The New Testament

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The New Testament
The Bible as Literature
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John the Baptist

• Born about six months before Jesus
• Called the Precursor because he told of the
  coming of Christ and taught the people of his
  greatness before his arrival. His office ended
  when he baptized Jesus.
• Shortly thereafter, Salome, Herods daughter asks
  her father for Johns head on a platter. He
  concedes and John the Baptist is beheaded.

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Miracles of Jesus

• Marriage at Cana-turns water into wine
• Several Cures-that of a leper and blood disease
• Three raisings of the dead-most famously,
  Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, dead for four days
• Several demonic exorcisms the story of the pigs
• Fed 5,000 with 2 fish, and 5 loaves of bread
• Shows several powers over weather, calming
  storms, transfigurations, walking on water at the
  Sea of Galilee
• Culminates finally in his own resurrection

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Sermon on the mount

• Most famous of Jesus teaching sessions, the
  sermon on the mount lays out much of Jesus
  message and separates his teachings in part from
  those of the OT
• Begins with the Beatitudes (Happiness) which
  gives characterizations of people not regularly
  seen as blessed, but shown in the sermon as
  truly blessed. Parallels Jesus MO as a leader
  of those that have been cast aside.
• Famous portions of the sermon salt of the
  earth, The Lords Prayer, turn the other
  cheek, The Golden Rule

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Mary and Martha

• Mary and Martha lived in Bethany
• Their brother Lazarus falls ill and Jesus is sent
  for
• Lazarus dies before Jesus can arrive
• Mary yells at Jesus and Lazarus is resurrected
• Mary worships the NTG and lives an easy life
  because of it

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Prodigal Son

• A parable told by Jesus
• Son demands his inheritance early and leaves for
  town to squander it
• The other son stays and works with the father
• The son returns expecting to beg for forgiveness,
  but is greeted warmly by his father. The Fatted
  Calf is cooked in his honor.
• The good son asks why he gets this treatment
  and the father explains that because, for this
  thy brother was dead, and is alive again and was
  lost, and is found

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The Talents (money and responsibility)

• Three servants are given gold by their master who
  was going away on a trip
• On his return, he asks what happened with the
  money
• The first, given five, doubled it to ten. He is
  praised by the master
• The second, given two, doubled it to four. He is
  praised by the master
• The third buried his one talent and returned it.
  He is called wicked and lazy. His talent is
  given to the servant with ten. He is thrown
  outside, into the darkness.

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The White Washed Sepulcher

• Literally a tomb that has been painted white
• Jesus uses this analogy to point out the
  hypocrisy of the Pharisees
• They are like painted tombs, lovely on the
  outside but the inside is nothing but decay and
  bones
• Today is commonly used to reference any
  hypocritical person

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The Good Samaritan

• A man is attacked and left to die on the side of
  the road.
• A priest of the mans religion sees him and
  leaves him afraid he is impure.
• A man from his homeland sees him and is afraid he
  is diseased.
• A man from Samaria, and therefore a natural enemy
  to the man, stops and helps the man.
• Jesus gives us the moral to this tale in a
  question, Who is this mans neighbor?

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The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

• Jesus and his disciples are allowed into
  Jerusalem.
• Jesus holds a supper at which he prophesizes his
  death, the betrayal of Judas, and the three
  forsakings by Peter
• He tells his followers to drink of wine and bread
  that he calls his own flesh and blood
• Judas, possessed by the devil, sells information
  leading to the capture of Jesus for 30 pieces of
  silver
• Tormented by guilt at the sight of Jesus
  capture, Judas returns the money and hangs himself

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The Death and Resurrection of J.C. Cont.

• The night before he was crucified, Jesus weeps
  for the sins of humanity at the Garden of
  Gethsemane.
• Jesus is brought for sentencing the next day and
  Pontius Pilate questions him.
• Jesus claims that Everyone who is on the side of
  truth listens to me. Pilate asks What is
  truth? and goes out to the people saying he
  finds no fault in JC, and believes he should be
  released.
• At further pressure by the people, Pilate orders
  Jesus to be whipped.

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The Death and Resurrection of J.C. Cont.

• After this punishment, the people still desired
  more.
• Pilate places Jesus next to Barabbas, a known
  thief and evil-doer, and promises to release one
  of them for Passover.
• The crowd chooses to release Barabbas
• Seeing that he can do no more, Pilate allows for
  the crucifixion and washes his hands
• This later became a symbol for giving up

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The Death and Resurrection of J.C. Cont.

