1. Introduction

Welcome. I'm so glad you're joining us for this class on the New Testament Gospels and Acts with Mark Liverman from Long Hollow Church. Whether you're brand new to studying the Bible or you've spent a lot of time in God's Word, I believe this class is going to help you see Jesus more clearly and understand the Gospels in a much deeper way. This is a nine-part class, and this first lesson will help set the foundation for the weeks ahead. Throughout the class, Mark is going to walk through the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and also Acts, and help us understand their message, their purpose, and how each one points us to the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. There is a PDF class syllabus attached to this lesson in Pando. That syllabus includes the reading plan for the class, along with an optional textbook that Mark may mention. This additional book is not required to participate in the class, just a helpful supplement if you want to go deeper. The PDF also includes the information that you'll see during each video lesson, so it can be a helpful reference for review after you watch the video. I want to encourage you to approach this class with an open heart and a willingness to learn. Don't worry about knowing everything before you start, just take the next step. Listen carefully, read the scripture, and ask God to help you understand His Word. We're so excited for you to be part of this. I'm praying this class strengthens your faith, grows your love for Jesus, and gives you a clearer picture of the good news found in the Gospels. So let's get started. Hello, and welcome to New Testament Survey, Gospels, the Gospels through Acts. What we'll do in this session is we'll review the syllabus, and we may even have time to go into content about the Bible itself in this recording. If we don't, I'll record that in a separate video, and you all can watch that content before you start reviewing the content about Matthew. But for this time, let me go ahead and pray for us. Father, I'm so thankful for this time. I praise you for your continued grace and mercy in my life. I thank you for every person that is watching this video, and I pray, God, for their continued involvement in your, well, actually, for their continued submission and surrender to your involvement in their life. I pray, God, that as they go through the content in this course, that their life will be changed, and not only that, but they will use it to change the lives of those around them. I thank you, Lord, for your Word. I thank you for your continued grace and mercy and love in my life, and Lord, I just pray for a time of clarity and a time of renewed relationship with you during this course for both me and the students that are

watching this video. In Jesus' name, amen. So in the syllabus, I'm sure you have been exposed to a few words that may not be familiar to you. So what I want to do in this session is define some of those words, and then we'll go and we'll look at the syllabus together. But again, the intent is to help you understand some of the terms before we use them in the syllabus. So you'll see in the syllabus, there are reading assignments for each week. This is a nine-week course. So the first term that I want to review that you'll see in the syllabus and I'll use throughout this particular term is the term hermeneutics. So hermeneutics is the rules one uses for searching out the meaning of writings, particularly, obviously in this context, for biblical text. So a short, succinct definition is the art and science of biblical interpretation. The next word is exegesis, and I'm going to give you a visual of this. So when we read the Bible, we want to pull out, pull out the meaning of the text. We don't want to read our meaning into the text, and we don't want to take some, you know, meaning from somewhere else about the text. We want to pull out the meaning of the text. So the word exegesis means to draw out or explain the act of interpreting or explaining the meanings of verses, of passages in Scripture. Okay, the act, exegesis, to pull out the act of interpreting or explaining the meanings of verses or passages of Scripture. sure. The next term is actually the opposite of exegesis, and it's eisegesis, right? And as you might guess, eisegesis means to read one's meaning into a biblical text, as opposed to pulling the meaning of the text out. Does that make sense? Okay, the next term is going to be, I mean, it's going to sound like a large word, but it's really not that difficult to understand, and the word is intertextuality. This is the complex relationship between a text and other scriptural texts taken as basic to the creation or interpretation of the text. So scripture, here's a short way to explain that, scripture interprets scripture. So sometimes when you don't understand the meaning of a particular scripture, there are other verses, other texts, other writers that can help you understand, other biblical writers that can help you understand the meaning of a text. So we want to use the Bible to help interpret the meaning of the Bible. Does that make sense? The next term you'll see in the syllabus is fallacy, and a fallacy is simply a mistaken belief, especially one based on an unsound argument or something that has no basis, it becomes an argument, and therefore it is a fallacy. The next few words all end with the subtext ology, and ology is the study of. So Christology or Christology is the study of

