Chapter Objectives

• List the church’s inheritance from the New Testament writings
• Give illustrations of the continuity between the Old and the New Testaments
• Give examples of how the New Testament provides a balanced vision
• Explain how the New Testament gives us a standard for engaging contemporary culture
• Identify questions that are not answered directly in the New Testament

Chapter Summary

1. The Old Testament provided the foundation for the New Testament, and there is a profound continuity between the Testaments.

2. The vision of the New Testament is always a balanced (though not a domesticated!) one. It upholds contrasting truths in a manner that will prevent any of them from receiving one-sided emphasis.

3. The New Testament provides examples of holy bravery, zeal, dedication, and commitment.

4. The New Testament provides us with examples of missionary fervor and effectiveness.

5. Truth and life, theology and practice are unified in the New Testament.

6. The Bible provides guidelines that will assist us in distinguishing truth from error.

7. The New Testament by itself does not settle every detail of how new generations and cultures must receive and apply the gospel.

8. The New Testament does not always provide complete instructions for how we should respond to issues related to the relationship between the church and culture, details of the social dimensions of the gospel, or suggestions on how to keep faith fresh.

9. The church today must reevaluate how well it is following Christ as he is presented in the New Testament.

Study Questions

1. In what ways does the New Testament reflect continuity with the Old Testament?

2. How does the New Testament keep both the tangible and the intangible worlds before our eyes?

3. What are some New Testament examples of holy bravery?

4. What are some questions concerning how we are to engage the world that are not answered in the New Testament?

5. What are some questions that are not fully answered in the New Testament but to which contemporary Christians must formulate responses?

6. How is modern Christianity in the West most compromised?