Reading the Bible

Deacon Lee Hunt

8. The New Testament—a window into the emergence of Christianity

The New Testament (NT) contains 27 different writings. They are not 27 chapters in a single book. They speak of a common belief held by all the writers: Jesus of Nazareth represents a decisive turning point in God’s relationship to humanity. Acts 4:12 says it this way, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to human beings by which we must be saved.”

This common belief is expressed in many ways in the NT. Each NT author expresses the message differently depending on the situation of the Christians to whom he was writing. The NT provides us with a window into the emergence of Christianity.

The NT writings are arranged in groups. Like the Old Testament, the writings are not chronological.

The four gospels are grouped together in the beginning. That means separating the gospel written by Luke from Acts, which he considered to be the second part of the work he had begun in the gospel.

There are fourteen letters that were either written by Paul or were attributed to his authorship. The last, Hebrews, does not really belong in the group, since it does not claim any connection with the Pauline tradition.

The other letters, whether by Paul or by disciples writing in Paul’s name, are divided into two groups, each in descending order of length. The first group comprises letters addressed to churches. The second comprises those addressed to individuals.

Then we have a group of seven letters that were attributed to other apostolic figures: James, Peter, John, and Jude.

Finally, Revelation, a prophetic vision of the end of the world with the great victory of Jesus and his “holy ones,” brings the collection to a close.