Directions for New Testament Journals
- Read and reflect on passages from each and every book of the entire New Testament (all 27 books). (Do not Matthew)
- Journals are to contain your own reflections on the New Testament.
- Each reflection is to have the month, date and year above it.
- Each reflection is to have the book, chapter and verse or verses.
- Your journal will contain mostly your reflections, with a minimum of scriptural quotations.
- If your blank journal is 8 ½†x 11,†then write one of your reflection minimum for each book, but write as many pages as you wish.
- If your blank journal is smaller than 8 ½†x 11,†then write two pages minimum for each book.
- Students must enter their reflections of each New Testament book in the same order we find them in the New Testament, e.g., Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s Epistle (Letter) to the Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, etc.
- Books such as Philemon, Jude, and 2nd and 3rd John may be less than one page.
- Your notes from class time are not your journal.
Questions to help you reflect on the New Testament
The commentary sections in Called by the Gospel will help answer questions such as:
- What did the passage mean to the early Christians? The expository footnotes in the ESV Bible or the Lutheran Study Bible will be helpful here.
- Why was it important to them?
- Why is it important to Christians today?
Personal observations
- How will I be applying it to my life?
- Write what I saw: the truth, idea, or principle that became clear
- Write what I heard:what God said to me as I meditated on the text
- Write what I thought and felt: how the text engaged my mind and emotions
- How I responded in prayer: what I said back to God
- Write what I am still trying to understand: questions about the passage
Example of good journal entries
January 24th, 2012
Matthew 1:1-17 The genealogies of Jesus. I never noticed the presence of women in Jesus’ genealogy (vv. 3, 5, 6). Each woman has a sexual scandal in her past. Why are they mixed in here?
Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.†Some may say that Matthew’s Gospel is a long, beautiful extended poem about Christ, but it reads as history.
January 29th, 2012
Matthew 3 Jesus’ baptism. Done “to fulfill all righteousness.†What does that mean? (Ask in class!)
Matthew 7:1-20 “Do not judge†in context clearly means that we should in fact judge, after we can “see clearly†(v. 5). The text has the word, “then†we can be aware of “dogs,†“pigs†and “false prophets†(vv.6, 15). The word used here is “recognize†(v. 16).
“Lord, may I always not prejudge people, discern dogs, pigs and false prophets only when I can ‘see clearly.’â€
Three examples of bad journal entries
|
January 17, 2012
Song of Solomon 1:4 “We will exult and rejoice in you;
To me this whole book reads like a love poem.
Isaiah 1:17 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.â€
My thought here is that God is gracious and forgiving.
|
These passages are from the Old Testament. subject is the New Testament.
|
September 23, 2013 Matthew 5:1-14 “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.†This is a nice passage. I like it. September 26, 1013 Mark 9:2-13 “After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him.’ “ This passage is a total mystery to me. I can’t understand why it is in the Bible.
|
Too much biblical quotation, not enough reflection
|
January 12, 2011
Matthew 1:1-15 This passage is a mystery.
Matthew 5:1-17 “Make disciples ofall nations,baptizing theminthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching themto observe all thatI have commanded you. And behold,I am with you always, tothe end of the age.†I wonder what this is all about.
Mark 12:29-30 “Jesus answered,‘The most important commandment is,‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God,the Lord is one.30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’†Why is this so important?
|
These are not really reflections. They are only questions.
|
Title and Overview The heading of the first book of the New Testament is in most manuscripts “Gospel according to Matthew”. There is only one good news of the great work that God had accomplished by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but in His wisdom it needed four different men to make this news of salvation known to the world in written form. The gospel according to Matthew is the most detailed and, in its format, clearest of all four gospels. This however is not the only reason for it to be rightly listed in the first place, but also because it forms a link between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The gospel of Matthew contains some sixty quotes from the Old Testament. But some of these are only a few words (for example Matthew 5:21; Matthew 5:27; Matthew 5:38; Matthew 5:43; Matthew 24:15) A total of thirty quotes from the Old Testament are actually mentioned as such (for example Matthew 2:5-6; Matthew 3:3; Matthew 4:4; Matthew 4:7; Matthew 4:10). Things that happened in the life of the Lord Jesus are on fourteen occasions explicitly described as fulfilments of prophecies of the Old Testament (Matthew 1:22-23; Matthew 2:5-6; Matthew 2:15; Matthew 2:17-18; Matthew 2:23; Matthew 4:14-16; Matthew 8:17; Matthew 11:10; Matthew 12:17-21; Matthew 13:35; Matthew 21:4-5; Matthew 21:42; Matthew 26:31; Matthew 27:9-10). The aim of the Holy Spirit in this gospel is made clear already in the first verse: Jesus Christ is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham, and therefore the Messiah, the rightful, promised King of Israel, the fulfiller of all prophecies of the Old Testament. Altogether eight times the Lord Jesus is called the “Son of David” (Matthew 1:1; Matthew 9:27; Matthew 12:23; Matthew 15:22; Matthew 20:31; Matthew 20:31; Matthew 21:9; Matthew 21:15). In close connection with this is a further important mark of the gospel of Matthew: the frequent mention of the messianic kingdom, which is mentioned fifty times. Whereas it is in other places mostly called the “kingdom of God”, Matthew calls it thirty two times “kingdom of the heavens”; only five times the expression “kingdom of God” is used. The gospel of Matthew is arranged according to a divine plan. In the first half the Lord Jesus is introduced as the king of Israel and presented to His earthly people. This part ends in chapter 12 with His rejection: the rulers of Israel reject their king. In the second half, from chapter 13, the service of the rejected King is described, which is now not only restricted to Israel, but takes in also the heathen nations. It is in this part that the assembly (or church) of God, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, is first mentioned by name in the Bible (Matthew 16:18; cf 1 Corinthians 12:13). The service of Christ ends with His sufferings and death, but also with His resurrection and the sending out of the apostles. Matthew does not mention the ascension of the Lord to heaven. The structure of the gospel is underlined by the five great sermons of Christ, which always end with the same sentence: “And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words.”
|
Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
OVER
RATING
YEARS
