The New Church (Swedenborgian) among the books of the New Testament includes only the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and the Book of Revelation. Only these books contain an internal symbolism in a series, and are thus divinely inspired. Although this leaves out the Book of Acts and the letters of the apostles, the New Church holds them in esteem similar to that of the Jews for the Writings of the Old Testament. Swedenborg stated that these books were included as an act of divine providence, as books explaining Christian doctrine were needed for the general public. Paul's letters, although not containing a
New Testament term διαθήκη "diathḗkē" varies in Bible translations into English. John Wycliffe's 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews: Use of the term "New Testament" to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian (in "Against Praxeas" 15). In "Against Marcion", written "circa" 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, who is doubly edged with the two testaments of the law and the gospel. And Tertullian continues later in the book, writing: it is certain that the whole aim at which