NEWTESTAMENTINTRODUCTION

Stephen Motyer

ContentsJesus—The Reason for It All 2

Jesus’ Life 4

The Gospels 6

Matthew 8

Luke 10

John 12

The Acts of the Apostles 14

Paul’s Early Letters 16

Paul and Corinth 18

Paul and Rome 20

Paul’s Later Letters 22

Hebrews 24

Peter and John 26

James, Jude, and 2 Peter 28

Revelation: A Book for the Millennium 30

Index 32

For Further Reading 32

CATHOLIC BOOK PUBLISHING CORP.New Jersey

Recently this theory has beenattacked by a group of scholars ledby Prof. Richard Bauckham of St.Andrew’s University. He points outthat there was extensive contactbetween the earliest Christiangroups, and that it is highlyunlikely that the Gospel-writers, asauthors of a “Bios,” were trying tomeet needs just in their ownchurches. And ancient book pro-duction was very haphazard.Authors could not prescribe whomight receive a copy or makefurther copies for friends.

Filling in the gapsIf Bauckham’s picture is right, thenthe Gospel writers almost certainlyhad contact with each other, andtried deliberately to supplementeach other. This has long beenrecognized in the case of Mark.Mark is the shortest Gospel, andabout 95% of his content isreproduced in Matthew and Luke,which are both much longer. Itlooks very much as if Mark was the

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The four Gospels are the center-piece of the New Testament—indeed, of the Christian faith. With-out them Christianity could nothave developed as it did, for as areligion it depends absolutely onthe historical claim that Jesus ofNazareth lived, taught, acted, died,and rose from death at a particulartime and place, and that theseevents show Him to be Son of Godand Savior.So Christianity exposes itself to

the fundamental challenge:• Are the Gospels reliable? They

clearly purport to be historicalaccounts of the life of Jesus, butdoes the claim stand criticalscrutiny? This question quicklyinvolves another:• What exactly are the Gospels?

We need to judge them on theirown terms, and not ask them toconform to our requirements. Andthis in turn makes us ask:• Why are there four Gospels—

and how should we understand therelationship among them? At firstsight, both the overlaps anddifferences between them set aquestion mark against their reli-ability.

What are the Gospels? We start with the second question.In recent years a scholarly con-sensus (led by Dr. Richard Bur-ridge, of King’s College, London)has grown that the Gospels areexamples of a genre, or type ofwriting, known as the “Bios” (Greekfor “life”). The Greco-Roman “Bios”was typically a work of short tomedium length (fitting on onepapyrus roll), concentrating on anindividual of special significance,whose story would be told throughtypical incidents revealing his orher character, drawing morallessons to be learned, and focusingon the birth and death of the personconcerned.

This immediately suggests thatwe should not ask the Gospels toprovide a comprehensive biog-raphy of Jesus, minutely docu-menting the details of His life. Not“biography,” but “Bios”—a broad-brush presentation—of the personthrough typical incidents thatenable us to understand Him.

Why four Gospels? A widely-given answer is thateach Gospel was associated withan important Christian center, orwith one of the leading Apostles.Hence, initially (this view sug-gests), each Gospel was writtenonly for a limited circle—a singlechurch or maybe a group ofchurches—to address their par-ticular needs.

The Gospels

Gaza

Antipatris Alexandrium

Cyprus

HyrcaniaHerodium

Masada

Machaerus

Damascus

Hippos

Raphana

Kanatha

DionGadara

Scythopolis(Beth-shan)

Pella

Philadelphia(Rabbath Ammon)

Lake Huleh

CaesareaPhilippi

ITURAEA

SEA OFGALILEE

DE

AD

SE

A

Sebaste(Samaria)

Tyre

Hebron

Esbus(Heshbon)

Marisa

Sychar(Shechem)

GamalaPtolemais

Sepphoris

Geba

JoppaPhaselis

Archelais

Jamnia Livias

Azotus

Ascalon

Gerasa(Jerash)

Jord

anJo

rdan

Mount Hermon

Mount Tabor

Jerusalem

Tiberias

Caesarea

PH

OE

NI C

I A

GAULANITIS

GALILEEBATANEA

TRACHONITIS

AURANITIS

DECAPOLIS

PEREA

SAMARIA

IDUMEA

NA

BA

TE

AN

S

S Y R I A

ME

DI

TE

RR

AN

EA

NS

EA

JUDEA

PhilipHerod AntipasArchelausProvince of SyriaTown of the DecapolisFortress of Herod the GreatMain route

CapitalBoundary of Herod the Great’s kingdom

Land given to

0 15 30 45 miles

0 25 75 km50

The Holy Land inthe Time ofJesus

Mark doesn’t record much of it),the opposition He provoked, thepuzzlement He caused evenamong His disciples, and theirdifficulty in deciding who or whatHe was. Mark emphasizes Jesus’expectation of His own death, Hiscall to sacrificial discipleshipembracing suffering like His, andHis pronouncement of judgmenton the Temple and the leaders ofIsrael. He tells the story of Jesus’last week in great detail. TheResurrection is not directlydescribed, and Mark’s story doesnot end so much as break off, asthough Mark wanted to convey animpression of incompleteness.

providing a composite of Jesus ofNazareth.

