New Testament Study Guide

· To what “general epistles” refers-the meaning of the title and what books are included: no specific audience, also vague (Specific Audience Hebrews, 2 Peter, 1 John and Jude) (Broad James and 1 Peter) (Vague 2 John, 3 John)

· What the term “catholic,” in the “catholic epistles” means: universal, general

· The author of Hebrews: unknown

· The “lines of evidence” given in the text concerning the audience of Hebrews: several lines of evidence indicate that Hebrews was written to a Jewish/Christian audience, the first readers were former adherents of Judaism

· The relationship between the OT & NT communicated in Hebrews: in the Old the New is contained, in the New the Old is explained

· To what “sermonic epistle” refers: to a word of exhortation, addresses a

· common concept rather than a specific people group

· The message of Hebrews and the two main ways it is communicated: trust in the Lord and stand firm. To remind the readers of the incomparable greatness of Jesus and the reader’s need to reaffirm their courageous Christian faith of former days.

· How Hebrews describes Jesus: Christ purifies, furnishes insight into their dilemma and grace to help them find their way forward

· The nature of the Law in Hebrews: Christ is not seen as a replacement but as a fulfillment

· The role of suffering in the life of the Christian, how Jesus gave an example and how the “hall of faith” relate to suffering: stand firm, suffering shouldn’t surprise believers, be encouraged by it (be encouraged by the hall of faith)

· The relationship of the teaching in the book of James to Paul’s teaching in Romans: apparent contradiction (James- justified by works and not faith alone, Romans-man is justified by grace, through faith)

· Who wrote James and why it is significant: James the brother of Jesus, he first was a skeptic but grew to acknowledge as the Messiah

· How James reflects the OT prophets and wisdom literature: Prophets (faithfulness to Lord and denunciation of faithless behavior), the distinctive structure of Proverbs (touches on one theme, goes to others and returns to the first)

· The reason Peter called the hope of Christians a living hope: living hope because we have a living savior

· How the living hope relates to the Christian calling to be holy, recall the particular wording used in 1 Pt. 1:13: be holy because I am holy (gird up your loins-be ready to run the race)

· How Peter communicates the “living purpose” that Christians are to live out in the various areas of life: live to declare God’s goodness, suffering for the sake of Christ

· How Peter describes why Christians suffer and why they should not be ashamed: to suffer for what is right is a blessing in the midst of the crucible

· How suffering relates to humility in Peter: humble yourself therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt in due time

· The role of the “day of the Lord” in 1 & 2 Pt.: to encourage living holy and godly lives, for the day of the Lord is unknown

· How the life of John relates to his writing in the 1, 2, 3 epistles: he was an eyewitness of Christ (the truth and reality of Jesus coming in the flesh)

· John’s definition of love and how it is and is not a new command:

· How what we’re NOT to love relates to Paul’s teaching of Colossians: don’t set your heart on earthly things, for we have been raised with Christ

· The two significant ideas in Jude: urge contention for the faith(as seen through the saints), Jesus can present us before God without fault and with great joy

· The overall genre of Revelation: apocalyptic

· The “two realities” that Revelation communicates: supernatural order (God is all in all), recorded time (God is working out his earthly purposes)

· The four millennial views and what each believes: dispensational pre-millennialism(Saints rule with Christ during thousand year period, satan is released from confinement, at final judgement satan and his angels are cast into Hell), historical pre-millenialism(various persecutions experienced by believers wherein the antichrist will be in power, final judgment at Great White Throne), post millennialism(age of the church is in the millennium, Christ returns at end), amillenialism (rejects literal thousand year reign of Christ)

· How Revelation embodies a philosophy of history and how this is communicated in the titles of God: sets out own philosophy of history (beginning- creation, end-judgment day [telos]), history is God’s story (he is the alpha (beginning) and omega (end)

· The bottom line of Revelation: our story is insignificant, but weaved into God’s story, life has significance through God

· The “balanced vision” of the NT and how it is an example in “seeing the truth and life as a unity”: focused on contrasting truths in that each is preserved without any receiving unhealthy emphasis, seek to make the world a better place while maintaining a spiritual mindset

· What contextualization means and why it is important: passing the gospel onto new cultural settings (new languages and forms) while refraining from distorting the message, makes the message understandable for all cultures.

· The task involved with “church and culture”: involves working out the connection between the gospel and the government, the task is trying to relate church to culture