The New Testament Overview

The New Testament Overview

Introduction

The New Testament is a collection of 27 books with different literary genres, authors, and teachings. Further, written for the early Christians, the New Testament accounts for Jesus’ life, his ministry on earth, and his passionate death. The main themes in the New Testament are derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose foundation is found in the Four Gospels. Other writers, such as Paul, built on the foundation created by the Gospels, advancing the teachings of Jesus Christ to include other elements, such as the role of women in society and the church. After the death of Jesus Christ and his ascension to heaven, the early Christians faced extreme persecution, which is well-documented in the New Testament. Books, such as Acts, tell of how the early Christians openly rejected the Roman Empire laws and Mosaic Torah in preference for the New Covenant, which Jesus had established while still alive on earth. The rejection of the Roman laws is well-documented in Revelation, which tells of a new rule that will ensue after Jesus Christ returns to the earth to rapture the church. Overall, the New Testament is an account of the birth, ministry, death, and second coming of Jesus Christ as a ruler in the End times. The extensive analysis of various themes, teachings, and life of early Christians explains how the New Testament was instrumental in shaping the Christian faith today, which significantly differs from the Old Testament Jewish observations of the Mosaic Law.

Literary Genres in the New Testament and Representative Books

The New Testament is a compilation of 27 books, which have different literary genres represented in their texts. The first four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are narratives. The books tell of the stories of Jesus Christ, from the time he was born, life on earth, mission, and passionate death. In the four gospels, Jesus is portrayed as a divine being who came to earth to fulfill his father’s purpose, God (DiVincenzo, 2014). For instance, in the Gospel of Matthew, the author narrates the genealogy of Jesus Christ, emphasizing that he came from a royal birthright, as manifested by his being a descendant of Abraham and David. Matthew also narrates how Jesus was born from a divine experience, as the Holy Spirit entered his mother, Mary, and he was conceived.

The author then narrates how, after the birth of Jesus, astrologers were guided to go seek him and pay homage to the savior.  Matthew later gives scanty details of Jesus’ teenage years and then focuses on his ministry towards the last years of his life on earth. The author explains how Jesus recruited the 12 disciples, his baptism, and subsequent teachings to the Jews, who primarily observed the Mosaic Law (Harris, 2015). Jesus is seen as challenging the Mosaic Law significantly, and his mission as the primary establisher of the New Covenant is manifested through his frequent conflicts with the Pharisees. Matthew then narrates how Jesus is betrayed by one of his disciples, his arrest, suffering before being crucified, death on the cross, and resurrection on the third day after his burial. Other Gospels, such as Mark, Luke, and John, basically give similar accounts as told by Matthew, except that Luke focuses on Jesus’ ministry on earth the most.

The New Testament also has other literary genres, such as letters that later early Christian teachers, such as Paul and Timothy, wrote to the early church. In these letters, early Christians are encouraged to continue fulfilling the mission of Jesus Christ on earth through observation of his teachings instead of Mosaic Laws. The letters also contain encouragement to early Christians, who faced imminent persecution after Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended to heaven. Further, the New Testament has other literary works, such as the parables that Jesus frequently used to teach his disciples about the kingdom of God, how to live as a true Christian, and salvation.  Furthermore, the New Testament has miracle stories of supernatural acts that Jesus performed while on earth, such as turning water into wine at the wedding of Cana. Moreover, the New Testament has prayers, such as the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and the Beatitudes. Lastly, the New Testament has metaphysical accounts, such as that manifested in the Gospel of John.

Differences in the Synoptic Gospels and Difference from John

The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, have almost similar teachings that centralize around the life and death of Jesus Christ. In these Gospels, Jesus is portrayed as a divine being who came to introduce a New Covenant on earth, which Christians practice to date. However, the authors of the synoptic gospels have different approaches to their narrations about the life of Jesus. For instance, of the four Gospels, only Matthew gives the background of Jesus Christ. Matthew is also the only author who gives a few details concerning the life of Jesus Christ while he was a teenager, such as the time he was lost at age 12 and his parents were frantically searching for him. Further, Matthew is the only objective author amongst the writers of the four gospels, frequently giving accounts of how Jesus openly defied the Mosaic Law. According to modern scholars, Mathew appears to have been in support of the Torah Laws, as manifested in his open criticism of how Jesus defied the Roman rules.

The Gospel of Mark also gives an account of Jesus’ life, works, and ministry on earth, except in brief form. Mark is the shortest of the four gospels and emphasizes most on Jesus’ teachings and death (Chilton, 2017). Furthermore, of the four gospels, Luke’s account is exceptional. Luke is the only author who focuses the most on Jesus’ mission on earth and gives the most accounts of his parables and miracles performed while alive. Luke supports Jesus’ open revolting towards the Roman laws and helps the early Christians understand the teachings of the savior the most (Attridge, n.d.). Matthew, Mark, and Luke are unique in that they centralize their focus on Jesus’ mission and death. John is unique because it presents Jesus as the manifestation of God’s words. When John starts his Gospel, he says that Jesus is the word of God and the son of God who came to fulfill his father’s mission. John also tells of his brief interaction with Jesus, such as when he baptized him. Therefore, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are unique, as they have different narrations of Jesus as explained.

