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New Testament Survey

A survey is “a general view, examination, or description”. It is like when you survey a piece of property, you check it out to get the “lay of the land”

Class Notes

Purpose

Why this class?

To know Him. This is Eternal Life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent (John 17.3)
- many know about God, and even claim to know Him, but it’s another thing altogether to actually know Him personally.
To hear Him - we learn to hear His voice in His own words
- The Holy Spirit is the author of Holy Scripture
- His words are Spirit and Life (John 6.63)
- Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Rom. 10:17)
To become like Him
- Sanctify them in your Truth; Your Word is truth (John 17.17)
- that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…(Eph. 5.26)

How we do it?

If you love Him, you will love His Words

I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds much spoil. (Psalm 119:162)

like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, (1 Pet. 2:2)

Learning His Word is learning His ways

I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. (Psalm 119:99)

do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

Studying His Word equips us to serve

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you (1 Pet. 3:15)

Class protocols

To reduce distractions and get the most benefit and blessing from our time together in the Word.

Be on time

Being late diminishes everyone’s learning experience in both quantity and quality
Being on time demonstrates your eagerness to learn and grow in the Lord, and shows love and honor for your classmates

Limit electronic devices in class

These include phones, tablets, and laptops.
We all know how distracting these can be, despite good intentions
You may keep your silenced phone et al. in your purse or backpack
You are on your honor not to take it out during class

Use hard copy Bibles and Paper notebooks

Write in paper notebooks. This is a good thing.
You can transcribe your hand-written notes later onto a device. This will help you remember what we discussed in class

Formal Equivalence translations of Scripture

Dynamic Equivalence (thought for thought, or paraphrase) translations like the NLT (New Living), MSG (Message), TLB (Living), et al. might be helpful in thinking about a text of Scripture. Yet they are by nature once removed from the actual text. Reading one of these is similar to reading a commentary in that you are getting someone else’s thoughts and insights, rather than getting them directly for yourself from the Holy Spirit in Scripture.

Formal Equivalence translations

Therefore to maximize our engagement with the Lord in His Word, we will use only Formal Equivalence (word for word) translations. These include the NASB, ESV, NKJV, KJV and LSB. If you have another translation you’d like to use, check with me first.

Randy Clark’s statement on The Passion Translation is worth reading, as an explanation of why we take this approach to Scripture.

Do not use AI in place of your own relationship with the Holy Spirit!

ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and other AI tools can be useful for finding out things. But they have an inherent danger of diluting and diminishing our discipleship (learning of Him, and learning from Him). Our source of life and truth is Scripture and the Holy Spirit, not AI. Our dependence for guidance is the Lord, not AI. Our goal in this class is not just to pass however we can; it is to grow in grace and in a living relationship with Him. AI is a very poor substitute for the Holy Spirit. We are disciples of Jesus, not AI. We are His body, His hands and feet in this broken world.

AI is a powerful tool. The more powerful a tool is, the more potentially dangerous
AI can dilute and diminish our discipleship
AI can become our go-to source of truth
AI can take the place of the Holy Spirit!
Our source of life and truth is Scripture and the Holy Spirit, not AI.
KMSM students have been expelled for presenting AI-generated work as their own

Books and materials

Required

Hard copy Bible (NASB, ESV, NKJV, KJV or LSB)
Paper notebook for taking notes in class, recording your insights, etc.

Highly Recommended

Introducing the New Testament - At 170 pages, this is a condensed and simplified summary of the much larger An Introduction to the New Testament.

While this book is not absolutely required, for less than $10 it will be a quite helpful companion to what we cover in class. I will include readings from it in each week’s class notes.

Homework

Homework assignments will be frequent. They will be submitted via Populi as attachments in either PDF or WordDoc format
Assignments submitted in some other format will receive a failing grade until they are submitted correctly
10% will be deducted from your grade for each day an assignment is late
Watch the Populi Video on how to submit a file
You can also check out the Populi Knowledge Base for more help on how to submit assignments

References and Resources

1st Semester Schedule

(subject to change)

Word of God
Background of New Testament
Text of New Testament / Synoptic Gospels
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
John continued
Acts
New Testament letters; Who was Paul?
Romans - the Gospel of God
Romans continued

2nd Semester Schedule