• Jesus is made to carry his cross to Calvary,
  Golgotha Hill, to be crucified
• Unable to go any further, Simone of Cyrene helps
  to bare the burden
• On the cross, Jesus says several poignant and
  famous things
• In reference to the soldiers that harmed him,
  Forgive them father, they know not what they
  do.
• At the ninth hour, My God, my God, why have you
  forsaken me?
• And finally, Father into your hands, I commend
  my spirit, at which he, Gives up the ghost
• Jesus is stabbed in the side with a spear to
  ensure his death
• Jesus was 33 when he died

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The Death and Resurrection of J.C. Cont.

• Of the two thieves crucified with Jesus, one is
  forgiven due to his belief
• At the moment of his death there is an eclipse of
  the sun and an earthquake
• Jesus is lain in the tomb, by a man named Joseph
  of Arimathea
• Some scholars believe it was a tomb meant for
  Joseph himself
• A large stone is placed in the entry
• After three days, Jesus is resurrected. This is
  commemorated in the holiday Easter

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Mary Magdalene

• Called a prostitute, but described simply as a
  woman who had fallen into evil ways
• Is healed of her sins by Jesus
• Appears at the crucifixion
• Sees Jesus first after his resurrection

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Road to Emmaus

• Three men are traveling to Emmaus talking about
  the recent death of Jesus. It is Easter day.
• The resurrected Jesus joins them and discusses
  his own life with them. They do not recognize
  him.
• They eat with him and finally see him.
• They return to the eleven apostles and tell them
  of the resurrection of Jesus.

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Doubting Thomas

• A phrase meaning a person who has difficulty
  believing.
• Thomas was a disciple of Jesus whom, after the
  resurrection, thought that Jesus was an imposter.
• Demanded, as proof, to see Jesus wounds.
• Jesus shows him and he believes.

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Peter

• One of the twelve apostles told to unify the
  church after Jesus returned to Heaven
• Was the only follower to walk with Jesus on the
  water.
• To save himself before the crucifixion, he
  renounced Jesus 3 times.
• Later established the first Christian church but
  is martyred for doing so.
• Rome honors St Peter with a great tomb in the
  Vatican.

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Pentecost

• Occurs 50 days after Easter.
• Commemorates the day the apostles met together to
  witness the descent upon man of the Holy
  Spirit, a kind of internal, everywhere
  conception of the NTG.
• Parallels the Jewish holiday Shavuot.

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Stephen

• First Christian Martyr.
• A prophet for Christ after His death.
• Is pulled out of town for having too many
  followers and is stoned to death.
• The apostle Paul/Saul is present at the stoning,
  and may have partaken.

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Saul/Paul

• Saul is a hunter of Christians and is charged
  with killing many of them in his lifetime.
• He meets Jesus and is stricken blind for a few
  days and instantly becomes a believer.
• His sight is returned
• Gradually his name is changed to Paul.
• He spend the last half of his life as Paul, who
  spreads the teachings of Jesus and builds
  churches in his name all around the world.

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Revelation

• The Biblical end of the world
• Seen by the apostle John who makes note of it, it
  is a different tone than the rest of NT.
• Seven signs are to usher in the end.
• Four horsemen bring about the destruction of the
  world.
• Jesus returns to bring the good to heaven and
  send the bad to hell.

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The Ten Commandments

• This section deals with the Ten Commandments
  which appears in three places in the Hebrew
  Scriptures (Old Testament). These have
  historically been accepted by Judaism,
  Christianity and Islam as a summary of the most
  important rules of behavior God expects of
  humanity.
• ONE 'You shall have no other gods before Me.
• TWO 'You shall not make for yourself a carved
  image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven
  above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that
  is in the water under the earth.
• THREE 'You shall not take the name of the LORD
  your God in vain.
• FOUR 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
  holy.
• FIVE 'Honor your father and your mother.
• SIX 'You shall not murder.
• SEVEN 'You shall not commit adultery.
• EIGHT 'You shall not steal.
• NINE 'You shall not bear false witness against
  your neighbor.' (dont lie)
• TEN 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house
  you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his
  male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox,
  nor his donkey, nor anything that is your
  neighbor's.'