Acts
Aug 14, 2006 New Testament Book Summaries
//MOOD: A Little Tired
//NOISE: Grace Making Coffee
Acts
Author
Luke, a Greek-speaking, Gentile doctor. Luke was an evangelist at heart and he travelled around with Paul quite a bit. We also know that he was an eyewitness of the ministry of Jesus.
Intended Audience
Initially written to Theophilus, this book is clearly intended to be read by Greek Gentiles. Don’t forget that Luke was a Greek Gentile. Therefore, he doesn’t include a lot of fancy Jewish imagery, he translates Aramaic phrases into Greek, and he explains customs so that non-Jewish readers can figure out what he’s talking about.
Theme
Acts is part two of the book series Luke started in…um…Luke. Here he continues his detailed account by picking up where he left off. Many people forget that Acts starts out with Jesus still here on earth post-Resurrection. Then he does the spooky floating into the sky thing and the church kicks off.
The book of Acts details the first 30 years or so of the church and wraps up before the burning of Jerusalem in 68AD.
Random Thoughts
Remember that Luke was a Greek-speaking Gentile, so this book serves to show the world how this Jewish man Jesus instituted a worldwide faith that is made available to everyone, everywhere.
It continues the book of Luke in the tradition of showing the progression of the Jewish faith to the Gentile world by showing the progression of the church from Jerusalem to the Roman Empire and the world.
Tags: new testament
The Gospels
Aug 14, 2006 New Testament Book Summaries
//MOOD: Decent
//NOISE: Coffee Brewing
OK, so let’s dive in today by looking at the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels. Each of these is eye-witness accounts of the life of Jesus. Each was written by a different person for a different audience. That’s where you get slight variations in the story. It’s all about perspective.
The beauty of the Gospels is how they work together and paint the picture of who Jesus is.
Matthew
Author
Matthew, Jewish Disciple of Jesus. Matthew’s birth name was Levi and he was a Tax Collector.
Intended Audience
Jews
Theme
Jesus is the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for. He is the King of the Jews.
Random Thoughts
It’s cool that the first Gospel was written by a member of a hated group in Jewish society: tax collectors. Beyond that, he wrote his book to Jews about Jesus as a Jew. Think about it.
Because Matthew was writing to Jews to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah, he quotes the Old Testament more than anyone else. He either directly quotes or references the Old Testament more than a hundred times.
Matthew uses the phrase “The King of Heaven” 32 times.
Notice that his genealogy of Jesus goes back to Abraham. That’s because he was showing that Jesus was the Messiah.
Mark
Author
Mark, most likely Spiritual Son of Peter. He was also Barnabas’ cousin, and he traveled with Paul and Barnabas on Paul’s first missionary journey.
Intended Audience
Romans
Theme
Jesus is the Servant of God. Mark shows how Jesus laid down his life for us in obedience to God.
Random Thoughts
Because this book is written to Gentiles, Mark does not include a genealogy because they wouldn’t care about that. You’ll also notice that the Sermon on the Mount is not there, again because it was targeted toward the Jews.
Again, because of the intended audience, you’ll notice that there is a theme of Jesus getting stuff done. In fact, the word translated “immediately” or something like that shows up 42 times. Jesus is shown as man of action, a guy who gets stuff done. Mark does the same thing in his book. He writes a fast action packed Gospel that wraps up quickly.
Mark also follows a very logical order. He’s not trying to paint pretty pictures that the Jews would get, rather his Gospel is a clear, immediate portrayal of Jesus as God’s boy getting his work done.
Luke
Author
Luke, a Greek-speaking, Gentile doctor. Luke was an evangelist at heart and he travelled around with Paul quite a bit. We also know that he was an eyewitness of the ministry of Jesus.
Intended Audience
Initially written to Theophilus, this book is clearly intended to be read by Greek Gentiles. Don’t forget that Luke was a Greek Gentile. Therefore, he doesn’t include a lot of fancy Jewish imagery, he translates Aramaic phrases into Greek, and he explains customs so that non-Jewish readers can figure out what he’s talking about.
Theme
Jesus is seen as the Son of Man. We see him as totally human. The Gentiles wouldn’t have cared as much that he was the fulfillment of Jewish prophesy. But the fact that he was fully human and lived a perfect life was proof that he could save us.
Random Thoughts
Luke is actually book one of a two book series. The second book is Acts. It’s actually a really cool read to start at the beginning of Luke and then go right to Acts.
Luke interviewed people, studied different accounts, and presented in this book the clearest, most, straight-forward account he could about the life of Jesus. He is most concerned with giving a historically accurate account so that Greek Gentiles could know Jesus.
Notice that his genealogy goes all the way back to Adam. This was to show that Jesus was fully human. And having a human live a perfect life was the Greek ideal. This was a springboard to the Gospel for them.
John
Author
John, disciple of Jesus. John was the son of Zebedee, the brother of James. He likes to call himself the “beloved disciple.” Nice, huh? He was part of Jesus’ inner circle of three, so I suppose he had the right to say that about himself.
Intended Audience
The churches in the Asia-Minor area (where Ephesus was located). That means the target audience was Greeks.
Theme
John tells us clearly what his purpose is in chapter 20:
Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples that are not recorded in this book. But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
The theme is that Jesus is the Son of God who saves those who believe. In fact, the word believe appears 98 times in John.
Random Thoughts
John wrote this after all the other disciples had died, and most likely wanted to fill in the gaps.
This book is very different from the other three. He doesn’t include any geneological reference, nothing about Jesus’ birth or baptism or temptation. He doesn’t talk about the Lord’s supper, or his ascension.
John focuses on the time when Jesus is in Jerusalem and his private ministry with people including Jews he had contact with and his disciples.
John focuses on major signs that Jesus was God. He then goes on to explain the signs and encourages the reader to believe in Jesus.
Tags: new testament
