Lecture One: Introduction To The New Testament
A. Basic Facts About The Bible
66 books, written by 40 different authors over 1500 years
39 O.T. “old” = 3 letters, “testament” 9… 3—9--39
27 N.T. “new” = 3 letters, “testament” 9
blessings multiplied 3x9 = 27
B. How did we get the Bible we have today? The O.T. was preserved through the Nation of Israel/Judah to the time of Jesus. The Septuagint (3rd century BC) is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scripture & the primary text in 1st century Israel. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 provided important archaeological verification of the O.T.
How was the N.T. put together? The books of the N.T., were written within 30-60 years after Jesus was raised from the dead & ascended to Heaven. First Century Israel was primarily an oral culture. Scholars estimate that 3-5% of the people could read & write. Teaching at first was oral, but the early Church leaders realized a written record would be needed for future generations. There were 3 criteria used to determine if a document should be in the Bible.
1. Apostolic Origin: Is the document directly connected to one of the Apostles? A document had to have been written by an Apostle, or a close associate of an Apostle or Jesus. Matthew & John were Apostles & eyewitnesses of the events they record in their Gospels; Peter & Paul were also Apostles; Mark an associate of Peter; Luke an associate of Paul; James & Jude brothers of Jesus.
2. Doctrinal consistency. Are these documents consistent with the teachings of Jesus & the Apostles? Acts 2:42 “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching & to fellowship, to the breaking of bread & to prayer.”
3. Historical Acknowledgement. Do the documents have ...
... middle of paper ...
... the Great was appointed governor of Judea and ruled from 37 to 4 B.C. Jesus was born during Herod’s reign.
4 words help us link together the whole of God’s Word.
Preparation: In O.T. God prepared humanity for Messiah.
Revelation: In the four Gospels God revealed Messiah—Jesus of Nazareth, the Only Begotten Son of God. Jesus entered the world, died for humanity, & was raised back to life.
Action: In Acts & Epistles God puts into action His plan to redeem humanity through Jesus. The Church universal is begun, the Gospel is preached, individual churches are established throughout the Roman Empire, and Christians are instructed how to live as new creations of God.
Completion: In the Book of Revelation, the outcome of God’s perfect plan is revealed. Satan is defeated, sinners are judged, believers are rewarded, & Jesus reigns forever as King of Kings.
The study of the Gospel of John can be viewed as distinct and separate from the study of any of the previous three synoptic gospels. The Fourth Gospel contains language and conceptions so distinct from the synoptics that scholars are often faced with the question of its historical origins. Originally, scholars believed the main source for the Gospel of John to be Jewish wisdom literature, Philo, the Hermetic books and the Mandaean writings, leading to the idea that John was the most Greek of the Gospels. However, with the discovery of the scrolls, scholars were now faced with source materials, remarkably similar to the concepts and language found in John, illuminating the literature as not only Jewish but Palestinian in origin. The discovery of the manuscripts opened up an entirely new interpretation of the gospel of John and a progressive understanding of its proper place within biblical scripture.
It was deemed that the books of the New Testament that are authentically apostolic in nature were included in the Bible. This strict appraisal process used by the church fathers to determine the legitimacy of certain books in the bible is the reason why scripture, once it becomes part of church canon it is incorruptible. Furthermore, because tradition stems from scriptural interpretation that it can be corruptible as it relies on the judgment of human beings, whose interpretations may be driven by internal
In the beginning, the Hebrew civilization, which was politically insignificant compared to other empires such as Egypt, produced a new form of religion that was based on a monotheistic all-powering god that created and controlled everything that they called Yahweh (47). The Hebrew people did not believe in what the Egyptians forced them to believe in and decided to rebel and protest against the unorthodox pharaoh and the Egyptian people who instilled all trust and life into this god-king. The Hebrew decided to leave Egypt, who was led by a profit by the name of Moses throughout many treacherous and tantalizing events. Once the Hebrew crossed the Nile River and the Red Sea, these followers of Yahweh decided to write and record all of their religious ideas, traditions, laws, advice literature, prayers, hymns, history, and prophecies in a series of books. These books are still in existence today and are known now as the Hebrew Bible, which ...
Theearly Church faced several struggles such as maintaining the purity ofChristianity, defining the structure of the Church and surviving the constantattacks on Christians by the Roman Empire. One of the Church’s firststruggles! was to define itself vis-à-vis the Jewish tradition and theRoman World. Both Paul and the Book of Acts reveal questions and issues theearly Church wrestled with. For example: “Should Christianity be its ownreligion or a new sect of Judaism?” “Which books should be includedin the Bible and which were the works of heretics?”
The letter of Ephesians is the tenth book in the New Testament, its authorship is attributed to Paul after his conversion from a persecutor of Christians to apostle. The legitimacy of his authorship is still debated by scholars. Harold Hoehner in his book “Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary,” lists a number of reasons why many scholars reject Paul as the author. But, for the purposes of this exegetical Paul is considered the author of the letter.
