1	NEW TESTAMENT St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church Pre Servant Meeting By Dr. Osama Malak
2	New Testament Gospels and Acts Pauline Letters Catholic Letters Revelation
3	Gospels and Acts The Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry His teachings, miracles, death and resurrection The similarities between the synoptic Holy Gospels The Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Holy Gospel of St. John
4	Gospels and Acts The acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles The missionary journeys of St. Paul
5	Pauline Letters Brief outline of the 14 letters of St. Paul When, where and to whom they were written The circumstances that led St. Paul to write each letter The theme of each letter and the doctrines, ethics and church conflicts mentioned in the letters
6	By the way, what are they? Romans I Corinthians II Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians I Thessalonians II Thessalonians I Timothy II Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews
7	Catholic Letters Directed to the Churches in general, not to specific Church or person They talk about the problems that faces the church from the world during the period between Jesus ascension and his Second Coming Will study the letters authors and their messages
8	What are they? James I Peter II Peter I John II John III John Jude
9	Revelation A look at the Holy Book of Revelation and the message of hope it presents The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Day of Judgment, and the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ
10	Why study the Bible? The Bible is our constitution, and it is the source of all the Laws, Guidelines, Morals, Decision making and Principles that help us to live holy life There is no salvation without the Bible “My people destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6)
11	Why study the Bible? Paul commended his disciple, Timothy, saying “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15) The Church offers its children pure and perfect teaching free of defects in order to build up their spirits in the Holy faith which was delivered to us by the saints (Jude 3)
12	Scriptural Teaching in our Church The Holy Gospel is always on the alter and is always raised above our heads When his Holiness the Pope reads the gospel, he removes his crown The icon-bearer is lit up during the reading of the gospel and 2 lighted candles are held on both sides of the gospel All the doctrines of the church are taken from the Bible
13	Scriptural Teaching in our Church All the Church rites include many chapters from the Bible All the Church prayers quote the words of God from the two Testaments “Aghnostos” or “reader” is a special rank among the ranks of deacons for the reader of the Holy Bible
14	The Orthodox Interpretation Christ interprets the Books for us: After the Resurrection the apostles needed the lord : “to open their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (LK.24:45) St. Luke says of the lord that: “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (LK. 24:27) His life, work, our fellowship with Him, and the light of His Spirit within us
15	The Orthodox Interpretation The Church Interprets the Books for us: We have to receive the sound interpretation from the holy church in which the Holy Spirit resides, in which the fathers lived in the godly truth that is recorded in the Gospel, and where there is sound understanding of the word of God as a result of being enlightened by the Holy Spirit
16	The Orthodox Interpretation The Apostles: They were totally aware of and alert to the soundness of interpretation and of Christian teaching Christianity rose on the ruins of paganism with its practices and philosophies, and on Judaism with its theology and its teachers
17	The Orthodox Interpretation The Fathers of the Church: They drew inspiration from the Bible in all their work, their asceticism, and the way they lived. That is why their life were enlightened and evangelical They lived the gospel in their daily lives; they interpreted it intellectually in a practical way aiming at their salvation, and kept the Holy teaching
18	The Orthodox Interpretation The World Councils Laws: They defined the Christian teaching legally so that it is preserved from any corrupting influences
19	Do We Have Four Bibles? “St. Matthew Bible” or the “The Gospel According to Matthew” what is the difference? We do not have four Bible, we have one Bible written by four people because we have only one “Good News” written by four people from different prospective guided by the Holy Spirit
20	Wasn’t One Enough? You can’t cover Jesus life and work just from one angle, you need all four Bibles to focus the light on just one part of Jesus “and there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25)
21	Wasn’t One Enough? Each Bible was written to specific group of people high lightened specific aspect of Jesus St. Matthew wrote to the Jewish St. Luke to the Greek St. Mark to the Roman St. John to confirm that Jesus is God and he has a truly Human Body
22	Matthew, Mark and Luke They lean toward the historical way of writing They concentrated on Jesus service in the Galilee They mentioned a lot of Jesus miracles, incidents and talks
23	John He lean toward the educational writing He concentrated on Jesus service in Jerusalem He gave especial importance to the miracles and incidents and talks that confirm Jesus is God
24	The Four Beasts The “Man” → St. Matthew The “Lion” → St. Mark The “Calf” → St. Luke The “Eagle” → St. John