Short Essay Questions for Understanding the New Testament

God's Relationship with His People in the New Testament

Short Essay Questions (20 points each)

 

Answer the following short essay questions thoroughly and as completely as possible (about 300 words). Your answers will be marked on their content and clarity and their awareness of ideas relevant to understanding the New Testament and whether they indicate your own thoughts and understanding of the questions. You may answer below by typing between the questions. 

1.Describe God’s relationship with his people, especially in terms of covenants, and how that relationship continues in the New Testament.

2.Explain the significance of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 for the inclusion of the Gentiles in the early Jesus movement. Consider how this relates to Paul’s issues with the Judaizers in Galatians 1-2.

3. Identify those individuals and groups that the book of Hebrews presents Jesus as being greater than. Articulate the reasons that the book of Hebrews gives for why Jesus is greater than these individuals.  

4. Explain how Revelation fits the genre of “apocalypse” and why that should influence our interpretation of the book.

5. Using the map on the next page and the book of Acts, describe in order the places visited by Paul and the events that took place on his first missionary journey. Provide the letter equivalents from the map of those locations, and next to those letters describe key events that took place. Note squares indicate regions and islands; circles indicate cities.