Definition of the Gospel and how it spread in the First and Second Centuries

The term “Gospel” means “Good News” and was frequently used by early Christians. While Jesus was on earth, he spread the Gospel to Jews through his teachings, miracles, and parables. Jesus recruited the early Christians through the disciples and the Jews who followed his teachings before his death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. After Jesus died, his disciples started spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles. The disciples oversaw the formation of churches across Rome and remained resilient in their mission even though they regularly experienced persecution from Roman leaders (Harris, 2015). The Gospel was also spread through letters, which Paul and other early teachers wrote to churches across Rome and Greece, reminding the early Christians to remain steadfast in salvation even though they faced persecution at the time. When the Gospel reached the Gentiles and accepted it, it spread quickly to other regions. By the second century after Jesus’ death, Christianity had been adopted as the main religion in the Roman Empire.

Overview of the Ministry of Paul and Early Church Leaders

The New Testament gives an account of Paul’s ministry from the book of Acts and in the letters he wrote to early Christians. According to the New Testament, Paul acted as a teacher of the word of God, stamping the authority of Jesus’ teachings on earth. Paul regularly encouraged the early Christians to observe the teachings Jesus taught while on earth, such as the value of selflessness as a primary qualification to enter God’s kingdom. Further, it was Paul who encouraged early Christians to remain resilient and loyal to Christianity, even if they were facing extreme persecution from Roman Empire leaders at the time (Harris, 2015). Other early church leaders, such as Peter, also played the role of spreading the Gospel, using the teachings of Jesus as the background to their preaching. Paul also defined the role of women and men in the church through his teachings. For instance, Paul forbade women from preaching in church and made them in charge of hospitality. Paul also touched on vital elements, such as the role of women in the family and society, emphasizing that communities could be recruited into Christianity if early Christian women embodied the teachings of Jesus. Overall, Paul and the Early Teachers advanced the Gospel of Jesus Christ through preaching to the early church.

Pseudonymity and Early Hellenistic-Jewish Writers

Pseudonymity is using a false identity to write literary works and then present them as if written by someone else. This practice was common in the early Christian church, primarily after the deaths of the apostles and Paul. To date, modern scholars believe that some letters in the New Testament purported to have been written by Paul were not truly authored by the apostle (Harris, 2015). According to modern scholars, some individuals in the early Hellenistic-Jewish times wanted to encourage the church and Christians who came on later after the onset of the early church, which enjoyed leadership under Paul. These authors used pseudonyms to write content that is meant to encourage Christians today and said Paul had written it. The false authors formatted their content to match Paul’s, a common practice for early Hellenistic-Jewish writers.

Early Heresies of the Church and Ways in which it was fought against

The early church subscribed to Jesus’ teachings, which challenged the Mosaic Law significantly. For instance, Jesus taught that working on the Sabbath was not a sin and even used parables to emphasize the same. Often, the Pharisees conflicted with Jesus because he performed miracles even on the Sabbath day, yet according to them, this was work. The early church followed Jesus’ instructions and often conducted healing services and evangelism activities on the Sabbath, as they had learned from their master. Jesus also taught that women had a place in society and gave them a voice, such as when dining with Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sister. Moreover, the early Christians identified Jesus as their supreme ruler, teachings that angered Roman authorities significantly. As such, the early church was persecuted for its belief in Jesus’ teachings and adherence to the same. Moreover, the early church spread the word that Jesus had died and resurrected, a teaching that did not impress Roman authorities (Loke, 2020). The early church was subjected to extreme persecution, with members being frequently arrested and imprisoned. According to modern scholars, except for Judas Iscariot, the eleven disciples died in cruel ways. Some of the disciples were beheaded, stoned, or crucified upside down. Additionally, some of Jesus’ disciples were boiled in hot oil, and some were banished to islands that were inhabitable. Therefore, the early church experienced challenges, as explained.

Imagery and Literary Characteristics of Apocalyptic Writings

In the New Testament, the early Christians frequently discussed the apocalypse and anticipated it. Jesus had promised that even though the early church experienced challenges, He would come back and capture them in the end times and take them to heaven, where they would never experience suffering. However, if the early church refused to remain pure, it would burn in hell forever. In the end times, Jesus would come and destroy the current earth and create a new one (Harris, 2015). The apocalyptic teachings are well-expounded in Revelation, with intimate descriptions of how the church would enjoy in heaven, living with the angels forever. Therefore, Revelation is the crescendo of the New Testament and completes the mission of infant Jesus presented in Matthew. In Revelation, Jesus comes back like a king who has the golden scepter and rules the earth forever while having the power to punish the mockers of the early church.

References

Attridge, H. W. (n.d.). The Gospel of Luke. Frontline. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/luke.html

Chilton, B. (2017). Who wrote the Gospel of Mark? Cross-Examined.org. https://crossexamined.org/wrote-gospel-mark/

DiVincenzo, A. (2014). Chapter 6: The Wisdom and Power of God. In The Beginning of Wisdom: An Introduction to Christian Thought and Life (pp. 1-11).

Harris, S. L. (2015). The New Testament: A student’s introduction (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Loke, A. (2020). Investigating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies, 1-244. https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/d8fc22e1-1240-40be-83f0-0890ef5570b0/9780367477561_text.pdf

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You will need to write a comprehensive APA Analysis paper utilizing all the knowledge you have gained in our New Testament course. Please make sure to implement topics from Units 5, as well as the content from Units 1-4, into your final paper for the entire course.

Be sure and cover topics such as:

The literary genres of the New Testament and their representative books
The differences in the Synoptic Gospels and the ways in which they differ from the Gospel of John
A definition of the Gospel message and how it was spread throughout the region in the first and second centuries
Overview of the ministry of Paul and the other early Church leaders
Definition of the term pseudonymity and explain its practice among Hellenistic-Jewish and early Christian writers.
Early heresies of the church and the ways in which they were fought against
The imagery and literary characteristics of Apocalyptic writings, particularly those found in the Revelation of John