New Testament Summary Chart

1 New Testament Summary ChartIntroduction: The idea here is to give you a brief Summary of what books are in the NewTestament and what is contained in these books. If you want a printable Chart without all of the links (so that you can keep this with yourBible): No Link OT Summary Chart (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). The PDF is best for printing. No Link NT Summary Chart (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). The PDF is best for printing. Linked NT Summary Chart (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). Linked OT Summary Chart (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). External LinksGenesis Lessons201 300 HTMLG enesis Lessons201 300 PDFG enesis Lessons201 300 WPDOld Testament SummaryChart HTMLOld Testament SummaryChart PDFOld Testament SummaryChart WPDNew TestamentSummary Chart HTMLNew TestamentSummary Chart PDFNew TestamentSummary Chart WPDA Basic History of NationIsrael HTMLA Basic History of NationIsrael PDFA Basic History of NationIsrael WPDOld Testament SummaryChart PDF no linksNew TestamentSummary Chart PDF nolinksBasic History ofIsrael PDF no linksKukis HomepageExegesisDoctrinesSummary Charts of BooksThe GospelsActs of the ApostlesThe Pauline EpistlesThe General EpistlesThe Book of RevelationCharts.

2 Maps and TimelinesPaul's Lifetime TimelineThe Church in the FirstCenturyNew Testament BooksTimelineUnlike the Old Testament , the entire New Testament was composed over a very shortperiod of time, less than 60 years (possibly less than 50 years), by 8 or 9 authors, most ofwhom knew one another. All of the writers of the New Testament either knew of theincidents that they wrote about firsthand, or knew those who observed the incidentsfirsthand. They appear to know the people to whom the letters are written, with thepossible exception of Hebrews and other letters which seem to be more general. There are several very noteworthy facts which are often skipped over or not fullyappreciated: Jesus s ministry was only for 3 or 4 years (approximately 26 30).

3 He1wrote nothing down. Yet, there are more historical accounts of his life, death, burial andresurrection written down by more observers in more detail than of any other historicalfigure from, say, pre-1600 If we had this much recorded information about any otherhistorical figure, then historians would have accepted such documents as completely andunequivocally accurate. Furthermore, Jesus ministry was confined to a very small geographical area, most of whichHe traversed by foot. He taught mostly in the Galilean area and occasionally down in2 Jerusalem, and in several places in between. These two areas are less than 80 miles fromone another. No other religious figure had a more limited geographical ministry than ourLord.

4 We know very little about Jesus looks. He was probably very strong, he had a beard, andHe looked very average (unlike Old Testament icons like Moses, Saul or David). Becauseof the customs of the day and a remark made by Paul, Jesus probably had short hair. However, there are no actual physical descriptions of our Lord in the New Testament . Thepaintings and visage that we associate with Jesus are pure fantasy. This was an unusual time period. The Jews were looking for a Messiah, but theyenvisioned a Messiah who would lead them in rebellion against the Romans. The Jewswere so angered by Roman rule that they rebelled on several occasions and Romeeventually came in with armies and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 ,dispersing the Jews to other areas.

5 Although Christianity began in the general area of occupied Israel (occupied by theRomans), it began to spread throughout the Roman empire, to Gentiles less volatile areas. The Apostle Paul s first missionary journey took place around 45 , later followed by 3other missionary journeys. Paul was executed around 67 68 , before the fall ofJerusalem. In contrast, both Mohammed and Buddha spent 3 or 4 years beginning their ministry, beginning to gather1up disciples; and then Mohammed s entire ministry was about 20 years and Buddha s was about 45 years. The dates given throughout are dates determined by other scholars; I have never personally made a studyof these dates.

6 Mohammed traveled over much of Saudi Arabia and Buddha traveled throughout much of India. 2 Gospel means good news. These are the 4 books that are first-hand or second-handaccounts about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These books were allwritten after the death and resurrection of our Lord. The GospelsThe gospels are the historical, biographical accounts of the life, death and resurrectionof our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other person and no other set of events from anyperiod of time prior to the printing press with this sort of historical documentation. Wehave two eyewitnesses to the Person and events and two accounts from people whospoke to eyewitnesses of Jesus and the events of his life, which, together, form a uniquehistory of Jesus and His time.

7 BookCommentsMatthewMatthew was one of the two disciples of Jesus who wereeyewitnesses to the events that they recorded. He is called Levi inthe books of Mark and Luke. Matthew was a tax collector, and, as such, as anathema to Jewishsociety. Although all of the gospels quote Old Testament Scripture, Matthewquotes more of it than anyone else. Either he knew the Bible well orhe learned much of it quickly as a disciple. Some believe that Matthew recorded this history in the 50's or 60's;others even place it later. It seems unlikely that Matthew would haveused any other gospel as source material, as he was an eyewitness. The GospelsMarkMark is an assistant to Peter, a disciple of Jesus, and some considerthis to be Peter s gospel.

8 There are things that we would closelyassociate with Peter s personality here. Peter was very action-oriented; he was a doer; so much of the book of Mark is about actionand less about dialogue than the other gospels. Why Mark would write this book and not Peter is not clear, as Peterdid write two epistles (letters). Let me suggest that Peter tended tobe a man of action; an epistle a letter written to specific people forspecific reasons would be a specific act with a specific purpose toPeter. Also, epistles tended to be short, and could be written at onesitting. However, for Peter to just sit down and write what heremembers of Jesus ministry without a specific audience would notnecessarily appeal to his personality type.

9 Another possible reasonthat Peter did not write this down is, it simply did not occur to him. However, it may have occurred to his disciple, Mark, who possiblylearns about Jesus directly from Peter. Many think that Mark was the first gospel to be produced, in the 50'sor 60's. Luke Luke is a physician and he is not one of the original disciples. In fact,his association appears to be mostly with Paul, who was not anoriginal disciple either. Luke appears to have worked from sourcematerial and from personal interviews to write this gospel. There are clues in this book that this book was written primarily forgentiles outside of the land of Palestine. Luke recognized that Jesuswas a Person for all mankind, and not for the Jews only, althoughLuke clearly presents Jesus as the fulfillment of Old TestamentScripture (Luke 4:18 21).

10 It is my estimation that Luke probably relied upon both the books ofMark and Matthew as some of his source material. This wouldobviously mean that these books had already been written and thathe had access to them. Luke, the only Greek to write anything in the New Testament ,appears to think chronologically rather than thematically (morecommon among Hebrews); so his gospel is probably chronological. Luke would have written his gospel between the late 50's to perhapsas late as the 70's. Several sources suggest that Luke was writtenbetween 59 63. The GospelsJohn John is the other Apostle of Jesus to write a biography of Jesus as aneyewitness. What he writes is consistent with the Person of Jesus,and some incidents overlap, but his gospel is so much different fromthe other gospels.