Introduction to the New Testament

What is it? 27 different documents Written in Greek Gathered together and joined to the Old Testament This is the Bible as Christians know it

Relationship to Old Testament What is the Old Testament? Why is it called "Old" Predates revelation of Christ Do Jews call it old? Where is the New Testament in relationship to the Old?

Meaning of testament Testament is another word for covenant Thus this is a book about a new covenant E.g.s of Old Covenant? Jesus is the new covenant God makes with humanity Christians believe everything God promises us in the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus

Types of Writing What type of writing is in the NT? Gospels (4) gospel is a Greek word meaning good news Gospels are the specific gospels of the Bible Matt, Mark, Luke and John

A gospel Not meant to be read as a literal biography Try to explain the teachings of Jesus Only period thoroughly investigated is the last week of Jesus' life

Types of writing Second type of writing in the NT is HISTORY Especially history of the early church Acts of the Apostles is the only historical book in the NT Speaks of the spread of the Church up to Paul's visit to Rome

Types of writing The third type of writing are letters aka epistles (21) Written to various communities by famous apostles or their disciples Paul wrote most of the epistles

Types of writing Apocalypse (1) Highly symbolic book Signifies battle between God and Satan Evil is eventually defeated and God's kingdom becomes reality Book of Revelation

Daily life in the time of Christ

Major Groups Priests: Acted as mediators between God and humans Offered sacrifice in the temple High priest was very important politically E.g. Caiaphas

Major Groups Sadducees: elite upper class Were very strong politically and were committed to the Temple Didn't believe in life after death

Major Groups Pharisees: sect focusing on the law The Law governs daily life Rivals of Sadducees Believed life after death is possible

Major Groups Zealots: revolutionaries wanting to overthrow the Romans At odds with Jewish leaders because of their brutal tactics Generally from poorer classes

Major Groups Sanhedrin: group of community elders Priests, Pharisees and Sadducees Religious, political, judicial body

Major Groups Essenes: group that withdrew from society Believed society was impure Believed the messiah would soon arrive

Important places The Temple Destroyed when Israelites were exiled Rebuilt by Herod Handled sacrifice, prayer, governance

Important places Synagogues Place of daily, local worship

Politics and Culture Israel had been part of the Greek empire for years Heavy Greek influence Greek was the commercial language

Politics and culture Jews had a king - e.g. Herod Also a Roman governor - e.g. Pilate Romans asked only for taxes - didn't force conversions to their religion

Politics and culture Jews believed a messiah would deliver them Messiah: Hebrew for "anointed one" From David's line Would free Jews from foreign oppression NOT DIVINE BUT HUMAN - A human can't be God

The Gospels

What are they Four Gospels - who are the authors? Written at different times with different objectives No two gospels are exactly the same

Timeline Mark: AD Matthew: AD Luke: AD John: AD

Mark Tradition says Mark was a disciple of St. Peter (I.e. He never met Jesus) Written for gentile Christians, possibly in Rome Message: be faithful to Jesus - the road to heaven goes thru suffering

Matthew Matthew: Tax collector who became a disciple of Christ Matt probably not the author Written for Jewish converts to Christianity Message: Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecies

Luke Luke: Gentile Christian, doctor, friend of St. Paul (also didn't know Jesus) Writer uses brilliant, clear language Not from Palestine because of geography errors Written for non-Jewish Christians Message: Jesus can save everyone

John John: Disciple of Jesus Written for Jewish-Christians expelled from synagogues Interested in theology Message: Jesus is God and reveals his father

Synoptic Gospels Mark, Matthew and Luke are known as the SYNOPTIC GOSPELS Synoptic: Taking a common view These three gospels are very similar though not identical John nothing like the other three

Synoptic Problem How did this happen? Known as Synoptic Problem

Synoptic Problem Mark written first Luke and Matthew both used Mark and another source - the Q Source Q short for "Quelle" Material from Q is in Matt and Luke But not Mark

Q Source Q source thought to be a collection of sayings by Jesus No longer exists