New Testament Intro

To recap, we’ve just gone through a few thousand years of Old Testament, focused mainly upon the history of the Israelites—their triumphs and their defeats. But now we’re starting at the year zero with the New Testament, which covers only about 100 years and focuses on the story of Jesus—who He was, and what happened after He died. The New Testament takes up approximately 400 years after the Old Testament ends.

The New Testament can be divided into four parts:

(1)   The Gospels (four different books that describe the life of Jesus; what He did and what He said)

(2)   The Acts of the Apostles (A book that details what His followers did immediately afterward)

(3)   Twenty-one letters, which are actual letters written to the early Christian colonies, giving them instructions and advice. Fourteen are believed to be written by St. Paul.

(4)   Revelation, the last book of the Bible, which contains a lot of imagery and end-times predictions.

It is important to remember that Jesus himself wrote nothing down. We know very little about his early life, and he didn’t start his ministry until he was about thirty years old. He lived in a small, obscure town—a backwater of the mighty Roman Empire—until he was put to death at age thirty-three for causing too much of a ruckus. Yet twenty centuries have come and gone, and He remains the central figure for much of the human race. All the emperors, all the kings, all the presidents, all the prime ministers—all of them combined together—have not affected life on earth as much as this one man.

So, let’s find out about Him.

Next time, The Gospels