the person and work of Jesus Christ. Soteriology is the doctrine of salvation. Ecclesiology is the study of the church, or ecclesiology is the study of the church as a biblical and theological topic. Eschatology, I'm sure many of you have heard this term before, is the study of the last things or the end of the world. So those are terms that you will see as you're looking at the syllabus that I wanted to make sure you had a definition for. There's a statement in the syllabus that focuses on the overall mission of this course, and I want to point you to that particular statement. When I read it, you will have read it before, and here's the emphasis or focal point of the syllabus, and really this course. There's an overarching emphasis, and this emphasis will be placed on developing an understanding of and personal response to the person of Jesus Christ and the gospel. So this isn't just a course so you can learn material, so you can learn new concepts. That will happen, but the goal of this course is for us to grow and to understand God better. I think Billy Graham explained it like this, or his mission was with this notion in mind, that the natural state of a Christian is growth, right? If we're not growing in our understanding of God, then we can read the Bible, we can read it for information only, but God's intent for your life is that we have a natural state, a progressive state of knowing him better, and thereby being able to apply his principles in our life more frequently. So that's the goal of this course, is so that we can have an understanding of, but for the purpose of, a personal response to the person of Jesus Christ and the gospel. So the typical class format for this course is we will start each class with a prayer. We will ask for hear journaling, highlight, explain, apply, and respond. We'll talk about hear journaling as we go on, but that hear journal, you should have one prepared for each class, primarily on the reading from each week. So your first course or your first topic will be Matthew. So the expectation is that you will read Matthew, at least the assigned scriptures that are in the syllabus, and then create a journal from your reading of Matthew. The same with Mark, and Luke, and John, and Acts. So we'll start with prayer, and then we will discuss the assigned on Bible reading, and the reading from Carson, the New Testament book that I'm sure you're aware of. Here's a note. Now, the goal is that you will have time to read both your Bible reading and the reading from the Carson text,

from the New Testament survey textbook. If you run into a challenge with time, what do you think is most important? Obviously, reading the Bible, right? I'm not suggesting that you don't read the Carson text. What I am saying is that the important aspect is to read, hear, glean, understand God's Word. So that is the focus of this course. What you'll see in the syllabus are select scriptures from each of the New Testament writers. Now, what I've done is those assigned readings, those biblical chapters, those chapters in the Bible that are assigned for reading, align directly with the traditional F-260 plan. So, once you have read through all of the assigned reading, you in essence will have read what is required in the F-260 Bible reading plan. So, your reading schedule is in this syllabus. I told you we'd get back to the HERE journal. HERE stands for Highlight, Explain, Apply, and Respond. For journaling, it's important for this activity to take place for the next nine weeks or even in life. You know, reading the Bible is one thing, but taking time to meditate on it and reflect what you believe God is sharing with you is a very important discipline. And so, what I want to embark upon you or suggest is that you start doing that in this class if you haven't already been doing it in your life. Here are some just some general thoughts about reading the Bible. Practice reading the Bible slowly and pronouncing each word. I can't overemphasize that. You know, very often to check the box we pick up the Bible as if it's a novel or some other book, but each word of the Bible is speaking deeper than your mind. It is speaking to the very

