Matthew 13:44–52: The Hidden Treasure, the Pearl, and the Scribe’s New and Old
A Catholic exegesis of Matthew 13:44–52: the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, the dragnet, and the scribe who brings out the new and the old.
· 53 min read
The New Testament Canon
The book-by-book series on how the New Testament reached twenty-seven books — and the writings that nearly made it, like the Didache and 1 Clement.
39 articles in this topic
The Didache — Old Enough for the Canon, and Still Left Out
The Didache may be older than the last books of the New Testament, yet no Bible ever carried it. What the earliest church order says, and why it was left out.
· 47 min read
The Epistle of Barnabas — The Near-Miss That Bore an Apostle's Name
Quoted as Scripture in Alexandria and bound into Codex Sinaiticus, the Epistle of Barnabas bore an apostle's name—yet the New Testament closed without it. Why.
· 31 min read
1 Clement — The Letter from Rome That Almost Entered the New Testament
1 Clement was read as Scripture at Corinth and bound into Codex Alexandrinus. How the letter came so close to the New Testament, and why the Church left it out.
· 28 min read
1 John — “God Is Love,” the Antichrists, and the Verse That Was Never There
The First Letter of John gives us “God is love,” the antichrists, and the Bible’s most famous fake verse. A Catholic reads 1 John and its road into the canon.
· 30 min read
The Letter to Philemon — A Runaway Slave, the Shortest Letter Paul Wrote, and Scripture's Quiet Case Against Slavery
The Letter to Philemon: Paul, the runaway slave Onesimus, and 'no longer a slave but a brother.' A Catholic look at slavery, Paul's shortest letter, and canon.
· 36 min read
The First Letter to Timothy — The Church's Charter and a Contested Letter's Path to Canon
1 Timothy built the Church's offices — bishops, deacons, the pillar of truth. A Catholic look at church order, the authorship debate, and its road to canon.
· 39 min read
The Second Letter to Timothy — Paul's Last Words and a Disputed Letter's Road to Canon
2 Timothy is Paul's farewell: 'all Scripture is inspired,' guard the deposit, the good fight. A Catholic look at inspiration, authorship, and the road to canon.
· 35 min read
The Letter to Titus — A Gentile on Crete, the Great God and Savior, and a Disputed Letter's Road to Canon
The Letter to Titus: church order on Crete, 'our great God and savior,' the bath of rebirth. A Catholic look at grace, authorship, and its road to canon.
· 33 min read
The Second Letter to the Thessalonians — The Man of Lawlessness and a Disputed Letter's Path to Canon
2 Thessalonians warns against a forged letter — and is itself one of Paul's disputed letters. A Catholic look at the man of lawlessness and the restrainer.
· 30 min read
The Epistle to the Colossians — The Least Important Church, an Early Heresy, and a Ghost Letter
Paul never saw Colossae and an earthquake soon wrecked it—yet its letter was never doubted, and it spawned a forged 'Laodiceans' that haunted the Bible for centuries.
· 26 min read
The Epistle to the Ephesians — The Letter That Lost Its Address and Kept Its Place
Ephesians was never doubted—yet its address may be a blank, Marcion called it 'Laodiceans,' and modern critics doubt Paul. A Catholic reads its road through the canon.
· 31 min read
The Epistle to the Philippians — Joy in Chains and the Quietest Road into the Canon
Philippians was never doubted—yet Polycarp spoke of 'letters,' critics cut it in three, and its hymn built Christology. A Catholic reads its road through the canon.
· 25 min read
The First Letter to the Corinthians — The Oldest Words in the New Testament and Its Road Into the Canon
A Catholic on 1 Corinthians — the quarrelsome church whose letter preserves the oldest creed and the earliest Eucharist in the New Testament, and its road into the canon.
· 36 min read
The Second Letter to the Corinthians — The Letter No One Doubted and No One Can Agree Is One Letter
A Catholic on 2 Corinthians — Paul's most personal letter, its power-in-weakness gospel, and the integrity debate behind a book the Church never doubted.
· 40 min read
The Epistle to the Galatians — The Undisputed Letter at the Heart of the Canon's First War
Galatians was never doubted—yet Marcion put it first, the church fought over it, and Luther called it his own. A Catholic reads its road through the canon.
· 33 min read
3 John — The Elder, Gaius, and the Man Who Loved to Be First
The Third Letter of John is the shortest book in the Bible, never names Jesus, and records a real first-century church quarrel over hospitality. A Catholic reads Gaius, Diotrephes, and its long road into the canon.
· 32 min read
The Acts of Paul — Thecla, the Baptized Lion, and the Forger Who Loved Paul
A presbyter in Asia forged the Acts of Paul 'out of love for Paul'—and was deposed for it. How the book gave the Church Thecla, the baptized lion, and 3 Corinthians, and why it was still left out of the canon.
