新约 New Testament

基督教《圣经》两大部分中的第二部分。基督教将《新约》视为对《旧约》中诺言的实践。《新约》回顾了耶稣基督的生平与传教经历，为早期教会阐述了其意义，尤其注重上帝与耶稣门徒之间订立的新的盟约。《新约》共二十七卷，包括叙述耶稣生平言行的四部福音书；叙述早期基督教会历史的〈使徒行传〉；二十一封使徒书信，对早期教会提出建议和指导；以及〈启示录〉对未来启示论的描述。全书大部分写于西元1世纪后期，不过没有一卷是可以明确地确定其写作日期的。作者中间只有两位是可以被确认的：使徒圣保罗被认为写作了十三封书信；圣路加写作了第三部福音书以及〈使徒行传〉。后人为其他篇章指认的作者，有的很可能真是作者（如其他三部福音书的作者），有的却根本就无从知晓（如《致希伯来人书》）。这些篇章在早期的教会中流传，被用来作为讲道和说教的教材。目前所知最早的《新约》篇目编排出自367年圣亚大纳西的著作。382年的一次教会会议最终允准了这一编排。

Second of the two major divisions of the Christian Bible. Christians see the New Testament as the fulfillment of the promise of the Old Testament. It recounts the life and ministry of Jesus and interprets their meaning for the early church, focusing especially on the new covenant created between God and the followers of Jesus. There are 27 books in the New Testament: four Gospels, or stories of the life and teachings of Christ; the Acts of the Apostles, a historical narrative of the first years of the Christian church; 21 epistles, or letters of advice and instruction to early Christians; and the Book of Revelation, a description of the coming apocalypse. Most were written in the later 1st century AD, though none can be dated precisely. Only two authors are known for certain: St. Paul, credited with 13 epistles; and St. Luke, writer of the third gospel and the Book of Acts. Attributions of other authors range from highly likely (for the other three gospels) to completely unknown (for the Epistle to the Hebrews). These documents circulated among the early churches and were used as preaching and teaching sources. The earliest known list of the current New Testament canon dates from AD 367 in a work by St. Athanasius. A church council of 382 gave final approval to the list.