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Bible Basics

Lesson 6: New Testament Organization (Part 1)

Lesson Workbook (PDF) - Click here

LESSON OBJECTIVES
Goals

1. For the student to comprehend the organization and content of the New Testament books up to Colossians.
2. For the student to be able to recite those books in the order in which they appear.
3. For the student to enjoy learning the truth about the Bible.

Topics

Word of God

OPENING PRAYER (5 to 10 minutes)

GROUP BUILDING (5 minutes)

Have the students pair off, and practice reciting the books of the Old Testament together starting with Genesis. To form pairs, count the total number of students, and divide by two. (For example if you have 18 students, the number iis 9) Have everyone count to that number, and then start over and count to that number again. Remind everyone to remember their number. Everyone should find the other person with the same number to pair up with. 

GETTING STARTED (10 minutes)

(To begin today’s study, have the students take the short pop quiz found in their workbooks. The questions and answers are repeated below. Encourage everyone to try the best they can to complete the quiz from memory and not by using their Bible)
 

Last week we talked about prophets, and we often mentioned that they spoke of the Messiah who was to come. Now, we start digging into the New Testament.

• Who remembers the basic difference between the Old and New Testament? (The Old Testament talks about things before Christ, the New Testament talks about things during and after Christ.)

DIGGING IN (30 minutes)

The New Testament is organized pretty simply. Today we’re going to try and get through a little over half of the New Testament. This will take us through the 4 Gospels, 1 book of history, and 7 of Paul’s letters. Next week, we’ll cover the rest. Let’s dig right in and learn some more about it! Turn to the New Testament.

In your workbooks, you will find space to record facts and comments about each of the books we will cover today.

GOSPELS
Matthew
• Which is the first of the gospels? (Matthew)
• Does anyone know why Matthew is first? (because of the way his gospel links the Old and New Testaments)

The truth is, Matthew writes to a Jewish audience. Each of the gospels writes with a little difference audience in mind. Another way of putting that is that each of the gospel authors had a little different purpose in writing what he did. Sometimes, that resulted in recording the same events in exactly the same way. Other times, they would give more or less detail, depending on who they were trying to reach.

For Matthew, Jews were his audience. He himself was a Jew, The way he wrote his gospel was unique in that his main purpose was to prove to Jews that Jesus was the Messiah who had been promised in the Old Testament

(If time permits, share some popular passages that everyone should recognize. For example:  The Christmas Story Matthew 1:1-25, The Beatitudes Matthew 5:3-10, or The Great Commission Matthew 28:16-20)

Mark
• Which is the next gospel? (Mark)

One of the things we can’t help but notice about Mark is how busy Jesus seems. In the Greek, the word used over and over is “euthus,” which means “immediately.”  Mark leaves out a birth narrative, launching directly into the work of Christ.

• Why do you think Mark did that? (Just a question to get them thinking, no real right or wrong answers here)

(If time permits, read a few popular passages, such as: The Paralytic is Healed, Mark 2:1-12.)

Luke
The next gospel is Luke. Luke is the only Gentile author of a book of the Bible. That means that he was not Jewish. But he did come to faith in Christ, and we know that he traveled with the Apostle Paul.

Luke was a physician, a Greek. and a devout historian. He researched and thought through what he was going to write, and did so in a manner that is extremely reliable. This is important, as he wrote over half the New Testament by writing his gospel and the book of Acts, as we’ll learn later.

The gospel is written to Gentiles in general. It is directly addressed to “Theophilus,” which means “love of God.” This could be an individual or a general term describing a group of people.

Because we know he wrote Acts and because we know he wrote his gospel before he wrote Acts, we can date the writing of his gospel to about 60 A.D.

One of the themes Luke dwells on is the influence of the Holy Spirit. This is prominent in both his gospel (note Luke’s birth, baptism, ministry, and resurrection accounts) and the book of Acts (the Day of Pentecost, the death of Ananias and Sapphira, others). Also unique in Luke is that he pays more attention to Jesus’ early life. This is as close to a complete biography that we get of Jesus in the gospels.

(As time permits, cover a few popular passages: The Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37, The Lost Sheep, Coin, & Son, Luke 15 or The Story of Zacchaeus, Luke 19:1-10.)

John
• What is the last of the four Gospels? (John)
• What strikes you different about the John's Gospel?

Whereas Matthew, Mark, and Luke have a lot in common, John departs a bit from the norm. The first three are called the synoptic gospels, meaning they see things the same way. John is non-synoptic, meaning he comes at the story of Jesus from a slightly different angle. This purpose of John's Gospel is less historic, and more evangelistic.
 

(As time permits, cover a few popular passages: For God So Loved, John 3:16, The Woman at the Well, John 4, The Feeding of the 5,000, John 6, The Vine and Branches, John 15.)

