New Testament Unit 7 Reading Journals PDF

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These are the essay journals for New Testament Survey with Dr. Cate for the seventh unit of the course. This was for the spring of 2019....

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Paige Hutton CST130-D 3/10/19 New Testament Unit 7 Reading Journals Reading Journal #1—Innocence of Jesus and his followers In Acts 16:16-40, we see that Silas and Paul are arrested for ‘disturbing’ the life in the town they were in. The authorities arrested them, but overnight while they were in prison, a tremendous earthquake frees them from their shackles and their guard then begs to know the God that did that. Paul and Silas convert their guard and they end up being freed. When Paul travels into Thessalonica and speaks about why it was necessary for Jesus to die, several of the Jewish people are outraged and have Jason and his brother imprisoned for yet another ‘disturbance’. After paying for security, Jason and the brothers are then released. In Corinth, Gallio refused to punish Paul according to what the Jewish people were complaining to him about. Gallio proceeds to say that he cannot put him on trial for something that is only stated by word of mouth. In Ephesus, the men speak about how they cannot bring Paul and his men to trial because it is only the words that they speak that they have to persecute them on. Reading Journal #2—Acts 1:8 In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples to go make witnesses of him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Then, the disciples watch as Jesus ascends into the heavens after being surrounded by a cloud. Two men in white robes then tell the disciples that they will see Jesus reappear on Earth just as he had left, which was by ascension into heaven. Jesus telling the disciples that it is not for them to know when the kingdom will come again and that it is their job to go be witnesses of him to other cities. This was directly to his disciples in this time because they were the pioneers of spreading Christianity at that point. From my understanding of Acts, it seems that while they may have been a bit hesitant or fearful initially, they did go be witnesses of Jesus. Paul specifically seems to fulfill these instructions of Jesus. Reading Journal #5—Ethiopian Eunuch In this part of scripture, we come across an Ethiopian who is traveling from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is a desert place. Philip is told by the Holy Spirit to rise and travel there, and by his faith, he does. Philip is told to meet the Ethiopian who is reading scripture by Isaiah the Prophet which is referring to the death of Jesus, how he is lead to slaughter and is silent like a lamb. After continuing to read the scripture, the Ethiopian has the chariot pulled over so Philip can baptize him in the water nearby. After baptizing the Ethiopian, the Holy Spirit takes Philip away, but the Ethiopian man rejoices in his newfound faith. Reading Journal #10—Paul in Athens In Acts 17:16-34, Paul is addressing the Athenians in the Areopagus and how they worship their idols in their town. Seeing all of their idolatry in the city of Athens is what provoked Paul to speak to the crowd about his faith. Paul quotes what he sees inscribed on one of their altars and brings about the subject of the ‘unknown God’. He then begins to preach about who the ‘unknown God’ is to him. Jesus

will love everyone and accept everyone, as he has brought them all into this world. After hearing about Jesus’s resurrection, most of the people believed what Paul had been preaching, but others mocked him. New Insight Question This unit and reading Acts for the first time was really interesting because it is in a way showing the spread of Christianity. Jesus had called for his disciples to go be witnesses of him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. If his disciples had not obeyed these instructions, our world would be so much different because Christianity would be not nearly as widespread. I think this opens my appreciation for the disciples because without their courage in declaring their witnessing of Jesus in these towns and spreading the word as they did, I may have never even known Christ....