What Is the New Testament?

Testament means covenant. As used in the gospel sense, a testament is a covenant which Deity makes with his people. Thus the fulness of the gospel is the new and everlasting testament or covenant, and the preparatory gospel or Mosaic law is the Mosaic or lesser testament or covenant. When the gospel was restored in the meridian of time by Jesus and his apostles, it was a new testament (covenant) as compared with the old testament (covenant) that had been in force since the days of Moses.

Those who compiled the authentic scriptural documents, which set forth the historical development and preserved some of the doctrinal teachings of inspired writers in the meridian of time, called that compilation the New Testament. The name contrasts with the designation Old Testament, the scriptural record containing a record of God's dealings with people who were erroneously supposed to have had only the lesser or Mosaic covenant. If we were using this manner of naming these scriptural compilations today, we would probably call them the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

In the New Testament there are 27 books by eight authors. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written by the ancient saints whose names they bear. Acts is the work of Luke. Romans, the two Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, the two Thessalonians, the two Timothys, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews came from the inspired pen of Paul. James is the author of his own epistle, the two Peters were written by Peter, the three Johns by John, Jude by himself, and Revelation by John. The specious theorizing of the higher critics that these inspired documents were composed by other and various unknown authors is as false as the rest of their vagaries.

It is common to classify Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts as historical books, though they all abound in doctrinal matter. The writings of Paul, James, Peter, and Jude, and the three letters of John, 21 books in all, are classified as epistles. The book of Revelation is reserved in an apocalyptic category of its own. (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 483-484.)