The Major Literary Forms Of The New Testament

13) The Creation of the World; the Garden of Eden; Adam and Eve; Original Sin; the Fall

Matthew, who is known as one of Jesus’ twelve disciples and one of the four gospel writers, wrote the book of Matthew. Before Matthew became an evangelist, he worked as a tax collector. Due to his profession as a tax collector many people disliked him. Prior to being saved Mathew went by the name of Levi, but after submitting his life to Christ he changed his name to Mathew, which is how Christians refer to him today. Matthew’s character exemplified loyalty as he dedicated his time to God by participating in missionary work and taking accounts for the bible. The book is comprised of different teachings given by Jesus that Matthew took account of. For example, Matthew 7:1-6 is taken from the Sermon on the Mount. The book of Matthew was written

He is known as the tax collector who turned disciple who writes to Jewish believers to emphasize the legitimacy of Jesus as the long awaited Jewish Messiah. According to Hindson and Elmer Matthew provides some of Jesus most prominent sermons, parables, and miracles, plus a record of important messages. He provides an eyewitness account of such significant events as the transfiguration, the triumph entry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. He explains the character and nature of the ministry of John the Baptist as the last of the prophets. Matthew originally crafted the Gospel for a group of Christians who were already familiar with the Old Testament. Both church tradition (external evidence) and the contents of the Gospel itself (internal evidence) suggest that this Gospel was originally written for Jewish Christians who were given the responsibility to share its message with the world (Hindson and Elmer pg. 350). Matthew also gives special attention to the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders. He exposes the religious blindness of his fellow countrymen, and he demonstrates Jesus superior understanding of the person of God, the intent of the law, and the proper application of biblical

The names “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are inherently theological in nature. Because there is a difference distinctly built into giving them different notations, it implies that there are differences between each the Old Testament and the New Testament, whether it is subtle in nature or obvious in nature. To Christians, the difference means that the Old Testament contains dealings between God and the world and even some of the rules made are made irrelevant by the interactions of Christ Jesus with the world. One of the differences between the New Testament and the Old Testament is the way each of the Testaments describe God and God’s nature. The Old Testament describes an angry God, one who only created the world and was obsessed with laws and rules. The New Testament describes a loving God who redeemed the world. The different ways the Old Testament and New Testament describe God and his nature are very much influenced by their perspective of God. By the rules, actions, and laws God made, the early writers of the Old Testament made their judgements about God and wrote those perspectives into the books of the Old Testament. The writers of the Old Testament did the best they could with the information they had and got some things about God right, but also got things wrong. The writers of the New Testament and therefore, Christian believers understand God better.

The New Testament is characterized by the existence of imperative Biblical figures, with the likes of Jesus Christ, the Apostles, among many others. Peter was among Jesus’ first disciples. From his turning point, as manifested in the book of John 21, to his progress as a dedicated leader as manifested in Acts, to his final emergence as a co-elder as manifested in the Epistles of 1st and 2nd Peter, Peter exhibited traits of a transformational and charismatic biblical figure (Neil & William 409).

Notable in Matthew is its emphasis on Jesus as the promised Messiah and on matters pertaining to the church. Evidence that it probably was written for Jewish Christians may be found which is concerned with representing Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The deep interest in the disciples is emphasized in Matthew. Matthew gives the fullest account of how Jesus called them, how he instructed them, how they failed him, and

When studying the Gospel of Matthew, Scholars have dated the book to be written sometime between the ages of 80 and 90 CE. Scholars have also estimated the book to have been written somewhere outside of Palestine, potentially in Antioch, Syria. Antioch was a very wealthy and educated area with a large Jewish community (Study Bible, 1665-1667). From what evidence permits, it’s estimated that the whole purpose of the gospel was meant as a means of correcting the Gospel of Mark by emphasizing the Jewishness of Jesus as the glorious Messiah of the Jews. There is also a stress to all the followers

In this paper, there will be research on the Gospel of Matthew from Daniel Harrington’s commentary “The Gospel of Matthew”, This paper will explain the teachings of the “6 Antithesis” in chapter 5 verses 21-48, and the main point on “Jesus came not to abolish but to “fulfill” the Law and Prophets (Harrington 90).” This paper will also have Daniel Harrington interpretations of the writing of the gospel of Matthew. I believe that Jesus had a reason for his teachings and how he went forward to preach them to the congregation.

