New Testament Q&A

Here are the questions I use as a warm-up for Bible studies 🙂

General

In what language was the New Testament written?
(Koine) Greek

What is the likely exception to this?
The Gospel According to Mathew. The Early Church Fathers say that it was originally written in Aramaic and soon translated into Greek.

The Gospels

Which books appear first in the New Testament?
The four Gospels.

Why are these books placed first in the canon?
These books appear at the beginning of the New Testament because they contain the teaching, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and therefore hold pride of place in the New Testament.

Why do they appear in this order?
They are arranged in the order of composition as believed by Early Church Fathers.

Which Gospels are attributed to Apostles?
Matthew and John

Matthew

What is the structure of Matthew’s Gospel?
It is structured as follows:

(a) Prologue

(i) Genealogy of Jesus

(ii) Infancy Narratives

(b) Five “Books” which are probably intended to parallel of the five books of Moses (Genesis-Deuteronomy). Each book as the following structure:

(i) Narrative, describing the deeds of Jesus

(ii) Discourse, describing the extended words of Jesus

(c) Epilogue

(i) The Passion

(ii) The Resurrection

Who is Matthew’s target audience?
Jews. This is demonstrated by Matthew’s extensive quoting of the Old Testament and lack of explanation concerning the Jewish traditions which other Gospels (such as Luke) explain.

Mark

With whom is Mark associated?
He was companion of Paul and later Peter. It is said that Mark’s Gospel is the preaching of Peter in Rome.

What is Mark’s other name?
Mark is also called John (Acts 12:12). We was the cause of some friction between Paul and Barnabas.

What is the structure of Mark?
Mark is divided up into three geographical parts:

(a) Galilean Ministry

(b) The journey south, or in Greek, hodos (ὁδός)

(c) The events in Jerusalem

What are some literary features of Mark? 
He uses the word “way”,hodos (ὁδός), regularly. He also uses the word “immediately” extremely often, generating a fast-paced narrative.

Luke

With whom is Luke associated?
He was a companion of Paul.

What is Luke’s profession?
Physician

John

No questions…yet!

Acts of the Apostles

What comes after the Gospels?
Acts of the Apostles

By whom is it written?
Luke, the author of the Gospel which bears his name.

To what genre does it belong?
“Acts” is a genre of books in the ancient world that described people’s great deeds. This book describes the history of the Early Church.

What is the main points taught by the Acts of the Apostles?
There are two main points:

(a) The Church continues the mission of Jesus.

(b) The unity of the mission of Paul and Peter. There are numerous parallels between the acts and deeds of these two apostles. The first part of Acts focuses on Peter, the latter on Paul.

Between what years do the events described in Acts of the Apostles take place?
Probably between about AD 30 and AD 60

Paul’s Letters to Communities

What books appear in the Bible after Acts of the Apostles?
The 9 epistles sent by St. Paul to different Christian communities.

How are these epistles arranged?
They are arranged roughly in order of length, from the longest to the shortest.

What are the names of the cities/communities to which Paul writes?
Romans (City of Rome)
1 & 2 Corinthians (City of Corinth)
Galatians (The region of Galatia)
Ephesians (City of Ephesus)
Philippians (City of Philippi)
Colossians (City of Colossae)
1 & 2 Thessalonians (City of Thessalonica)

Romans

No questions…yet.

1 Corinthians

No questions…yet.

2 Corinthians

No questions…yet.

Galatians

No questions…yet.

Ephesians

When was Ephesians written?
This letter is one of the “captivity epistles” and therefore was probably written during Paul’s Roman captivity in the early 60s.

What is significant about the destination of this epistle?
Mention of Ephesus in verse 1 is not found in the earliest manuscripts. It is therefore possible that this was a circular letter written to a number of congregations, one of which was Ephesus.

What was Paul’s relationship with Ephesian Church?
Christianity was present in Ephesus prior to Paul’s arrival. Paul used Ephesus as his base of operations for several years.

What does Paul write about in Ephesians?
Paul devotes most of the document to putting forth a vision of God’s redemptive work, brought about through Christ and manifested in the Church.

The Ephesians were mostly newly baptized Pagans and, because of this, some have referred to Ephesians as mystagogical catechesis.

Paul spends quite some time talking about “mystery”. This relates to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross which draws man, both Jew and Gentile, back into relationship with God. This relationship is communicated through the Church, which has Christ as her head.

Philippians

From where did Paul write the epistle to the Philippians?
He wrote it from prison (or while under house arrest).

What city was he in most likely at the time?
Rome.

Why did Paul write his letter to the Philippians?
Paul’s primary purpose in writing this letter was to thank the Philippians for the “gift” they sent him (probably money), which they sent to him upon hearing of his incarceration.

Who probably delivered this letter for Paul?
A man by the name of “Epaphroditus”. This man was the emissary from the Philippian congregation. He was quite sick and near death during his time with Paul.

What are the main themes of the letter to the Philippians?
Joy, regardless of the circumstances, through Jesus Christ.

What Christian hymn does Paul quote in the letter in Chapter 2?
He quotes the song known as “The Carmen Christi” (Latin for “hymn of Christ”): “Though he was in the form of God…”

Colossians

What was Paul’s situation when writing Colossians?
The evidence seems to point to the same situation as the other captivity epistles (Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians). He is in Rome under house arrest in approximately AD 62.

Had Paul ever been to Colossae?
No, but he had stayed in nearby Ephesus for three years.

So why did Paul write to the Colossians?
It appears that through his ministry, a Colossian native called “Epaphras” had been converted and took the gospel to Colossae and founded the Church there.It seems Epaphras visited Paul in Rome, asking him to write to this nascent congregation to speak to the various heresies attacking the Church in Colossae.

What were the heresies with which the Colossians struggled?
They appear to be several, but they included issues surrounding circumcision, asceticism, the person of Christ, secret knowledge and human wisdom.

Who are the opponents in Colossae?
This very much depends on how one interprets the heresies described, but scholars suggest either Jews, Pagans or early Gnostics.

How do we describe the way in which Jesus is described?
We call it “High Christology”, since Jesus is described as “the image of the invisible God”, “the firstborn of all Creation” etc.

Thessalonians

What is the main theme behind the letters to the Thessalonians?
Christ’s Second Coming.

What claim-to-fame do the Thessalonian letter have?
It was most likely the first piece of the New Testament to ever be written.

What appears after Thessalonians?
The four letters from St. Paul to individuals: Timothy (x2), Titus and Philemon. The first three of these (and sometimes all four) are commonly known as the “Pastoral Epistles”.

The Pastoral Epistles

Timothy

Who was Timothy?
Timothy was a constant companion of Paul, recruited during Paul’s 2nd missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3). He also traveled with Paul on the subsequent 3rd missionary journey.

What background information do you know about Timothy?
He was from Asia Minor with a Christian Jewish mother (“Eunice”) and a Greek (probably Pagan) father (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15). Timothy was the co-sender of six of Paul’s letters (2nd Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, as well as this letter). Tradition asserts that Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus and was martyred there as an old man.

Titus

Who was Titus?
Titus was a companion of Paul. He was a Gentile Christian who traveled with Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem and with Paul on his 3rd missionary journey.

Philemon

Who was Philemon?
Philemon was man of Paul’s acquaintance. Paul was possibly instrumental in his conversion to the Faith (Philemon 1:19) and Philemon was possibly involved in some ministerial capacity (Philemon 1:2).

Where did Philemon most likely live?
The letter doesn’t indicate the exact location of Philemon and his family, but it is assumed that they were residents of Colossae or a neighbouring city in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). This assumption is based upon the common belief that the slave mentioned in this letter, Onesimus, is the same man delivering the Letter to the Colossians (Colossians 4:7-9).

What is the context of the letter?
Paul is sending back to Philemon his slave Onesimus. Additionally, Paul thinks that his captivity will soon be at an end, so he tells Philemon to prepare for his arrival (Philemon 1:22).

What was the name of Philemon’s slave?
Onesimus

What is the meaning of the slave’s name?
His name means “Useful” or “Benefit”. St. Paul makes a couple of puns on his name in the letter.

What does Paul ask of Philemon?
Paul requests that Philemon to forgive his runaway slave Onesimus (Philemon 1:9,17)

What book appears after Philemon?
The book of Hebrews.

Hebrews

Why does Hebrews appear here?
It appears at the end of the collection of Paul’s work (the “Pauline Corpus”) because of the dispute in the Early Church as to whether or not Paul was its author. Additionally, one would not really call it an epistle.

What literary genre is Hebrews?
It is a sermon.

What is the main theme of the book?
It explains Jesus in terms of the Old Covenant priesthood and sacrificial system.

What did St. Thomas Aquinas think about the authorship of this epistle?
“Catholic tradition holds that Luke redacted the final version of the anonymous epistle to the Hebrews on Paul’s behalf, a view endorsed by none other than Saint Thomas Aquinas.” – Source

The Catholic Epistles

What appears after Hebrews? What category of books do we call these?
The Catholic Epistles (7 books): James, Peter (x2), John (x3) and Jude . These are letters written by Church leaders other than the Apostle Paul.

James

Who most likely wrote James’ epistle?
James of Jerusalem (“James the Just”). He was Jesus’ kinsman (see Mark 6:3), resurrection witness (see 1 Corinthians 15:7) and “pillar of the church” (see Galatians 2:9). Tradition tells us that he was Bishop of Jerusalem and Martyred in AD 62 (Stoned, clubbed or thrown from the Temple)

How would you summarize James’ epistle?
Faith without works is dead. This motif appears throughout. James speaks about practical Christian living and the life of faith.

1 Peter

No questions…yet

2 Peter

No questions…yet

1 John

No questions…yet

2 John

To whom is this letter addressed?
It is addressed to “the elect lady and her children”. Although this could have possibly been an actual person, it is more likely that John is speaking of a neighbouring Church is sisterly, feminine terms.

What is the main content of this letter?
John is writing to a sister church. He encourages them and warns them of the antichrist

Who is the antichrist?
According to John, anyone who “will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh”.

3 John

To whom is this letter addressed?
It is addressed to “the beloved Gaius”. He is most likely in the leadership of the one of the local congregations.

What is the main content of the letter?
A man named “Diotrephes” is exalting himself, refusing to accept John’s authority, refusing welcome to those John sends and excommunicating anyone who does so.

Jude

Who wrote Jude?
Jude, the brother of James (probably the bishop of Jerusalem) and kinsmen of Jesus.

When was Jude written?
Probably sometime in the 50s or 60s

With what other New Testament book is does Jude have a literary relationship?
Second Peter

What are themes of Jude?
There are two main themes:

1. Warning against false teachers
2. Exhortations to hold fast to the faith.

Jude gives lots of examples to drive home his points. From where does Jude draw these examples?
They come from three sources:

1. Old Testament stories
2. Stories found in non-canonicals works:

(a) The Assumption of Moses
(b) 1 Enoch and Jubilees

3. Apostolic Teaching

Revelation

What is the final book of the Bible?
The Book of Revelation

What is its literary genre?
It is an Apocalyptic Book

Scriptural Interpretation

What are the two main senses of Scripture according to the Catechism?
The two senses are:

1. Literal
What the author was trying to communicate

2. Spiritual
A deeper sense which goes beyond the events described.

How do we break down the spiritual senses?
The Spiritual sense can be broken down into three sub-types:

1. Allegorical
How we see things of the New Covenant in the text: Jesus, Mary, the Eucharist, the Church etc.

2. Moral/Tropological
How then shall we live? What lesson is to be learnt from this event?

3. Anagogical
How does this text point to the final things? Heaven, Hell, Judgement, …