Before moving on, let's recite the names of the four Gospels together.

HISTORY
Acts
After the four gospel accounts, the New Testament has one book of history.

• What book is that? (Acts)
• And does anyone remember from our discussion earlier who wrote Acts? (Luke, the author of the gospel by the same name)

Luke wrote Acts, and as a traveler with Paul on his missionary journeys, records the early history of the church after the resurrection of Jesus.

Acts was written by Luke somewhere between 60 and 70 A.D. Though it’s often called the Acts of the Apostles, it really only focuses on Peter for a few of the first chapters, and then settles in on the life of Paul. For this reason, some have proposed it being known as the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

Some popular passages are: The Day of Pentecost, chapter 2; Ananias and Sapphira, chapter 5; The Philippian Jailer Converted, chapter 16.

Acts is the only book of New Testament history. With the exception of the book of Revelation, the rest of the books we will cover, both this week and next, fit into the time frame that is recorded in the book of Acts, a span of only about 35-40 years.

The next 13 books we’ll cover are all letters from Paul. We’ll cover 7 of those 13 tonight. In general, the title given to a book is who it was written to. Most of the names are cities. Some are people. It’s usually pretty easy to tell which is which. The first letter from Paul is to the Romans

LETTERS
Romans
Romans is considered one of the most theologically intense books of the bible. Paul writes it to the church in Rome to set some things straight, and to announce that he was coming for a visit. Like many of his letters, though, it may have ended up being passed around, so it has meaning for all of us.

Paul probably wrote Romans in about 57 A.D.

(If time permits, reveiw some popular verses in Romans: Romans 1:16, Romans 3:23, Romans 8:28.)
 

1 & 2 Corinthians
The next two books of the New Testament go together.

• Does anyone know what they are? (1 and 2 Corinthians)

Again, Paul wrote these two letters to the church at Corinth. His purpose was to help identify some of the problems in the Corinthian church and counsel them towards solutions, and then congratulate them on their progress.

Paul had founded the church on an earlier missionary journey, but he writes to it on his third journey, (1 Corinthians around 55 A.D. and 2 Corinthians later that same year.

(If time permits, review some popular passages: The Love Chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.)

Galatians
• What’s the next book of the New Testament? (Galatians)

That author of Galatians is again, Paul. By the way, as we walk through these books, you should know that there is no credible evidence that anyone except Paul wrote these letters. This should help you as you formulate beliefs about how true the Bible is.

Galatians was one of the earliest of Paul’s letters, written in about 49 A.D. When he says Galatians, he is dealing with a  group of churches, not one in particular. Where Rome was a city (like St. Louis), Galatia was a region (like the Midwest). So Paul is not writing to any single church, but a group.

The theme is the free gift of salvation through Jesus. Jews who were becoming Christians were claiming that Gentiles had to become Jews before they could become Christians, a claim Paul (a Jew himself) refutes in this letter.

(If time permits, cover at leat one popular passage, for example The Fruit of the Spirit, Galations 5:22-23)

Ephesians
The next letter is the letter to the Ephesians.

• Who do you think wrote Ephesians? (If they don’t get this…they’re probably not paying attention…it’s Paul)

Ephesians was written in about 60 A.D. to the Ephesians, but may have been meant to be a circular letter. The theme is unity in the body of Christ.

(Popular Passage: The Armor of God, Ephesians 6:10-20)

Philippians
• What’s the next book of the New Testament? (Philippians)
• Who wrote it? (Paul)

Unlike some of the other letters Paul wrote to correct churches, the letter to the Philippians is meant to encourage them and thank them. He wrote it from jail in Rome in about 61 A.D., just a year after he wrote to the Ephesians. His theme is joy (see Philippians 4:4), which is ironic considering his imprisoned state.

The church in Philippi was the first established in Asia (see Acts 16), and held a dear place in Paul’s heart.

(Popular verse: “I Can Do All Things...” Philippians 4:13)

Colossians
The last letter we’ll cover this week is Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, or the letter to the Colossians. It was written in about 60 A.D. The purpose was to correct errors in the theology held by some in that city.

(If time permits, cover a popular passage such as, Colossians 1:15-20)

Now, let's recite the names of the first seven letters (Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians)

MAKING IT REAL (10 minutes)

Good job! Believe it or not, we’re a little over halfway through the books of the New Testament. Next week, we’ll cover the second half, from 1 and 2 Thessalonians to Revelation.

Let’s try to recite Matthew through Colossians again without making a mistake.  (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.)

Next week’s quiz will cover these books.
 

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION (5 to 10 minutes)

Memorize the books of the New Testament in order from Matthew up to and including Colossians.

CLOSING PRAYER (2 minutes)