| Introduction
and Background of the
New
Testament
Throughout the
time of the New Testament, and 600 years of the Old Testament, Israel
has been a conquered nation. God said that He would bring their
enemies against them if they turned to idolatry. When they did turn
to idolatry during the reign of the Kings of Israel and Judah, God
brought them into captivity. First with the Assyrians, then the
Babylonians, the Persians, Greece and Alexander the Great, the Ptolemy
and the Seleucus empires, and finally Rome. The Israel of Jesus’
day had been an occupied territory since 626bc. God returned them
from exile back to Israel after the 70 years of Babylonian captivity
of 586bc and they began to rebuild Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah.
The temple was rebuilt but not to its original grandeur as it was
under King Solomon. The nation of Israel didn’t even follow
or teach the Torah. One of the main problems was that the Spirit
of God was not present in the temple. The belief was that only under
the Messiah was the Temple to be rebuilt, not under ungodly rulers.
Not all Jews
returned to Jerusalem and many were assimilated into other pagan
cultures. Whereas, Hebrew was the language of orthodox Jews who
were Hebraists, some Jews adopted the Greek language and culture
and were called Hellenists. Many Jews reacted to this secularization
through revolt and were called Zealots, or nationalists, similar
to the revolt of the Maccabees around 166bc. A desert community
known as the Essenes also rebelled against 1st century Temple worship.
After the Maccabean era, Israel became divided under the Hasmoneans.
Other classes of Jewish leaders also arose such as the Scribes (writers
of the Law), Pharisees (the separated) and the Sadducees (the righteous),
as well as local Rabbi’s (teacher). People assembled in synagogues
Gr. (assemblies). Political struggle began between the two religious
parties. The Sadducees were more Hellenistic and the Pharisees were
Hebraists. A man named Herod stepped into Israel’s history
to bring about stability through an alliance with Rome. Thus the
influence of Rome in 63bc! A nation divided cannot stand! Rome was
to rule Israel by dividing it into provinces and governing it through
local procurators and proconsuls and the army, in return for taxation.
The Israel of
the past saw their king as being God’s agent to enforce a
theocracy, and refused to bow down to any other king. After many
years of occupation some fought against their enemies and longed
for the coming of a messiah who they believed would conquer the
occupying heathen, reinstitute temple sacrifices and return Israel
to its once glorious past. Unfortunately, the temple system had
become corrupt under Roman influence. The Sadducees who were the
high priests of the day were more political appointees then spiritual
leaders. The king of the day, Herod, whose Roman title was “King
of the Jews,” was also a politically appointed ruler by Rome
and many in Israel refused to be led by him. Not to mention that
Rome taught that “Caesar was Lord.” For orthodox Jews
of Jesus’ day, following an ungodly king was considered to
be idolatry, because there is no king but God.
The time was
ripe and expectations were high for the coming of a messiah when
Jesus showed up on the scene. What wasn’t considered about
a messiah was that maybe he would have issues with the leaders of
Israel and not Rome. After all, people might lose their wealth,
political influence and even occupations and the religious thought
of the day may have to change. They expected a messiah of their
making, not God’s. The religious ruling council was called
the Sanhedrin which had its members from both religious parties
and some were Herodians.
Certain socio-economic
conditions existed in the time of Jesus. Slavery was common because
of poverty and there were basically 2 classes of people, the rich
and the poor, there were very few middle class. As a result of poverty
many were driven to crime. Tax collectors were bought positions
and they were very wealthy. The priestly families were also very
wealthy and even many rabbis. Other classes of people were those
who had trades such as farmers, fishermen and stone masons / carpenters.
A lot of money was made through exchanging of money, especially
connected to temple sacrifices, usually at a profit. Wealth was
erroneously looked upon as a blessing from God. Many of the poor
and those with illnesses were kept out of temple worship.
Four basic languages
were spoken; Latin, Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew. Education was private
not public and was taught through tutors. Jews were taught from
the scriptures at synagogues. Emperor allegiance and polytheism
was prevalent and encouraged and many temples were erected where
food was dedicated to gods and then sold. Paganism and various occult
practices were very prevalent. Philosophies such as “Gnosticism”
flourished, emphasizing that matter was evil and spirit was good
and that one needed a “special knowledge” in order to
understand this. Other philosophies existed such as; Epicureans,
Stoics, Platonists, Cynics and Skeptics.
The Temple in
Jerusalem was the center of Jewish worship. All male Jews were expected
to come to the temple at least 3 times a year; during Passover,
Pentecost and Tabernacles. The temple court was divided into 3;
the outer court, inner court and the holy place. The temple building
proper was divided into the holy place and the Holy of Holies. The
holy place was entered into by priests every day to fill the altar
of incense, showbread and menorah. The Ark of the Covenant resided
in the Holy of Holies behind a thick veil and the high priest was
the only one allowed behind the veil during the Day of Atonement.
During Jesus’ day the Holy of Holies was empty.
Who
are the authors?
None of the names ascribed
to the Gospels actually identify themselves as the writer. The only
way we know that they wrote it was through the testimony of early
church writers.
Matthew
– The only Gospel that was written in Hebrew. He was a tax
collector who became a disciple of Jesus.
Mark
– Was a disciple of Peter and he and his mother are mentioned
in the NT.
Luke –
Was a gentile who was a physician and a disciple of Paul, he also
wrote the Book of Acts.
John
– Was the brother of James the sons of Zebedee who were fisherman.
John’s Gospel is the most unique of the 4 Gospels and contains
information that none of the other Gospels include. It contains
7 signs or miracles that Jesus performed, 7 “I Am”
sayings and divides the life of Jesus in reference to the 7 feasts
of Israel. Instead of a genealogy Jesus is the pre-incarnate Word.
For
another Synoptic example click here Harmony
of the Gospels
To
view the New Testament chapter by chapter click here NT
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