Comprehensive Analysis of the New Testament: Key Aspects Explored

This assignment provides a detailed analysis of the New Testament, focusing on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, discrepancies in biblical accounts, and the historical context of the Roman Empire. It explores the differences between Jesus' teachings and the Qumran community, identifies various types of stories in the New Testament, and discusses the synoptic Gospels. Furthermore, it examines Herod the Great's influence, the division of his kingdom, and the clash between Jewish and Roman ideologies. The assignment also delves into the meaning of 'Gospel' and its symbolic representation, comparing the Gospels to ancient biographies. It concludes with an analysis of specific verses, such as the calming of the sea, highlighting the importance of faith and Jesus' role as a divine figure. Desklib offers a wealth of similar academic resources for students.

Running head: NEW TESTAMENT
NEW TESTAMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

1NEW TESTAMENT
Task 1
1.1 The new testament is the life of the person Jesus of Nazareth, or who is known as Jesus
Christ. The new testament consists of the various events that happened in his life, the people
who encountered him personally, and the things which he had said throughout his life.
Therefore, New testament is the description of the life of Jesus Christ and related events
(Brown 2015).
1.2 The Roman Empire was a System that demanded submission. Those who refused to submit
what Rome felt was best paid a heavy price, often death by crucifixion.
1.3 The primary three differences in the teaching of Jesus and the Qumran community lies in the
fact that, the Qumran community believes that they are the sons of light and they will come
in conflict with the sons of darkness, the community believes that there will be two Messiahs,
the Messiahs of Aron and David, and this community follows the old testament in its oldest
version (Harris 2017).
1.4 Pronouncement Stories, Miracle Stories, Example stories, Supernatural break through stories,
Parables and teachings.
1.5 Marks Gospel was the earliest one among Mark, Mathews, and Luke and was written
sometime around the year 70.
1.6 The Luke’s Gospel was written around the year 90
1.7 One purpose as stated by Luke “so that you may know the exact truth about the things you
have been taught.” The next purpose was to strengthen the conviction. The primary purpose
was to “strengthen the faith of Theophilus and other believers who would read his account.”
Task 2
2.1

2NEW TESTAMENT
a. No
b. Yes
c. Yes
d. No
2.2
The Bible is written by human beings to record their experiences of getting association of
Jesus Christ, or expressing their firsthand accounts. Therefore, it is very comprehensible and
possible that there are discrepancies and problems in the Bible. There are different accounts
which are of conflicting nature and those which do not match with the accounts of each other
(Robertson 2014). The death of Judas has been explained differently in Matthew 27:3 and Acts
1:18. In the first account the person had killed himself by hanging however in the second account
the person died by an explosion happening inside his body. In Matthew there was one angel “a
young man” sitting down. However, Luke has portrayed that two men stood by a women and
“proclaimed resurrection”. About the Baptism of Jesus, Matthew and Luke has slightly different
way of narration. Also in the narration of Mark and John there was difference of opinion about
the time when Jesus was crucified. Therefore, it is to be understood that the various people who
had presented the accounts of Jesus were human beings, therefore there can be slight difference
in their understandings.
The three synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke give a vivid description about the
life and teachings of Jesus. The three Gospel writers have described the life of Jesus according to
their own capabilities and perspectives. The differences of version in the three Gospels have
been studied vividly by the Biblical Scholars, some are of the opinion that these cannot be
harmonized by the present thinkers and scholars (Schröter and Coppins 2013). Also there are

3NEW TESTAMENT
differences in versions of creation, for example “GE 1:3-5 On the first day, God created light,
then separated light and darkness.
GE 1:14-19 The sun (which separates night and day) wasn't created until the fourth day.” The
human limitations must be given due consideration as explanation to the differences in these
accounts.
2.3
Friend’s name,
Friend’s address,
Date
Dear Friend,
Greetings of the day. I hope this finds you in good health. You had posed your query
about whether there are discrepancies and errors in the new Testament. This is in regards to the
fact there are different versions of particular events in various Biblical sources. Therefore, you
are unsure about the authenticity of the Biblical texts.
The answer to this is, there are no errors in the new testament, however there are certain
differences of opinion about nature of certain incidents in the Biblical texts. The meaning of this
can be explained by stating that the Biblical texts are composed by human beings, who have
detailed their own experiences and accounts they have come across, related to Jesus. Therefore,
there are some differences in their opinion according to their perception but there are no errors. If
the different scriptures are studied carefully it would be found apart from very minor differences