essence of who you are, because your God, our God, our Creator, our Lord, our Master, has given us this gift to not only inform us of who He is, but also to shape us into being more like Him. So, it's important to read and slow down as you're reading the Bible. The Bible is full of verbs, pronouns, themes, conflicts, adjectives. As you're reading the Bible, you should be asking yourself these questions. Are we talking about man? Is God speaking to man? Is He talking about Himself? Is there a focus on the fallen condition of man? Is there a focus on God's omnipresence, His omnipotence, His omniscience? What are we reading about? And those are some questions that you should be asking yourself as you're reading the Bible. Our mission as Bible students is multifaceted. We should approach the Bible from an interrogative mindset. That is, what is this text saying not only to me, but first, what is it saying to the intended readers of the particular text? So, the Bible, you've likely heard Pastor Robbie say this, the Bible was not written to us, but it was written for us, right? So, we have to understand who the particular text was written to initially. So, Matthew is writing to primarily a Jewish audience. So, in our interrogation, in our attempt to understand what Matthew was saying to his intended audience, It's important to understand that culture, so that once we understand that and understand what Matthew was writing about, then we can then see the application part of the text. But it's important for us to understand that first century aspect first, so that we don't take it out of context. Does that make sense?

So we are to interrogate the text. We should be gleaning what the verse is saying. We should exegete the text, that is pull out the meaning. Pull out the meaning, not read into the Bible what we want it to mean. If the Bible can have as, you know, if it can mean what it means to me, then the Bible could have as many interpretations as it does readers. So we wanna understand what did it mean at the time that the writer wrote the text and what did it mean to the audience that the writer was writing the particular text to. So let's look at a few verses so that I can emphasize this point. The first verse I'm gonna read is Matthew 5. And I just chose these verses at random. Matthew 5, verse 38 through 39. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don't resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. So that sounds like just on surface level reading that we should be inviting people to assault us. If we've offended them and they react in a violent way, we should be willing to be slapped. And I can tell you that there's more to that text than what's on the surface. And as a Bible student,

and I'm not gonna give you the meaning of that text, as a Bible student, we should be interrogating the text. What was happening in the culture at the time? Why did Matthew include this in his gospel? What do each of those words mean? So the New Testament, most of you likely know this, was written originally in Greek. And the Old Testament was written originally in Hebrew. So what are the Greek terms behind that text? It's important for us to know that. Let's look at Mark 1, verse 2 and 3. So Mark 1, verse 2 and 3. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, see, I am sending my messenger ahead of you. He will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make his path straight. So when I read that text as a Bible student, the first thing that sticks out to me is Isaiah. I need to go find that text in the book of Isaiah because I believe that Mark is quoting Isaiah. But I wanna read not only that text in Isaiah, but I wanna read around that text. What does Isaiah say before that particular verse that Mark is quoting? What does he say after that? I need to understand that as a Bible student because I have the mindset to exegete, pull out the meaning, to interrogate the text. I want to understand why Mark included that

in the opening of his gospel. I mean, that's verse 2 and verse 3. Let's look at Luke, an example of what you might see in Luke. Luke 1.65 is where we're going. Fear came on all those who lived around them, and all these things were being taken about, talked about throughout the hill country of Judea. You probably have heard this analogy, but I don't know if you have done this or if you do this now. but you say you know you pray God give me a word and so you just open the Bible and you find this text right fear came on all those who lived around him and all these things were being talked about throughout the hill country of Judea if that's the word that you find that's the verse you find for the day I don't know about you but I'm confused because fear came on all those I first got to ask who is all those who lived around them where do they live and all these things were being talked about what things throughout the hill country of Judea where is Judea do you understand when you're reading the Bible to interpret its meaning you have to go deeper than just the verses the words that you're seeing in English the Bible again the New Testament was written originally in Greek and we're reading an interpretation of the Greek text so it is our job as Bible students to learn more than what just the words are saying in English in front of us let's look at John John 1 verse 1 and 2 in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God he was with God in the beginning Trey I mean I've talked about this text a lot and I will talk about it a lot when we get to John but one of the challenges with interpreting this text is not knowing the original language so what does word mean in Greek in this particular text is there a difference between the God that is in stanza two and the Word was with God up you know is there a difference between that use of God and the use of God in the last stanza point C or a or or chapter 1

