Introduction to the New Testament
&
The Birth of Jesus
Intergenerational Seminary
Session #6
Christian Bible (New Testament)
• Written in Greek
– With a few Aramaic (commonly spoken
Hebrew) expressions
• “Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani?” (Matt. 27:46)
• Many of the writers would have known
the Hebrew Bible only in Greek
translation
– Matthew quotes virgin prophecy from
Isaiah’s Greek translation
12th century
manuscript
Paul’s name
up close
New Covenant/Testament
• Promised by Jeremiah (31:31-33)
• Referred to by Jesus at the Last
Supper (“new covenant in my blood”)
• Remember: When the New Testament
talks about “Scripture,” it’s referring to
the Old Testament
How did the NT come about?
• Took a while
– Early Christians were very “eschatological”
– First form was letters (fit with eschatology):
Pauline (50’s)
• I Thess, Gal, Philemon, Phil, I/II Corin, Romans
– By the mid-60s the first generation had mostly
died, so letters took on a more enduring tone
(Deutero-Pauline)
• II Thess: don’t focus too much on the Second Coming
• Colossians/Ephesians: talks about “the Church”
• I/II Timothy, Titus discuss bishops, priests, & deacons
How did the NT come about?
• Also the “Catholic/General Epistles”
(directed to the worldwide church)
– I/II Peter
– James
– Jude
– I/II/III John
How did the NT come about?
• The Gospels
– Q (German quelle, source”; ~50 CE): 200
verses of Jesus’ teachings (no longer existent)
– Mark (~70 CE): his readers were not Palestinian
Jews of Jesus’ lifetime, but Gentiles who were
unfamiliar with Jewish customs
• Emphasis on suffering and the Cross may reflect
Mark’s personal experience
– Matthew/Luke (~20 years later): used “Q”
– Fourth Gospel (~90-100 CE)
How did the NT come about?
• Other books
–Acts
• By the same author as Luke
• One narrative, moving the story of
Christianity beyond Jerusalem to
Samaria and beyond
–Hebrews
–Revelation
Why those books in the NT?
• Apostolic origin
– Gospels attributed to apostles (Matthew, John)
or “apostolic men” (Mark, Luke)
– Letters supposedly written by Paul, Peter, James
• Debates
– Revelation almost didn’t make it in when
Dionysius (250 CE) proved John didn’t write it
– Hebrews only made it in when it was
determined to have been written by Paul
• Not always sufficient
– Gospel of Peter rejected based on its theology
Evolving NT canon
• Pauline letters
– 100 CE: 10 letters (not Pastorals or Hebrews)
– 200 CE: 13 letters (not Hebrews)
– 300 CE: 14 letters
• Gospels
– Likely each early community only knew of one of
the gospels
• No record before 150 CE of more than one gospel
being read in any specific church
• By late 4th century there was widespread
acceptance of the 27 books
Jesus and the Gospels
Homeland
of Jesus
Jewish Setting
• “Second Temple Period”
– Recall:
• Jerusalem fell to Babylonians in 586 BCE
• Return from Exile in 539 BCE – Temple rebuilt
• Jerusalem eventually sacked by Romans in 70 CE
– Characteristics
• “Exile” was still going on
– Enslaved by Greeks and then Romans
– Punishment for Israel’s sin
– Deliverance still to come: return of YHWH to Zion
The Synoptic Gospels
(Matthew, Mark, and Luke)
• Synoptic: a summary of the life of Jesus
• Gospel
– From Greek evangelion, “good news”
• “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” (Mark 1:1)
• Doesn’t imply knowledge of other gospels
– Refers not to a book but a message
• Often relating to victory in battle
• There probably were other gospels
– Galatians 1:8-9 – “a gospel contrary to what we
have preached to you”
Gospel Formation
• Three stages
– Public ministry of Jesus (first third of 1st century)
– Apostolic preaching about Jesus (second third) –
oral traditions
– Codification of oral traditions (final third)
• Recall
– The earliest gospel (Mark) was written 40 years
after Jesus’ death
– The others were closer to 60 years after His death
One-Source Theory
“Marcan Priority”
Mark
Q
Matthew
Luke
• Where things come
from
– Mark alone: Mark
– Matthew & Luke
following Mark: Mark
– Matthew & Luke, but
not Mark: Q
– Matthew or Luke
alone: individual
accounts/sources
“Jesus Christ”
• “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name
– Greek christos = Hebrew mashiah (messiah,
“anointed one”)
– The term “Jesus Christ” makes a claim (i.e.,
that Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah)
• Like “Mahatma” Gandhi for Mohandas Gandhi
– We’ll typically use “Jesus” to refer to the
historical person from Nazareth, and “Christ” to
refer to the second person of the Trinity
• Borg: “pre-Easter Jesus” vs. “post-Easter Jesus”
Biblical Interpretation
Pericopes and Textual Criticism
• A pericope (pur-i´-kō-pē) is a passage
in a gospel, best studied alongside
parallel passages in other gospels
• When comparing two texts, the older
one is more likely to be
– Shorter
• Later scribes tended to add details, not edit
them out
– More difficult
• Later scribes tended to smooth out problems,
not create them
“What is truth?” – John 18:38
• Literal truth
– “It’s raining outside.”
• Metaphorical (allegorical) truth
– “It’s raining cats and dogs outside.”