How accurate is this composite? The Gospels first circulated underthe gaze of eyewitnesses of Jesus’ministry. Luke claims that his Gos-pel rests upon extensive researchamong “eyewitnesses and min-isters of the Word”—that is (prob-ably), those charged with remem-bering the “Word” of Jesus (Luke1:1-4—see the scroll above). Withinthe parameters of the “Bios” genre,Luke strove for accuracy. The dif-ferences among the Gospels under-line the impression of a figure ofsuch towering significance thatany attempt to capture Him inwords is bound to be inadequate.But there is no need to doubt thebroad reliability of these accounts.

MarkAn early tradition connectsMark’s Gospel with Peter (see 1Peter 5:13), and it is likely thatMark represents the collection ofstories and traditions that Peterused in his long ministry. Markwove them together into a crispand vivid presentation of Jesus,emphasizing His power as ahealer, His preaching (although

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Outline of Mark1:1-15 The scene is set

1:16–3:6 Jesus’ initial ministry in Galilee

3:7–4:34 Jesus the Teacher

4:35–6:6 Jesus the Healer

6:7–9:1 On a wider stage: Jesus the Messiah?

9:2–10:45 The heart of discipleship:Jesus the Leader

10:46–13:37 Jesus the Son of David, the Master of the House

14:1–15:47 Jesus the new Covenant Sacrifice

16:1-8 The new start

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem, probable site of Jesus’ death and burial.

I too, after resear

ching

all the evidence

anew

with great care,

have

decided to write

an

orderly account .

. . so

that you may learn

the

unquestioned au

thenticity

of the teachings

you

have received.

Luke 1:3-4

Anyone who wishes

to

follow Me must deny

himself, take up his

cross, and follow Me.

For

whoever wishes to sa

ve

his life will lose it, b

ut

whoever loses his life

for

My sake and the sak

e of

the Gospel will save

it.

Mark 8:34-35

first to be written, and thenMatthew and Luke both usedMark, adding further extensivematerial. Scholars cannot decidewhether Matthew knew Luke, orvice versa, or whether they werewritten independently. John has solittle material in common with theothers that it looks as if he knew allthree, and deliberately tried towiden the picture they paint—using other traditions, and tellingthe story very differently.So it seems as though the Gospel

writers each knew that the otherGospels were inadequate, andsought to extend the picture. Thefirst Christians recognized this byrefusing to choose among them,and accepting all four together as

Paul’s letter to the Romans is hislongest and most influential.Romans contains the clearestexposition of Paul’s doctrine ofjustification by faith. WhereasPaul’s other letters are related toproblems in the churches ad-dressed, Romans is more like adetached summary of his Gospel(1:16), perhaps sent to Romebecause he wanted to introducehimself to them, so that they wouldwillingly support him (1:13; 15:22-24).

Paul’s manifestoHowever, Romans is not “the Gospelin abstract.” It is rooted in Paul’smissionary work. Günther Born-kamm has called it “Paul’s Last Willand Testament,” because he suggeststhat Paul wrote it consciously at aturning point in his life. Afterfinishing his ministry in the east(15:19, 23), he is now undertaking a

Justification by faith The essence of the argumentconcerns the relation betweenChrist and God’s covenant withIsrael. For many Jewish Chris-tians, the covenant was the foun-dation of all relationship with God.It was “forever”—enshrined in thepromises given to Abraham andsealed by the giving of the Lawthrough Moses. It followed, there-fore, that the blessings brought bythe Messiah were available onlywithin the covenant—to Jews, firstand foremost, but also to Gentileswho committed themselves to the

dangerous journey to Jerusalem.He does not know whether he willsurvive it (15:30-31). So he sends tothe Roman church, which he hopesto visit, a summary of the Gospelfor which he has fought, “the powerof God that offers salvation” forJews and Gentiles alike (1:16)(possibly hoping that they willshare this knowledge with thechurch in Jerusalem by whom theirchurch was founded).There is much drama, therefore,

just under the surface. We catchechoes of the arguments, some-times intense, through which Paulhas come. And “justification byfaith” is at the heart of it. In Gala-tians Paul argues his case directlyand passionately. In Romans hereflects on the argument, drawswider implications, and spells outthe consequences—but still pas-sionately.

