. The term "Bible" itself comes from the Greek biblia, meaning "books," and refers to this collection as a "Library of Divine Revelation" [1]. The New Testament, along with the Old Testament, comprises the 66 books of the Christian Bible [1, 3].
The books of the New Testament are typically categorized into several groups:
- Gospels: These four books—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—narrate the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ [9].
- Acts of the Apostles: This book, often seen as a continuation of Luke's Gospel, describes the early history of the Christian church and the spread of the Gospel after Jesus' ascension.
- Epistles (Letters): This large section includes letters written by apostles, primarily Paul, to various churches and individuals, offering instruction, encouragement, and theological teaching. Examples include Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians. Other epistles, such as Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Jude, are also included.
- Revelation: This apocalyptic book concludes the New Testament with prophetic visions concerning the end times and the ultimate triumph of God.
The division of biblical texts into chapters and verses, while common today, was a later development. The books of the Old and New Testaments were divided into chapters from an early time, with the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) being divided into 54 parshioth or sections by ancient Hebrews [2, 5]. The names "Old Testament" and "New Testament" derive from the Greek word diatheke, which is often translated as "covenant" [4]. The Vulgate's translation of diatheke as testamentum led to the current nomenclature [4].
While the number of books in the New Testament is consistently 27 across major Christian traditions, the Old Testament canon has seen some variation among Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant traditions [6, 8, 10, 12]. For instance, some Jewish traditions count the Torah as having seven books, not five, by dividing sections of Numbers [7, 11]. The Eastern Orthodox tradition, as articulated by John of Damascus, also organizes the Old Testament books into different groupings, including "four Pentateuchs" [8]. Augustine, a significant patristic figure, listed books like Job, Tobias, Esther, Judith, and Maccabees as part of the Old Testament canon [6].
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Bible — Bible, the English form of the Greek name Biblia, meaning "books," the name which in the fifth century began to be given to the entire collection of sacred books, the "Library of Divine Revelation." The name Bible was adopted by Wickliffe, and came gradually into use in our English language. The Bible consists of sixty-six different books, composed by many different writers, in three different languages, under different circumstances; writers of almost every social rank, statesmen and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen, priests, tax-gatherers, tentmakers; e”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Chapter — The several books of the Old and New Testaments were from an early time divided into chapters. The Pentateuch was divided by the ancient Hebrews into 54 parshioth or sections, one of which was read in the synagogue every Sabbath day (Acts. 13:15). These sections were afterwards divided into 669 sidrim or orders of unequal length. The Prophets were divided in somewhat the same manner into haphtaroth or passages. In the early Latin and Greek versions of the Bible, similar divisions of the several books were made. The New Testament books were also divided into”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Bible — The Bible is the name given to the revelation of God to man contained in sixty-six books or pamphlets, bound together and forming one book and only one, for it has in reality one author and one purpose and plan, and is the development of one scheme of the redemption of man. I. ITS [301]Names.-- (1) The Bible, i.e. The Book, from the Greek "ta biblia," the books. The word is derived from a root designating the inner bark of the linden tree, on which the ancients wrote their books. It is the book as being superior to all other books. But the application of the w”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Testament — Occurs twelve times in the New Testament (Heb. 9:15, etc.) as the rendering of the Gr. diatheke, which is twenty times rendered "covenant" in the Authorized Version, and always so in the Revised Version. The Vulgate translates incorrectly by testamentum, whence the names "Old" and "New Testament," by which we now designate the two sections into which the Bible is divided. (See [629]BIBLE.)”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Genesis — The five books of Moses were collectively called the Pentateuch, a word of Greek origin meaning "the five-fold book." The Jews called them the Torah, i.e., "the law." It is probable that the division of the Torah into five books proceeded from the Greek translators of the Old Testament. The names by which these several books are generally known are Greek. The first book of the Pentateuch (q.v.) is called by the Jews Bereshith, i.e., "in the beginning", because this is the first word of the book. It is generally known among Christians by the name of Genesis,”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 8.--THE CANONICAL BOOKS. (part 2): narrative of the times, and follows the order of the events. There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra,(1) which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles. Next are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the Psal”
- Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 116a.2: The Gemara asks: According to whose opinion is that which Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said that Rabbi Yonatan said, that with regard to the verse: “With wisdom she built her house, she carved its seven pillars” (Proverbs 9:1), these are the seven books of the Torah? According to whose opinion? It is according to the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, as by his count there are seven books of the Torah: Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers until: “And when the Ark traveled”; the portion: “And when the Ark traveled,” which is considered its own book; the remainder of Nu”
- CCEL (Eastern Orthodox) “John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, section 93: collected together in four Pentateuchs and two others remain over, to form thus the canonical books. Five of them are of the Law, viz. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. This which is the code of the Law, constitutes the first Pentateuch. Then comes another Pentateuch, the so-called Grapheia 2529 2529 Writings . , or as they are called by some, the Hagiographa, which are the following: Jesus the Son of Nave 2530 2530 Joshua the Son of Nun . , Judges along with Ruth, first and second Kings, which are one boo”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catholic) “Catechism of the Catholic Church, 3. the written Gospels. "The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, (part 3): "All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and that one book is Christ, because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ" (Hugh of St. Victor, De arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642). 135 "The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired, they are truly the Word of God" (DV 24). 136 God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assuranc”
- Sefaria (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) on Ecclesiastes 12:11: Like [well fastened] nails. This is written with a sin , for the Torah, with its twenty-four books coincides with the number of the watches of the Kohanim and the Levyim .”
- Midrash Rabbah (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Midrash Rabbah, Vayikra Rabbah 11:3: Bar Kappara interpreted the verse regarding the Torah. “Wisdom has built her house” – this is the Torah, as it is written: “For the Lord grants wisdom” (Proverbs 2:6), [and] “The Lord made me at the beginning of His way” (Proverbs 8:22). “Has hewed her seven pillars,” these are the seven books of the Torah. But are they not five? Bar Kappara renders from the beginning of: “And He spoke” (Numbers 1:1) until: “it was when the Ark traveled” (Numbers 10:35), 3 That is, from the beginning of Numbers through Numbers 10:34 is considered its own unit, referred to h”
- Midrash Rabbah (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Midrash Rabbah, Kohelet Rabbah 12:12:1: “More than that, my son, be careful: Making many books has no end, and much prattle is exertion of the flesh” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). “More than that [ mehema ], my son, be careful” – [of] confusion [ mehuma ], as anyone who introduces more than [these] twenty-four books into his house introduces confusion into his house, such as the book of ben Sira and the book of ben Tigla. 56 Ancient works of wisdom literature. “And much prattle is exertion of the flesh” – as they were given for prattle and were not given for exertion. 57 This is in contradistinction t”