The New Testament

Testament

• Testament: covenant, a legal agreement in which two sides make certain promises to each other, bound with an oath– Always sealed (attested): the OT was sealed by sprinkling the blood of

sacrificial animals and the circumcision

• The NT represents God’s new covenant with man – Sealed by the symbols of Christ’s sacrificial blood and flesh (e.g. Mat

26:28; 1 Cor 11:20-34)

• Remember the following?– OT – historical records of diverse length, thematic range,

quality of the text as “literature”, etc.

– NT – an ideological/doctrinal statement of a new religious model, of the “Future New Age”…

Gospel

• Yeshu(ah)’s = Jesus’ Besorah - Greek Evangelion, good news, glad tidings– Anglo-Saxon transliteration Evangel

• Anglo-Saxon translation God spell => Gospel– Old English god-spell: good & divine

mystery, doctrine, secret

NT Content: the Four Sections• Four Gospels

– genre: accounts of Jesus’ Ministry, or His spiritual biography, according to 4 “points of view” of the 4 authors, not a mere biography)

– Not our opinion of how a “biography” should look like

– Three Synoptics

– One John’s Gospel (the Fourth Gospel)

• One Acts of the Apostles – genre: historical/ideological statement - how the church

began• “Objective history” isn’t a “statement”; “description of what

happened” isn’t a “statement”; etc.

• Epistles– genre: doctrinal and practical guidance for Christians

and the operation of the church) • 14 texts in Corpus Paulinum (the Pauline Epistles);

“Hellenistic letters”

• 7 general Epistles

• One Revelation – genre: Apocalypse to (not “of”) John Theologian

• NB: the NT times are very close to modern human => better understandable, easier interpretable and applicable to our life– => spread of evangelism, and not, say, of something like an

*old-testamentism…

Historical Setting of the Narration About Man Jesus (and How the Setting was Presented to

the Roman Readers of the NT Text)

• Scribes: copyists, students & interpreters of the OT– Called also “lawyers”

• Pharisees: a religious and political group or sect. 3rd century BCE– Opposition to Hellenism

– Preserved national integrity, and soon turned into teachers (rabbis)

– One of the wings: self-righteous hypocritical formalists

• Sadducees: 3rd century BCE – Secular interests (Josephus: a “party”)

– Favorable to adoption of Hellenism and collaborators with Greeks & Romans

• Herodians: favored King Herod’s rule– Of little influence, although mentioned in the NT

• Herod: a puppet Roman ruler, called “king of the Jews”– Good or bad: there are always people who praise and even worship

the rules and the ruler on the throne, regardless of anything and against all odds…

» It’s H. M. History’s judgment who and what Herod was…

• Essenes (Therapeuts?): religious rigorists

• Sanhedrin (Synedrion): governing body of the Jews under the Roman authority– local & all Judaic religious issues– 70-72 elders under the acting high priest (“Small

Sanhedrin” - 27 Sadducees)

Beginning• The NT opens with a political situation of the Palestinian

Jews • enslaved by Romans,

• in a vassal state,

• with a strong hunger for spiritual things,

• in a hope for national & religious Salvation

• A turning point in Jewish history– all were awaiting a Savior

• The nation, already sick of false prophets, Pharisaic teachers and fanatics, was challenged and saw in Jesus just another impostor...

– Actually, they were waiting for two saviors to appear • (a secular and a religious ones => Jesus was ascribed both

ministries…)

Jesus: Yeshuah Ha-Nozeri, Ha-Mashiah, ben Jozef

• Jesus < Yeshuah, “G-d saves” (Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew word > Yesus; translated - Soter, Savior, Spasitel, etc.)– in the same way Mosheh > Moses, Shaul > Saul

• Christ < Mashiah, anointed one (Greek translation from Hebrew, chrisma, christos “anointed one”)– All documents proclaim a “Christ”, i.e. a Messiah, and not “Jesus”…

• Son of Joseph (ben Josef), son of David, son of God, etc.

