3. New Testament Survey: Getting the "Big Picture"

The Article: Concise New Testament Survey

Synopsis

Having gone through track one (or possessing a general knowledge of all the areas), you are ready to work through a concise survey of the New Testament (our OT survey is not yet complete). There are actually five articles in this mini-series. You will get a bird’s-eye view of the New Testament first, and then you will dig into each of the various literatures. The NT material is broken down into four sections: (1) the historical books (Matthew-Acts); (2) the Pauline letters (Romans-Philemon); (3) the General or Catholic letters (Hebrews-Jude), and (4) the book of Revelation. A survey of the New Testament is important for several inter-related reasons: (1) it gives you a bird’s-eye view of the content of the New Testament and how it all fits together; (2) it strengthens your ability to properly interpret the material; (3) it increases sensitivity to the various kinds of literatures in the NT and their goals; (4) it will help you defend your views; (5) it will help you to use the scripture in sharing the gospel with others.

Questions

1. Discuss the “preparation” for the New Testament. How does each historical factor contribute to the equation?

2. What are the historical books? What is the key theme in each book? How can you use the outlines of the various books to help you in your study?

3. What are the thirteen epistles of Paul? What is the theme of each one? What kind of writing are they in comparison to the Gospels and Acts? Refer to the www.bible.org for more help on this issue, in the article, How to Study the Bible: For Beginners.

4. What are the eight catholic epistles? Why are they called Catholic or General epistles? What is the theme of each one?

5. What is the main theme of the book of Revelation? What is an easy breakdown of the book? According to the outline given, what time period is most of the book of Revelation taken up with?