I’d like to share with you the first lesson of a study I did quite some time back. The study was on the book of Matthew, but I started off with a quick overview of the Bible, the New Testament, and the Gospels to get things kicked off. When our church began reading through the New Testament, it brought back so much of what I had researched and put together, and I wanted to share it with you.
Purpose
A collection of writings, the Bible was written by at least 40 authors and has been organized into 66 books. Any particular ‘book’ of the Bible may have originally been a history, a collection of songs, a collection of wise sayings, a record of prophetic messages, or a letter to a body of believers. These writings were gathered together over the course of 1400-1800 years.
The Bible is both an account of the redemption of man and the story of God’s effort to reveal Himself to man. As such, it focuses upon the Redeemer (John 1:29, John 10:10-11, John 14:6) and the Revealer, i.e. the Lamb of God and the Word of God – Jesus Christ (John 1:1, John 14:9, John 10:30, and John 1:18). By the way, the Greek in John 1:1 for ‘Word’ is ‘logos’, which conveys an expression of the nature, concept, thought, and spirit, not simply the physical sounds or the written characters.
Because of the nature and purpose of the Bible, we should not expect it to contain an historic account of all of civilization, nor should we look there to find the details of the design of our world and the nature of the universe. The Bible also does not have very much to say about eternity past nor eternity future. Instead, it is focused on the realm of time and space in which God chose to reveal His great glory, mercy, and grace in the redemption of His creation.
Old and New
The 66 ‘books’ of the Bible are divided into what we now refer to as the Old Testament and the New Testament. What these terms are attempting to convey is that the Old Testament (made up of the writings collected as sacred Scripture by the Jews – 39 ‘books’) deals primarily with the covenantal relationship of God to the physical descendents of Abraham through Isaac (the nation of Israel). This covenantal relationship was based upon a system of laws instituted by God and later expanded and developed by religious leaders to include their traditions and legal interpretations; much like any governmental system is expanded and developed over time. And just as our legal system can only govern the outward obedience to the law, so the Old Covenant (Old Testament) is all about maintaining an outward obedience to the law, which proved of little use in changing hearts and minds and of no use whatsoever in transforming sinful man into a holy, new creation. Of course, God realized this from the beginning, we did not. The Old Covenant was to teach us just how incapable we are in our flesh to obey God’s righteous commands.
The New Testament (New Covenant) contains the Christian Scriptures, which relate to the covenantal relationship of God to the Church, through Jesus Christ. This new covenant is based upon the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God, Who redeemed us (paid the penalty for our sin). Because of our faith in His finished work, we are ‘born again’ (born of the spirit) as a new creation in Christ (something totally different from what we were). Our sins have been atoned for by the shed blood of Jesus, so when we believe and receive His saving gift, we stand before God justified (made righteous). This is an amazing concept for which we have many analogies, but sometimes find it hard to grasp, which is why we tend to get all caught up in trying to live under some system laws. (Remember, it didn’t work for the Jews, and it won’t work for us.)
I love Romans 12:1-2, which tells us not to be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Being conformed is sort of like living under the law, you try to reign yourself in to fit into some sort of model. Transformed is from the Greek word metamorpoo. Can you guess what that means? It is a total change in nature (remember ‘new creation’), and I believe it refers to the change that only the Holy Spirit is able to accomplish in our lives from the inside (where He is) out. Even trying to conform ourselves to the perfect model of Christ is impossible for us to do by our own effort or willpower. The Holy Spirit is able to work in us as we submit to Him, and He is able to work out into our lives the righteousness Jesus died to give us.
These two concepts are contained within the New Covenant: the penalty paid once and for all by the Lamb of God and the ongoing sanctification (or remodeling work) of the Holy Spirit from within us.
OK, that’s all I can get to tonight (it is late and tomorrow is another day). I just want to add that this is a very sketchy overview. Not only is it limited by the time and space available, but also by my limited understanding and experience. (I am trying to remind you that I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.) Nevertheless, I hope it will bless you!
Let me leave you with one other thought that I gathered in my original research so many years ago. The Old Testament is the account of a nation (Israel), and the New Testament is the account of a Man (Jesus Christ). The nation was nurtured to bring forth the Man!
I will try to continue this tomorrow and to focus in on the New Testament and the Gospels. Love,
Ev
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