New Testament Reading Guide
Just as the Old Testament presents various genres, manuscripts, and authors, so too does the New Testament remain an eclectic text. Prominently are found letters, narratives, and apocalyptic genres that make up the work as a whole. In order to improve the reading in the Old Testament, extracanonical texts must be drawn upon, and likewise in order to gain greater understanding in the New Testament. Extracanonical texts are works outside of officially accepted writings; books that are not included in sacred texts. The bible is a library of different books and anthology of at least forty various authors writing in three separate languages and spanning nearly eight centuries. Historical context becomes vital in defining what the time and culture of these authors were, including geographical, topographical, and political factors that are relevant to the author’s setting. Extracanonical texts ought to be read in conjunction with eclectic works such as the bible to retain a better understanding of why a certain kind of book was written in a particular genre. They make the reading and interpretation of the New Testament much more complete by gleaning from various stories the similarities and differences, as well as influences, point of view, and matter of importance. Various genres within the New Testament may be found and influence the text in different ways. Thus each genre must be read and analyzed in an appropriate manner.
Along with the Gospels, the letters are the most familiar portions of the Bible to most readers and appear to be generally simple to interpret. The Epistles generally take on the following form: they begin with the name of the writer (e.g. Paul), then the name of the recipient (e.g. to the church of God in Corinth), a greeting (e.g. “grace to you and peace from God”), a prayer wish for Thanksgiving (e.g. “I always thank God for you”), a body, and a final greeting and farewell (e.g. “the grace of the [Christ] be with you”). Not all letters follow this guideline strictly, however. The Apostle John’s letter is similar in some aspects, except that it retains none of the formal elements of a letter. Nonetheless, John’s Epistle was evidently written for a specific group of people. Those of James and 2nd Peter, on the other hand, are both addressed as letters, but lack the familiar final greeting and farewell as well as the specific addressees.
All of the Epistles are all what are technically called occasional documents (i.e. arising out of and intended for a specific occasion), and they are all from the first century. This means that they were occasioned, or called forth, by some specific circumstance, either from the reader’s side or the author’s. There is theology implied, but it is always task theology- theology being written for or brought to bear on the task at hand. When reading through the letter, the reader must always think in paragraphs and pay special attention to content and context. The letters cannot mean what they never could have meant to its authors or readers. Thus, the reader must keep in mind their original context and their specific content to their respective audience. However, whenever the modern person shares comparable particulars (i.e. similar specific life situations) with the first century hearers, the word of God to the modern believer is the same as God’s word to those of the first century audience. It is still true that all have sinned and that by grace a person is saved through faith. Within the letters remain matters of indifference that are not applicable to modern day readers. Thus the content does not necessarily apply.
What the epistles specifically indicate as matters of indifference may still be regarded as such (i.e. food, drink, observance of days). Matters of indifference are not inherently moral but are cultural- even if they stem from religious culture. Matters that tend to differ from culture to culture, therefore, even among genuine Believers, May usually be considered to be matters of indifference (e.g. wine vs non-wine cultures). In order to properly read through the letters, one should first distinguish between the central core of the message of the Bible and what is dependent on or peripheral to it. Likewise, there must exist a distinction between what the New Testament sees as inherently moral and not. A distinction between principle and specific application, consistency and differences, and cultural variances of first century writers and twenty-first century readers. Epistles are occasional documents of the first century, conditioned by the language and culture of the first century, which spoke to specific situations in the first century church. One must determine the cultural options open to any New Testament writer. The degree to which a New Testament writer agrees with a cultural situation in which there is only one option increases the possibility of the cultural relativity of such a passion. (e.g. homosexuality). Finally, one must exercise Christian charity at this point. Recognize difficulties, open the lines of communication with one another, start by trying to define some principles, and above all else have love for and a willingness to ask forgiveness from those with whom they differ.
Just as when reading the narratives in the Old Testament, the student of the New Testament must keep in mind the people, places, and motifs. The narratives in the New Testament do not explicitly teach principles or lessons, thus the characters and events and recurring symbols must be witnessed. Unless scripture explicitly tells an individual to do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative (i.e. obligatory) way- unless it can be demonstrated on other grounds that the author intended it to function in this way. Concerning teaching value, the word of God in Acts that may be regarded as normative for Christians is related primarily to what any given narrative was intended to teach. What is incidental to the primary intent of the narrative may indeed reflect an inspired authorial understanding, but it does not have the same teaching value as what the narrative was intended to teach.
Historical precedent, to have normative value, must be related to intent. If it can be shown that the purpose of a given narrative is to establish precedent, then such precedent should be regarded as normative. It is probably never valid to use an analogy based on biblical precedent as giving biblical Authority for present-day actions. For example Gideon’s fleece has repeatedly been used as an analogy for finding God’s will. Since God graciously condescends it to Gideon’s lack of trust, he may to others as well, but there is no biblical Authority or encouragement for such actions. Although it may not have been the author’s primary purpose, biblical narratives do have illustrative and (sometimes) pattern value. In fact, this is how the New Testament people occasionally used certain historical precedents from the Old Testament. It should be noted, especially in cases where the precedent justifies a present action, that the precedent does not establish an alarm for specific action. In matters of Christian experience, and even more so of Christian practice, biblical precedent may sometimes be regarded as repeatable patterns- even if they are not understood to be normative.
Apocalyptic literature is a fascinating genre within the New Testament that discovers its roots in Old Testament prophetic literature, especially as it is found in Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and parts of Isaiah. Unlike most of the prophetic books, apocalypses are literary works from the beginning. Most frequently, the content of apocalyptic texts is presented in the form of visions and dreams, and its language is cryptic and symbolic. The images of apocalyptic are often forms of fantasy rather than of reality and because they were literary, most of the apocalypses were very formally stylized. Probably more important in apocalyptic literature than in any other genre is the necessity for exegesis. The first task of the exegesis of Revelation is to seek the author’s, and there with the Spirit’s original intent (The primary meaning of Revelation is what John intended it to mean, which in turn must also have been something his readers could have understood it to mean.). One must be especially careful of overusing the concept of the analogy of scripture in the exegesis of Revelation. This means that scripture is not to be interpreted in light of other scripture.
Because of the apocalyptical nature of the book, there are some added difficulties at the exegetical level, especially concerning imagery. Therefore, one must maintain a sensitivity to the rich background of ideas that have gone into the composition of Revelation. When John himself interprets his images in Revelation, these interpreted images must be held firmly and must serve as a starting point for understanding other images. Note that they serve as a starting point: one must see the visions as whole and not allegorically press all the details. Throughout his writing, John expects his readers to hear his echoes of the Old Testament as the continuation and consummation of that story. Apocalyptic books seldom intend to give a detailed chronological account of the future. Their message tends to transcend this kind of concern. John’s larger concern is that, despite present appearances, God is in control of history and the church.
Reading the New Testament in light of genres and strategic reading and proper exegesis allows the reader to perceive the intention of the writing. Searching for the right things within each genre and not conflating them with others, one may discover both the words of God’s creation and God’s words through the believer. Yet keeping in mind the content and context of each text, the reader can glean insight into God’s character and grace, while also correctly reading the meaning of early followers of the Christ.
