What is the New Testament?

Your Bible is divided into two.

But you probably knew that already.

There's the first part, the large Old Testament, and the smaller, second part, the New Testament.

Now, despite being a fraction of the size of the Old Testament, without the New Testament there would be no Christianity at all.

Though comprising only eleven percent of the Bible itself, that eleven percent quite literally gives shape to the faith we inhabit. 

So, understanding it is pretty helpful.

Looking Inside the New Testament

The New Testament contains 27 books.

Many of these are only a fraction of their Old Testament counterparts’ size.

These books are…

• The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

• The Acts of the Apostles

• The epistles (letters) of Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude, and the anonymous author of Hebrews

• And the apocalyptic book of Revelation

Each is closely related to one another and brings the themes and story of the Old Testament to fulfillment.

Through these books, we learn about Jesus, the Church, what it means to live for Christ, where He’s leading us, and the overall destiny of our world and species.

Not to be dramatic, but you could easily make the case that they’re the most important written works in history.

Exploring the New Testament

We’re going to spend this week exploring the New Testament.

We’ll do so by taking a brief look at the books that comprise it, examining their contexts, contributions, and, ultimately, how they act as the logical conclusion to the Old Testament.

In doing so, we’ll see that length doesn’t always equate to value and how, with just a few, concise books, not only is the course of human history changed but eternity itself.

We hope you’ll join us in the days to come.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter