The following is a brief synopsis of the New Testament of the Bible and how in the simple form it is laid out.
Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 22:21 The primary topic is
Jesus Christ.
The Bible is addressed to one of three groups of believers
Jews, Gentiles, and
Church of Christ. The Church of Christ refers to those of us today who have accepted or wish to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. The period of time we now live is the Age of Grace. In this age of grace, the believers are referred to as the
“church of Christ” “body of Christ” “saints” “believers” “born again believers” “Church of God”.… The entire Bible is written
FOR our learning…. but not all is directly written
TO us. Below I have outlined what books in the New Testament are written directly
to us, and what is
for our learning.
The book of ACTS….. Is the fulcrum point between the Old and New Testament. It shows the rise and expansion of the First Century Church of Grace…starting with the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, It basically gives a synopsis of how The age of Grace evolved….
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Understanding…. TO and FOR …
If I send a letter addressed to you, telling you I deposited a million dollars in your account ….the letter and the money is yours. If someone else reads the letter they may learn what is in the letter, and that you received a million dollars, but there is no money for them…. it was to you. Such is how the Epistles are written directly to us ….but the entire Bible is for our leaning.))
ROMANS, 1&2 CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, PHILIPPIANS, COLISSIANS, and 1&2 THESSALONIANS
The seven Church epistles in the New Testament, are addressed
DIRECTLY to those of us who are born again in this age of Grace.
Although there is a portion in Romans, between Chapter 9 and 12 that Paul (by revelation) is addressing Israel, and then to the Gentiles in chapter 11.
ROMANS, EPHESIANS and THESSALONIANS are
“Doctrinal” Epistles = right or correct believing….. written for the walk of the believers in the Body of Christ.
CORINTHIANS & PHILIPPIANS are
“Reproof” Epistles to show believers where they are off from the doctoral revelation.
GALATIANS & COLISSIANS are
“Correction” Epistles to get the believers back to the right believing of the doctrine.
Thessalonians stands alone as a doctrinal epistle. Although it is last in the Church epistles it was written first, between 48-50AD. No reproof or correction is necessary as it deals with the hope. Thessalonians were the first epistles written so that the believers had the hope before them due to the mental pressure and persecution they endured. They are the last of the Church epistles as it is the culmination of the grace administration…..(when Christ return for the body of believers)
1 THESSALONIANS although a doctrinal epistle deals primarily with the return of Christ
for the
church of the body, and touches on Him returning
with the church of the body.
2 THESSALONIANS mildly covers Christ return for the body ….but provides information as to what takes place after we are gone.
1&2 TIMOTHY, TITUS and I will include
PHILEMON (although there is some disagreement with this) are called the
Pastoral Epistles. These are written to the Church of grace….
but are directed towards leadership (Pastors, Teachers) within of the Body of Christ.
.
HEBREWS is not addressed to the church in the sense that we know the Church established on Pentecost. It is addressed to born again believers (Judeans), but those who have never walked in the freedom of the new birth……. those who are still zealous for the law.
JAMES Much like Hebrews was written to the Christian Jews of the dispersion, “the twelve tribes scattered abroad”. Those born again who seem to want to put themselves under the law.
1&2 PETER, 1,2&3 JOHN and
JUDE closely align themselves to this category also. The reason so much of this seems applicable to many of us …is that we find ourselves not adhering to the doctrinal Epistles of Romans, Ephesians, and Thessalonians.
REVELATION….
For obvious reasons is the last book in the Bible.
So many people want to talk about Revelation…. so I will add this note. The book of Revelation is written about events that will take place after Christ returns
for the Church of body. It deals with the second half of the Parousia when He returns “WITH” the church of the body.
The only people Revelations is applicable to, is those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior; living or deceased and all those (believers and unbelievers) prior to Age of Grace.
THE FOUR GOSPELS give the account, of the life and walk of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from four different perspectives.
MATTHEW as the “King”,
MARK as the “Servant”,
LUKE as the “Man”, and
JOHN as the “Son”
The gospels although printed in the New Testament are figuratively the binding or the cohesive bond of the Bible; they stand alone, being neither in the Old nor the New.
For clarification…the page that says NEW TESTAMENT between Malachi and Matthew is not God breathed….it was added. Just as punctuation, chapter heading, chapters, verses, capitalization… were all added by translators over the years…and thank God they were….BUT…they are devoid of authority when it comes to rightly dividing the truth.
Although the
GOSPELS are vitally important in our understanding of what Jesus Christ accomplished by his walk, death, resurrection and ascension….. it must be noted that Jesus Christ came to minister to
Israel,
the Bride. Israel rejected him and killed their King the Bridegroom. The church of the bride is at this time held in abeyance and picks up again in Revelation.
There is a BIG difference between….the
THE BRIDE OF CHRIST in the gospels, which is for our learning .....and
BODY OF CHRIST in the epistles written directly to us…. they are not the same, and if not distinguished it will cause you much confusion…and your brain will hurt…because you cannot correlate the two.
ALSO: Any reference to the return of Christ in the gospels, is NOT speaking of the return (gathering together) of Christ in Thessalonians……. It is speaking of His return as King of Kings when He returns WITH US. (the body of Christ.)
WHY? …because the mystery of the one body ….the age of Grace was kept secret with God and not revealed until it was given to Paul by revelation (Ephesians 3)..... So, there can be no reference to anything regarding the gathering together of the Church of the Body or the age of Grace → in the gospels. When Christ returns
for the Church of the body…. He will not physically come to the earth….we will meet him in the air.
When He returns
with his saint some 7 years later… for the second part of the
Parousia (coming) …. He then returns as
King of Kings…and will physically come to the Mt. of Olives.
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