The new

testament
 ACTS TO
REVELATION
 II.Acts of the Apostles
 History of the Early Christian
Church – an account of the
first thirty (30) years of the
Christian Church
 It is the second-half of the
writer’s (i.e. Luke) two-
volume work (with the Gospel
as the first.)
 Presents the origins of
Christianity, the story of
 how the Good News, the
Gospel spread throughout the
Roman Empire in the decades
following Jesus’ death,
resurrection and ascension,
with Jesus’ final charge to his
disciples in Matthew’s Gospel
- to “all nations” meaning to
all peoples,
 and in the Book of Acts
→ a key verse in understanding
the structure and message of
Acts
→ that is, in expanding
concentric circles,
→ from Jerusalem (the center of
the Judeo-Christian world) to
Rome (the center of the socio-
political world),
→ “to the ends of the earth”
meaning throughout the Roman
Empire
 how it was implemented by the
apostles such as Peter, Paul
and others;
 and the planting or founding of
the early Christian churches.
 It is the term used to
categorize the twenty-one
(21) letters in the New
Testament written to specific
church communities,
individuals and to the general
readers of the whole church.
THIRTEEN
(13)
Eight
(8)
• PAUL’S LETTERS
TO CHURCHES
• PAUL’S LETTERS
TO INDIVIDUALS
 ORDER AND CLASSIFICATION OF
PAUL’S LETTER
• Biblical Order -
based on
recipients and Ephesians

