Introduction to the New Testament

The books from Matthew through Revelation are called the New Testament because they present the new covenant that Jesus made.  Old Testament prophets had predicted the establishment of this new covenant.

There are twenty-seven books in the New Testament.  You can easily remember this number by counting the letters in the words New Testament.  There are three letters in the word New, and nine letters in the word Testament.  Three times nine is twenty-seven.  These books were written by eight authors over a period of approximately one hundred years.  The men used by the Holy Spirit for this work were Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude.

The New Testament is divided into 5 sections: The four Gospels; one book of History; The fourteen Pauline Epistles; The seven General Epistles; and one book of Prophecy.

It is vitally important to recognize the purpose of each book, and to whom it was written.  This saves much misinterpretation of scriptures.

The first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are often called the four gospels.  These books present a biography of the Life of Christ.  They describe the details of His birth, His ministry, death, burial, and resurrection.

1.  Matthew

            Matthew seemed to be addressing the Jewish readers, and presented a strong emphasis on Jesus Christ as the Messiah predicted by the Old Testament prophets.

2.  Mark

            Mark seemed to have had Gentile readers in mind, and stressed the supernatural power of Jesus, demonstrating His divinity by the miracles He performed.  This book emphasizes the things that Jesus said by the thing which he did.

3.  Luke

            Luke presented Jesus as the Son of God, but turned his attention especially to the humanity of Jesus, featuring His compassion for the weak, the suffering, and the outcast.

4.  The Synoptic Gospels

            The first three gospels are sometimes called the synoptic gospels, meaning that they take a common view, of order of the events surrounding the Life of Christ.  While each book was ultimately intended for all of mankind, Matthew seems to have had foremost in his mind the Jew, Mark, the Roman (Gentile), and Luke the Greek.  Why was this?

a.  Matthew and Scripture

            The Jewish mind had been diligently indoctrinated with the Scriptures.  Jews were taught to view everything form a scriptural perspective.  Matthew, again and again, quotes from the Old Testament in support of his claim that Jesus was the Messiah.

b.  Mark and Authority

            The Roman mind focused on governmental authority and power.  Mark, therefore, stressed the miracles of Christ, emphasizing His supernatural authority over all things.

c.  Luke and the Glorious Perfection of Jesus

            The Greek mind was attracted to culture, philosophy, wisdom, reason, beauty, and education.  Luke, presented a complete, orderly, and classical story, in what has been called “the most beautiful book every written”.  The Book of Luke revealed the glorious beauty and perfection of the ideal man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

5.  John and the Deity of Jesus

            John balanced the other three gospels by his special emphasis on the deity of Jesus.  His book began in much the same way the Book of Genesis started.  He revealed that Jesus Christ was the Word made flesh, and that He was from the very beginning, God the creator of all things.  John stressed the things Jesus said, rather than what He did.  Someone has said, “The others were anxious to record, John was eager to interpret”.

6.  Acts

            The first four books of the New Testament present a history, or biography, of the Life of Christ.  The next book, Acts, gives a history of the early church.  The first chapter continues the story of the last moments of Christ while He remained on the earth, then records the establishment of the church in Jerusalem.  There the Promise of the Father (the Holy Ghost) was poured out upon the waiting believers in (Acts 2:1-4).  The establishment of the church was prophesied in the gospels (Matthew 16:13-19), and accomplished in Acts.  While the heading supplied by the printers of the Bible reads “The Acts of the Apostles”, a more proper wording might be the Acts or History of the Early Church.  To understand how the church was founded and what one must do to be in the church, it is necessary to study the Book of Acts.  This book records the history of how the New Testament Church was born.

7.  The Epistles

            The next twenty-one books are epistles or letters, written to the believers in the churches, telling them how to live the victorious Christian life.  The epistles are not written to tell one how to be saved, they are written to people who are already saved.  They teach the church how to stay saved, and how to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

a.  The Pauline Epistles

            Paul wrote the first 14 books of the epistles.  They are called the Pauline Epistles, because they were written by the Apostle Paul.  Paul wrote a letter to the church at Rome, two letters to the church at Corinth, one to the church at Galatia, one to the Church at Ephesus, and so forth.  Within the Pauline Epistles are three books commonly called the Pastoral Epistles, I Timothy, II Timothy, and Titus.  They are called pastoral because they offer instructions concerning leadership in the churches.

b.  The General Epistles

            The next seven books, James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John, and Jude are called the General Epistles, because they are written to the church at large, or in general.  Each of these books bear the name of the author.

8.  Prophecy

            Finally, the Book of Revelation stands in a class by itself.  It is largely prophetic in nature, although it begins with an address to seven of the churches located is Asia Minor.  John was instructed to,

“Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter”  (Revelation1:19).

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