CC104 Introduction to the New Testament I – Kino Institute
Sr. Mary Eileen Jewell, PVMI
Class 2 - Outline
I. INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
A. Why four Gospel accounts?
There is really only one Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ…meaning, the “Good News”
of His Person, life, death, resurrection. However, there are four “accounts”…God chose four
people to “tell His story” from four distinct perspectives. Yet there is only really one story…one
life of Jesus Christ.
Matthew – One of the twelve Apostles; the former tax collector converted and called by
Christ; wrote primarily for a Jewish audience living in Palestine. Most likely completed his
account before 70 A.D.
Mark – A disciple of St. Peter (1 Pet 5:13 “my son Mark”); the shortest Gospel; little is
known about him…Mark is his Roman name, “John” his Jewish name (Acts 12:25; 15:37); a
cousin of the missionary Barnabas and an associate of St. Paul (Acts 13:5); most likely
completed his account before 70 A.D. Wrote primarily for Gentile believers in Imperial Rome.
Luke – A companion of St. Paul; a Gentile physician; wrote primarily for a Gentile (nonJewish) audience. He is the only Gospel writer who is non-Jewish. Also the author of the Acts of
the Apostles. Special emphasis on Jesus’ love for the poor and outcast…that He came to call
sinners.
John – One of the twelve Apostles; the youngest Apostle and the only one not to be
martyred; the last account to be written (so he concentrated on what had not yet been told by
the other three). Special emphasis on establishing the Divinity of Jesus.
“The New Testament is soaked in Hebraic thought, imagery, poetry, prophecy, law, and
wisdom.” – Mark P. Shea, “Is Catholicism the ‘Babylon Mystery Religion’?” 12-19-14 Catholic
World Report
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/3580/is_catholicism_the_babylon_mystery_religion
.aspx
Even Luke, who was writing primarily for the gentiles, has allusions and echoes of the Old
Testament throughout his Gospel account.
B. Historical reliability of the Gospel accounts
[Some of the following section taken from: Are the Gospels historically reliable? Catholic
Answers on YouTube]
NT is one of the best attested ancient manuscripts in the world.
Take the Iliad. A 10th Century AD manuscript is the first full copy of the Iliad we have….1800
years after it was written! We have no manuscripts for first 500 years after written. But we
don’t say, “We have no idea what Homer wrote…it could have been changed by anyone.”
What about the New Testament?
We have 5500 ancient Greek manuscripts;
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15,000 manuscripts in other languages like Latin or Cyriac;
That’s 20,000 ancient manuscripts…50 of which can be traced to the first few Centuries.
Because there were so many manuscripts being copied at once…there are some minor scribal
errors…but by comparing them all… we can restore the NT to 99% accuracy. An example of a
scribal error: John is spelled with 2 J’s instead of one.
Recommended book: “Revisiting the Corruption of the NT Manuscripts” Darryl Bock (he’s a
“textual critic”).
Authors of the Gospels:
Just as in other ancient works, we know by tradition who wrote them.
The Gnostic Gospels were written by forgers 300-400 years later. They took names of the most
important Christian figures as supposed authors: Peter, Mary, Philip. If you’re going to forge
something, why would you pick Mark or Luke as authors?
We have testimony from the early Church Fathers corroborating that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John were in fact the authors.
Recommended books: “Can We Really Trust the Bible?” also “The Historical Reliability of the
Gospels” both by Craig Blomburg (a protestant scholar)
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Why are there differences in some of the details of some of the stories that are recounted by
the Gospel writers? Ever try asking several people who witnessed the same event what
happened? Do we dismiss the event as not having happened just because their accounts differ
slightly in their details?
[Analogy of people walking into a room through four different doors.]
The Gospel accounts are a unique form of literature. We cannot call them “historical
chronicles” (which is the only form of historic literature we tend to be familiar with in
contemporary culture. For example, a modern news report of a historical event would be an
example of a historical chronicle. It is facts and events arranged in chronological order). The
Gospel accounts are more like “historical narratives”.
The Christ in the Gospels is the real Jesus! You cannot separate “the Christ of history” from
“the Christ of faith”…like some modern Biblical “scholarship” attempts to do.
“The Catechism trusts the biblical word. It holds the Christ of the Gospels to be the real Jesus. It
is also convinced that all the Gospels tell us about this same Jesus and that all of them together
help us, each in its own way, to know the true Jesus of history, who is no other than the Christ
of faith. This basic position has earned the Catechism vehement attacks. The Catechism, it is
alleged, has slept through an entire century of exegesis, is utterly ignorant of literary genres,
form and redactional history, and the like, and has not progressed beyond a ‘fundamentalistic’
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biblical exegesis. It suffices to reread the chapter on the Bible and interpretation to see that this
assertion is groundless.” (Ratzinger, Gospel, Catechesis, Catechism [Ignatius Press, 1997] pp. 6465}
The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures "because they are our principal source for the life
and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our Savior" (CCC 125)
“The Church has always and everywhere maintained, and continues to maintain, the apostolic
origin of the four Gospels. The apostles preached, as Christ had charged them to do, and then,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they and others of the apostolic age handed on to us in
writing the same message they had preached, the foundation of our faith: the fourfold Gospel,
according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute
constancy maintained and continues to maintain, that the four Gospels just named, whose
historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he
lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was
taken up. (cf. Acts 1:1-2).” (DV, 18)
II. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
A. Structure of Matthew
 Five story collections separated by five main speeches, and an introductory
prologue (chaps 1 & 2). Five “books” to show the Gospel is the New Torah for
the new people of God.
