ECEC New Testament Lecture 1 PDF

Christian Education Course The New Testament Nov 2024  Course Outline Introduction To The New Testament & The Gospel (4 Evangelists) The Gospels According to St. Matthew & St. Luke 4 The Gospels According to St. Mark & St. John The Acts Of The Apostles Missionary Trips And...

Christian Education Course The New Testament Nov 2024  Course Outline Introduction To The New Testament & The Gospel (4 Evangelists) The Gospels According to St. Matthew & St. Luke 4 The Gospels According to St. Mark & St. John The Acts Of The Apostles Missionary Trips And Pauline Letters Catholic Letters And The Revelation Growing in Spiritual Maturity (Hebrews 5:13 -14) Commit to Regular Bible Reflect on Scripture Seek Guidance from Church Teachings Pray for Wisdom and Discernment The Light of Apostolic Faith (Ephesians 1:17-18) 1 2 3 4 Align with Study Writings Encourage Model Lifelong Coptic Orthodox of the Early Questions and Learning Church Teaching Church Fathers Discussions Today’s Schedule 01 02 03 04 Names & Writing Structure & History The Gathering The 4 Gospel The Names The Holy Book The Bible: From Koine Greek Τα Βιβλία "The Books" The Scripture: You Search The Scriptures, For In Them You Think You Have Eternal Life; And These Are They Which Testify Of Me. (John 5:39)  “FOR THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE NEW COVENANT, WHICH IS SHED FOR MANY FOR Covenants By God With Humanity THE REMISSION OF SINS.” (MATTHEW 26: 28) COVENANT SIGN MEANING SCRIPTURAL REFERENCE Symbolizes God’s mercy and His promise never to destroy Noah Rainbow the earth by flood again. Reflects God’s patience and hope Genesis 9:8-17 for humanity. Marks the Israelites as God’s people, set apart for holiness. Abraham Circumcision Foreshadows a spiritual “circumcision of the heart” as a sign Genesis 17:1-14 of dedication to God. Animal sacrifices offered atonement for sins, pointing to the Blood of Sacrificed Moses (The Law) ultimate sacrifice of Christ. Highlights God’s holiness and Exodus 24:3-8, Leviticus 17:11 Animals humanity’s need for grace. Jesus Christ (The New Precious Blood of Jesus Jesus’ sacrifice is central, fulfilling all prior covenants and Jeremiah 31:31-34, Matthew 26:28, Covenant) Christ offering forgiveness and direct relationship with God. Luke 22:20, Hebrews 9:15 The Gospel - ‫األنجيل‬ The Greek word εὐαγγέλιον (euaggelion) The Arabic word is ‘‫’بشارة‬. Gospel means the good news (God sent His only begotten Son into the world to save the believers). The word ‘Gospel’ was transformed in its meaning throughout history in three stages: Reward for telling good news The good news themselves. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Writing Who are the apostles who wrote the New Testament books and in which languages?  8 1 1.St. Matthew “No prophecy of Scripture is of any 2.St. Mark private interpretation, for prophecy 3.St. Luke (Gospel & Acts) never came by the will of man, but 4.St. John (+ 3 Letters + The holy men of God spoke as they were Revelation) moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1: 5.St. Paul (14 Epistles) 20-21) 6.St. James The Holy Spirit worked through the 7.St. Peter (2 Letters) Evangelists by directing, guiding, and 8.St. Jude showing them the facts that God The Writers: 8 or 1 wants to convey to man. All this was done without eliminating their personality in their writing. Each Evangelist kept his style that was influenced by his education and culture. Which Language Did Our Lord Jesus Christ Used? Hebrew Greek English ‫טליתא קומי‬ţ Little girl, I say to you, get up Ταλιθα κουμ (tlīthā qūmi) (Mark 5:41) ‫אתפתח‬ Εφφαθα be opened (Mark 7:34) (ethpthaḥ) ‫אבא‬ Αββα Father (Mark 14:36) (abbā) ‫אלהי אלהי למא שבקתנ‬ My God, my God, why have Ηλει Ηλει λεμα (Eloi Eloi lama you forsaken me? (Mark σαβαχθανει sabachthani?) 15:34)  Aramaic replaced Biblical Hebrew as the everyday language in Judea. but Biblical Hebrew, was still used for religious purposes, and somewhat strange norm that demanded a certain degree of training to be understood properly. The Writing - Language After Alexander, Judea was ruled by the Ptolemy's for almost two hundred years. Jewish culture was heavily influenced by Hellenistic culture, and Koine Greek (κοινή "common") was used not only for international communication, but also as the first language of many Jews. This development was furthered by the fact that the largest Jewish community of the world lived in Ptolemaic Alexandria. Many of these diaspora Jews would have Greek as their first language.  The Structure How many are the books of the New Testament?  The New Testament Gospel According to St. Matthew Gospel According to St. Mark Gospel Gospel According to St. Luke Gospel According to St. John Acts of the Apostles History Pauline Epistles Wisdom Catholic Epistles Revelation, or the Apocalypse Prophecy  Epistle to the Romans Epistle to the Thessalonians (2) Epistle to the Corinthians (2) Epistle to Timothy (2) The Pauline Epistles Epistle to the Galatians Epistle to Titus – St. Paul Epistle to the Ephesians Epistle to the Philippians Epistle to Philemon Epistle to the Hebrews Epistle to the Colossians Categories Letters Time of Location Of Writing Writing The First Letters Thessalonians (2) A.D. 52 - 53 Corinth Major Letters Romans A.D. 58 Corinth Corinthians (2) A.D. 57 Ephesus, Macedonia Galatians A.D. 58 Corinth Letters to Families Ephesians A.D. 61 - 63 Rome Philippians A.D. 61 - 63 Rome Colossians A.D. 61 - 63 Rome Philemon A.D. 61 - 63 Rome Pastoral Letters Timothy (2) A.D. 63 - 64 Macedonia, Rome Titus A.D. 63 - 64 Ephesus The Hebrews Hebrews A.D. 63 - 64 Italy The Catholic Epistles – ‫الرسائل الجامعة‬ Epistle of St. James Epistle of St. Peter (2) Epistle of St. John (3) Epistle of St. Jude The Revelation IT'S QUIZ TIME!  The History Where, to whom and when was the New Testament written? The History Period Events Assyria (722 B.C.) Conquest of the Northern Kingdom Babylon (626-539 Conquest of Judah B.C.) Persia (539-331 Decree of Cyrus and the B.C.) Return of Jewish Exiles Greece (331-323 Alexander the Great B.C.) Ptolemies (323-198 B.C.) Seleucid (198-166 B.C.) Maccabees (166-135 B.C.) Hasmoneans (135-63 B.C.) Roman Influence Roman Domination (63-4 B.C.)  Author To Whom When St. Wrote for the Christians of Judea, The Gospel as per St. Matthew appeared during the To whom who were formerly Hebraic Jews, so 3rd. Quarter of the 1st century, but many historians Matthew he wrote in Hebrew. believe that the Hebrew origin was written much earlier. St. Mark Wrote his Gospel in Latin because he Most historians believe that St. Mark wrote first was writing for the Christians of between the years 60 and 65 A.D. and Rome, whose first language was Latin St. Luke Wrote his gospel in Greek St. Luke wrote during St. Paul's imprisonment there, A.D. 61 when? The Book of Acts which was written after the gospel of St. Luke (Acts 1:1) ends with St. Paul's two years' imprisonment in Rome, this was A.D. 63. St. John Wrote for the diverse groups of The Gospel by St. John was written later than the three Christians in Asia, so he wrote in Synoptic Gospels, about the year 90 A.D. Greek St. Paul Wrote letters to several different churches and several different individuals in various countries and cities. St. Peter Wrote his first letter to the Christians who were formerly Jews of the Dispersion (living in diverse places away from Judea). These were Hebraic Christians, who used Hebrew as their written language  The Gathering How did the New Testament reach our hands?  The Gathering Canonical New Testament Non-Canonical Books The Early Church used The Old Testament used according to the Heretics have tried to slip into the Scriptures’ fake books and canon of the Septuagint. give them a Gospel title to deceive the believers. The New Testament developed over time. The early Church never adopted these false books; to the Writings attributed to the apostles circulated among the earliest contrary, it exposed them. Christian communities. The apostolic fathers (fathers who were disciples to the twelve The Pauline epistles were circulating in collected forms by the Apostles) of the Church referred only to verses from the Four end of the 1st century AD. Gospels. St. Athanasius the Apostolic the Pope of Alexandria, in his o Proto-Evangelium of James Easter letter of 367 AD, gave a list of the books that would o The Gospel of the Hebrews become the twenty-seven-book NT canon, using the word o The Gospel according to the Egyptians "canonized". o The Gospel according to Mary o The Gospel according to Nicodemus o The Gospel of the infancy of the Savior o The Gospel according to Thomas o In the Middle Ages, a fake book appeared with the title, “The Gospel according to Barnabas”. The Gathering Biblical Manuscript: A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible (Latin: manu (hand) and scriptum (written)). Parts of the New Testament have been preserved in over 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages, including Syriac, Ethiopic, Coptic, and Armenian. The dates of these manuscripts range from A.D. 100 to the introduction of printing in Germany in the 15th century.  The Gathering New Testament Papyri A New Testament papyrus is a copy of a portion of the New Testament made on papyrus papers. To date, over 120 such papyri are known. In general, they are considered the earliest witnesses to the original text of the New Testament. This elite status among New Testament manuscripts only began in the 20th century. Before 1900, only 9 papyrus manuscripts were known. The discoveries of the twentieth century brought about the earliest known New Testament manuscript fragments. They are available at museums and universities in many European countries (mainly the UK) & the USA, and six of them are in Egypt. Papyrus Year Content Institution City P14 450 1 Corinthians 1-3 Saint Catherine's Monastery Sinai P15 250 1 Corinthians 7-8 Egyptian Museum Cairo P16 300 Philippians 3-4 Egyptian Museum