Jesus' Birth & Infancy: New Testament Perspectives

Lesson #10 - The Condescension, Birth, and Infancy of Jesus-New Testament Perspectives

• The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus's nature, origins, and power as divine
• Jesus is portrayed as a new Moses with a new law and a new Davidic king with a new kingdom
• Jesus is the savior for all humanity and manifests God's love
• Jesus's genealogy in Matthew 1 makes three theological claims: Jesus is the Messiah, the "Son of Abraham," and the "Son of David"
• After Joseph and Mary's betrothal, Mary received an angelic revelation about being the mother of the Son of God, and Joseph received a revelation leading to his adoption of Jesus
• Matthew finds significance in Jesus's birth in Bethlehem because it shows the dichotomy between Herod and Jesus and portrays Jesus as "the Bread of Life"
• Matthew's inclusion of the story of the wise men references Numbers 24, Isaiah 60, Psalm 72, and 1 Kings 10
• Matthew uses the story of the slaughter of babies to connect Jesus with Moses
• The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the savior for all humanity and the manifestation of God's love to the marginalized
• In Luke, Jesus is a new Moses with a new law and a new Davidic king
• Luke's presentation of Jesus's genealogy points out that Jesus is heir to the Davidic throne, fulfills the Abrahamic covenant and is connected to Adam and therefore the entire human family
• The angelic announcement in Luke 1 included Gabriel's Annunciation to Mary in Nazareth
• Katalyma in Luke 2 means a "living room" or "guestroom"
• The angels' appearance to shepherds signifies that David had been a shepherd and Christ will one day reign as king
• Shepherds were the humblest class in Judea, pointing toward Christ's ministry to outcasts, and may have been tending lambs for sacrifice, pointing toward Christ as the Lamb of God
• Roman Gentile audience might have compared the angel's annunciation to the shepherds to inscriptions commemorating Caesar Augustus's birthday
• The Gospel of John emphasizes that Jesus is the savior for all humanity and the manifestation of God's love to the marginalized
• John emphasizes Jesus's divine nature, origins, and power
• John presents Jesus as a new Moses with a new law and a new Davidic king
• The Gospel of John is aimed at Jewish-Christians struggling with Gentiles and Christians in the late first century debating the nature of Christ
• The Greek word Logos is most often translated as "Word"
• Philo claimed that the Logos is in the image of God, the most ancient archangel, and existed before creation
• In the Gospel of John, Jesus's body is presented as a temple that was filled with the Glory of God

Lesson #11 - The Beginning of Jesus's Ministry-Baptism, Temptations, and the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

• John the Baptist evokes the Old Testament prophet Elijah
• John the Baptist saw himself as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3
• John the Baptist's apocalyptic message includes preparing for the end times and the coming judgment
• At Jesus's baptism in the Gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit descended to anoint Jesus (to be the Messiah)
• The heavenly voice declared that Jesus was to atone for sins and was a Davidic king
• Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism according to synoptic Gospels
• Satan introduces two of the three temptations with the phrase "If you are the son of God..."
• According to Matthew, the temptations were, "All these [kingdoms] I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me," "...command these stones to become loaves of bread," and "...throw yourself down [from the pinnacle of the temple]"
• According to the Book of Alma, Jesus needed to experience temptation during mortality so that he may know how to succor his people according to their infirmities
• The central message of the "good news" Jesus preached was, "The kingdom of God has come near"
• Jesus's calling of twelve disciples symbolically reflected the restoration of the twelve tribes of Israel
• The 70 disciples Jesus calls reflect the seventy gentile nations in Genesis 10
• Parables reflects Jesus's proclamation of the Kingdom of God
• The "Lord's Prayer" reflects Jesus's proclamation of the Kingdom of God
• Miracles reflect Jesus's proclamation of the Kingdom of God
• The "Beatitudes" reflects Jesus's proclamation of the Kingdom of God

Lesson #12 - Jesus as a Teacher - Parables

• The Gospel of John does not includes any of Jesus' parables
• The Gospel of Luke includes the parables of the Good Samaritan and Prodigal Son
• The Bible Dictionary says the reason Jesus taught in parables was to veil the meaning
• In the parable of the sower, the soil represents the heart of the individual hearing the message
• In the parable of the sower, the sun represents persecution, tribulation, and temptation
• The thorns (weeds) represent the cares of the world
• The Gospel of Matthew is the only one to include the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard
• It is not true that the lord of the vineyard had agreed to pay them more than a penny
• The lord of the vineyard gave for paying a penny to those who had labored: he gave them the amount they had agreed to before they started working and he can choose to do what he wants with his own money
• The Gospel of Luke is the only Gospel to include the Parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son
• In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the "certain man" was journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho
• "But when he came near to his father's house, his father saw him, and had compassion...” does not contain the parable of the Prodigal Son
• In the parable of the prodigal son, the elder son refer to the prodigal as his father's son

