The dissensions which arose in the first century between the Jewish
Christians and the Gentile Christians had only increased with time,
and these were among the chief obstacles in the way of uniting
Christians and establishing the Catholic church. The composition
of Acts was one of the many attempts made toward the close of the
second century to heal these dissensions. The author was a man who
cared little for either Petrine or Pauline Christianity--little for
the so-called truths of Christianity in any form--but a man who cared
much for church unity and church power.
The book of Acts was little known at first. St. Chrysostom, writing
in the fifth century, says: "This book is not so much as known to
many. They know neither the book nor by whom it was written."
James and Jude.
The seven Catholic Epistles, James, First and Second Peter, First,
Second, and Third John, and Jude, have been declared spurious or
doubtful by eminent Christian scholars in every age of the church. The
Fathers were loath to admit them into the Bible, and their right to
a place there has always been disputed.
James and Jude, the first and the last of these epistles, orthodox
Christians believe, were written by James and Jude, the brothers of
Jesus, in 62 and 64 A.D.
Three leading orthodox authorities, representing the three great
divisions of the Christian church, Cajetan of the Roman Catholic
church; Lucar of the Greek Catholic church, and Erasmus of the
Protestant church, have denied the authenticity of James. Luther
himself refused to accept it. He says: "The Epistle of James I account
the writing of no apostle."
The composition of Jude and Second Peter are both placed
in A.D. 64. There is no proof that either was in existence in
A.D. 164. It is only necessary to read Jude and the second chapter
of Second Peter to see that one borrowed from the other. While most
believe that the author of Second Peter used Jude in the construction
of his epistle, Luther contends that Jude is the plagiarist. He says:
"The epistle of Jude is an abstract or copy of St. Peter's Second"
(Preface to Luther's Version).
Jude cites as authentic the apocryphal book of Enoch, and the
apocryphal story of Michael the archangel contending with Satan
for the body of Moses. Origen, Jerome, and others in ancient,
and Calvin, Grotius and others in modern times, have doubted its
authenticity. Mayerhoff says it was written in the second century to
combat the heresies of the Carpocratians.
Epistles of Peter.
Most Christians contend that the First Epistle of Peter is
genuine. Some of the early Christian Fathers, however, rejected
it. Irenæus did not place it in his canon. Not until the third century
was it accepted as the writing of Peter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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