Words of The Day

Introduction to the New Testament

The Name New Testament:

The second half of our Bible is set off from the first half by calling the former The Old Testament and latter The New Testament. While term testoment can means a will, it is more correctly understood in this context in the sense of a covenant. or a contract.  During the Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus Christ referred to His death as inaugurating this New Covenant would provide between God and His people.

(Luke 22:20) ²⁰Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

The appearance of this New Covenant was not unexpected. It had been promised by God through His prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel about 600 years earlier. Jeremiah promised that this New Covenant would be even more gracious than the Old Covenant that God had made with Moses (Ex. 19-Deut.) The New Covenant place God’s law within His people, would provide greater intimacy with God and greater knowledge of Him, and would final forgiveness of His people’s sins.

(Jeremiah 31:31-34) Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 
³²Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 
³³But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
³⁴And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no .

Ezekiel adds that God would also graciously re-gather   Israel, cleanse His people from all filthiness, and give them a new heart and a new spirit within them, which is His Holy Spirit , who would enable God’s people to obey.(Ezek. 36:24-27) For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 
²⁵Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 
²⁶A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 
²⁷And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 

Nine authors penned the 27 divinely inspired books of the New Testament over a span of 50 years. While eight of the  authors were Jewish , Luke the one Greek writer, had the distinction of writing more of the New Testament ( 28 percent) than any of the others – including the Apostle Paul who wrote( 25 percent). These authors and their books cover the latter half of the first century A.D ( after Christ).

God Bless you as we continue on this spiritual journey. Information taken from the Authorized King James Version ( Study Bible) Red Letter Edition.