4NEW TESTAMENT
most of them describes the life of Jesus accurately. The life of Jesus is to inspire the human kind
to follow the path of righteousness and morality.
Take care of yourself, and have faith.
Yours truly.
Name.
Task 3
3.1
Herod the Great was lived a little before Jesus was born, and he was himself “half Jewish
as he adopted Jewish lifestyle. The person in order to impress the Roman monarchs started
building many architectural wonders including religious centers using Greco-Roman
architecture. Most of the architecture were temples which were grand and huge. All these were
mainly aimed at pleasing the Roman royals, these did not have any spiritual significance. He also
had the objective of bringing more tourists to Jerusalem to increase the wealth, hence he built
spectacular architecture. In his vision Jerusalem would be one of the grandest cities which would
attract tourists from all over Europe. He did not tolerate any kind of dissent or opposition and
killed a number of his wives and sons. Any opposition to his theories were dealt with execution.
His kingdom was divided into three parts among his three sons after his death. The three sons
who luckily survived from the wrath of their father ruled three separate parts of the kingdom.
3.2
Herod Antipus- Galilee and Perea
Philip- Transjordan (Northern part of the eastern part of Jordan)

5NEW TESTAMENT
Archelaus- Judea (which included “Idumea and Samaria)

6NEW TESTAMENT
3.3
Babylonian Empire (612-539 BC)
Persian Empire (539-331 BC)
Greek Empire (331-143 BC)
Jewish empire (143-63 BC)
Roman Empire (63-37 BC)
Herod the Great (37 BC to 4 BC)
3.4
The idea of God and religion in the Jews philosophy was completely different from what
the Romans followed. The Romans had their own deities and several Gods. This was in stark
contrast with the Jews idea of 1 God received from the 10 commandments. Therefore, the two
ideas often clashed, and though the Romans made concessions to the Jews to come in their

7NEW TESTAMENT
country and stay. However, the Jews in order to establish their philosophy of one God often had
debates with the Romans in order to convince them of the sin of believing in multiple Gods.
The culture and the belief systems of both the communities clashed against each other
and this was before the Christian era. The Jews had migrated to Rome from Israel, and in the
new place they thrived and became a part of the new land. Judea was administered by Roman
general and later on the land was divided into 5 administrative districts. The main point of clash
between the two people were the belief system about God. The “pagan” religions” were
condemned by the Jews on the ground of their teaching of Moses, who gave them the 10
commandments and one of the main point of conflict was the “one true God” or the various Gods
and Goddesses.
Task 4
4.1
Gospel in Christianity is actually the “good news” and message from Christ. Gospel is
the entire of the saving truth as God has passed on it to lost humankind as it is revealed in the
person of His Son and in the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. In the Greek New Testament, gospel is
the elucidation of the Greek thing euangelion “inspiring news,” and the verb euangelizo,
connoting “to bring or report elevating news.” Both words are gotten from the angelos,
"messenger." In set up Greek, a euangelos was one who brought a message of triumph or other
political or individual news that caused joy. That both the thing and the verb are used so
comprehensively in the New Testament display how it developed an especially Christian use and
highlight because of the brilliant news announced to humankind of salvation and triumph over
transgression and passing that God offers to all people through the individual and accomplished

8NEW TESTAMENT
work of Jesus Christ on the cross as showed by His reclamation, rising, and session at God's right
hand. The four gospels of the New Testament — “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John” — are the
essential wellspring of information on the life of Jesus. For various reasons introduce day
scientists are aware of relying upon them uncritically, yet regardless they do give a keen idea of
individuals who were followers and about Jesus himself.
4.2
“Gospels are Symbolic”
The Gospel writers each had their symbols which represented them and their writings and
these are known as synoptic Gospels as these contains many same stories. These four Gospel
writers are represented as four creatures in various portraits of that era, and they are shown to
draw the chariot of God. These four animals are represented as four aspects, like “the man as the
king of creator, the lion as the king of meat eating, the ox as the king of grass eating, and the
eagle as the king of birds”. Matthew is symbolized by the man with wings, Mark is represented
as Lion with wings, Luke is represented as Ox with wings, John is represented as eagle. In the
early Gospel books the four Gospel writers are most of the time represented as the four symbolic
animals. The four symbolic animals are placed in four cardinal corners of Jesus Christ.
4.3
Taylor Herverson states “Ancient biography (or a modified form of ancient biography) is
the literary type in which these writings were cast by the gospel writers. For more than a century
biblical scholars disagreed about the literary style of the gospels. But recently there has been
growing and wide acceptance that the gospels are ancient biographies. Rev. Professor Richard A.

