...Bible Book Summaries New Testament Matthew Matthew is that of the gospel genre. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The book of Matthew proclaims the good news that God is Emmanuel ("God with us"), that Jesus is God's Messiah whose teaching, healing, suffering, death, and resurrection now constitute a new disciple community, and that this Jesus Messiah, with all power and authority, commissions this community with the promise that he will be with them forever. Matthew uses the OT to clearly show that Jesus fulfilled the words of the OT prophets. Matthew showed the Jewish the love Christ had for them. Matthew intended to show through his recordings such as the Sermon on the Mount, and a collection of parables spoken by Jesus, as well as the arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, that Jesus was the true prophesied Messiah for the Jewish people. Luke Luke is that of the gospel genre. Luke is known for being one of the most beautiful books of the Bible. The book of Luke compares Jesus to that of the gospels. His accounts start with a brief insight to the parents of Jesus, the birth of His cousin, and John the Baptist. Luke also records the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, where the birth of Jesus took place, and a genealogical record of Jesus through His mother, Mary. Luke also records some of the more narrative stories of Jesus, displaying His love and compassion for forgiveness, such as The Prodigal Son, The Rich Man and Lazarus,...
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...Cortlandt Watkins Rel 212-83 Essay1 December 9, 2013 The Rich Fool I have chosen to write my paper on the parable of the rich fool. This parable is about a rich man that has a abundance of grain. So much grain that he has nowhere to store the overflow. He decides that he is going to knock down the barnes the he currently owns and build bigger and better barnes. After doing this he now has enough space to store all of his extra grains. The rich fool sits back and says to himself I have stored up enough grains to last me for years to come. “But God says to him, You fool! this very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself(NLT Luke 12:20)? The reason that Jesus began to give this parable to the people was based on a quarrel that two brothers were having about land that the little brother wanted to be devided between the two of them. Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (NLT Luke 12-13). Based on the parable of the “Rich Fool”, the original audience would have probally understood this as don’t plan for the future due to the fact that tomorrow is not promised. And they may have felt that is was sin or frowned upon by God for man to have and abundance of anything. Jesus uses the opportunity provided to him by the man and his brother to talk about greed and possessions here on earth. Jesus tells the people that if they store up matieral for the future and value...
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...Dustin Isais Professor Shakir American Literature I 29 September 2013 The New [World] Testament It's quite clear based on the literature of the day that the exploration of and expansion into the New World was seen as the ultimate epic of Christendom for 17th century Europeans. The ideation of the New World being an exotic land inhabited by savage natives guarding precious metals and herbs permeates colonial literature without question. Further, letters and journals of explorers like Thomas Hariott and John Smith along with colonists such as William Bradford and John Winthrop illustrate the unsettling mentality these people brought with them into the Americas. The depiction is of a self-important people driven by a misconstrued ancient text and motivated to fulfill their purpose as the chosen people of the sacred Bible. The commonality throughout the literature of settlement and exploration is purely driven by European hermeneutics and the persistence on becoming the antitype of the types present in the Bible. The New World ideation begins with Thomas Harriot's propagandistic A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia.Harriot wrote optimistically and full of awe despite reocurring issues between the English and the natives of the New World. In fact, the escalating violence and rising tensions between the two is rarely mentioned. A misleading and cryptic sentence alluding to the less-than-peaceful circumstances reads, “And although some of our cmpany towards the...
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...B111 New Testament Task: B Rebecca Chambers 1st March 2016 Explore how the use of the body metaphor in the ancient world impacts interpretation and application of Paul’s body of Christ motif in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, proposing at least one implication for the church today. Word Count: 1500 Contents Introduction 3 Historical context of Paul’s writings 3 Why Paul wrote his letter to the Church of Corinth 4 Body metaphor in the Ancient World 5 Interpretation, application and implication of 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 6 Conclusion 7 Bibliography 8 Introduction “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Cor 12:12). This essay will explain how Paul’s body of Christ motif was informed by the body metaphor in the ancient world. It will also explore how it was applied to the church of Corinth and understood by them in their contemporary cultural setting. Furthermore, it will examine the reason for Paul writing this epistle at the time, focusing on his desire to cultivate a more Christocentric community in Corinth. Lastly it will draw on the ancient texts that influenced Paul’s writing on the body of Christ and look at the implications of this for the Church today. Historical context of Paul’s writings Paul was an outstanding leader of the early Church and a person of many gifts. He was the leading missionary and theological teacher of his time and through his letters was the most prolific...
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...CHHI 301, Research Paper 1 The New Testament Canon I have asked myself many times the question of where the bible came from. Was it divine prophesies, or was it simply a mish mash of letters, writings, and books all crammed together into one volume. How and when it was decided which books and letters was would be included, and who decided that? In this paper we will discuss how the New Testament was put together and the origins of the New Testament Canon. The New Testament is a very young document that dates from around 1,900 to 2000 years old. This may seem like a long time ago, but compared to the age of the Old Testament, and other recorded ancient writing it is really pretty recent. It is commonly accepted by most rational thinking people that the Bible as we currently have it today, didn’t just appear one day, but was put together by many different writers, and by many different scholars. So this begs the real question how did the current New Testament come to being and who besides God was behind the publication of the New Testament Canon. I will try in this research paper to paint a picture of how the New Testament Canon came to be, who was involved and what the process was that was used to select the books that were ultimately used. Most scholars agree that the early writers were not aware, or even intended to have books or letters published in the New Testament, they were simply writing to a specific audience. As an example when Paul wrote...
