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The designation given to the second half of the King James Bible is “the New Testament,” which plainly means the “the New Covenant.” The word covenant is described in this manner: “an arrangement made by one party, which the other party involved, could accept or reject but could not alter.” The Old Testament primarily reports the beginning of humankind and God’s communication with Israel on the covenant given to Moses at Mt. Sinai.
Exodus 24:1-8: "And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words."
The New Testament illustrates the new creation of man through Christ Jesus based on the New Covenant:
Luke 22:14-20: "And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."
2 Corinthians 3:6-11: "Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious."
The Old Covenant gives a detailed revealing of the holiness of God in the right standing of the Law and gave a picture and promise of the coming Messiah—the Redeemer of humankind. The New Covenant gives a picture of the holiness of God through the righteousness of His Glorious Son. Thus the New Testament includes the writings, which give us the New Covenant.
The significance of the New Testament Centers around:
1. The one who gave Himself for the remission of sins, Jesus Christ
2. The people (church) who have received the salvation of Christ.
Thus, the fundamental premise of the New Testament is salvation. The Gospels establish the Savior, Christ Jesus. The book, which is called the Acts of the Apostles, describes the spread of the good news concerning Christ’s gift of salvation, through a large part of the Mediterranean world during the first century A.D. The Epistles (letters) give particulars of the blessings salvation brings, and the Revelation gives a foretaste of the culmination of salvation.
The New Testament is an arrangement of 27 books written by nine authors going under the assumption that Paul did not write Hebrews. The writing of the New Testament books covers a period of about 50 years. The books of the New Testament logically fall into four categories:
1. The Gospels: In the Gospels we find the description of the life and times of Jesus Christ. The Gospels were written later than most of the New Testament books but since they speak mainly of the birth and life of Christ, they were properly placed at the beginning.
2. 2. The Acts of the Apostles is the account of the church and the spread of Christianity all over the Mediterranean world.
3. 3. The books from Romans through Jude (21 letters) detail mostly the life of Paul and his missionary trips to the churches.
4. 4. The Revelation describes the victorious triumph of Jesus.
The actual order of writing of the books of the New Testament according to time written is like this:
All dates are A.D.
1. James 45-50
2. Galatians 49
3. 1 and 2 Thessalonians 51
4. Mark 50’s
5. 1 Corinthians 56
6. 2 Corinthians 57
7. Romans 58
8. Luke 60
9. Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon 61
10. Acts 61
11. Matthew 60’s
12. 1 Timothy 63
13. 1 Peter 63
14. Titus 65
15. 2 Timothy 66
16. 2 Peter 66
17. Hebrews 64-68
18. Jude 70-80
19. John 85-90
20. 1,2,3 John 90
21. Revelation 90’s
The books of the New Testament were not collected as a book over a period of a few years instead it took over 350 years to gather the books of the New Testament. The church collected and scrutinized the books as to authorship, spiritual content, inspired by God and its reception by the churches. The Council of Carthage finally approved the canon of the New Testament in 327 A.D. No original canon of the New Testament remains today although more than 8,000 Latin manuscripts, 4,500 Greek manuscripts and around 1000 various manuscripts do exist from which we get our translations.
The beginning of the New Testament is similar in nature to the beginning of the Old Testament. It is a beginning of life. In the Old Testament God creates life:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
In the New Testament a life is born, that gives life:
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS."
The Gospels begin the New Testament. The word Gospel means ‘good news.’ The good news contained in the Gospels is the news of the birth of a savior and the doorway to salvation for all humankind.
Christianity was quickly spreading across the Mediterranean countries leaving a need for written accounts of the life and ministry of the Messiah. Many of the first hand witnesses to the accounts of Christ’s life were getting old and death was imminent for them so written accounts of the events were recorded for future generations.
Although many other Gospels exist, only four of them were deemed holy. The four deemed worthy of inclusion in the New Testament were written earlier than the other Gospels. The basis for not including the other Gospels as holy Words of God is due to the whimsical and fêted writing style. Many of the Gospels not included contain stories that differ greatly from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Many of the other Gospel writings contain references that promote sectarian and heretical viewpoints. Each of the included Gospels were written by Apostles and directed toward individual groups of people:
1. Matthew for the Jews
2. 2. Mark for the Romans
3. 3. Luke for the Gentiles
4. 4. John for the Christians
Three of the Gospels contain stories that are parallel to each other and these are called the Synoptic Gospels coming from the root word, synopsis, meaning viewing together. The events in these three books show the life and ministry of Christ with all but 31 verses of Mark having parallels in Luke or in Matthew. Most of the material in the Gospel of John is exclusive and formatted in discourses to the Christians. The four books of the Gospels are complimentary to each other and to the redemptive life and ministry of Christ.
Resources:
KJV Holy Bible
NIV Holy Bible, Thompson Chain Study Reference
New Jerusalem Bible
Matthew Henry Commentary
Darby Commentary
RSV Holy Bible
Barclay’s Commentary
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