length. The
order in which
Paul’s letters
appear in the
canon.
 ORDER AND CLASSIFICATION OF
PAUL’S LETTER
• Chronological
order -
based on the
probable date
of writing
 ORDER AND CLASSIFICATION OF
PAUL’S LETTER
• Classification
order -
that bunches
the letters
into groups.
Ephesians
 Paul’s first letters
1 & 2 THESSALONIANS
1 Thessalonians
 Paul’s 1st letter
 the 1st NT book written
 50/51 A.D. to a church
founded on his 2nd journey
 exhorts his disciples to
continue in the faith and in
holy conversation.
 Paul’s first letters
1 & 2 THESSALONIANS
2 Thessalonians
 Paul corrects an error
concerning the speedy coming
of Christ the 2nd time.
Paul’s reflections concerning
Jesus’ return are the most
important feature of these 2
letters (1 Thess. 4:13-18)
 The Great Epistles
of Paul
1. GALATIANS
 One of the Great Epistles of
Paul
 Called as the Magna Carta of
Christian Liberty
or Freedom from the Law
(from Jewish Legalism)
 With emphasis on
Justification by Faith
i.e. one is made right with
God not by works of the law
(observance of Jewish rules,
rituals and customs) but by
God’s grace through faith in
Jesus Christ alone.
 This letter ends with the Nine
Fruits (manifestations) of the
Spirit.
 The Great Epistles
of Paul
2. ROMANS
 It is Paul’s Magnum Opus
(from the Latin meaning
“great work”)
- being the culmination of
his thinking after many
years on the mission field;
 The most complete and
systematic statement of his
understanding of the Gospel
i.e. “the power of God for
salvation to everyone who
has faith in Jesus Christ”;
 His final legacy to the
church.
 It is also called by Martin
Luther as “the purest
Gospel”,
 and by scholars as “The
Gospel According to Saint
Paul”
 and with chapters 12-15 as
“Paul’s Sermon on the
Mount.”
 The Great Epistles
of Paul
3.  1 & 2 CORINTHIANS
 1 Corinthians 13 - It records
Paul’s “Hymn of Love” where
he listed fifteen (15) attributes
of Agape love – the self-giving
acts of love that does not
expect anything in return.
 It is also known as the Love
Chapter in the Bible.
 The Prison Epistles
of Paul
1. PHILIPPIANS
Paul’s letter of great joy to his
favorite church, which he
established on his 2nd journey
(Acts 16). It contains the
Christological hymn or creed,
“At the name of Jesus, every
knee should bend,,,and every
tounge confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord.” (2:10-11)
 The Prison Epistles
of Paul
2. COLOSSIANS
Paul’s letter to a church that
he had neither planted nor
visited. It addresses a
number of heresies in the
church in Colossae.
 The Prison Epistles
of Paul
3. PHILEMON
The only “personal” letter of
Paul and the only letter from
the hand of Paul, written to a
wealthy member of the
Colossian church appealing to
him to forgive and accept
back his runaway slave.
 The Prison Epistles
of Paul
4. EPHESIANS
The most important Prison
Epistle of Paul written to a
Christian community where
he stayed for more than two
years on his 3rd journey.
 The Prison Epistles
of Paul
4. EPHESIANS
Chapter 2:8 underlies the founding
principle of the Protestant
Reformation declaring that we are
saved by grace through faith, not
your own doing or works but the
gift of God i.e. works are
something we do as a result of
salvation, not something to secure
our salvation.
 The Pastoral Epistles
of Paul
 Letters to two young pastors
mentored by Paul to establish and
maintain orthodoxy, rebuke false
teachers and doctrines, and to be
models of Christian conduct;
 They are also given qualities and
characteristics to look for in
selecting leaders so as to put
their churches in the strongest
and ablest hands.
 The Pastoral Epistles
of Paul
1. 1 & 2 TIMOTHY
A young pastor mentored by
Paul who became his
constant companion
beginning at Paul’s second
missionary journey when he
was asked to take Mark’s
place. He was assigned in the
Church at Ephesus.
 The Pastoral Epistles
of Paul
2. TITUS
a Gentile Christian and a
loyal and faithful disciple of
Paul – assigned in the Church
at Crete.
 The General Letters
 because they are not
addressed to specific
churches or readers but to
the whole church and is
known by the names of their
authors, not their addressees
– James, Peter, John & Jude
 The General Letters
1. HEBREWS
It is the longest of the eight
non-Pauline letters and is an
important argument in
establishing the sufficiency of
Jesus’ perfect, once-for-all-
time sacrifice for our sins.
It also presents a chapter
known as “Faith Hall of Fame”.
 The General Letters
2. JAMES
The early church attributed
this letter to the oldest of
Jesus’ four brothers, who was
widely respected by the
Jewish community.
It is written to “the 12 tribes in
the Dispersion” meaning to
Jewish Christians.
 The General Letters
2. JAMES
It is called as the “wisdom”
book of the New Testament
and the faith plus works
epistle as he writes
“Faith without works is dead.”
(2:17)
 The General Letters
3. 1 PETER
This letter has been called “the
Epistle of Courage” – the
courage to suffer as Christ did,
in quiet dignity. It was written
to comfort Christians “of the
Dispersion” who were being
persecuted by the state, called
Babylon, most likely a code
word for Rome.
 The General Letters
4. I JOHN
Written against those who
denied Jesus’ humanity - those
who said that Jesus only
seemed to be human, John
says,
“We have seen…heard…touched
with our hands” the crucified
and risen Christ. (1:1).
 The General Letters
4. I JOHN
Written to Christians confused
by false teaching, seeks to
reassure them by giving them
three tests of genuine faith:
Light and darkness: the first
two tests, walking in the light
and loving the brethren.
 The General Letters
4. I JOHN
Truth and falsehood: the third
test, believing that Jesus
Christ, God’s Son, was a real,
human person.
2 & 3 John – shortest books in
the Bible – by the same person
identified with the Johannine
Community.
 The General Letters
5. JUDE
 the brother of James and
presumably by Jesus (Mark 6:3)
 brief letter written to warn
against false teachers and
concentrates on strengthening
Christians to resist them,
 closely parallel to 2 Peter -
encouraging his readers to fight on
for the faith which once and for all
God has given to His people.
 IV. Revelation to John

• An Apocalyptic book using

symbolic languages that
tells of the visions of the
• “end things” and
“visions of the future”
 IV. Revelation to John

• Written by John in the

island of Patmos during the
intense persecution of
Christians under Roman
Emperor Domitian.
 IV. Revelation to John
• It was written to give hope
that God who is sovereign will
save His people, and though
evil will continue or even get
worse, God will intervene and
prevail and all who have been
steadfast and faithful will be
rewarded.