Lesson #13 - The Miracles of Jesus

• The Savior's miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead was recorded by the author of John only
• All of the gospels record that Jesus fed 5,000
• It is false that all of the miracles recorded in the Gospel of Mark are also recorded in one or more of the other Gospels
• It is false that for faithful Jews in Jesus' day, the raising and eating of pigs was against the Law of Moses
• It is false that the writer of the Gospel of Matthew likely wrote the 10 miracles of Matthew 8-9 in a strict chronological order
• Jesus heals a nobleman's son shows that Jesus does not need to be physically present for healing to take place
• Jesus heals a blind man was associated with the Pool of Siloam
• Seven miracles performed by Jesus are mentioned in the Gospel of John
• According to the Gospel of John, the first of the Savior's miracles was turning water into wine
• Lazarus had been dead for 4 days when the Savior arrived in Bethany
• "What are they among so many?" was asked when the disciples brought five barley loaves and two small fishes to the Savior

Lesson #14 - The Compassionate and Forgiving Jesus

• The Magnificat is a song of praise by Mary that reflects on her invitation to become the mother of God's son and is one of the ways that Luke introduces Jesus's acts of and teachings on compassion
• Jesus quoted Isaiah as he taught in the Nazareth synagogue
• The “anointed” person is expected to heal the broken hearted, give sight to the blind, liberate those who feel broken or oppressed, and preach the gospel to the poor
• The Jewish Year of Jubilee is a time of release when all debts were cancelled, and prisoners were set free
• In Luke's world, “poor” means to not have very much money
• According to Luke's version of the Sermon on the Plain, the poor will be a part of the kingdom of God
• Jesus tells the ruler asking what to do to inherit eternal life, "Come, follow me" and "Sell all you have and give unto the poor"
• According to King Benjamin, imparting of their substance to the poor was one evidence that that his people were doing retaining a remission of their sins
• Expectations of what the “Coming One” would do includes preaching the “good news” and raising the dead
• According to Luke's version of the Sermon on the Plain, the kingdom of God belong orphans and widows
• Most important focus in the story of the widow of Nain is that Jesus had compassion on the widow
• Pharisees were deeply concerned with issues of purity
• Simon decided that Jesus could not be a prophet because Jesus would have known that the woman was a sinner
• Jesus shows Simon that he is indeed a prophet by showing Simon that Jesus knew his thoughts
• 500 denarii (pence) is about 20 month's wages for a day laborer
• The debtor who owes 50 denarii (i.e., pence) represent Simon
• the word for debt (hōba') also means sin
• 500 denarii (i.e., pence) represent The woman
• She entered because she wanted to express her great love for Jesus
• Joseph’s “key” by which he understands the Scriptures is to know the question that led to Jesus's teachings
• What shall I do to inherit eternal life? was the first question that the lawyer asked Jesus and led to his teaching of the Good Samaritan
• Jesus's initial answer to who can inherit eternal life was Live the two great commandments
• follow up question that the lawyer asked Jesus was Who is my neighbor?
• According to the story of the Good Samaritan we must love those with whom we have strained relations
• point that Jesus is teaching when he gives the story of the Good Samaritan is if we want eternal life, we must help those who are in need

Lesson #15 - Jesus as a Teacher - Sermons and Conversations

• The gospels of Matthew contains 5 distinct sermons from Jesus
• It is false that Jesus characterizes the Law of Moses as "bad" and his new law as "good"
• Paul is not a member of the original 12 apostles listed in Matthew 10
• the gospel of John contains the Bread of Life sermon from Jesus
• It is false that according to the Gospel of John, after the Bread of Life Sermon, many of those who were thinking of following Jesus no longer "walked with him"
• The Bread of Life Sermon may be foreshadowing the institution of the sacrament
• The gospel of John contains the most personal conversations between Jesus and various individuals
• Savior used Moses lifting the serpent on his staff from the Old Testament stories to teach Nicodemus
• Savior responded to the woman at the well saying “I that speak unto thee am he.”

Lesson #16 - The Last Supper and Gethsemane

• The gospel of John describes Jesus washing the disciples' feet
• At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted a new covenant which is related to a covenant instituted with Moses
• Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe Jesus instituting the sacrament at the Last Supper
• The final command Jesus gave his disciples before entering Gethsemane was love one another as I have loved you
• Jesus taught that eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ
• The gospel of Matthew does not use the phrase, “The Garden of Gethsemane”
• gospel of Luke describe Christ's sweat being like blood in Gethsemane
• The people who appears to most vigorously oppose Jesus in the final 24 hours of Christ's life are the chief priests
• A lesson: Peter's angel's declaration: Christ doesn't give up on us

Lesson #17 - The Savior' Trial before Pilate, Crucifixion, and Burial

• Pilate wanted to protect his reputation to make his guilty
• Pilate moved the standards out of Jerusalem
• According to some ancient manuscripts, the first name of Barabbas was Jesus
• Pilate required The scourging
• In John, Jesus does not receive help carrying his cross
• The dying on the cross. is most heavily emphasized in scripture
• The dying on the cross. has most frequently been stated by church leaders in General Conference
• Gospel of Matthew: present at the Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James
• At the Jesus: Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, Salome
• who were from Mary and Woman
• Luke: Women from Galilee
• In gospel : Mary mother of Jesus
• Mary
• "My Jesus
• written gospel
• " in write phrase

Lesson #18 - Christ's Spirit World Ministry and His Resurrection

• Smith Doctrine studied

• While three and

• the gospel work

• what reports

• the Savior's

• Which

• which

• will What?

• who

• Thomas