The New Testament Digest takes these sacred books and coalesces passages on the same topic
or instruction together. The result is an alphabetical summary easily accessed by any user on
any topic contained in these texts.
The New Testament itself speaks to several important topics, including the following.
Jesus Christ shows complete and absolute loyalty to His Eternal Father, God. He worships Him.
He loves Him. He trusts Him. He prays to Him and He thanks Him for hearing and answering
Him. He pleads to Him in His time of greatest trial and agony, referring to Him in the Aramaic of
“Papa.”
His love of His Father is so complete that on multiple occasions, so many of them recorded in
the gospel of John, He shuns the approval of the world and remains, instead, loyal to His Father.
While upon the cross He makes a plea to His Father in behalf of His crucifiers that they might be
forgiven because “they know not what they do.”
When His mortal ministry is complete, His agony and Atonement completed, He humbly says to
His Father upon the cross, “Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit.” Then He gave up the
ghost—he died.
Jesus Christ not only loved the Father. He was His literal Son, both spiritually and physically.
His spirit body, inside His physical body, was the “Firstborn” of the Father. While the New
Testament speaks of all mankind as the “offspring of God”, among all these children of the
Father only Jesus Christ was the Firstborn, the Senior Spirit or Child of all God’s children.“
Of all these children, only Jesus Christ’s physical body was also the offspring of God the Father.
He is thus also called the “Only Begotten”, meaning “Only Begotten of God the Father.” All the
rest of God’s children have physical parents from among the long line of ancestors leading back
to Adam and Eve, the first parents. Jesus Christ, however, was born of the mortal Mary, but His
Father was not Joseph, but God the Father. His conception is to the understanding of mortals
miraculous, because Mary “knew no man” when she became pregnant.
Given assurances by an angel that the baby conceived in Mary was of God, Joseph went
through with his planned marriage to Mary and “knew her not” until the Baby was born. He
then became Jesus Christ’s caretaker father here on earth.
The Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim speak repeatedly of a Messiah who is to come. In doing so, it
speaks of two distinct comings: the first, when He would be born of a virgin Mary in
Bethlehem; and the second, when He would come in glory in judgment upon a wicked world.
In total, there are some 50 separate Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim passages describing this
Messiah’s first coming, life, miracles, Atonement, crucifixion, and His resurrected body. Such
passages include references to His divine birth, that He would be called out of Egypt, that one
would prepare His way before Him, that He would speak in parables, that no deceit would
come from His mouth, that He would bind up the broken hearted, and that He would ride
triumphantly upon the foal of an ass into Jerusalem.
In addition, these Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim passages prophecy that the Messiah would be
the Stone the builders refused, He would still the waves and calm the storm; the Messiah would
be afflicted in all their afflictions, He would be stricken and wounded for their transgressions,
and He would be betrayed and sold for exactly the price of 30 pieces of silver.
Finally, these 50 prophecies of the Messiah state that the Messiah would be a Lamb brought to
the slaughter, that His hands would be pierced, that He would be mocked, that His oppressors
would wag their heads at Him, that He would be pierced, but not one bone would be broken in
His body, and that lots would be cast upon his clothing.
The New Testament not only records His divine birth of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem, as
prophesied centuries earlier, but it also records the precise fulfilment of every one of the 50
prophecies—every single one.
That remarkable fulfillment comes in the Person, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
The New Testament is thus a sequel to the prophetic writings which preceded it. It is the
natural companion to the Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim, recording the actual birth, life,
teachings, miracles, suffering and Atonement, death, and resurrection of the promised
Messiah.
It is a witness, or Testament—a New Testament—that the Messiah had in fact been sent by
God to earth. It is a witness that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the actual divine Son of God the
Father.
It is a witness that the Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim are true prophecies sent by God.
In total, there are some 50 separate Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim passages describing this
Messiah’s first coming, life, miracles, Atonement, crucifixion, and His resurrected body. Such
passages include references to His divine birth, that He would be called out of Egypt, that one
would prepare His way before Him, that He would speak in parables, that no deceit would
come from His mouth, that He would bind up the broken hearted, and that He would ride
triumphantly upon the foal of an ass into Jerusalem.
In addition, these Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim passages prophecy that the Messiah would be
the Stone the builders refused, He would still the waves and calm the storm; the Messiah would
be afflicted in all their afflictions, He would be stricken and wounded for their transgressions,
and He would be betrayed and sold for exactly the price of 30 pieces of silver.
Finally, these 50 prophecies of the Messiah state that the Messiah would be a Lamb brought to
the slaughter, that His hands would be pierced, that He would be mocked, that His oppressors
would wag their heads at Him, that He would be pierced, but not one bone would be broken in
His body, and that lots would be cast upon his clothing.
The New Testament not only records His divine birth of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem, as
prophesied centuries earlier, but it also records the precise fulfilment of every one of the 50
prophecies—every single one.
