New Testament Summaries Essay Examples

The Gospel According to Mark is the second book in the New Testament. Considered one of the three synoptic gospels and is generally considered to have been the earliest written, around 70 CE. The majority of New Testament scholar view it as source materials for Matthew and Luke. This gospel has much less commentary on events in it than the later gospels, narrating the ministry of Jesus from his baptism to the point of his death and resurrection. The primary focus is the last week of Jesus’ life in Jerusalem, from chapters 11 to 16. In this section, the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is a focus, as are his trial, crucifixion and resurrection. The themes of the book include the idea that Jesus was a heroic man of action. He brought healing to many, both in the form of physical conditions to exorcising demons.
St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is the sixth book in the New Testament. It is the longest of Paul’s letters, and the primary theme is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only path to salvation. After the opening prologue, he moves on to spend most of Chapters 1 through 8 describing that salvation, first with the righteousness of God and then with the universal sinfulness of both Gentiles and Jews, wrapping up with the assurance of salvation for those who believe in the gospel. Chapters 12-15 discuss the ways in which believers’ lives are transformed after coming to the faith; this is an area in which Paul would have been intimately familiar, having served as one of the Jewish leaders most dedicated to executing early Christians. After his conversion, he became a fervent evangelist. The changes that come with belief do not eliminate sin, but they pull the believer toward sanctification, gradually removing desires to sin (but never completely doing so).
The Acts of the Apostles is the sole narrative book in the New Testament, and it is the fifth in order. The major events of the book include the first appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection (not including the very first one to the two women), as well as the Great Commission and the ascension. The coming of the Holy Spirit onto the disciples at Pentecost is seen as one of the transformative events of the New Testament. The spreading of the gospel by Peter, Paul and the other apostles also appear in the book, which comes to an end when Paul goes to Rome to be tried for spreading a religion that was not that of the Caesars. The major issues in the book have to do with the controversies that went into changing from a movement following a living leader to an organization dedicated to spreading the teachings of that leader after he is no longer bodily present with his followers.
The Epistle of James is one of the general epistles in the New Testament. Generally attributed for authorship to James the Just, this letter goes through the condemnation of different sins within a framework of discussing various trials and temptations that believers would encounter while going through life. The audience of the hbook is the “twelve tribes scattered abroad,” which is usually as interpreted as the Jewish-Christian community. The practical duties of life as a Christian are the primary focus of this discussion. The specific vices against which James warns the church include fanaticism, outward formalism, fatalism, falsehoods, meanness, boasting, evil speaking and the oppression of others. Other important lessons have to do with patience in various settings, such as under trials and provocation, under persecution or oppression, and while doing good works. The coming of the Lord is supposed to take care of all wrongs, providing Christian believers with hope.
The Revelation of St. John the Divine is the apocalyptic book in the New Testament. According to tradition, the author is John the Apostle, exiled to the island of Patmos for his work spreading the gospel. The apocalyptic portions of the book deal with a set of visions that John claims to have viewed. There are many different images and figures which would later become important in the Christian doctrine of salvation, such as the Beast, the Whore of Babylon and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This series of images comes to culmination in the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. Because there is very little explanation attached to these images, there have been many different interpretations for their significance, from historicist views that the book is a summary of history, to symbolicists, who see the book as an allegory about the continuing battle between good and evil, to futurists, who see the book as describing actual events that have not yet happened.