Quote:
Originally Posted by always_sunni_
Why did the people who wrote it write it?
Did God want it to be written?
There are very different explanations between the NT and OT. I've examined the NT more than the OT so I'll speak to that. A recent podcast from Stand to Reason discussing this book:
https://secure2.convio.net/str/site/...u2sjg2.app202a
with one of the authors has some insights into this.
Jesus appointed the apostles to evangelize, found churches, and then to follow through with instruction for those churches. So during the 1st century the apostles represented and delivered God's Word, mostly orally, but also through writings. As the apostles died off, their authority was transferred to those documents recognized by the church as either written by an apostle or closely associated with one - i.e., written by a companion and/or approved by apostles.
So the NT was formed and recognized largely in the 1st and 2nd centuries and mostly universally accepted as authoritative, long before Nicea. The purposes of the documents were first to give an account of Christ - His life, ministry, death and resurrection, then to provide basic instruction in what the gospel was about and how God had changed covenants, what it means for both individuals and the church, replacing Israel with the church, and finally, to make some prophecies about the future.
The purposes are mostly the same as they were for the OT, just very different subject matter.