9NEW TESTAMENT
Burridge's book What are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography is a major
factor in this new understanding” (Burridge 2004).
The difference between the ancient and modern biographies is in the modern biographies
the authors have focused on the changing nature of a man’s character and their character
development over time. However, in the ancient biographies emphasis has been given on the
unchanging character of a person and the high moral grounds on which his or her character is
built. Hence I agree with the statement that the Gospels have similarities with the ancient
biographies. The character of Jesus is unchanging, he has been equally holy and moral
throughout the narrative and as the “Son of God” he has been placed on the high stage of
morality and righteousness. The Gospel writers of Jesus has glorified him as the Messiah and the
God’s sent messenger who came to deliver the human kind from their sinful activities.
4.4
a. In the verses Mark 4:35 to 4:41, the incident of Jesus calming the wind and the waves
of the deep sea is described. The incident which is described in these verses indicate the situation
when Jesus had been visiting the sea with some of his disciples on the boat. Soon it was found
that large waves were coming and the winds turned very violent. The disciples who were
accompanying Jesus were terrified of the sudden turn of incidents. Jesus was lying down on a
cushion, and the disciples woke him up in a very afraid tone, the boat would capsize if the
situation would prevail. When Jesus woke up he said that the disciples should keep faith and that
he was there for them, he calmed the wind down and also the waves were not anymore there. The
disciples were in a shock that how Jesus controlled the natural forces. This incident was similar
to Moses controlling the ocean. Therefore, the Gospel writers had stated similar incidents like the
incidents of the Old Testament (Clements 2012).

10NEW TESTAMENT
As Jesus had calmed the storm he is also having the capability to calm the storm of the
minds and life of the people who take shelter in him. He is the controller of the natural forces and
also the controller of the lives of the people around him. If truly someone takes shelter unto him
they will get his protection from the storm of life.
b. The first readers would understand that Jesus is having super natural powers to control
the natural forces. Jesus is described as the “Son of God” in the Biblical texts. Therefore, it is
natural that he would be imbibed with powers that are not present in the normal people. He had
his abilities to perform miracles. The natural forces used to obey him, and this was repeated
several times in many incidents.
Task 5
5.1
a. The Gospels written by the three Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, and Luke are often called as
the Synoptic Gospels. The reason of calling them by that name is, they contain many similar
incidents and similar narrations about Jesus Christ. The sequences are also similar and the
language in which the incidents are expressed are also similar in many ways. Therefore, these
Gospels are known as the Synoptic Gospels. The term is derived from the Latin Word Synopsis,
which means “see all together”, in English which can be expressed as looking from the same
point of view. The similarity is sometimes intermittently broken by the appearance of incidents
that are differently expressed in the Gospels. However overall presentation of the incidents has
been similar, and the point of view of looking at the incidents, are also similar. They have all
expressed Jesus as the “Son of God”, and the one who appeared to0 deliver the sinful human
kind.

11NEW TESTAMENT
b. The four source hypothesis was developed by Burnett Hillman Streeter in 1924. In this theory
it was proposed by that Luke had sourced his matters which did not appear in Mark’s Gospel
from at least two sources which can be stated as Q and L. Matthew also used a source which was
distinctive and may be portrayed as M, and he sourced from Q as well. Now it after analysis it
can be known that Luke did not come across the source M, and Matthew did not know about the
source L. The M source suggests an origin from Jerusalem, whereas the source L is consigned to
Caesarea and Q has been seen to be related to Antioch. This is the four source theory as a whole.
The view also suggests that the Gospel that came first is the results of traditions of “Jerusalem,
Antioch and Rome.” The theory suggests that the birth narratives and the materials from Mark
was added later.
The Synoptic problem is the problem of specific relationship between the three Synoptic
gospels, and it is based on the enquiries about, which gospel was written when and what are the
sources on which they depended when they were composed. The narration of the three synoptic
Gospels are very similar, in their tone, in their quotations, and the way they have stated the
events during the life of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark may have been the oldest Gospel which was
composed, and the later gospels took material from the oldest one.
c. The Luke’s Gospel was composed somewhere around 80 AD. The Matthew’s Gospel was also
written at a similar time. The Gospel of Matthew was primarily written for the Jews audience,
whereas the Gospel of Luke was composed mainly targeted at the Gentile audience.
Matthew had written his the gospel of Matthew was to mainly persuade the “Jews that
Jesus Christ” was the “Messiah” who was predicted in the “Old Testaments”. The Gospel was
written with a view point that the Jewish audience needs to be convinced about the mission of
Jesus Christ. It is often also termed as the “Gospel of the Jews”. There was no need to explain