Bible Course for the Laity - 2004, DVK, Bangalore

Full Reports on the Bible Course - 2004

3.3   Divisions of the New Testament

Sections 3.1 and 3.2 of this module were covered in Part 1 and Part 2 of Module 3.

Now, let's move on to the books of the New Testament.

The New Testament consists of four groups of writings namely the Gospels, The Acts of the Apostles, the Letters, and the book of Revelation. They are all centered on the Christ Event as the New Covenant. All of these books were written in the first century AD, beginning AD 51 and concluding at the end of the first century. The 27 books of the New Testament constitute the basis of our Christian faith and serve as the source of our knowledge of the early Church.

3.3.1 The Gospels

The Gospels constitute a special literary form to the extent that they are basically and primarily "Good News" addressed to us. The word "gospel" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon (old English) word "godspel" meaning "good news". "Good News" in turn is a translation of the Greek word "euaggelion" and its Latin representation "evangelium". It is related to the preaching of Jesus Christ who came to Galilee preaching the "euaggelion" or Good News of God proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15). The one gospel that was preached by Jesus Christ about the kingdom of God received four formulations in the four Gospels, which received their present form during the second half of the 1st century, and are attributed to four evangelists.

The formation of the Gospels was a long process, starting with the oral proclamation followed by written collections. The written words were later edited by successive generations until they were written down by responsible representatives of the early Church, namely Mark, Mathew, Luke, and John. What we see in the Gospels is a "kerygmatic" (proclamation) history, that is history in the form of a proclamation of Good News and it is also the spirit in which we have to read and listen to the Gospels. They are not biographies. Instead, they are documents of faith, written from the faith of the early Church for the faith of the later Church. (The Vatican Council II has very clearly taught us about the real nature of the Gospels in the Dogmatic Constitutions on Divine Revelation, art. 18-20)

Three Gospels, the Gospels according to Mark, Mathew, and Luke, are called the "Synoptic Gospels" (meaning "seen together, from "syn + optikon"). These Gospels present the ministry, the passion, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus in the same manner and sequence, unlike the presentation in the Gospel according to John, which is very different with several movements between Galilee and Jerusalem. Of these three Synoptic Gospels, Mark is the first one, and based on it, Mathew and Luke wrote their Gospels, adding many other details, especially in the form of teachings and parables, thus helping us have more details on the ministry and teaching of Jesus. Each Gospel is important for its own special theology, and a thorough knowledge of all Gospels is necessary for understanding the entire mystery of the Christ Event with its beginning in the Incarnation and its conclusion in the Resurrection.

3.3.2 The Acts of the Apostles

Written as a second volume to his Gospel, Luke presents the origin and growth of the Church in The Acts of the Apostles. This book also depicts the spreading of the gospel as the continuation of the ministry of Jesus and also as the work of the Holy Spirit. In this context, "Acts" stands for the "activities" of the apostles, especially the activities of Peter and Paul who were the pioneers of the early Church. The literary form "Acts" was borrowed from the Greco-Roman secular literature and through it, Luke presented a theological history of the early Church. In this work, we see how the guidance of the Holy Spirit helped the Church grow up as a big movement to embrace the whole Roman Empire. However, it was not a smooth process; there were many a crisis that the Church had to overcome. But God guided the entire process.

3.3.3 The Letters

There are 21 Letters (Epistles) in the New Testament. Of these, 13 letters are attributed to Paul, 3 letters are by John, two letters are by Peter, one letter is from James, one letter by Jude, and one letter is to the Hebrews by an anonymous author. Among all the letters, Pauline letters hold the greatest importance because Paul gives a detailed presentation of his understanding of the Christ Event and Christian life as based on the Christ Event. These letters are: Letters to the Romans, Corinthians (2), Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians (2), Timothy (2), Titus, and Philemon. The purpose of his letters is instruction and exhortation given to different communities. The Letter to the Hebrews has an anonymous author, and in it the author encourages the readers to lead a more responsible life. The three letters of John vary in their structure and theology, so also the letter of James is an exhortation to articulate one's faith through corresponding actions. The first letter of Peter tells of the grandeur of Christine life and the meaning of Christian suffering. The Second letter of Peter is about the danger of false doctrines that can spoil the community. The letter of Jude is also about the false teachings that grew up in the early Church towards late 1st century AD.

3.3.4 The Book of Revelation

This is the last book of the New Testament, and was written towards the end of the 1st century AD, at the time of the persecution of Christians in the Roman empire. Through a visionary language borrowed from the Old Testament and from Judaism, the author tries to convince the readers that God will ultimately make the Christians overcome the trials and will give them a glorious future (Theology of hope). The concluding words of this book are full of hope and expectation, as in: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. The home of God is among the humans." (Rev 21:1-3) The ultimate plan of God is to unite himself to the humankind and to bring his blessings, promised through Abraham in the beginning (Gen 12:2-3), to the whole mankind.

This is the conclusion of Module-3 in the "Bible Course for the Laity - 2004".

Bible Course for the Laity

Bible Course Index   Module 1, Part 1   Module 1, Part 2   Module 2

Module 3, Part 1   Module 3, Part 2   Module 3, Part 3

Module 4, Part 1   Module 4, Part 2   Module 5, Part 1   Module 5, Part 2

Module 6, Part 1   Module 6, Part 2   Module 6, Part 3

Module 6, Part 4   Module 6, Part 5