That remarkable fulfillment comes in the Person, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
The New Testament teaches that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, Mary. She “knew” no man,
and yet found herself pregnant with the Christ child. The angel Gabriel had told her in advance
of the pending plans of God the Father for the birth of His Son Jesus Christ, to which she
consented.
She was engaged at the time, and the man to whom she was “betrothed”, Joseph, was of the view
to end the engagement privately. But he was told of the angel to go ahead and marry Mary and
that the Child within her was of God. He did so. And He abstained from sexual relations with
her until the Christ child was born.
The four gospels of the New Testament tell so many of the teachings of Jesus Christ. When His
ministry began he started by calling people to repent.
He taught people to have faith in God, to repent, to be baptized—setting the example Himself
as He was baptized by John the Baptist.
His most famous teachings came at the Sermon on the Mount where he taught listeners that,
(1) Blessed are,
He also taught His listeners were the “light of the world” and that they should not hide that
light, but put it on a candlestick so that others “may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven.”
He taught a higher gospel law than the law of Moses and compared and connected the two. He stated that,
The New Testament records multiple miracles performed by Jesus Christ, including,
The New Testament records that Jesus Christ ordained twelve men as His apostles. When one
of these apostles died, the remaining apostles prayed to know whom God had called to replace
him and serve as an apostle with the others.
It also speaks of prophets, seventy, deacons, teachers, and priests. It speaks of calling the
elders to anoint with oil and bless an individual when sick.
The New Testament teaches that in the latter-days two prophets will be in Jerusalem, and will
be slain by the people, and then resurrected to life again.
The New Testament also speaks that Jesus Christ is the great high priest who through His
sacrifice enabled the remission of our sins and our coming unto God.
Not only did Jesus Christ give priesthood authority to others, but He specifically charged them
to go unto all the world to teach and baptize others.
He commanded His followers to meet regularly and partake of bread and wine in remembrance
of His body and blood, that they might remember Him.
The New Testament states that Jesus Christ gave the priesthood officers to help saints—his
followers—be perfected, and for the “work of the ministry” and for the “edifying of the body of
Christ.” It states that such were to be given “till we all come in the unity of the faith.”
As mentioned, Jesus Christ voluntarily surrendered to the will of His Father and took upon Him the sins of the world in a remarkable atonement. In doing so He felt great anguish for the sins of others and bled from every pore of His body. The New Testament teaches that He was a pure, sinless, unblemished offering, just as symbolized in the Torah requirement of an lamb offering without blemish.
The New Testament tells of Christ’s calling the temple in Jerusalem as His “Father’s house.” It
also tells of the apostles going to the temple after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In the Book of Revelation it speaks of temples in the last days.
In the Gospels of the New Testament it tells of Jesus Christ’s cleansing of the temple from those
who made it a place of business rather than a place of worship.
In Hebrews it speaks of the holy of holies and how it is that Jesus Christ enables us to enter into
the presence of God.
The New Testament tells how Christ was betrayed by Judas, one of His twelve apostles,
arrested, beaten, mocked, and then condemned to death by Pilate. Another was compelled to
carry His cross to the place of his crucifixion. There He was nailed to the cross and left hanging
to die together with two thieves, one on his right side and the other on his left.
In a stunning account, while He was suffering on the cross, the New Testament tells how Jesus
Christ was nevertheless concerned for his mother and gave charge to John to care for her.
He also plead to God in His agony that He would forgive those who crucified Him, stating that
“they know not what they do.”
The New Testament records that Jesus Christ suffered for the sins of mankind in Gethsemane,
was betrayed, arrested, mocked, tried, and sentenced to be crucified.
He was crucified and voluntarily “gave up the ghost”.
While dead the book of 1 Peter teaches that Jesus Christ went to the spirits in the spirit world
and initiated the teaching of the gospel to them that were dead.
On the third day of His death, early in the morning, it records that Mary and other women went
to the tomb where he was laid. But upon arriving, they encountered two angels at the opening
to the tomb with the great stone rolled away. The angels announced to the visitors that Jesus
Christ was not there, “for He is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And
go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.”
They did so. Peter and John ran to the tomb but found not Jesus Christ. But they did go into
the sepulchre and saw the linen clothes lying and the “napkin, that was about his head, not
lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.”
Then the disciples went away.
Mary, however, stood without at the sepulchre weeping, after the disciples had left.
She looked into the sepulchre and saw “two angels, in white sitting, the one at the head, and
the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.”
They said unto her “Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they have taken
away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.”
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not
that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, “Woman, why weepest thou? Whom sleekest thou? She, supposing him
to be the gardener, saith unto him, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast
laid him, and I will take him away.”
Jesus saith unto her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and
your God.”
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “All hail. And they came
and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.”
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had
spoken these things unto her.