verse 1 C and the Word was God are those gods the same are those words word in the text the same I don't know that if I'm just reading it on the surface so our job is to go beyond as Bible students to go beyond what the surface says and then just one example of acts will look at acts chapter 2 verse 3 they saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them now if you take that text out and you run with it that is that's your text for the week what do you wouldn't what does it mean right and so our job is Bible students is to understand what it means when we read the Bible unfortunately we approach it with our baggage what I mean by that we approach it with our hurts our pain our successes our exciting moments in life our happy times in life and we take that same baggage and we approach the Bible and we want the Bible to tell us something related to our hurt our pain our success our happy moments when first we should arrive at what is the Bible saying what is this for who is this writer right so we're reading from acts for example we know that Luke the gospel writer also wrote acts so who is Luke why is he including this verse what is he trying to tell us in this verse right so what we want to do is try as best we can if not pray this God help me to park my baggage as I read your word and hear from you we have to ask ourselves how did the New Testament Testament believers read this these scriptures back then what were the verses telling them back then before we apply it to here and now I as I teach this class I can tell you that I have a high view of Scripture that means that that phrase high view of Scripture means affirms the authority and intent of God as the author of the inspired text so when I read the Bible I believe that God wrote it now he used men but I believe that these are the words that God wanted me to have and that he speaks to me with each of the words that are in the Bible. That's what I believe. That is a high view of Scripture. Another term is authorial intent. This text means this proceeds and forms the text and ultimately determines the meaning of Scripture. I believe the Scripture. I believe that the people that are

identified as being the writers of each of the books are the ones that wrote it. I believe that Mark wrote his gospel. I believe that Matthew and John and Luke wrote their Gospels. And so I affirm that. Another aspect, another term that you may see later is hermeneutical spiral. And this is the notion that as Scripture is studied over time, certain concepts and truths are relearned and can be applied in new ways. Okay, let's look at types of Bibles. So the first category that we're going to talk about is a formal equivalence Bible. In short, this is... remember I said that the New Testament was originally written in Greek, so obviously if we're reading it in English it's an interpretation of that particular Greek text, right? So a formal equivalence Bible interprets each word, each Greek word, word for word. Some examples of this are the King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New King James Version, and the ESV or the English Standard Version. These are formal equivalence Bibles. And then there is a dynamic equivalence or paraphrase. This is a sense-for-sense. The first is word-for-word as formal equivalence. Dynamic equivalence is a sense-for-sense type of interpretation. Some example of these types of Bibles are the New English Bible, the Good News Bible, the Contemporary English Version, and the Revised English Bible. And then there is... so we have the first two categories, formal equivalence, dynamic equivalence, and then there's a hybrid of the two. That is a hybrid of word-for-word and sense-for-sense. And that version or that type of Bible is referred to as an optimal equivalence. Some examples of this, and I was just reading from one, is the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the Christian Standard Bible, the CSV, that's what I just read from, the Christian Standard Version, the Amplified Bible, the New International Version, and the New English Translation. And then there are Bibles that use extensive paraphrasing like the Living Bible and the Message Bible. I would suggest that you have a version of all three of these, all four of these, actually. But if you had to choose one, an optimal equivalence is a good study Bible or the formal equivalence, the word-for-word. I'm not saying stay away from dynamic, but I think that if you

stay in... if you had to choose one, I would go with the optimal equivalence because it's going to use contemporary phrasing, language that we would typically use today, but also draws from the original meaning of the text. So, the Christian Standard Bible is a good example of that. All right, so that is enough for today. That's just a review of the syllabus to kind of get us started. And the next time we come together, I will provide some content about the Bible itself. This is a really important session before we get into Matthew that you should view. So again, thank you for your time today. Let's pray. Father, I'm so thankful for your kindness and your mercy and for this course, New Testament Survey Gospels through Acts. I pray God that each student is encouraged and that they are changed through your Word during this session, during this term. And Lord, we're just so thankful for your continued love and grace and mercy in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.