 The phrase “when Jesus had finished…” occurs at the end of each of the five
discourses (speeches/teachings). Mt 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1
B. “The Kingdom of Heaven”
 Is the central theme of Matthew’s Gospel. It appears more than 30 times.
 “The kingdom is not reducible to a purely spiritual or otherworldly realm, nor is it
exclusively linked with the future blessings of eternal life. It is a claim that God
the Father is now working through the Messiah to establish his will on earth, as it
is in heaven. Mt 6:10. Jesus himself is the focus of this divine and kingly activity.”
– Ignatius Catholic Study Bible; Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew.
 The Kingdom is “here but not yet”.
 The Kingdom is Jesus Christ.
 Jesus sows the kingdom in this world as a hidden grace that slowly exerts its
influence over time (Mt 13:33, 31-32). [What does this say about how we
should look at the state of the Church or the world? Ministry?]
 The Kingdom is present whenever the messianic King (Mt 25:34) is invoked by his
gathered disciples (Mt 18:20).
 The Kingdom is the fulfillment of the Covenant with David
o The Lord swore an oath to establish the Kingdom of David forever (2 Sam
7:12-17; Ps 89:3-4; Ps 132:11-12).
o Davidic kingship ended in 6th Century B.C., after the Babylonian exile.
o Prophets spoke of the coming of a new David to restore this kingdom for
all time (Is 9:6-7; Jer 23:5-6; Ezek 34:23-24; Hos 3:4-5; Amos 9:11-12).
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o This is why Matthew calls Jesus “Son of David” (Mt 1:1; 9:27; 12:23;
15:22; 20:30; 21:9; 15); descendant of David (Mt 1:2-16); enthroned in
heaven (Mt 26:64).
o In Christ risen, the Davidic Kingdom is restored in a transcendent way
and given universal extension over heaven and earth.
 The Kingdom branches out from Christ into three dimensions:
1) Ethical or Moral
 The Kingdom calls for a response from us.
 Summons us to repentance (Mt 4:17)
 “A lifetime of discipleship in which seeking the surpassing
righteousness of Christ (5:20) is the highest priority (6:33).” -Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Introduction to Gospel of Matthew.
 The righteousness of the Kingdom is spelled out in the Beatitudes
(5:3-10) and Jesus’ deepening of the Mosaic Law (5:21-48).
 Other requirements for fellowship in the Kingdom:
 The Golden Rule (Mt. 7:12)
 Childlike humility (Mt 18:1-4)
 Forgiveness (Mt 6:14-15; 18:23-35)
 Prayer (Mt 6:5-13)
 Fasting (Mt 6:16-18)
 Works of mercy (Mt 6:2-4; 25:35-40)
2) Ecclesial (having to do with the Church)
 The Kingdom is made present in the world through the Church.
 Jesus confers royal authority on the Apostles and entrusts Peter
with “the keys of the Kingdom” Mt. 16:19 & 18:18-19.
 Through the sacramental life and preaching of the Church, the
Kingdom of Heaven is extended.
3) Eschatological (having to do with the last things)
 The Kingdom will be fully and finally manifest at the end of time
with the return of Christ in glory (Mt 16:28).
 Until this final fulfillment, we wait in great hope, making wise
preparation (Mt 6:10; 25:113).
 In the end, the righteous and the wicked will be separated and the
faithful will inherit the everlasting Kingdom (Mt 25:31-46).
C. The Genealogy
 Mt. 1:1 Why? If Jesus wasn’t a descendant of Abraham and David, then he’s not
the Messiah.
 Matthew’s genealogy extends back to Abraham, Luke’s to Adam.
 The fourteen generations. Matthew divides genealogy into three units of
fourteen (7+7=14 symbolizing great perfection; 7+7 x3 symbolizes even greater):
o Not meant to be exact in naming everyone. Is done so the numbers can
symbolize the connections with the OT…especially the link between Jesus
and David.
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o Jesus and David are the only names listed with their titles (King 1:6; Christ
1:16).
o David is the 14th name on the list
o The 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus correspond to the 42
encampments of Israel during its journey in the wilderness to the
Promised Land (Num 33:1-49). These generations bring us to the
Messiah, who leads us to the promised land of heaven.
o Joseph is not called the father of Jesus, but the spouse of Mary.
D. Infancy Narrative
A brief look at Luke’s infancy narrative and its significance for handing on the faith.
Jesus the New Moses in Matthew:
Moses
Born in the reign of a ruthless pharaoh
Escaped when Pharaoh ordered all the
male children of the Hebrews killed
Exiled in Midian before his ministry
Jesus
Born in the reign of the ruthless Herod
Escaped when Herod ordered all the male
children of Bethlehem killed
Exiled in Egypt before his ministry
Matthew portrays Joseph in such a way as to recall the OT patriarch Joseph:
1) Both share the same name (Mt 1:18; Gen 30:24)
2) Both have fathers named Jacob (Mt 1:16; Gen 30:19-24)
3) God spoke to both of them through dreams (Mt 1:20-21; 2:13; 19-20; 22; Gen 37:511)
4) Both were righteous and chaste (Mt 1:19; Gen 39:7-18)
5) Both saved their families by bringing them to Egypt (Mt 2:13; Gen 45:16-20)
- Above taken from footnote, Ignatius Biblical Commentary
E. John the Baptist
F. Baptism of Jesus
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