Isaianic prophecy aside it is also clear that Matthew above the other three evangelists presents Jesus as the fulfilment of the law, a new Moses. The structure of the book into five sections is intended to help the Jewish readers identify Jesus as an antecedent of Moses. Jesus is according to some scholars a type of Moses bringing about a new exodus and a new Israel. More explicitly however, Matthew portrays Jesus as the only man to have fulfilled the law in its entirety as well as the messianic fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy through the many formula quotations (3:15; 5:17-48;12:17-21; 13:35; 21:5, 16, 42; 22:44; 23:39; 26:31; 27:9, 35, 46).

The New Testament contains 27 separate writings referred to as literary genres or forms (Harris, 2014). The form/genre is basically the type of writing, and the New Testament was not complied together in sequential order, rather it was put together by the literary genre starting with the Gospels and finishes with the Book of Revelations (Harris, 2014). These two genres are the major literary forms in the New Testament that blanket two smaller genre, narratives and epistles (Harris, 2014). The Gospels consists of four books known as the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John (Harris, 2014).

The term `genre` has been used in various ways in biblical studies. In one sense it refers to larger types of literature that can be recognized by certain general features, such as gospel, apocalyptic, prophecy, wisdom, etc. Early Christian editors arranged the content by literary classification from the Gospels to the book of Revelation. Gospel was a term invented by the Christians and was translated from the Greek word evangelion meaning “good news”. In the world of New Testament times evangelion was commonly used to make big announcements about the roman Emperor, a gospel must involve the deeds and/or words of Jesus and all four Gospels tell the story of Jesus and his teachings in some way.

After Jesus’s death came the first generation of Christians; they became the first ones to officially begin the writing the records known as the New Testament. In the New Testament, there are the four gospels whose sole purpose is to make the readers believe in the life and death of Jesus Christ (JGA, 42). The first Gospel written was Mark, which was composed 66-73 CE and is often characterized as highlighted Jesus’ actions rather than his words (JGA, 65). During the time the author of Mark was writing this gospel, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temples by the Romans was occurring. This historical event may have influenced the author to make the setting of Mark’s gospel to be one of hardship among the people (JGA, 63).

The Old Testament is the largest part of the bible nestled behind the leather binding in the front of the book. Unlike most books, told from one-person or even two this is comprised of multiple, some stories even having two different versions in another point of view; over time it has become a large collection of ancient texts written and re-written by different authors and editors over the many years. The stories show the ancient Israelites, they show the laws, and rituals, which make up their religion and the small embers, which will one day, turn to a flame that is Christianity. The Jewish people view these stories as collected in what they call the Torah, is the collection for what makes up their history and the promise that God gave to them, as well as their laws and what they worship today. For the Christians the Old Testament is still seen as sacred, but most place a stronger importance to the New Testament.

According to our text, the New Testament is comprised of four primary literary forms: Gospels, History, Letters and Apocalyptic (Harris, 2014). The Gospels was made up of four books written by four separate authors who tell of Jesus from four individual viewpoints based upon their understanding of who Jesus was, yet it does not cover the lifespan of Jesus, only certain accounts. Therefore, it is not considered historical or a biography but is defined as ‘sui generis’. The historical counts of the life of Christ is noted in the book of Acts. This book tells of the history of the early church but by all accounts doesn’t use traditional criteria most often noted in historical writings. The Epistles are known as letters. These letters were thought to be written by Paul and his followers. The letters were often written to the various churches rather than people or individuals. They were also written to address issues, concerns or to offer praise for specific acts or behaviors. Thus, letters or epistles addressing sin were more of the rebuking nature to bring correction and accountability in the effort to restore the parishioners to appropriate, God-fearing behaviors. Whereas, other letters may be to praise churches for exemplifying model behaviors that could be used for strong witnessing. The latter form is known as the apocalyptic writings. This form tends to deal with the End Times and was suspected to have been written during the time of church persecution. The book of Revelation in particular, was written around the 1st century when Christians were said to have been killed for their faith. It is during this time that the question was raised regarding God’s role and whether or not he would win. It was stated emphatically that God would win and would redeem his people.ReferenceHarris, S. L., (2014). The New Testament: A Student’s Introduction (8th ed.). Dubuque:McGraw-Hill Education.

Jesus' ministry. Christianity originated in the ministry of Jesus. During His lifetime, Jesus preached the gospel, meaning good news, that God was coming to earth to