Over-View
of the New Testament – Part 2
Date Topic
December 2 I Peter
Brief
Introduction and Review to New Testament Writings
Historical
Background to I Peter
December 9 II Peter and Jude
The history of these books
in the early Christian church
Understanding
of "spiritual beings" -- of "heaven" and "hell"
December 16 Hebrews
– Part 1
The meaning
of covenant: Old Testament, and New Testament
Relating
Moses to Jesus: Jesus as superior to
Moses
December 23 Hebrews
– Part 2
Understanding
our "access" to God through Jesus
Practical
understanding of faith
December 30 No Class
January 6 James
The history of the book of
James
The key
messages of James for the church
January 13 The Gospel of John – Part 1
The Style
and characteristics of the gospel of John
Jesus
reveals the Father, the "I AM statements"
January 20 The Gospel of John – Part 2
Jesus
discourses with individuals
January 27 The Gospel of John – Part 3
Jesus
discourses with his disciples
February 3 I, II, III John
The problem
of Gnosticism in the early church
The message
of love for one another
February 10 Revelation
– Part 1
The Style
and Literary Genre of Revelation
Historical
background "in the text", and "of the text"
February 17 Revelation
– Part 2
The messages
to the Seven Churches
The meaning
of Revelation to the church at large
February 24 Revelation – Part 3
Understanding
the imagery in Revelation concerning the heavenly battle
and the "end of all things"
Over View of the New Testament –
Part 2
Lesson 1
Introduction
I.
The
World at the Time of Christ
A. The
History Leading Up to the Time of Christ
1.
A broad review of Biblical history: Creation, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua,
Judges, David, Divided Kingdom, Captivity, Return
2.
A history of “between the testaments”
Alexander the Great: the rise of Hellenism (323 BCE)
the Maccabees (168 BCE)
The rise of Rome (63 BCE)
Jewish rebellion against Rome and the
destruction of the temple (70 CE)
B. The
Political Structure in Place At the Time of Christ
1.
The rise of the Caesars of Rome
2.
The local governments of Palestine: the Herods
II.
The Culture of the First Century
A. Key
point: We need to understand Jesus in
his culture, but culture is not sufficient to explain him. We need to understand the church and the
scriptures in their cultures, but culture does not explain them.
B.
Greco-Roman Society
1.
Family / Social Systems
a.
Patriarchal system
b.
Client / Patron – concept of “households” – importance
of heirarchy
2.
The influence of Greek philosophers—the “wisdom
teachers”
3.
The ‘lordship’ of the Caesars
4.
Jesus: Calls to a new allegiance, and a new
Lordship, a new family
C. Language
1.
Hebrew: the
language of the Jewish people
2.
Aramaic: the
commonly spoken language of the region where Jesus lived
3.
Greek: the
literary, business, and common language of the region (Koine Greek: the common form, Classical Greek: the more literary form)
4.
Key point:
The struggle of NT writers to describe “new experiences”, and to use the
Greek language to explain concepts rooted in Judaism, and the Hebrew language..
D. Religious
Climate
1.
Emperor worship
2.
Mystical cults (syncretism: mixing of different religions)
3.
Judaism
a.
Protology:
where the world came from
b.
Eschatology:
where the world is going (promise---fulfillment model)
Jesus
shows us how God’s promises are fulfilled
How
we view the world influences how we live now
Over View of the New Testament – 2
Lesson 1
III.
The
Authoritative Writings of the Early Church
A.
The Meaning of “Canon” (see worksheet on Canonical
development)
1.
The meaning of “canon”: a “measuring rod: - therefore that by which thoughts, ideas,
practice, and teaching is measured
2.
The meaning of inspiration: The Spirit moved individuals to write
a.
Authors of the NT
b.
Situations arising in local congregations giving rise
for for writing letters and the gospels
B.
The Authoritative Jewish Writings
1.
The “Law” and the “writings”, and the “prophets”
2.
What was known in Jesus day
C.
Oral Traditions
1.
Letters to be read aloud rather than documents to be
“studied”
2.
Persuasive language and “rhetorical” devices
D.
Development of the “Canon of Scripture” for the
Christian Church
3.
The “Septuagint”:
The Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures: the Law, the writings, the prophets, and the
apocryphal writings
4.
The development of the early canon: First Century
5.
The development of the “scriptures” as we know it.
E.
Issues of the Integrity and Inspiration of the Text
1.
Evidence for the NT
a.
5000 manuscripts (copies, or originals)
b.
10,000 quotes from the Church Fathers (100-325 CE)
c.
Continual discovery of manuscripts (Dead Sea Scrolls,
etc.)
2.
Types of manuscripts underlying the New Testament
a.
papyri (the oldest) on scrolls
b.
uncials (books)
c.
miniscules (scripts but hard to read)
d.
lectionaries
3.
Sorting through textual variations
a.
trivial (spelling, bad grammar)
b.
inconsequential word variations from scribal errors
c.
theologically valuable variations in key manuscript
copies (such as Mark 16:9-20, John 7:53-8:11, Ephesians 1:1)
d.
Less than 0.5% have major exegetical impact
IV. Approaching the Scriptures
A.
Historical Perspective: What happened
B.
First Context:
What was its intended meaning to its original audience
C.
Application: What
does it mean for us today