Cairo P92 300 Ephesians 1; 2 Egyptian Museum Cairo Thessalonians 1 P94 500 Romans 6 Egyptian Museum Cairo P98 150(?) Revelation 1 Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale Cairo Translations Version Year Description King 1611 Sometimes called the Authorized Version, it served as the standard James version for 350 years in English- Version speaking regions. The translation was enthusiastically supported by James I of England. Van Dyck 1860 (NT) / The most popular Arabic 1865 (OT) translation funded by the Syrian Version Mission and the American Bible Society in Beirut. The New Testament was completed in 1860, followed by the Old Testament in 1865. It has been accepted by the Coptic Church and Protestant churches. The Holy Book is the word of God The Bible is not a Biography of the Lord Jesus Christ nor a Historic book of events. It is not a human Book containing a particular sect nor a human belief nor an emotional expression of a personal religion The Bible is a Truthful Witness declaring the good news that affects our lives, it offers us the person of Christ to Accept Him, Live by Him, and in Him. It is the Book of God that He inspired by His Holy Spirit. “But I make known to you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1: 11-12) Why to study the Bible? You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. (John 5:39) For he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 18:28) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; (Ephesians 6:17) Introduction to the Gospel The 4 Evangelists Introduction to the Gospel: Ezekiel's Vision (Ez 1:10) John's Vision (Rev 4:6-7) As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; And around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a four had the face of an eagle. “(Ez 1:10) face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle” (Rev 4:6-7) Introduction to the Gospel: The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is a unified message (One Gospel) presented through four distinct perspectives by the four Evangelists. Each Evangelist reveals a different aspect of this singular Gospel, offering a fuller understanding, much like viewing a diamond from multiple angles. The four accounts provide a multidimensional view, allowing the Gospel to be appreciated from different perspectives, similar to how a statue can be observed from all sides. Three of the Evangelists were eyewitnesses of Christ's ministry, with direct knowledge of His conversations, teachings, and events. St. Matthew, while present for many events, relied on other apostles for certain details, such as the Transfiguration, which only St. Peter, St. James, and St. John witnessed. Introduction to the Gospel: St. Mark, living in Jerusalem, was able to hear Jesus’ teachings and had access to the apostles, who had established their headquarters there. St. Luke, possibly unfamiliar with Christ personally, traveled with St. Paul to Jerusalem, allowing him to converse with apostles and, perhaps, consult with St. Mary. St. John, as a close disciple, provided unique insights based on his personal relationship with Christ. Under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Evangelists were empowered to remember, preach, and write accurately about the ministry of Christ. They used both oral and written sources, carefully selecting material under the Spirit’s guidance. The result is not merely a human work but the Word of God, written under divine inspiration, capturing the essence of Christ’s message through the unified Gospel. The Synoptic Gospel: The Synoptic Gospels are the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke. They are called synoptic from the Greek syn, meaning together, and opsis, meaning appearance. They can be compared column by column with each other and share many parables and accounts, as well as a consensus on the order of events. The Gospel of St. John also shares traditions about Jesus, but it was written at a much later date than the others and is distinct from them in terms of style, content, and theology. St. Luke may not have had firsthand acquaintance with Christ, but he journeyed with St. Paul to Jerusalem (Acts 21:17). Therefore, he had the opportunity to converse with the apostles, and he could have consulted with St. Mary. The ministry of the Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to remember, preach, and write accurately about the oral ministry of Christ. The evangelists consulted both oral and written sources, selected material, and wrote under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit(The Word of God).  Aspect St. St. Mark St. Luke St. John Matthew Symbol Man Lion Ox Eagle Culture of the Original The whole Introduction to Readers Jews Romans Greeks world (Church) the Gospel Prominent Power – Grace – Fulfil the Glory - Idea Perform Save Law Divinity Miracles Humanity Portrait of Divine Son Jesus Servant of Perfect – – King mankind Son of Man Incarnated Word Thank you and God bless you ECEC Nov 2024