• Ha-Nozeri: a Nazarene, Nazir (Num 6:2-21, high god’s saint)? Or a “nezer - Isa 11:1 branch of Jesse (Davidian)”?– One of the earliest names of Jesus’ followers was Nozrim (Acts 24:5),

Christianity in Hebrew - Nazrut

“Son of…” => a Modern Interpretational Problem

• Son of Man – human nature of the Messiah– Not in the Hellenistic sense of the word, as opposed to someone born by a god and a

mortal woman

– Jesus could not be accused of a blasphemy at all

• Son of God – Any rightful Hebrew male could call himself “son of G-d”, not a blasphemy => Jesus

could not be accused of a real blasphemy, even if he was blamed and executed…

– Not in the Hellenistic sense of the word, i.e. not born by a god and a mortal woman

• Messiah – God’s Sent Anointed One, a Semitic idea of a “Savior” (not a local Hellenistic demi-god…)– Others had claimed to be “messiahs”, not a real problem for the Temple authorities

• => Jesus was treated for a political claim accordingly expressed in religious terminology and speculations of the time/place…

• All “ministries” were unified under one personality by the Jesus group, not by Hebrews; Gospels – contaminated by later adjustments & strive to interpret the Old Testament in a specific way => clashes of historians, theologians, laics…

“Nazarite”?

• An Israelite especially dedicated to the permanent or (later) temporary service of YHWH

• Abstained from • - intoxicants • - cutting their hair and shaving • - approaching or touching a dead body• Probably, the genuine “Christ” (Jesus or not) was a

Zealot, surrounded by people like “Simon the Zealot”, “Judas the Iscariot” i.e. a “rebel”, etc.

Jesus• Born: 7th, 6th, or 4th BCE?

• Or on June 17, 2 BCE, when Venice and Jupiter formed an optical nova (newest calculation by Australian astronomers, Jan. 2009) – the latest calculation offered by astronomers?

– Place of birth: Bethlehem (“home/house of bread, manna”). A theological point?

– Galilee: land of Goyim, Gentiles. A problem for Jesus as a Jewish preacher...

• Anno Domini (Annia Nativate ab Incarnatione Christi)

• Calculated by Dionysius Exiguus in 525, Rome, with some errors– Lk 2:1-2 Roman first Quirinius’ census in 7-8 BCE and second one in 6-7 BCE,

– Death of Herod the Great in 4 BCE, year Zero, etc.

» => the year of Jesus’ birth was most probably 7 BCE

» Lk 3:23 - Jesus' ministry began when he was about 30 years of age » Jewish religious maturity as a statement, not as a precise calculation),

within the dates of the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate (CE 26-36)

• Another scholastic problem: the Evangelists’ names (like that of Luke) might have appeared as late as ca. 200 CE!

• Started his “mission”: fall of 26 or 27 CE?• Crucified as a Roman legal alien (not a “citizen”) and a political

criminal at Golgotha (Calvary) : April 7-8, 30 CE (or April 3, 33), 9:00 Jerusalem time?

• In Luke 3:

– In the 15th year of Tiberius (c. 29, by his accession as co-emperor with Augustus),

– While Pontius Pilate was in office (=> between CE 26-36),

– While Herod Antipas and Philip were tetrarchs (4 BCE-CE 39; 4 BCE-CE 37)

– But: after John the Baptist was beheaded in CE 35???

• => Jesus' Baptism and the start of his ministry c. AD 27/28

– sometimes more precisely between Aug. 19, 28 & Aug. 19, 29?

INRI

• Inscription on the Titulus on Jesus’ Crux:• (Heb.: Yeshuah Ha-Nozeri Melekh Ha-Yehudim)

• The duration of Jesus' ministry:– can be an average of one year

• By the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke

– or can be about two-three years (John’s Gospel), based on various cycles of harvests and festivals

– Jesus was crucified before becoming 36, and his ministry started about 27/28

– Etc.

• => anyway, he was crucified about AD 30

Some Necessary Conventions: If “Jesus” did not exist?