· 30 min read
The Gospel of John — The Spiritual Gospel and Its Journey to Canon
John's is the highest Christology in the New Testament — the Gospel the Gnostics loved and a few of the orthodox feared. A Catholic examines its authorship, the Alogi, and its path to the canon.
· 44 min read
The First Letter to the Thessalonians — The Earliest Christian Writing and Its Journey to Canon
1 Thessalonians is most likely the oldest surviving Christian writing. A Catholic examines its date, the parousia, the misread “rapture,” and its path into the New Testament canon.
· 26 min read
The Acts of the Apostles — The Birth of the Church and Its Journey to Canon
Luke's second volume tells how the Church went from an upper room in Jerusalem to the heart of Rome. A Catholic examines the authorship, the 'we' passages, the historicity debates, and the path of Acts to the canon.
· 36 min read
The Book of Revelation — The Bible's Most Contested Book and How to Read It
A Catholic reading of Revelation: who wrote it and when, why the Christian East nearly rejected it, and the four ways Christians have read its visions.
· 34 min read
The Gospel of Luke — The Evangelist of Mercy and Its Journey to Canon
Luke, the Gentile physician and companion of Paul, wrote the longest Gospel — and the one Marcion tried to hijack. A Catholic examines its authorship, sources, theology, and path to the canon.
· 34 min read
The Book of Romans — Paul's Masterwork and Its Road Into the Canon
A Catholic on the Book of Romans — the one letter no critic could deny, the most tangled text in the New Testament, and why it stands first among Paul's letters.
· 41 min read
The Gospel of the Hebrews — A Lost Gospel and the Canon It Never Joined
The Gospel of the Hebrews survives only in scraps quoted by the Fathers — the risen Christ appearing to James, the Holy Spirit called his mother. A Catholic reads the fragments and asks why it never entered the New Testament.
· 35 min read
1 Peter — The Apostle’s Letter of Hope in Suffering
The First Letter of Peter is the one catholic epistle the early Church never doubted. A Catholic reads its author, its ‘Babylon,’ its theology of suffering, and the riddle of the spirits in prison.
· 36 min read
2 John — The Elder’s Letter to the Chosen Lady
The Second Letter of John runs thirteen verses, signs itself only ‘the Presbyter,’ and tells a church to shut its door on false teachers. A Catholic reads its author, its ‘chosen Lady,’ and its long road into the canon.
· 32 min read
The Apocalypse of Peter — Heaven, Hell, and the Book That Almost Made the Bible
The earliest Christian tour of heaven and hell was nearly canonized — read in church, defended by Clement of Alexandria. Why the Apocalypse of Peter was left out.
· 28 min read
The Epistle of Jude — The Letter That Quoted Lost Books
Jude runs twenty-five verses, quotes two books outside the canon, and nearly did not make the cut. A Catholic reads its authorship, its apocrypha, and its road to Scripture.
· 31 min read
The Epistle of James — Faith, Works, and the Letter Luther Called “Straw”
The one New Testament book a Reformer tried to demote. A Catholic on the Epistle of James—its disputed road to the canon, its authorship, and the faith-versus-works fight.
· 39 min read
The Gospel of Mark — Peter's Witness and Its Journey to Canon
The shortest Gospel was tied to Peter from the earliest testimony, yet read least in antiquity. A Catholic examines Mark's authorship, abrupt ending, and path to the canon.
· 44 min read
Why the Orthodox Old Testament Has More Books Than the Catholic Old Testament
The Eastern Orthodox Old Testament contains books the Catholic canon does not—1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, the Prayer of Manasseh. A Catholic explains why, and why his own Church drew the line tighter.
· 28 min read
The Deuterocanonical Books: What They Are, Where They Came From, and Why Christians Disagree About Them
What the deuterocanonical books (the seven books most Protestants call the Apocrypha) are, where they came from, and why Christians disagree about them.
· 63 min read
2 Peter — The Most Contested Letter in the Canon
Few New Testament books faced more persistent doubt than 2 Peter. Its disputed authorship, weak patristic attestation, and long road to the canon.
· 34 min read
The Shepherd of Hermas: The Book That Almost Made It Into the Bible
The most popular Christian text you've never heard of — and how the Church discerned that the Shepherd of Hermas belonged to Tradition, not Scripture.
· 32 min read
The Epistle to the Hebrews — Authorship, Canon, and the New Testament's Greatest Sermon
Hebrews—anonymous, disputed, indispensable. Its three-century canonical battle and the theology that shaped Catholic worship.
· 30 min read
The Gospel of Matthew — The Church’s Gospel and Its Journey to Canon
Few books shaped early Christianity as deeply as Matthew. Explore its authorship debates, composition, theology, and canonical status.
· 33 min read
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