1. THED 2 – NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES
MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Prepared by: Prof. Noel D. Santander

2. MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
•All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and that one
book is Christ, because all divine Scripture speaks
of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in
Christ (CCC #134).
•The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God
and, because they are inspired they are truly the
Word of God (CCC #135).
•God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he
inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by
means of them. He thus gives assurance that their
writings teach without error his saving truth (CCC
#136).
•Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be
sensitive above all to what God wants to reveal
through the sacred authors for our salvation. What
comes from the Spirit is not fully understood
The Sacred Scripture except by the Spirit’s action (CCC #137).

3. MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
The Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church
•The Church has always venerated the Sacred
Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the
Lord. Both nourish and govern the whole
Christian life. “Your word is a lamp to my feet
and light to my path (CCC #141).
•The Church forcefully and specifically
exhorts all the Christians faithful to learn the
surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ by
frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.
Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of
Christ (CCC #133).

4. MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
The New Testament
The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old
Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament (CCC #138). They
are called the canon of Scripture. The complete list of canon for the
New Testament is the following with their corresponding abbreviations
(CCC p.846):
Gospel according to Matthew - Mt
Gospel according to Mark - Mk
Gospel according to Luke - Lk
Gospel according to John - Jn
Acts of the Apostles - Acts
Letter of St. Paul to the Romans - Rom
First letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians - 1 Cor
Second letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians - 2 Cor
Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians - Gal
Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians - Eph
Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians - Phil

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians - Col
First letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians - 1 Thess
Second letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians - 2 Thess
First letter of St. Paul to Timothy - 1 Tim
Second letter of St. Paul Timothy - 2 Tim
Letter of St. Paul to Titus - Titus
Letter of St. Paul to Philemon - Philem
Letter to the Hebrews - Heb
Letter of James - Jas
First letter of Peter - 1 Pet
Second letter of Peter - 2 Pet
First letter of John - 1 Jn
Second letter of John - 2 Jn
Third letter of John - 3 Jn
Letter of Jude - Jude
Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse) - Rev

6. MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
CRITERIA FOR CANONICITY
FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT:
•Apostolic Origin - either the books were written by
the apostles themselves, or they were used as
sources.
•Coherence with the essential Gospel Message- the
content of the book must be consistent with the
message of Christ.
•Constant use in the liturgy- the books were used by
the Early Christian Communities in their celebration of
the “breaking of the bread” and other liturgical
functions.

7. MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
•The books in the New Testament were written within a hundred
years after the death of Jesus.
•The books of the New Testament are about a person. All of them
spring from the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.
•What we have in the New Testament is a running commentary on
the thoughts and aspirations, disappointments and hopes of
Christians of the first one hundred years of Christian faith.
•All the 27 books of the New Testament were written in Greek, the
lingua franca of the Roman Empire into which Christianity was
born. Most of them were written by Jews. That Jews determined
the basic teaching and structure of Christianity.
•Even though New Testament writers wrote in the language of the
empire, rather than in their Aramaic (a form of Hebrew), they
wrote out of their Jewish inheritance. They wrote out of their
religious experience as Jews. They did not leave aside their Holy
Scripture when they became followers of Jesus. They saw in
Jesus the fulfillment of all the longings expressed by their
prophets in their Bible
(O’Hanlon, 1997, pp. 47-48).

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
The Unity of the Old and New Testaments
The Old Testament prepares for the New and the
New Testament fulfills the Old; the two shed light on each
other; both are true Word of God (CCC #140).
To facilitate easy reading of the Sacred Scriptures
• Used of chapters – 1226 by Stephen Langton
• Used of verses- 1551 by Robert Estienne

9. MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
The Three Stages in the Formation of the New Testament
(Lifted from Charpentier, 1997, p. 10-11).
First Stage: The Person of Jesus of Nazareth (6 BC to 30 AD)
Jesus was born in the reign of Herod, in all probability six
years before the beginning of what we call the Christian era. He
lived in Nazareth, as a pious Jew, practicing the Law in
accordance with the spirit of the Pharisees, who were the most
religious of the Jews. About 27 or 28, his baptism by John the
Baptism inaugurated the two or three years of his public life. He
chose disciples and, with them, proclaimed the coming of the
kingdom of God, through his words, actions and his life. He never
wrote anything except once on the sand. He was condemned by
the religious authorities and crucified by the Romans on April 7 30
A.D.

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Second Stage: The Disciples live out the gospel (between 30 and 70 AD)
The resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost
enabled the disciples to begin to discover the mystery of Jesus. These disciples
remained Jews, but they formed an amazing group within Judaism: they were the
witnesses to the risen Jesus.
The disciples preached, to proclaim the risen Jesus, first to the Jews and
then to the Gentiles. The disciples celebrated their Risen Lord in the liturgy and
above all in the Eucharist. The Eucharist determined the form of many memories of
Jesus. The disciples taught the newly baptized, and in order to do so recalled the
actions and the words of Jesus.
. Others soon joined the first disciples: Barnabas, the seven deacons, and
above all, Paul. Paul was converted round about AD 36, and went on to bring the
good news to Asia Minor, to Greece, and finally to Rome. Between AD 51 and 53
Paul wrote letters to various communities. Throughout this period, official Judaism
gradually began to reject the Christians.

