Before The Bible Was Written

On Facebook I came across this funny depiction of what the first Christians had to resort to holding up at sporting events, before they had written texts they could reference:

“Me 3:16” – Nice one, John! 🙂

But as someone involved in teaching Biblical studies, I also thought this was a nice reminder of a serious point, namely the fact that Christianity does not depend on, nor is it founded on, the New Testament, but vice versa: The New Testament is an expression of the phenomenon of Christianity.

To get this backwards results in many problems, not least of which, but perhaps most ironic, is the substitution in many contemporary streams of Christianity of the Bible in the place of what one famous Biblical text says the only foundation is supposed to be for Christians.