New Testament Introduction
About This Class
This course is will help you begin to weave yourself through the maze of NT studies. During the course we will be exploring several major subject areas: 1) the history of the period in which the NT was written; 2) the social and cultural milieu in which early Christians lived; 3) the practice of the scholarly study of the NT (source, form, redaction, genre, rhetorical criticism et al.); 4) questions of introduction about the books of the NT (authorship, date, audience, structure, purpose); 5) the practice of exegesis and hermeneutics.
Other Recommended Reading:
The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance, Bruce Metzger
The Canon of Scripture, F. F. Bruce
Abba, Joachim Jeremias
About the Professor
Ben Witherington
Since 1995, Dr. Witherington has been a faculty member at Asbury Seminary, previously teaching at institutions including Ashland Theological Seminary, High Point College, and Duke Divinity School. He's a prolific author with over 40 books and six commentaries to his name, and is renowned for his historical and cultural Bible analyses. Dr. Witherington is a Life Fellow of the John Wesley Fellowship, a Cambridge University research fellow, and a member of several prestigious professional organizations.
![Ben Witherington](https://back.biblicaltraining.org/sites/default/files/styles/professor_medium/public/2022-10/benwitherington_0.png?itok=pQHct37E)
Lessons
- 0% Complete
When reading the Bible, there is a danger of reading our own ideas into the text and assuming they are there. A text without a context is a pretext for whatever you want it to mean.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Dr. Witherington continues the discussion on the importance of using context in interpretation and walks through the different types of context.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Matthew, Mark and John are like ancient biographies. Luke-Acts is more like an ancient historical monograph.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
The terms “Son of Man” and “kingdom of God” appear often in Matthew and Mark. The kingdom of God is the divine saving activity of God breaking into human history.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Luke uses Mark as a primary source. He organizes his material geographically “to” Jerusalem, while Acts is organized “from” Jerusalem. Luke emphasizes apologetics to make his case that Christianity should be considered a legal religion in the Roman Empire. The divinity of Jesus is more vividly portrayed in the gospel of John than in the synoptics.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
There was great animosity between the Jews and Samaritans that went back hundreds of years. In telling the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus was not only challenging stereotypes but shaming a man who thought he was a righteous Jew. It’s unacceptable to use your orthodoxy as a tool to justify your prejudices against other kinds of people.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Jesus teaches that there is not always a direct correlation between sickness and sin. The religious officials often thought that Jesus did not measure up to what they thought a prophet should be. All of Jesus’ miracles are acts of compassion, not primarily to prove that he is the messiah.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Salvation according to the gnostics is a self-help program for those with inside knowledge. The gnostic gospels were never on any of the canon lists of the early church. The church recognized the canon, they didn’t form the canon. God has revealed enough about the future to give us hope, but not so much that we don’t have to live by faith each day.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Apocalyptic literature arises when justice is deferred. It develops the ideas of the “other world” and the “afterlife.” God is being worshipped for what he is about to do to transform the world into his kingdom. Dispensational theology supports the teaching of a rapture.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
A genuine prophecy was intended to be understood and it was spoken in known languages. Apocalyptic literature was often written during periods of exile. Worship is not about giving people what they want, it’s about giving God what he desires and requires. True worship requires that we are in the Spirit and give our whole selves to God.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
In times of exile, people didn’t see God carrying out justice in their lifetime so they thought it must happen later by God raising them from the dead. Your behavior in this life affects the eternal outcome. When we die, our spirit goes to be with God, our body decays and eventually God gives us a heavenly body that will be everlasting like our spirit.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Parable comes from a word meaning figurative or metaphorical speech of any kind. They are analogies and part of wisdom literature. Jesus purposefully spoke in public in figurative ways to challenge people to think about the ideas he was presenting. He gives us insights into God’s character and the relationship between him and God the Father.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Parables are intended to tease your mind into active thought about God. You can tell the character of a person by what they do when they think nobody is watching. The parables have both justice and mercy, righteousness and compassion.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
The first missionary journey started in Antioch. Paul, Barnabas and John Mark worked together. Paul shames his detractors by boasting about things that most people thought were shameful. Paul’s letters were written as conversations in context, not as theological tracts.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
In the Old Testament, “hesed” refers to the love God promised to give to the people to whom he betrothed himself (i.e., Jews). The paradigm of “agape” is God in Christ. On the cross, Christ gave with no thought of return. Paul’s letters were meant to be read in a public discourse setting as an act of worship. An effective rhetorical presentation appeals to both the mind and the emotions of people.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
Understanding the structure of rhetoric can help you understand scripture better and preach more effectively.
0% Complete - 0% Complete
When Jesus came to earth, he accepted a slave’s position and willingly suffered a slave’s death. Jesus “emptied himself” by giving up his divine prerogatives. Jesus assumes the role of “Lord” (God) at resurrection and thereafter. Christ doesn’t reflect God’s glory, he radiates it.
0% Complete
About BiblicalTraining.org
BiblicalTraining.org wants every Christian to experience a deep and loving relationship with Jesus by understanding the life-changing truths of Scripture. To that end, we provide a high-quality Bible education at three academic levels taught by a wide range of distinguished professors, pastors, authors, and ministry leaders that moves from content to spiritual growth, all at no charge. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit funded by gifts from our users. We currently have over 180 classes and seminars, 2,300 hours of instruction, registered users from every country in the world, and in the last two years 1.4 million people watched 257 terabytes of videos (11 million lectures).
Our goal is to provide a comprehensive biblical education governed by our Statement of Faith that leads people toward spiritual growth.