The New Testament

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1. Overview of the New Testament

Diatheke = not testament but ‘covenant’

1.1. The COVENANT in OT:

• Abraham & Moses – agents of the covenant

• Freedom of Israel from Egyptian slavery
• Covenant in the form of law -
the 10 Commandments

• OT – locus of hopes for a messiah

• God’s self revelation – progressive

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1.2. The COVENANT in NT:

• JESUS – new agent of the new covenant

• Not in stone tablets but in people’s hearts
Jeremiah 31:31

• Messianic hopes in OT - fulfilled by Jesus

• God’s revelation – definitive & complete

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2. The Formation of the Gospels
2.1. Chronology.

The Gospels - first books that appear in NT division

• But not the first ones written
• Authentic epistles of Paul, the apostle, 50-60 C.E.,
• 1 Thessalonians – 1st epistle, 50 C.E.

2.2. Rooted in words.

Gospel – from godspel = good news.

Evangelion = good news; refers to the

good news of salvation

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3. A Shift in Meaning
Two applications of the term
gospel:

3.1. The preaching of Jesus –

• spoken by Jesus himself
• good new of salvation
• Kingdom of God

3.2. The preaching about Jesus –

• initiated by the disciples
• salvation found in Jesus
• Jesus’ person, words, & deeds

The Shift: From ‘Preaching of Jesus’ to ‘Preaching about Jesus’

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4. 3 Stages of Development of the
Gospels

4.1. The life of Jesus.

4.2. The proclamation about Jesus,

his words and deeds.

4.3. The stories were written down.

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5. From One Jesus to
Four Gospels

The Gospels – not a historical record of events

– not a biography of Jesus’ life

More than just facts; it presents a

fundamental truth –

God’s self revelation in words and deeds

merged into ONE person – Jesus.

The 4 Gospels are about ONE story

seen and told in FOUR perspectives.

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 Image of Jesus:
 Great teacher
 A king like David
Matthew

 Common man

 Hidden messiah
 Eschatological
Mark judge

 Sacrificial offering
 Savior for ‘all
Luke nations’

 An eternal loftiness
 Divine wisdom
made flesh
John
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6. The Evangelists
6.1. Evangelists – proclaimers of the word: from
gospel preachers to gospel writers. Matthew

 The gospel was primarily a matter of oral

and actual preaching, not writing. Mark

 The spoken gospel of Jesus evolved into

Luke
the written gospel about Jesus.

 The task of the evangelist transformed

from a preacher to a writer.

John

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6.2. Why did it take so long to write the gospels?

6.2.1. The initial locus of the preaching

of the gospel was Palestine.

6.2.2. During the earthly life of Jesus, his teachings

were not written down but listened to.

6.2.3. The early Christians believed that

Jesus would come again soon.

Matthew

Mark

Luke John

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6.3. Why then did they write after some time?

6.3.1. Preaching grew and was no longer

confined within Palestine.

6.3.2. There was a felt need for a substitute

for the “living word.”

6.3.3. The expected return of Jesus

was delayed.

Matthew

Mark

Luke John

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7. The Synoptic Gospels
and the Synoptic Problem

Greek prefix syn and optic

from the verb horao = to see

The Matthew
Striking similarities
Synoptic Mark
Gospels Luke Striking differences

The synoptics can be looked

at together side by side.

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7.1. Two Proponents of the Documentary Theory

7.1.1. The priority of Mark

Contents:

 Almost all that can be

Matthew found in Mark (600 out of
Mark’s 660 verses)
80-90 C.E.
 Common words – 51%

Mark Both follow the Markan sequence of events =

70 C.E. common order among the synoptics.

 About one half of Mark’s

Luke material
80-90 C.E.
 Common words – 53%

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 7.1.2. The Probability of Q
There are verses found in Mt
and Lk but not in Mk.

Probably, there was another

Q Mark source aside from Mk - “Q”.
50 C.E. 70 C.E.
Q – the initial letter of the
German Quelle = source.

Presumably, Q contained
mainly sayings of Jesus in-
tended as a manual of
instruction.
Matthew Luke
80-90 C.E. 80-90 C.E. Mt and Lk must have copied from
Q, resulting in verses that can be
found in them but not in Mk.

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