Most introductions to the New Testamen follow the order in the Bible: first Matthew and the other Gospels, then the letters of Paul, followed by the other letters and finally the Revelation of John. But the New Testament was not written in that order. The letters are older than the Gospels, and the Gospel according to Matthew is an adaptation and expansion of the Gospel according to Mark. Those who read it in the current order miss the continuous story of the experiences of the narrators and letter-writers themselves.
This book is an invitation to read the New Testament as truly new, new even to the narrators and their audiences in the first century. They wrote before Christianity crystallized into liturgy, institutions and dogma. They wrote amid contradictions, quarreling followers and an urgent hope for the future. They wrote while still amazed about Jesus.
Twelve chapters, one story
These twelve chapters tell the story of the followers of Jesus who passed on and translated the message of Jesus. It is an exciting story full of turns and twists. If we read the 'books' of the New Testament in the order that their implied authors present themselves, we can share their struggles, disappointments and growing understanding.
In less than 30 hours, you will experience and understand the entire New Testament in a new way. A small investment that will allow you to make new discoveries in familiar stories. It will add a layer of meaning that you can build on for the rest of your life, whenever you read your bible, listen to a sermon or try to follow Jesus in your day-to-day life.
Two themes
There are two themes that recur and are further developed in the New Testament and in the thinking of historians about Jesus. The first is the Way that Jesus taught his friends and exemplified as a Jewish rabbi. The second is the expectation of the Kingdom of God, the Promised Land, which Jesus announces as a prophet. His followers expected that at his Second Coming, as a new Joshua (the same name), he would lead the people of God into the Kingdom of God. Let us examine these two themes in more detail.
1. The Way of Jesus. How do you tell and translate the radical life lessons of Jesus: the sayings he taught his friends and the astonishing story of his life and suffering as we read it in the Gospel of Mark? How can love be a commandment, the greatest commandment even? Wherever this message is brought, unrest arises. How should you live if God makes no distinction between Jews and other peoples, between men and women, or between slaves and masters? What are laws and rules worth then? What do you do with the Covenant between God and his people Israel? The conflict over this between James, Peter, and Paul erupts in the 50s and does not end with their executions in Jerusalem and Rome a decade later. After the Jewish War and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, the gospel writers shed new light on Jesus: 'Love your enemies,' emphasizes Matthew, 'the Spirit drove us,' experiences Luke, and 'God is Love,' concludes John.
2. The Coming of the Kingdom of God. "The time has come, the kingdom of God is at hand." John the Baptist proclaimed it, and his message cost him his head. Jesus took up the banner and was crucified for it a few years later. After Jesus' death, his friends expected him to return as the anointed king of Israel. When, in the year 40, the Roman emperor Caligula wanted to place his own image as an idol in the temple in Jerusalem, the moment must have come. But Caligula died, and then what? Had they misunderstood God's plan? It is at that point in time that the mission among the nations really takes off: the kingdom of God applies not only to Israel but to all nations! When the Jewish War broke out thirty years later, many Jews expected the coming of the Lord and the defeat of Rome. But Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed. In this nightmare, even more far-reaching dreams are revealed to one of the refugees in Asia Minor: the kingdom of God is not just about the Roman Empire, it is about a new heaven and a new earth.
The New Testament
Jesus experienced his relationship with God as an intimate relationship with his heavenly Father and shared this with his friends. This made the prophecy of a new covenant (or 'New Testament') in Jeremiah 31:31-35 a reality for them:
"The day will come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and the people of Judah, a covenant different from the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though they were mine, says the LORD. But this is the covenant I will make with Israel in the future, says the LORD: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their children to know the LORD, for all will know me, from the least to the greatest, says the LORD. I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more."
Jeremiah was not talking about a new text on paper but about a covenant written in the hearts of people, and first and foremost in the hearts of Jewish people who lived according to the stories of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus saw his impending arrest and execution during the Jewish Passover in that light as he broke the bread and poured the blood-red wine into the cup. His friends continued to repeat his words (1 Cor 11:25) as they shared their memories of his words and deeds. This is how the New Testament was written in the hearts of people.
Holy Scripture
For Jesus' friends, their letters and stories were still just human works. Certainly, they wanted to write in the spirit of Jesus, driven by the Holy Spirit of faith, hope, and love. But they believed that Jesus himself embodied the Word of God: the Word became flesh. And after his passing, they experienced that he spoke in their hearts in an indescribable way through his Holy Spirit. They wrote their own human thoughts in human words with human hands on paper. Their writings were then collected, edited, and copied by people who recognized the Spirit of Jesus in them. They wrote and collected these letters and stories during a turbulent time, full of conflict and violence. It was also a time when the love of Jesus pointed to a new way that more and more people are trying to follow, with ups and downs. That is why their works are so full of action, passion, and inspiration. You will get to know them better in twelve chapters.
You can read how their words became Holy Scripture in the Epilogue.
Contents
Below are the pages, or chapters. Click on the chapter title to read further.
Jesus and his disciples in the Kidron Valley near Jerusalem. © Balage Balogh, Archaeology Illustrated.