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...Bible Book Summaries New Testament Matthew Matthew is that of the gospel genre. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The book of Matthew proclaims the good news that God is Emmanuel ("God with us"), that Jesus is God's Messiah whose teaching, healing, suffering, death, and resurrection now constitute a new disciple community, and that this Jesus Messiah, with all power and authority, commissions this community with the promise that he will be with them forever. Matthew uses the OT to clearly show that Jesus fulfilled the words of the OT prophets. Matthew showed the Jewish the love Christ had for them. Matthew intended to show through his recordings such as the Sermon on the Mount, and a collection of parables spoken by Jesus, as well as the arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, that Jesus was the true prophesied Messiah for the Jewish people. Luke Luke is that of the gospel genre. Luke is known for being one of the most beautiful books of the Bible. The book of Luke compares Jesus to that of the gospels. His accounts start with a brief insight to the parents of Jesus, the birth of His cousin, and John the Baptist. Luke also records the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, where the birth of Jesus took place, and a genealogical record of Jesus through His mother, Mary. Luke also records some of the more narrative stories of Jesus, displaying His love and compassion for forgiveness, such as The Prodigal Son, The Rich Man and Lazarus,...
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...The New Testament begins with a collection of four books known as the Gospels. These books together give a complete account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospels consist of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. While these are four different books they are all telling the same story. The word "gospel” actually translates to mean "good news,” which is exactly what is contained in the these four books as they tell the story of Jesus's time on Earth. Each book gives a different vantage point of Christ's ministry. One of the most important things to understand about these books is the time period in which they were written. Once the reader understands the historical circumstances surrounding these writings they then have the...
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...Summary of the Books of the New Testament Books The Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second book in the Gospels and is easily considered a Gospel. It was written by Mark, cousin of Barnabas and companion of Peter the apostle. This Gospel covers the events that took place and the run-ins that people had with the resurrected Jesus. Mark deals more with the miracles Christ performed than the other gospels. It starts with John the Baptist and Jesus’ baptism then goes on speaking of the moment when Satan had to test Jesus and he sent him away into the wilderness for forty days then comes out triumphant. The final section of the book completes with the empty tomb. It focuses a lot on the last week of Christ’s life in Jerusalem. The recipients of this Gospel that Mark aimed for was the suffering church and it was written around 60 or 70 ad and is the earliest of the canonical gospels. Acts The next book in the New Testament is Acts and it has a narrative history to it and includes several sermons. There are many key characters in the book of Acts such as Peter, Paul, John, James, Stephan, Barnabus, Timothy, Lidia, Silas, and Apollos. This is the conclusion to the Gospel of Luke and was also written by Luke because he wanted to tell the story of how the believers were empowered by the Holy Spirit and worked to spread the Gospel of Christ. It tells of how the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to take Christ’s message forward to the ends of the...
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...New Testament Research Paper REL 112: Introduction to New Testament Zondervan’s Pictorial Bible Dictionary Introduction This bible dictionary was originally copyrighted in 1963. The dictionary begins with a brief introduction about the author and General Editor of the Dictionary, Dr. Merrill C. Tenney. Dr. Tenney was a professor and scholar of Theological Studies at Wheaton College. The preface highlights how it is organized and designed for efficient access to all aspects of the Bible and includes multiple illustrations and pictures. It lists over five thousand entries in alphabetical order from sixty-five contributors with a predominant background of Theology. It also includes scholars from other backgrounds such as zoology and medicine. The list of contributors includes the individual’s highest level of professional degree obtained along with their current professional title and role. There is also an authorship listing of published works by each individual. Although the basis of this dictionary is from a conservative perspective, it acknowledges the individual writer is not restricted from including their views and thoughts and that they are responsible for their writings. The dictionary was designed for use not for scholars, but for ordinary individuals, ministers and Sunday School Teachers that want to further investigate and understand their readings. It provides a reference list of abbreviations for English pronunciation of vowels...
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...New Testament Controversies | June 12 2014 | This Project presents 5 Controversial verses in the New Testament breaks them down by saying what they mean, and how we should interpret it. You can say it is like a lesson study, which helps people who are confused. | Decrypting the Encrypted | The Bible contains many controversial verses in it. This does not mean that they are not the truth. Today we are going to examine the context of five controversial Bible verses in order to see what is actually being said, either metaphorically, allegorically or literally. Before you continue reading all the verses are quoted from the NIV. * Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Does Jesus really mean that we should hate our parents, our siblings, and our children? What is He saying? Jesus was speaking to the crowd about discipleship. He was stressing the importance of putting God first above everyone, including family. Humans have a tendency to idolize their family and so he was saying that anyone that would become Jesus’ disciple must count the cost and it is supremely high and if a believer is to trust in Christ, they should renounce everyone and everything for His sake, even family. When Jesus was speaking to the crowd one man told him that his mother and brothers wanted to see Him but Jesus said “Who is my mother, and who are my...
