The New Testament contains God’s nal instructions for living It was written almost two thousand years ago, when it joined the corpus of Scripture that had been the Bible of Jesus (Old Testament) It remains timeless in its application That is why the apostle Paul, writing to his friend Timothy about their ancient Bible, asserted dogmatically, “All Scripture is inspired by God and pro table for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17) In the same context, Paul had reminded Timothy that it was the sacred writings that had given Timothy “the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15) So it is correct to say that all spiritual lessons derived from passages in the New Testament have something to say, directly or indirectly, about these two timeless, vital life truths: way to God, or walk with God The Bible is that contemporary And so we must open our hearts to its message In the words of Edward J Young, In approaching the Bible … we need to remember that it is sacred ground We must approach it with humble hearts, ready to hear what the Lord God says The kaleidoscopic history of negative criticism is but further evidence that unless we approach the Bible in a receptive attitude, we shall fail to understand it Nor need we be ashamed to acknowledge that the words of Scripture are of God … The attempt to explain them as anything less than Divine is one of the greatest failures that has ever appeared in the history of human thought.49 V REVIEW QUESTIONS Write a list of four relationships between the New Testament and the Old Testament Why is it important to survey the New Testament as a whole before analyzing its individual parts (e.g., chapter study)? Write out (as many as you can recall) a list of New Testament key truths discussed in the chapter In your own words, what are the divine practical purposes of the New Testament? VI SELECTED READING HISTORICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND POLITICAL SETTING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Bruce, F F “Between the Testaments.” In The New Bible Commentary Rev ed Edited by D Guthrie and J A Motyer, pp 59-63 Dosker, Henry E “Between the Testaments.” In The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1:455-58 Gundry, Robert H A Survey of the New Testament, pp 3-20; 33-55 Harrison, Everett F Introduction to the New Testament, pp 3-56; 91-128 Lace, O Jessie, ed Understanding the New Testament, pp 11-63 Manley, G T The New Bible Handbook, pp 276-97 Metzger, Bruce M The New Testament: Its Background, Growth and Content Mounce, Robert H “Is the New ... SETTING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Bruce, F F “Between the Testaments.” In The New Bible Commentary Rev ed Edited by D Guthrie and J A Motyer, pp 59-63 Dosker, Henry E “Between the Testaments.” In The. .. A Survey of the New Testament, pp 3-20; 33-55 Harrison, Everett F Introduction to the New Testament, pp 3-56; 91-128 Lace, O Jessie, ed Understanding the New Testament, pp 11-63 Manley, G T The. .. (as many as you can recall) a list of New Testament key truths discussed in the chapter In your own words, what are the divine practical purposes of the New Testament? VI SELECTED READING HISTORICAL,