2nd–3rd centuries

The Old Testament as Christian Scripture: Testimonies, Typology and the Religion of Two Testaments

According to Pelikan, the dispute over the authority of the Old Testament and over the continuity between Judaism and Christianity was the earliest form of the search for tradition. The first preachers showed the fulfillment of prophecies in Christ; out of their excerpts grew collections of "testimonies" (testimonia) proving that the old law had been abolished and that Christ had been foretold. The law of Moses was handled by means of allegory and typology: the Epistle of Barnabas interprets the prohibitions "in a spiritual sense," while Justin distinguishes events that are "types" from prophetic "sayings." The term "Scripture," which originally referred only to the Old Testament, came to be applied to the whole Christian Bible; Harnack considered the transformation of Christianity into a religion of two Testaments (150–250) the most significant event of this period.