Fourfold Sense of Scripture (Quadriga)
• Scripture possesses four different senses
– Literal
– Allegorical: usually passages whose meaning
was unclear, or whose literal meaning was
theologically unacceptable
– Tropological/moral: ethical guidance
– Anagogical: Christian hope of future
fulfillment of divine promises
The Quadriga in Action
• “This is my body.” – Luke 22:19
– Literal: The bread in Jesus’ hand = His body
– Allegorical: The bread represents Jesus’
body
– Tropological/moral: We should sacrifice
ourselves for each other, just as Jesus did
for us
– Anagogical: The bread represents the
promise of eternal life through Jesus
Faith vs. History/Science
• Borg
– Embraces a “hermeneutic of suspicion”
• Wright
– “There were times when faith stood its ground
and, by looking at the challenge from all
angles, was able to show that the historical
evidence was as well if not better interpreted
within a different framework.” (p. 17)
– Worried about a “hermeneutic of paranoia”
The Birth of Jesus
Birth of Jesus
Matthew
Annunciation to Mary
Mark
Luke
X
Jesus’s lineage
From
Abraham
From
Adam
Virgin birth
Quotes
Isaiah
X
Birth of Jesus
X
X
Adoration of baby Jesus
X
X
Immaculate Conception
Note: Mark begins with John baptizing Jesus, and
John begins with John recognizing Jesus
John
“While they were [in
Bethlehem], the time
came for the baby to
be born, and she gave
birth to her firstborn, a
son. She wrapped him
in cloths and placed
him in a manger,
because there was no
room for them in the
inn.” Luke 2:6-7
BALDUNG GRIEN, Hans
Nativity
1520
Pine panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
The Web Gallery of Art
“The virgin will be
with child and will
give birth to a son,
and they will call
him ‘Immanuel’ -which means, ‘God
with us.’”
Matthew 1:23
BOTTICELLI, Sandro
Mystical Nativity
1501
National Gallery, London
The Web Gallery of Art
Arguments for/against the Virgin Birth
For
Against
If God is God, He could have made
this happen
Late tradition (found only in Matthew and
Luke, not in Paul or Mark)
Not a Jewish expectation (would
they import pagan principles)?
Differences in genealogies (Matthew thru
Solomon, Luke thru Nathan)
Plain meaning of the text
Differences in location (in Mt. Mary &
Joseph live in Bethlehem, in Luke they
travel there for the census)
Historically accepted by the Church
Difference in birth visitors (in Mt. wise
men follow a star; in Luke shepherds
follow an angel)
Vincent Malo
The Adoration of the Magi
Oil on canvas, 324x396.5cm
Picture Gallery, Vatican
Paintings in the Vatican
“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother
Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they
opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of
incense and of myrrh.” Matthew 2:11
Problem: Different Genealogies
• Matthew traces Jesus’ lineage to
Abraham, and Luke traces it to Adam
• Responses
– Borg: emphasis on symbolic meaning
– Wright: different purposes
• Matthew: Jesus as fulfillment of Jewish prophecy
• Luke: Jesus as savior of the entire world
The Birth of Jesus: Matthew
• Focus: showing that Jesus was the fulfillment
of Old Testament prophecy
– Traces His lineage through Abraham and David
(father and king)
– Similarities to Samson’s birth in Judges 13
(prophet)
– Remembrance of the Exodus (“Jesus” is the
Greek form of “Joshua”)
• Quotes Isaiah 7:14
– Hebrew ‘almah means “young girl”
– Greek translation parthenos means “virgin”
Problem: Why was Jesus born in
Bethlehem (and the census)?
• Matthew says that Joseph and Mary lived in
Bethlehem, but Luke says that they lived in
Nazareth and went to Bethlehem because of
the census
• Responses
– Borg: Luke needed to get them to Bethlehem to
fulfill the prophecy
– Wright: Luke sets their journey to Bethlehem in the
context of the census because that was the time of
the revolt of Judas the Galilean (Acts 5:37)
“Having been
warned in a dream,
[Joseph] withdrew
to the district of
Galilee, and he went
and lived in a town
called Nazareth. So
was fulfilled what
was said through the
prophets: ‘He will be
called a Nazarene.’”
Matthew 2:22-23
BAROCCI, Federico Fiori
Rest on the Flight to Egypt
1570
Pinacoteca, Vatican
The Web Gallery of Art
Truth and Meaning
• What if the Virgin Birth were only
“metaphorically” true?”
– View of sex
• Would virginity be as extolled?
– View of redemption
• What would it mean if the savior of the world
was born of an unwed, teenage mother?
• Is this a “trench we’re willing to die in”?
Ultimately
• If you believe that God can do
anything, and that He intervenes in the
affairs of the world, then
– Jesus could have been born of a virgin
– But was He?
• If you don’t believe that about God,
then Jesus was born in the usual way
Summary of Disagreement
• Borg (liberal)
– Differing accounts
mean it’s made up
– Deep symbolic
meaning is a literary
technique
• Wright (conservative)
– Differing accounts are par
for the course in history
– Real events can have deep
symbolic meaning
(especially when it comes
to God)
Upcoming Schedule
• NEXT Wednesday, July 27, 7 PM
– The Life of Jesus
• Wednesday, August 3, 7 PM
– NO SEMINARY (Book Club @ Madelaine’s)
• Wednesday, August 10, 7 PM
– The Death of Jesus
• Wednesday, August 17, 7 PM
– The Resurrection of Jesus
• Wednesday, August 24, 7 PM
– Who is Jesus for Us Today?