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[W544]What Is The New Testament

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Being the Hebrew Bible, is called by the Jews as Tanakh. It is sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures or the New Covenant.

The New Testament records the life of Jesus Christ. It also deals with the early church and the meaning of faith in Jesus. The New Testament was written in Greek, which was widely spoken during the time of Jesus. However, Jesus and His disciples spoke Aramaic.

The authors of the New Testament did not deliberately try to create a Christian Bible. The early church already had a Bible, the Old Testament of Judaism. However, differing views of Christian faith during the A.D. 100's led the church to form the New Testament canon. It needed the canon as authority against unacceptable religious views.The church also wanted to preserve the authentic story of Jesus' life and death.

Books of the New Testament: The New Testament consists of 27 books organized into four sections--the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters, and Revelation. The number of books and their order are the same in the Roman Catholic and Protestant versions.

The Gospels consist of four books: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They appear as the first books in the New Testament, though they are not the earliest works in the canon. The word gospel comes from the Old English word god spell, which means good news.

The early church probably accepted the four Gospels as authentic, even though the authors were unknown. Gradually, the church associated the Gospels with two of Christ's apostles, Matthew and John, and two companions of apostles, Mark and Luke. Traditionally, they are considered to be the authors of the Gospels.

The Gospels describe the life of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, and Luke have similarities of detail and arrangement. They are called the Synoptic Gospels. The word synoptic comes from a Greek word that means see together.

The Synoptic Gospels differ from the Gospel of John in several ways. In the Synoptic Gospels, for example, Jesus expresses His teachings chiefly in short sayings and in brief stories called parables. In John, He teaches through long statements.

Although the Synoptic Gospels generally deal with the same events, each of the four Gospels regards Jesus differently. Matthew describes Him as the lawgiver who tells how Christians and their church should act. Mark shows Him as the Saviour who triumphs through suffering. Luke presents Jesus as the Saviour of all people. John concentrates on Jesus' divine nature.

Many scholars believe that Mark was the earliest Gospel, written just before or after the Romans captured Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Matthew and Luke were written a little later. The contents of these two Gospels indicate that both authors knew Mark's Gospel but not each other's. John was written last, perhaps in the A.D. 90's.

The Acts of the Apostles is one book. It continues the story told in Luke and was written by the same author. Acts tells about the expansion of the early church. The story opens in Jerusalem, where the apostles gather after Jesus is raised from the dead. The book ends in Rome, where Saint Paul, the church's first great missionary, preaches to the Jews while a Roman prisoner.

The Letters make up 21 books: These books contain some of the earliest writings in the New Testament, though they appear in the canon after the Gospels and the Acts. The Letters are also known as the Epistles, from a Greek word meaning to send.

The first 13 letters are called the Pauline Letters because most of them were written by Saint Paul. The last 8 are called the General Letters. Early church leaders wrote them, but scholars do not know who the authors were or disagree on who they might have been.

The Pauline Letters preserve Paul's preaching. He wrote the letters to Christian congregations he had founded. Most of the letters were probably written in the A.D. 50's and early 60's. Paul's letters discuss problems of faith and conduct.

The General Letters were written over a number of years until about A.D. 125. They deal with problems faced by second- and third-generation Christians.

Revelation is one book: It is also called the Apocalypse, from a Greek word meaning to reveal. A man named John wrote the book, but he is probably not the same person who wrote the Gospel of John.

Revelation begins as letters "to the seven churches that are in Asia." It then gives a symbolic description of God's final triumph, through Christ, over evil and death. This description comes from a series of visions of the future sent by God to the author through an angel.

Development of the New Testament: The first generation of Christians preserved memories of Jesus' teachings, deeds, and Crucifixion largely by word of mouth. The story of Jesus was not written down in the Gospels until the second generation of the church.

Redemption is the need?

Redemption first began to be needed after the Fall of Adam and Eve. The world was perfect - just the way God made it, and then sin came in the form of a temptation, and the First Couple yielded to it. They chose between God and Satan, and they chose wrongly. But, in spite of their sin, God showed mercy in offering them a temporary covering for their sin in the form of a blood sacrifice. Ever since, all men have also gone astray, and are in need of God's redemption, too. This first sacrifice, performed by God Himself, was an early picture of what God would later do.

Redemption was promised?

God, in the Garden, promised a permanent Solution to the sin issue. That Solution would be of the "seed of the woman" (Genesis 3:15, KJV), the first reference to a coming Savior. Every sacrifice of the Old Testament reminded the Jew, that the "Promised One," was coming. Matthew 1:18, in reference to this verse declares: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise?she was found with child of the Holy Ghost" - the seed of the woman, or, the One we've been waiting for.

Redemption came?

At the outset of Christ's ministry, John the Baptizer (in John 1:29) introduced the Lord Jesus as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Though not understood, or desired by them in this capacity, Christ came as the Sacrifice to end the need of all others.

Christ, by Himself, accomplished all that God the Father had sent Him to do. On the Cross, just before He died, He reported to His Father in Heaven, and for our sakes, that "It is finished" (John 19:30). The New Testament (which is the same as the "new covenant"), is what this part of the Bible is about. Christ told the Apostles, while in the Upper Room, that the Lord's Table was symbolic of "my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28).

In what way is Christ the end (the accomplishment) of all that was promised?

1. He was God's Chosen Sacrifice for all sin.

2. He satisfied God as a payment for all our sin. We know that because He arose from the dead.

3. If Christ's blood was not acceptable we would die in our sins.

3. He now sits at God's right hand - as Lord over all.

4. He is the High Priest of every believer.

5. He will, one day, destroy the enemy, and reign forever.

Why are the Gospels different and why is there four of them?

The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are simply four different witnesses to the fact that Christ, the One promised since the beginning of time, had come. Each of the Gospels is written looking at Christ from a different point of view.

"Matthew - Christ as King of the Jews, as promised to David.
"Mark - Christ as the perfect Servant of God.
"Luke - Christ as the Perfect Man - written to the Greeks.
"John - Christ as the Son of God.

Why do the Gospels seem to differ, even when referring to the same event?

This is easily understood, when looked at from a legal view. In a court of law, a witness' testimony may be thrown out, if two of them say the exact same thing about an event. No two witnesses ever see, or understand what they see, in exactly the same way. For this reason, plus the fact that God had a different theme for each of them, resulted in differing accounts. However, there is no contradiction between the Gospels in any matter. Simply, each of them record different parts of the whole. Therefore, to understand the whole event, the pieces need to be put together - they will fit, but, sometimes, a little more study may be needed.

What is the rest of the New Testament about?

"Acts - Known as the book of conversions it shows the church and its progression, how to be saved and enter the church (the kingdom) and their journeys, problems, successes along the way.

"Romans through Jude - Letters written to various individuals, or churches, that deal with further instructions for living, problems in the churches, and further revelation about God's plan for His people.

"Revelation - A book of hope for 1st century Christians who were severely persecuted because of there love for Christ. Assurance and victory for those who refused idol worship and the ways of the Roman world. Revelation is rich in Old Testament symbols and imagery. The book of revelation for the most part should not be taken literal. The first few chapters written to specific churches in Asia, the second part is war and conflict between good and evil, with the final chapters dealing with the second coming of Christ, judgment and eternal life for all.

Article Source : Difference Between Religion And Spirituality

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