The most highly referenced and revered as sacred are The King James Version, considered a masterpiece of English literature, The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, The Aprocrypha, the books believed left out of some bibles, The Vulgate, the Latin Bible used for centuries by the Roman Catholic religion, and The Septuagint, the first ancient Greek translation of the Tanakh (Geisler and Nix 15, McCallum 4). The Bible is considered a sacred text by three major world religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Many believers consider it to be the literal truth. Others treat it with great respect, but believe that it was written by human beings and, thus is often contradictory in its tenets.
The Bible: The Holy Canon of Scripture is an essay by J. Hampton Keathley, III that aims to justify the canonicity of the Bible. Keathley first defines canonicity as a word used to describe books that are recognized as inspired by God and then gives a brief history of the term. In essence, the word can be derived from Greek, Hebrew, and Akkadian words denoting a standard of straightness and was used first to describe accepted doctrines of the Church before it became widely used as a description for the list of sacred books that fit the modern definition. The article then addresses the need of a canon and justifies the canonicity of the Old and New Testaments.
203). When reading the Bible, it is clear that God 's plan was for the redemption of mankind through his son Jesus. From the fall in Genesis to the glorious return described in Revelation, we see that the entire story, even if it appears obscure at times, is showcasing the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the defeater of death and the only hope we have. Just like lead goes down the middle of a pencil, Jesus goes right down the middle of God 's great redemption story called the Bible. He is the centerpiece and the hope for all mankind. The Bible is his
The Book of Acts was written to provide a history of the early church. Acts emphasis the importance of the day of Pentecost and being empowered to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. Acts sheds light on the ministry gift of the Holy Spirit, which empowers, guides, teaches, and serves as our Counselor. When reading the Book of Acts many of the readers will be enlightened and encouraged by the many miracles that were being performed during this time by the disciples Peter, John, and Paul. The Book of Acts emphasizes the importance of obedience to God’s Word and the transformation that occurs as a result of knowing Christ. There are also many references to those that rejected the truth that the disciples preached about in Jesus Christ. Power, greed, and many other vices of the devil or evidenced in the book of Acts. Acts 1:8 serves as a good summary of the Book of Acts. Acts records the apostles being Christ's witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the rest of the surrounding world.
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
Acts is a chapter in the Bible that mirrors the most important values--values found in Christ--that I, as a follower of Christ, am capable of interpreting and incorporating into my daily life. Acts is not meant to be a complicated book with its all-inclusive and interweaving events surrounding the history of Jesus and his followers, but it is rather aimed towards aiding humans to critically think and understand the reasoning behind these evident stories in order to teach us lessons so that we might teach others these lessons in turn. I believe that the meaning and purpose of Acts is to teach us how to be Christians and teach others according to the lessons taught by Jesus and his followers. The question is: what valuable lessons are in Acts that we might teach others? By following good examples discovered in the book of Acts, I have stumbled upon some important events surrounding lessons about boldness, faith, salvation and freedom. Merely a few in comparison with the several lessons presented by the apostles and prophets in Acts, these lessons are some of the most recurrent. Boldness, faith, salvation and freedom are tied in with three general themes that include witnessing to Jews and Gentiles, the resurrection of Jesus, and defense of the gospel or 'good news' preached by Christ's followers. God granted us the capability to understand these very lessons and themes in order to strengthen our relationships in spirit and on earth. Therefore, these lessons are meant to be an example to us, and in turn, unto others that we teach.
The four gospels are detailed accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Each portrays a unique story and angle of Jesus, who is the savior of the Jews and the world. Apostle Matthew’s writings are to prove to the Jews that Jesus is their Messiah. Mark stressed the humanity of Jesus and also his deity. Luke wanted to show that the gentile Christian in God’s kingdom is based on the teachings of Jesus. John speaks of Jesus as one sent from God to reveal His love and grace to man. The four gospels work together to elaborate on the several key themes; salvation, spreading His word, and the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise.
The Biblical cannon is the complete, inspired, and inerrant Word of God, inspired and preserved by God, including the construction of the cannon. It is composed of 66 books written by over 40 different authors over a thousand-year time span. The first set of writings were the Old Testament, complete approximately four centuries before the birth of Christ. The first book to be completed was the Torah, written by Moses approximately 1400 B.C. His writings were considered authoritative because of his authority as a prophet, backed the miracles God performed through him (Cartwright, Jonathan, Gutierrez & Hulshof 2016). The Torah, known in the English Bible as the Pentateuch, or five books, comprised the cannon to which all other books would be compared.
The goal is to continue to reveal God firstly, define salvation, also discussed, the individual coming to God. Also coming up is a very brief description of the world and the Christian population. Fifthly, a description of the diverse
The Bible can largely be divided into two parts: the Old and New Testament; it is said that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic language and the New one in Greek originally. And since at first it was written for being recited or spoken aside, the 66 books are still sorted as chapters and verses. Commonly, people consider the Bible as a prose (or novel, for some). Yet, the primitive form of a poem actually can be seen in the Bible, the origin of the ancient Hebrew