The Bible For Dummies
The New Testament

OVERVIEW: The New Testament of the Bible covers the events from the birth of Jesus, his teachings and healings and miracles, to his death and resurrection… also covers the early Church, Paul’s letters to various early church communities, and the fantastical book of Revelation.

QUIZ
1. What is Jesus’ last name?
2. What is the last book of the Bible?
3. What are the four Gospels?
4. How many brothers and sisters did Jesus have?
5. Who baptized Jesus? How old was Jesus at the time (Luke)? WHY Jesus??
6. What years of Jesus’ life are missing from the Bible?
7. What was Jesus first miracle?
8. What are the two greatest “commandments” according to Jesus?

NEW TESTAMENT THOUGHTS

1. The word “gospel” comes from “god-spell” meaning: Good News, or good tidings. This word comes from the Greek “euangelion” where we get the words for: evangelists, evangelism and evangelical (ELCA) – those who believe and proclaim their faith in Christ.

2. The names attached to the Gospels were not originally connected to them – but were added later based on the traditions of those who wrote them, as well as evidence from the Gospels themselves. Many of these early works were written anonymously, so readers would focus on the readings themselves and not the authors.

3. Matthew, Mark and Luke are the synoptic gospels (to view together) and John is the fourth Gospel. They have many similarities, but some differences as well:

• MATTHEW – Jesus is seen as the “fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. Far from being a break from the Jewish faith, Jesus is consistent with and brings the Jewish faith to completion… Jesus is the new Moses.
• MARK – Jesus is the suffering Son of God. Jesus should have been received with honor, but instead was humiliated and suffered and died to pay for human’s wrongdoing. Jesus keeps his identity a secret from those who don’t believe in him.
• LUKE – Jesus is the Savior of the world. Jesus’ life and teachings were for everyone (Jew/non-Jew, slave/free, male/female). Jesus interacts with outsiders a lot like the poor, women and foreigners.
• JOHN – Jesus is the External One from heaven. John underscores Jesus has being external from us and having a divine nature. John is much more theological and philosophical than the other Gospels.

4. The early church “named God” The Trinity – not three gods, but one God in three persons. Those who formulated this doctrine even called it a “mystery.” But they also believed that it was our best attempt of explaining the evidence of the New Testament. This has tremendous implications on how you understand Jesus’ life… God himself came to earth as “His Son” and following his death and resurrection stayed with us as His own “Holy Spirit.”

5. Messiah comes from the Hebrew word for “anointed one.” In Greek, this is “christos” – hence the “name” Jesus Christ.

6. Incarnation: God becoming flesh in Jesus Christ… Annunciation: The birth announcement of the angel Gabriel to Mary… Sanctification: How we live out our holy-ness in our daily lives… Resurrection: The rising from the dead of our Lord Jesus (as opposed to resuscitation)… Justification: being justified under the law of God.

7. We do not know the exact date of Jesus’ birth. The determination of BC (before Christ) or AD (anno Domini – “year of our Lord”) was calculated in the sixth century… and the scholar who did the calculations (Dionysius Exiguus) missed by a few years… most scholars place Jesus’ birth around 5 or 6 BC – mainly due to Herod the Great was alive, and Herod died in 4 BC. (*Christmas replaced the Roman festival of Saturnalia which celebrated the winter solstice… so the birthday of the “sun” was replaced with the birthday of the “son.” Saturnalia used such symbols as: evergreen trees, mistletoe, holly, candles and gift-giving).

8. Does the Bible proclaim a Baptism by immersion, or was Jesus baptized by putting water on his head? (Is it important which we believe?)

9. The three temptations: provision (stones to bread), protection (jump off pinnacle) and power (worship me, I’ll give you the world).

10. Jesus calls disciples to be “fishers of people.” The fish became one of the earliest Christian symbols – the Greek letters for the word “fish” also stand for: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. Look on the back of cars!

11. Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law of God, but to fulfill it… and he does this by actually expanding the Law of God (murder/anger, adultery/lust). So what role does the Law play in our life, in our faith, or in our salvation?

Posted by Pastor Rick Stieve on November 13th, 2009