• Someone has existed anyway, and did exactly what was ascribed to Jesus

• The teaching exists, it has influenced history and has to be studied

• The teaching is spiritual, its qualities are undeniable

• If so, it is a Great Teaching, and we come back to the problem of its Historical Founder

Some of the Roman Sources:

• Tertullian (ca. 160 – 225): wrote about written sources as really existent; though, didn’t have any access

• No interest of authors like Philo Judaeus (died in CE 50)• Among those who had access to Roman archives

– (later burned in Jerusalem and Caesarea during Jewish wars of the 1st – 2nd cent., and in Rome by Goths in 405; also the Church might have destroyed documents that didn’t comply with the official imperial version of Jesus)

– Publius Cornelius Tacitus (55-117 CE), Roman senator under Domitian, later the governor of Western Anatolia, interrogated Christians

• the religion had been founded by a certain Chrestus in the time of Emperor Tiberius, executed by Pontius Pilate the governor; this dangerous superstition was suppressed for some time, and later popped up again in Judaea and in Rome (where all what is disgusting and shameful appear and finds supporters…)

– Pliny Secundus or the Younger, ca. 112 CE • a letter to Rome about Christians worshipping Chrestus as a

god

– Writers Lucian and Celsus, 2nd cent. CE• Jesus was a sorcerer and troublemaker

– Josephus Flavius (37-100 CE, books from 70 onward) seemed to have mentioned

• Jacob, the brother of Jesus the so called Christ

– Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, wrote between 117 and 138

• Under emperor Claudius in Rome Jews were constantly making troubles because of a certain “Chrestus” (i.e. by a “messiah”)

Sources of Christian Theological System & of All Wordings of the NT Text

• Judaism of the 1st century BCE - 1st century CE

• Eastern mystery cults and religions– Religious East as represented in Semitic Judaism and in

Hellenistic mysteria

• Hellenism. Logos-philosophy and theology of Philo, John

• European paganism– Mono-, poly-, and henotheism

The Gospels

Matthew

• A “Jewish” or “Hebrew” Gospel– Matthew describes Jesus as a perfect Jew, the one

who continues the OT line• Jesus is a Jew, a son of Abraham, a son of David, the

Savior, the King, and the Messiah

• Roots are important: they tell the story of the connection with the History– All kings have to belong to a royal line...

Matthew - cont.

• An educated tax collector (publican)• Tells the story topically, not chronologically• The basic passages:

– The Christmas story (1:18-2:12)

– the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7)

– 7:7-8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened

• Time: 60-80 CE

Matthew’s “Christmas Story”

• Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

• But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

• Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

• Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

• Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

• And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

• And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

• Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

• When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

• When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

• And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Mark

• A good spot to start with the New Testament: a brief “general” story of Jesus

• Mark starts with the beginning of the Gospel, or this is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ (Savior the Messiah)

• Might be close to the original source, the Q (Quelle, Germ. “source)

• Focuses rather on events• 90% of Mark’s stories appear also in Matthew and Luke,

but Mark’s intention was missionary and easy to comprehend (he quotes directly the OT only in 1:2-3)

• Time: 60s CE

• Passages:– Transfiguration 9

– The greatest commandment: 12:28ff Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one (Shema Israel, Deut 6:4). Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these”

– Last Supper 14

– Resurrection 16

Luke

• For Gentiles, not for Jews - Jesus is the promised Savior of Jews and of all Mankind

• The only Gentile NT author

• Christmas story in 2:1-40 from another point of view

• Magnificat 1:46-55

Magnificat - 1:46-55• And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my

spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant*. From now on all generations** will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me -- holy is his name.

• His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones*** but has lifted up the humble.

• *Hebrew notion of “Israel as the Humble Servant”• **Hebrew notion of toledoth• ***Hebrew notion of state as “theocracy” => rulers often are

ungodly

Magnificat - cont.

