New Testament Survey Exam 1

There are 27 books of differing lengths, authors, content, style, emphasis
and purpose in the New Testament. They may easily be arranged into three
major categories: history, letters (also called epistles) and prophecy

It gives the history of the growth and development of the church
from Jerusalem to Rome. It is a thrilling book recording the triumph of the
gospel throughout the Mediterranean world. During the history of the Acts
period ten of the letters (epistles) of Paul were written. James also wrote
his letter during this period.

The book of Revelation gives a fitting conclusion to the New Testament.
Though other New Testament books have some prophetic themes concerning
both the church and Israel, Revelation is exclusively devoted to prophecy.

With the book of Malachi the Old Testament came to a close (400
BC). Between Malachi and Matthew (400–4 BC) God did not give to
the Hebrew people any further revelation. For this reason this period is
sometimes called the Four Hundred Silent Years.

There was the preparing of the way through the Greek language.
Alexander the Great conquered the Mediterranean world and the near east
(334–323 BC) in a cultural sense as well as militarily. One very important
aspect of Greek culture was the Greek language. After Alexander, the
Greek language gradually became the language used everywhere. The
Old Testament Scriptures were translated into Greek in Egypt between
250 and 100 BC This translation known as the Septuagint was used by
Jews scattered over the Mediterranean world who were losing their ability
to speak Hebrew. In the providence of God the gospel was spread to Jews
and pagans in the Greek language. Also, the whole New Testament was
originally written in Greek.

The four Gospels (Matt., Mark, Luke, John) give four different
historical portraits of the Lord Jesus Christ. The English word “gospel” is
derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “godespell.”

The New Testament was written over a fifty-year period of time
(AD 45–95). This is very brief in contrast to the Old Testament which
was written over several centuries (c. 1400–400 BC).

The designation General Epistles is applied to Hebrews, James, 1 and
2 Peter, 1, 2, 3 John and Jude. The designation is not a Biblical expression
but it does appear in the title of five of the above letters in the King James Version

. But why four Gospels? Why not
just one? Or why stop at four? Why not five or even more? The fact that there
are four Gospels may be accounted for by the intention of the Holy Spirit
to reach four representative groups which would find their counterpart in
any age.

The order in which we find the New Testament books in our Bible is
logical rather than chronological. For instance, James was probably the
first book of the New Testament to be written (AD 45) but it is 20th in the
order given in the New Testament. John’s Gospel was written somewhere
between AD 85–95 but it is fourth in order