The Bible is divided into 2 testaments or sections:
- Old Testament
- New Testament
The Old Testament, written mostly in Hebrew, comprises approximately 2/3 of the Bible, and the New Testament, written mostly in Greek, comprises the remaining 1/3. The Old Testament covers a period of approximately 4,000 years, and the New Testament covers a period of approximately 100 years.
The breakdown of the books of the Old Testament has been provided in prior posts in this Bible Basics series (parts 1-6). The New Testament was introduced in our last post.
The first section or division of the New Testament is the gospels. Each of the gospels has a different writer and a different target audience. Each of the gospels also portrays or emphasizes a different aspect of Jesus.
- Gospel of Matthew
- Written by Matthew also known as Levi
- Written to the Jewish religious person
- Emphasizes Jesus as the Messiah prophesied of in the Old Testament
- Gospel of Mark
- Written by John Mark
- Written to the Roman person (pragmatic)
- Emphasizes Jesus as the servant-redeemer
- Gospel of Luke
- Written by Luke, a physician who had traveled with Paul
- Written to the Greek mind
- Emphasizes the man-nature of Christ (the Perfect man)
- Gospel of John
- Written by John who stood at the cross of Jesus and wrote the Epistles of John and the book of Revelation
- Written to a more universal audience
- Emphasizes Jesus as the Son of Man
After the Gospels which all basically cover the same time period from at or around the birth of Christ until His trial, crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, is the book of Acts which covers the early history of the Church.
- Book of Acts
- Written by Luke (also wrote the Gospel of Luke)
- History of the Early Church from Pentacost to Paul’s final trip to Rome
- Documents how the Holy Spirit moved through those who had been saved and how the Word of God spread through those who would believe.