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...Introduction Serving the Christian community is the mandate for service that comes directly from Jesus' teachings. In Mark 9:33-34, we are told that the disciples were arguing about which of them was the greatest. Jesus response to this was that "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." Jesus Himself lived an exemplary life in serving others .In John 13, Jesus began washing His disciple's feet to demonstrate that even though He was Lord and Master, His role was also to be a servant to all and one must serve to be like Him. When He was asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus said; that the Greatest is to love God, and the second is to love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:34-40). The reason why serving the Christian community is so important, it has to do with the nature of God. In 1 John 4:7, as well as in other places, we are told that, "God is love." In verses 20-21 we are told the impact. "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. One must note that, if we have authentic love for others, then serving in the Christian community would become appealing. Overall, the reason for serving the Christian community is because through His love Christ gave His life that we might be able to live with Him and He wants us to share that love with others by serving in whatever ways we can.Mother Teresa states that: ...
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...Old and New Testament Exegesis The author of Daniel intended to restore hope to the nation of Israel during a time of horrifying persecution. This was done through a combination of narrative stories and apocalyptic revelations, both involving the wise and religious character known as Daniel. The lessons of faithfulness and obedience throughout the book transcend generations and still affect readers today. The setting of Daniel takes place during the “Babylonian exile” within the “courts of Babylonian, Median, and Persian kings” (Collins 33). This exile took place the around the sixth century B.C. Contrary to the setting, though, “critical scholarship has established that the book actually comes from the 2nd century B.C.” (33). During this era, the Jewish population was persecuted by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who went so far as to desecrate the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by constructing a statue to the Greek god Zeus, much like King Nebuchadnezzar does in chapter 3 (Porteous 57). The biggest clue that Bible scholars notice when questioning the authorship is how accurate the succession of kingdoms is mentioned throughout the book. The author’s ability to hint at events that occur centuries after Daniel’s lifespan lead scholars to suspect an alternative author (Jeffrey 349). The book of Acts seems so straight forward as a mere history of the early Church that one can hardly imagine the controversy behind the tedious details in the critical examination...
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...Summary of the books of the New Testament Mark Mark is the first written gospel of the New Testament. Mark is not an apostle, nor is he one of the disciples. It is traditionally thought that Mark is a disciple of Peter. It is unclear as to where Mark was when he wrote this gospel. The gospel of Mark appears to set the stage or pattern for the other written gospels as it may have been used as a source in the composition of Matthew and Luke. Mark uses narrative form to tell the story of Jesus’ life, beginning with His early career continuing until His death. Mark uses stories about Jesus’ teachings, travels, and miraculous works to aid the understanding of His intentions. Mark focuses on the death of Jesus and all the events that led up to the crucifixion. Thus, it is the death of Jesus that is the guiding principle of this gospel, not the life. Many important facts are presented Mark. First, Jesus Christ is the Messiah as stated throughout the Old Testament. Second, Jesus lived a sinless and perfect life, proving He was the Son of God as he claimed. Third, the Gospel tells of His numerous miracle-performing capabilities. Most importantly, Jesus overcame death through His resurrection. In this miraculous event, He proves that there is no power that can conquer Him. The gospel of Mark gives perfect instructions on how God’s people should live; having faith (Mark 2:5), believing in the power of God (Mark 5:36), replacing fear with trust (Mark 4:40), following...
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...In completing a hundred percent of my reading for session two, I have learned about the important factors of having the four Gospels in the New Testament. "The books called Gospels deal with the life and ministry of Jesus." P.150 Though each of these books hold a significant value of information on thier own the unity of four gospel books multiples the quality of its value. Having the four authors of Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) be a narrator of who Jesus was and what he did, allows us to encounter who God is in a varity of standpoints. "They give us proclamations and instructions written from theological standpoints." P.150Having the four perspectives provide more of a complete picture of Jesus. Through the four Gospels we can get...
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...The Nature and Significance of the New Testament Marshall Suddarth Indiana Wesleyan University New Testament by Definition. As defined the New Testament is “the second part of the Christian Bible comprising the canonical Gospels and Epistles and also the book of Acts and book of Revelation” (Merrium-Webster.com, 2015); however, the meaning goes much deeper than that. It is the testimonial recollection of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ; a guide to salvation and eternal life. The New Testament is the canonization of several manuscripts written over a fairly large period of time after the death of Christ. A process of study, group debate, and political influences brought the New Testament to the twenty-seven books we see today. While some debate still exist as to the authorship of the individual books, most believe that God directed the early founders of Christianity to form the text as a basis for others to find the truth of God and Christ. Canonization. Early founders of the church consisted of multicultural backgrounds, each with its own set of political influences, cultures, and belief structures. The word of Christ was very important as a common theme; however, the authority and authorship of the individual works was just as important (Schenck, 2010). Early founders of the book we currently see as the Bible wanted the scripture to be a true recollection of the original testimony of Christ’s life, and the purpose for which he died and was resurrected. To do...
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