Good News - New Testament [antikvár]

PREFACE the new testament is the book about Jesus Christ. Its name means that it is the record of God's new covenant with his people. This covenant, or agreement, is the good news of God's promise to save those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The New Testament does not merely inform; it demands decision and calls for commitment on the part of those who read this Good News. The twenty-seven books which make up the New Testament were written by perhaps as many as twelve different authors over a period of some fifty years. Although the books differ in content, a constant theme runs through all of them and joins them into a unity-God's love for mankind revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. The four Gospels tell the story of the life, teaching, deeds, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They are followed by the Acts of the Apostles, which traces the spread of the gospel for some thirty years from Jerusalem to Rome, the capital of the Empire. The letters of Paul were all written to meet specific needs faced by early Christians. The eight books that follow, known as the General Letters, are varied: some of them are addressed to believers everywhere, while others are written to individual churches or persons. The last book in the New Testament is different from all the others. Its teaching concerning the victory of the Kingdom of God and the lordship of Christ is conveyed by means of visions, images, and symbols, many of which are very difficult for the modem reader to understand. But its central message, which may also be taken as the theme of the whole New Testament, is clearly proclaimed: "The power to rule over the world belongs now to our Lord and his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever!" (Revelation 11.15). This translation of the New Testament has been prepared by the American Bible Society for people who speak English either as their mother tongue or as an acquired language. As a distinctively new translation, it does not conform to traditional vocabulary or style, but t ¦ 'f