• He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel*, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants** forever, even as he said to our fathers***”

• *see above the “humble servant” notion

• **followers of true God, the “Chosen nation”

• ***founders of the “true religion”

• Style: very close to OT psalms

John

• The “Fourth Gospel”• Written at least 50 years after Jesus’

Crucifixion (a well structured philosophical and theological treatise)

• Time: might be in the 80s-90s CE

• Spiritual meaning is important to John – not “facts”

• God spoke in the Beginning; now He spoke again – => Jesus the Eternal Word (Logos) of God

• Theology of Paracletos (Spirit the “Comforter”, “Advocate”...):– Jn 15:16ff “And I will ask the Father, and he will

give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”

• Cf. Mat 18:20 “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Acts of the (Holy) Apostles

• Written by Luke as a continuation of his Gospel in the 60-70s CE

• Time span: • approximately from the First Pentecost (May 18, 30?) till

Paul’s captivity in Rome in 61-63 CE

• 1:8b - you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth

• Paul’s Conversion: ch. 9

• Apostolic Council in Jerusalem ca. CE 51 in Acts 15

Corpus Paulinum

Paul• Born ca. 10 CE, at Tarsus, Asia Minor, among Greeks

• A Jewish Pharisee, educated at Tarsus and Jerusalem - Apostle to the Gentiles

• A member of the Sanhedrin?

• Converted ca. 33, 34 or 37 CE

• First epistles ca. 52 CE?

• Martyred in Rome ca. 68 CE?

• Paul’s concern:– Less with Christ’s person, more with his teaching

– Clear orientation to non-Jews

– Compare: Jesus’ logia that he’d come “not abolish the Law but to fulfill it” // Paul’s statements that the “real circumcision is in heart not in flesh”, faith is more important that the Law

Paul as a Roman Citizen?• Roman citizenship (initially of only the “Latini”, i.e. the inhabitants of the region

around “Roma” - Latium) – Granted in steps, making them “Latins”– Sometimes after a war (e.g., the so called Social War in 90-88 BCE with Italian but

non-”Roman” communities)– After conquering a nation & making its land into a “province”, by 30 BCE all

Mediterranean world became Romanized• Provincials, incl. some Jews

– From 100 BCE many non-Romans began getting Roman citizenship– Until nearly all were granted citizenship by Caracalla, AD 212, and later came to

dominate the army and civil service• => “Barbarization” of the Roman Empire…

– Modern Italian population is a mixture between remnants of “Latini” and other nations, e.g., Goths and other Germanics…

– Modern former “Byzantine” population is a mixture between “Hellines” and other nations, e.g., Thracians, Goths, Slavs, Celts, Turks…

– Traditional Roman law was systematized and interpreted by jurists, but turned mostly into a vast tax-collecting bureaucracy just before the Christianization of the Empire

– => “Jus civile” became the only law of the Empire• In Paul’s times it was still a privilege to be a “Roman”…

Famous Passages

• Hymn of Love 1 Cor 1-13– I may be able to speak the languages of men

and of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains - but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned - but if I have no love, this does me no good.

– Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.

– Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass.

– For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial; but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.

– When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now I am a man, I have no more use for childish ways.

– What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete - as complete as God’s knowledge of me.

– Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love

And Now:• We talked about the Bible and related issues of general education

concern only for three short months– However, there are people who dedicate all their lives to research in Bible

Studies (textology, archeology, history, linguistics, cultural issues, symbolism, semiotics…)

• I suppose, you are equipped to choose one of the ways toward your own attitude to the Bible:

– Read it and accept/reject it on the basis of your educated opinion• As logical, or as illogical, or as a pile of hallucinations of ancient

manipulators like Moses, or as a historical book with content that we often misunderstand, or anything along your own lines of reasoning…

– Not read it and pretend that you’ve never been enrolled in this class

– Not read it and remain with the same opinion that you had before joining this class (e.g., remaining utterly religious with no logical and critical inquiries…)

– Having been bodily in class, having heard this or that, having got the 4 credits, and remaining indifferent (not disinterested – these are two different states of mind) to the Bible, religion, and the “religious” picture of the Universe

• Or having played all the time on your gadget and “texting” your friends…

– Or worse: remain unknowledgeable and disinterested in the Bible and its sometimes disturbing questions about the universe and the world of symbols that we inhabit, but – not seeing the questions or burying heads in sand - utter lies about me and this class…

– Whatever. Choose yourself, because -• the answer is again yours and only yours

– I offered you information, once solid and proven, once controversial, and all through the prism of my professional opinion => it is up to you what to do with this information…