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Third Stage: The Redaction (editing) of Writings (between
70 and 100 AD)
Four theologians bore witness to Jesus, bringing
together traditions which had already been edited in various
ways.
Round about AD 70 the Gospel according to St.
Mark put down in writing what was almost certainly the
preaching of peter in Rome. It seeks to show that Jesus is the
Mark Christ, the Son of God, especially through his actions and
above all his miracles.
The Gospel according to St. Luke was written about
80 or 90 AD, for communities principally made up of former
Gentiles. It shows how in Jesus God has visited his people
and manifested his loving-kindness towards them.
Luke wrote a second volume, the Acts of the
Apostles, in which he shows how the good news, carried by
the apostles under the guidance of the Spirit, began to spread
Luke all over the world.

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospel according to St. Matthew was probably
produced about 80 or 90 AD also, in a community of former
Jews who had become Christians. Matthew attacks the
Pharisees of Jamnia and shows how Jesus fulfills the
scriptures.
In their enquiry into the mystery of Jesus, Matthew
and Luke go back to his childhood, which they present in the Matthew
light of his life and resurrection.
The Gospel according to St. John is a very profound
meditation on Jesus as the Word of God. Written perhaps
between 95 and 100 AD, it shows how the crucified Jesus is
still alive today and gives us his spirit.
In Revelation, John – whether the same John, or
another one, presents Jesus as the goal of history.
In the meantime, John, Peter, James, Jude and other
disciples wrote letters to various communities.
John

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Literary Genre in the New Testament
•Gospels
There were four Gospel included in the canon of the New
Testament. They were the Gospels according to Mark, Matthew, Luke and
John. The word gospel comes from the English word godspel which
means good news. Gospels are good news in text or story form which was
probably invented by Mark. As literary genre they are concerned with the
identity of Jesus. Actually, they are pictures of how particular communities
interpreted Jesus for their time and their place (O’Hanlon, 1994, p. 49).
Within the Gospels, the writers used various literary forms such as
narrative, miracle story, discourse, parable, proverb, a riddle, example
story, figurative speech, simile, metaphor and allegory.

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Proverb - (Lk 4:23)
Maxim - (Lk 14:7-11)
Riddle - (Mk 7:15-17)
Example Story - (Lk 12:16-21)
Figurative Speech - (Mk 4:33)
Simile - (Mt 13:33)
Metaphor - (Mt 5:14)
Allegory - (Mk 12:1-9)

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Narrative
The Acts of the Apostles takes a narrative form. It records in a highly
selective fashion some of the missionary activities of the first
preachers of the gospel, especially of Peter and Paul (O’Hanlon, 1994,
p. 74).
Letters
Of the twenty seven books in the New Testament, twenty one are letters.
Letters are private matters, they come from one person to a group of friends, and they
often perplex readers. They deal with personal things and do not have to be well
organized. A letter may be written in answer to a question (O’Hanlon, 1994, p. 57).

16. MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Revelation/Apocalyptic
The word apocalypse means
revelation or disclosure. The revealed
secret is about Jesus Christ. It is like
any other book in the bible, it is an
invitation to hear God’s call, to
respond to it and to live accordingly
(O’Hanlon, 1994, p. 75).

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
Summary of the Books of the New Testament
(Lifted from O’Hanlon, 1994, pp.75-56)
The four Gospels open the call of the New Testament. Built, as
they are, on the foundation stone of Israel’s faith, they witness to the life
and work of a faithful Jew, Jesus of Nazareth. They preach the good
news of Jesus. They call people to live in their time the life Jesus lived
in his. Come, follow me! That is Jesus’ word addressed to peoples
everywhere. The hearing of the word is the beginning of the Church.
The Acts of the Apostles tells of the first bold steps of the
gospel as it begins to make its way through the world. The first
communities are formed and, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the
difficult but inexorable march from Jerusalem to Rome is accompanied.

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INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT
The letters of Paul and the rest witness to the
Church in the world. There it finds its people, poor in spirit,
like sheep without shepherd and it takes them to the gospel,
to the good news of God-caring, the good news of God-
saving. They witness, too, to the pain and anguish of new
Christians, beset by harassment and dissension. They show
us the realities of the Church, a place of squabbling,
troublesome people, forever counting angels on pinheads.
But they show too a people of joy and hope, a people
cherishing justice and righteousness, a people building
peace, a people engaged in the sublime task of declaring that
God is on our side, that there is nothing to fear.
The Book of Revelation seeks to remove the veil, to
show where the creator means to lead his creation, to show
where the gospel and its little Churches, all peoples come to
rest. Jerusalem is a sign of desperation. It is a city of
crucifixion. But crucifixion is not God’s final word in the world.
The place of crucifixion itself becomes the place of utter
transformation. There will be New Jerusalem.

19. Ignorance of the Scriptures is
ignorance of Christ