Did New Testament Authors See Their Writings as Inspired?

(post originally published here)

There has been much work done on the New Testament’s view and use of the Old Testament, with good reason. Many of the historical claims of the Old Testament have been contested (e.g. a historical Adam, the Noahic flood, the Exodus) and so theologians have turned to the New Testament to show that Christ and His apostles viewed these Old Testament events as historical. In addition, many Christians are unsure about the relevance of the Old Testament for today, either it seems too far removed in time, location, and cultural setting to be of any application today; or a radical division is drawn between Israel and the Church, such that the Old Covenant has nothing to do with the New Covenant. To combat these tendencies, theologians have gone to great lengths to show how Christ and His apostles viewed the Old Testament as the authoritative Word of God and used it in their preaching and teaching both in terms of doctrine and application. There has even been work done on the Old Testament’s view of the Old Testament, how later authors utilized and developed the writings of earlier authors. What I want to focus on in this article is the New Testament’s view of the New Testament. Did the church expect new revelation? How did the New Testament authors understand their writings? Did they know themselves to be writing the very Word of God?