Area of Jewish settlement

Fair HavensPhoenix

Rome

Puteoli

Athens

Alexandria

Tarsus

Antioch

Caesarea

Sidon

Jerusalem

Syracuse

Rhegium

Antipatris

A E G E A NS E A

S Y R T I S

CYPRUSRHODESCRETE

CAUDA

Salmone

Myra

Lasea

Cnidus

MALTA

M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A

1. Paul

2. Trials before Felixand Festus; Paulappeals toCaesar(Acts 24, 25)

3. Strong windsmake navigationdifficult

4. Shipwrecked onMalta after stormat sea (Acts 28)

5. Paul preaches underhouse arrest for twoyears while awaitingtrial before Caesar

L Y C I AC

I L I C I A

SY

RI

A

S I C I L I A P A M P H Y L I A

I T A L I A

A D R I A T I C

S E A

0 100 200 300 miles

0 250 500 km

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Paul and Rome Fact file: Paul56 Writes to Rome from Corinth.

Travels to Jerusalem. Riot, arrest, and hearing beforeFelix (Acts 20–24)

56-58 In prison without trial in Caesarea (Acts 24:27)

58 Hearings before Festus and Agrippa (Acts 25–26).Sea journey and shipwreck on Malta (Acts 27:1–28:10)

59 Arrives in Rome

Paul’s Voyage to Rome

God of Israel through circum-cision.

Paul’s answerPaul refused to accept this im-pressive argument. In a nutshell,he says:1. The covenant with Israel was

never designed to bring blessingexclusively to those within it, butwas meant to bring blessing to theGentile world. Paul uses Old Testa-ment quotations to make this point(2:22-24; 4:16-17; 9:25-26; 10:12-13,20; 15:8-12).2. Neither was the covenant ever

a guarantee of salvation. In fact, itpromised judgment on the dis-obedient, as much as blessing onthe circumcised (2:25-29; 9:27-29;

covenant promises. But thesepromises will be fulfilled in thecontext of the worldwide salvationthat He plans (11:1-36).8. So the Church, made up of

Jews and Gentiles together anddefined not by loyalty to Moses butby the love of Christ, is the bodythat can now rightly claim to be thepeople of God, and must live assuch (12:1–15:13)!

An example to be heededIt appears from chapter 14 thatPaul probably also had a par-ticular issue in mind—a conflict inthe Roman church between Jewishand Gentile believers over prac-tical issues arising from their lifetogether—the observation of Jew-ish food laws and festivals. Amaz-ingly, though he has argued stronglythat “Christ is the fulfillment of theLaw” (10:4), Paul gently encour-ages the Gentile Christians simplyto accept their Jewish brothersand sisters, and not to requirethem to go against their con-sciences (14:13-23).

11:7-10, 20). Only Christ brings aguarantee of salvation (8:31-39),and He came not just to fulfill thepromises to Abraham, but to meetthe need of the world caused by thesin of Adam (5:12-21).3. Jesus brings salvation, through

His atoning death, to all whobelieve, Jew or Gentile (3:21-31), be-cause all have exactly the sameneed of deliverance from the powerof sin (1:18-32; 3:9-20).4. Abraham was not “justified”

before he was circumcised, andthus gives a pattern for today:uncircumcised Gentiles may bejustified like him, and so claim himas their “father”(4:1-25).5. And this has been Paul’s

experience: it is simply a fact thatGentile believers have receivedrighteousness by faith in Christ—and this fact must revolutionize ourunderstanding of the ways of God(2:14-16, 26-29; 3:22-24, 29-30; 9:30;11:17). By the Holy Spirit, they havebeen transformed (6:17-18; 7:6; 8:9-10).6. So life in the Spirit, rather than

obedience to the Law, is what Godnow asks of His people. In anycase, because of the power of sin,the Law could not deliver what itpromised (7:4–8:8).7. But God has not abandoned

Israel! He is still faithful to His

21

Bust of the Emperor Nero.

Outline of Romans1:1-17 Paul, set apart to preach

the Gospel of God

1:18–3:20 The need for the Gospel:universal sin

3:21–4:25 The essence of the Gospel, illustrated in Abraham

5:1-21 The Man of the Gospel: the Christ Who dies for us

6:1–8:39 The life of the Gospel: death to sin, life in the Spirit

9:1–11:36 The people of the Gospel: Jews and Gentiles in God’s plan

12:1–15:13 The obedienceof the Gospel: community in Christ

15:14-33 Paul’s ambitions, plans, and fears

16:1-27 Greetings to unite the church

The Forum, ancient Rome.