Welcome, dear listeners, to our series entitled New Testament Survey. This is a 12-part series in 15-minute segments on a survey of the New Testament of the Bible. It is a complementary series to our series entitled Old Testament Survey. If you listen to both series, you will have a good picture of the whole Bible as the revelation of God and as a scripture of the Christian church shall introduce this series of New Testament Survey in the same way as I introduced the Old Testament Survey by drawing your attention to the foundational concepts that underpin the Bible as the written word of God.

If you have followed my Old Testament Survey, please consider this as an important revision of these truths. It is vital that we understand that the Bible is one whole consisting of the Old Testament and the New Testament together as a complete library of books that are God-given.

The Bible is the Scripture of the Christian church. It is called Scripture because it is a library of books that are recognised by Christians as being written by the Spirit of God using human writers He chose to do so. It consists of 66 books. These 66 books are divided into two sections. One section is called the Old Testament and the other, the New Testament. The Old Testament covers the first 39 of the 66 books. This is the part of the Bible that the Old Testament survey series covered. The New Testament covers the remaining 27 books. This is what this series covers.

Now, the New Testament is called new because the books in its collection are written after Jesus Christ came down from Heaven to be born as a man. He completed his work on Earth and physically ascended and returned to Heaven. Therefore, the person of Jesus Christ is the centre of the Bible. The Old testament is called old because these books were written before Jesus Christ was born and lived and did His mission on Earth as a human being. They pointed to His coming by prophecies and signs, laws and ceremonies. The New Testament reveals what Jesus taught and did when He came. He’s called the Messiah because He was chosen and sent by God to reveal God to us and to save us from our sins.

The main language of the New Testament is Greek that was in common use in that period of history called Koine Greek. The main language of the Old Testament is ancient Hebrew - the national language of Israel. The Bible has been translated into many languages including, of course, English. The key truth that underpins the Bible is Revelation. The Bible declares that God has chosen to show Himself to us by sending Jesus to us and by giving us the Bible. The word “revelation” is a noun that speaks of the act of showing or demonstrating something. The Bible is a library of books that shares with us the one revelation of God that is centred on the person of Jesus Christ - who He is, why He came to us, what He did to save us and how we are to respond to Him to be saved.

The Bible is also called the canon of faith and life for the universal Christian church. The word
“canon” is drawn from ancient Latin. It means “rule”. The Bible reveals the truth that God has shown himself to us in the person, life, ministry and teachings of Jesus Christ. This presents and defines the Christian faith. It sets the principles and truth that enable and guide Christian living. Hence, it is called the “canon of faith and life”.

Now, the Bible records that God reveals himself to us through history. The Bible records the actions and events that God enacted in human history and this world that we know. This includes the times when God met with human persons in moments of personal encounter. These persons received messages from God for themselves and for humankind that reveal God’s purpose that are worked out through their lives and that of their descendants. This history and message received from God are weaved together and worked out by the community of those who believe, as to what they mean and how they apply to human life and existence. The concepts and teachings, so developed, is theology. It is the way the faithful understands and apply the revelation that has been received through history. The revelation of God is infallible in that God is perfect and what He reveals is perfect. However, theology is fallible because it necessarily involves how the faithful who are human, work out how to understand and apply what God revealed. It is a necessary process and discipline for humankind to receive and respond to God’s truth. But it is an ongoing process that needs God’s gracious input to set us on the right course to receive and respond correctly. Let me highlight the topics of the 12 talks of this series.

In this first one which we have just covered, we are introducing this series as a whole. In the next talk, Talk 2, we will look at key features of the new testament. In Talk 3, 4 and 5, we look at the Gospels. In Talk 6, we will look at the history and in Talks 7 and 8, we will look at the Pauline Epistles. In Talks 9 and 10 we will look at the general Epistles. In Talk 11, we will look at the book of Revelation - the final book. And then, in Talk 12, we will look at the covenant perspective of how the New Testament is linked with the Old Testament. So, in the next talk, we present the book and structures that make up the New Testament.

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