the Bible: God's message to us part 3
As you read through the Bible you'll find that there are some
definite
differences between the Old and New Testaments. One difference is that
while the Old Testament books were written over a period of
hundreds
of years, the New Testament books were written during a period of only
about 50 years during the first century.
Another difference is found in the languages used to write the
two
Testaments. While the Old Testament was written in Hebrew (and a little
Aramaic, a then-common language), the New Testament was written
entirely in Greek.
However, the Greek used in writing the New Testament wasn't the
"classical" Greek
found among the poets and writers of that time. The New Testament was
written in
koine Greek (the common language of that day) which
made it available to anyone who knew the language and wanted
access to
God's Word.
However, there is at least one similarity between the Old and New
Testaments. Like the Old Testament, the books of the New Testament can
also be divided in many different ways.
Over the years the New Testament books have traditionally been split up
along these lines…
The
Gospels
The Gospels consist of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
the first four books of the New Testament. The word "gospel" means
"good news" and these books detail the good news of Jesus' life,
ministry, and the sacrifice
that He made on our behalf.
Now people sometimes wonder why there are four gospels instead
of just
one.
After all, wouldn't it be easier to simply make one biography of
Jesus'
life and put everything in it? Well to answer that question,
it's
been said that the four gospel writers can be compared to four guys
taking notes at a lecture. Each
one will hear the same exact
lecture but each will record it in a slightly different way.
For example, one note-taker might take notes in a way that would help
explain the lecture to other students who were not familiar with the
lecturer or the course. This would be characteristic of
Matthew who wrote his gospel mainly for the benefit of a Jewish
audience. Another might take shorter notes
while concentrating on general subjects and defining unfamiliar terms.
This kind of approach would be a feature of Mark's gospel.
Someone else might take very detailed notes, making sure to list things
like times, dates, places and events. This type of note-taking would be
distinctive of Luke's gospel. A
fourth person might jot down what the lecturer said along with it's
meaning and application. This would be
a feature of John's gospel which often tells us not only what Jesus
said, but
also what
He meant.
When you take the four gospels together, you find that you get a really
good representation of Jesus'
ministry because each writer presents different aspects of
His life and teachings.
The
Historical Book
While the Gospels are sometimes included in this category, the main
historical book in the New Testament is the book of
Acts. Acts provides us with an ongoing account of
the church from it's
very beginnings up until about the early
'60's AD. The book of Acts was written by Luke and was originally the
2nd part of
a two-part volume that included his gospel (see Acts 1:1).
The book of Acts can be separated into two distinct sections. The first
section
covers chapters 1 through 12 and the second section covers chapters 13
through 28. In the first
section we read of Jesus' ascension
to heaven followed by the move of God's Holy Spirit found in
chapter 2. From there, we
go on to see how God worked through men like Peter, Philip, Barnabas,
and Stephen (the first person who ever died for believing in Jesus) to
build and establish His church.
In the second section of Acts, God's ministry through Paul the
Apostle
takes center stage. From approximately 46 AD to 62 AD, Paul traveled
throughout the known
world preaching the gospel and setting up churches. Paul made four
major missionary trips during this time that you can read about in the
book of Acts. Some passages in this section are written using terms
like "we" and "us" which indicates that Luke personally lived
out the history that he was writing of in the book of Acts.
The book of Acts gives us a good historical record of early
Christianity. It helps us understand what God's church should
be
like and demonstrates God's ability to work in every
situation.
The
Epistles
The Epistles (or "letters") make up the third major section of the New
Testament. Like some portions of the Old Testament, the Epistles can
also be subdivided into smaller sections. 13 of the 21 Epistles were
written by
the Apostle Paul and thus are called the Pauline Epistles.
The letters
written by Paul are Romans, 1
& 2 Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
1 & 2
Thessalonians, 1 & 2
Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
The
remaining eight epistles were
written by others (the writer of the book of
Hebrews remains uncertain, although many believe
that it was written by Paul). Among these eight remaining books are
seven
(James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2, 3 John
and Jude) that are called the
General Epistles because they were generally
written to be shared among many Christians and not just one specific
local church.
The Epistles are extremely valuable because they answer questions that
are still being asked by people today. They deal with such diverse
subjects as sexuality, government, ethics, gossip, the end of the world,
and much, much more.
The Prophetic Book
Like the Historical section of the New Testament, the
Prophetic section also has one entry: the book of
Revelation. Revelation was written by a man named
John who is
believed to be the same
person who wrote the Gospel bearing that name. The Greek word
for
revelation
means "an unveiling" and that definition perfectly describes the book
of Revelation. In it, God reveals things about the future that
no one could know without His help.
Some of the events described in the book of Revelation are certainly
scary, but they shouldn't really be scary to the people of God. If
you're
someone who is on Jesus'
side, then you have nothing to fear from the terrible events described
in this book.
The good news is that Revelation also tells us that evil will
eventually be overthrown and God's people will spend eternity together
with Him in a new heaven and earth
(Revelation 21:1). This should encourage every believer to join with
John in repeating the Bible's very last words:
"Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20)
Next: How The Bible Was Developed
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Except as indicated, all Scriptural references taken from The
Living Bible, © 1971, Tyndale House Publishers Back
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