THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH

An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament

by Frank Viola

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Copyright 2004 Destiny Image Publishers

192 Pages.

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CONTENTS

Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Prologue

1. The First Motion: The Godhead in Eternity Past

2. The Second Motion: The Son Is Sent to Earth

3. The Nazareth Chronicle

4. The Galilean Chronicle

5. The Hingepin of the Drama: Calvary

6. The Third Motion: The Church Is Born

7. The Jerusalem Chronicle

8. The Antioch Chronicle

9. The Galatian Chronicle

10. The Grecian Chronicle

11. The Ephesian Chronicle

12. The Roman Chronicle

13. The Post-Captivity Chronicle

14. The Fourth Motion: The Son Returns to Earth

15. The Final Motion: The Godhead in Eternity Future

Epilogue
Bibliography

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What follows is the foreword and introduction. If you like what you read and wish to order this book, ordering instructions appear at the end of this page.

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Foreword

Frank Viola has done the world a huge favor. He has straightened out the NT (New Testament) for us! The Bible we have today is fully inspired, yes. But the order of the NT epistles iswella complete jumble. Instead of being arranged by date, they are arranged by size!

I have a scholarly friend who owns over a thousand books. He went on vacation once, leaving his home in the care of a brand-new but eager housekeeper. When he returned home, she had lovingly arranged all of his books by size. He was not pleased.

Yet that is exactly what you and I face every time we open our NTs. It is a bit of a Chinese puzzle. In actual fact, Galatians was the first letter that Paul wrote. But someone in the second century threw together todays NT by putting the four Gospels and Acts at the beginning, then arranging Pauls letters by putting his longest letter first (Romans) and his shortest letter last (Philemon). Then he tacked on all the other letters of the NT. That was not an inspired process! And no scholar claims it was.

But even if someone today were to arrange the NT in order, with the earliest books first, you would still have a lifetime chore on your hands. You would still have to figure out why each book was writtenjust who all those strange-named people were who the NT authors wrote toand how those letters were used to accomplish Gods eternal purpose all over the Roman Empire! In short, you would still not be able to see the magnificent forest of the early church for all the trees (the blizzard of  names, cities, voyages, and letters). But all these things will come alive for you as Frank unfolds the NT story year after year.

Even more important, you will for the first time see and feel the epic drama of the Eternal God unfolding His master plan for the ages. Before your very eyes, the chaotic swirl of first-century people and events will fall into place, and you will be greatly encouraged. Why? Because the drama is not yet over, friend.  Today, you and I are once again being called to complete what our brothers and sisters began in Century One: to show forth and express Jesus Christ in open, saving, healing communities that are building the Kingdom of God.

It is our high privilege today to complete the victory in the battle they began.  The drama goes on, with the initiative in your hands and mine.

Yet we cannot truly appreciate the immensity of the work we are engaged in unless we pick up the story line at its start. So let us go back with Frank to the earliest beginnings, in the time before time, when the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world.

James H. Rutz, author
MegaShift
Colorado Springs, Colorado

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Introduction

Have you ever read your Bible without understanding what you were reading? Have you ever read any of Pauls letters and wondered, What did he mean when he penned this verse? Whom was this letter written to specifically? What were the people like to whom he wrote? Where was Paul when he wrote, and what was he feeling? What events prompted Paul to write this letter in the first place?

Have you ever read through the Book of Acts and thought to yourself, When exactly did these events take place? And at what point in this riveting epic did Paul, Peter, James, John, and Jude pen their letters? How do all of the Books in the NT fit together? What special historical events were occurring during the first century, and what influence did they have on the early church?

This book answers these questions and more. What is contained in these pages is a chronological-sociological-historical synopsis of the entire NT. Its purpose is to provide you with a panoramic view of the first-century church in its chronological and socio-historical setting. The value of having such a view is priceless.

First, understanding the story of the NT church will give you a whole new understanding of each NT letteran understanding that is rich, accurate, and exciting. You will be ushered into the living, breathing atmosphere of the first century. You will taste what went on in the writers hearts when they penned their letters. The circumstances they addressed will be made plain. The people to whom they wrote will come to life.

No longer will you see the Epistles as sterile, complicated reads. Instead, they will turn into living, breathing voices that are part of a living, breathing story. The result? You will grasp the NT like never before! NT scholar F.F. Bruce once made the statement that reading the letters of Paul is like hearing one side of a telephone conversation. This book reconstructs the other side.

Second, understanding the story will help you see the big picture that undergirds the events that followed the birth of the church and its subsequent growth. This big picture has at its center an unbroken pattern of Gods working. And this pattern reflects Gods ultimate goalwhich is to have a community on this earth that expresses His nature in a visible way. This theme of a God-ordained community constitutes a unifying thread that runs throughout the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Therefore, reading this book will not only help you to better understand your NT, it will also give you a fresh look at Gods eternal purposethat which is closest to His heart.

Third, understanding the story of the NT church will supply you with the proper historical context which will enable you to accurately apply Scripture to your own life. Christians routinely take verses out of context and misapply them to their daily living. Seeing the Scripture in its proper historical context will safeguard you from making this all-too common mistake.

Fourth, understanding the story will forever deliver you from the cut-and-paste approach to Bible study that dominates evangelical thinking today. What is the cut-and-paste approach to Bible study? It is the common practice of coming to the NT with scissors and glue, clipping and then pasting disjointed sentences (verses) together from Books that were written decades apart.

This cut-and-paste approach has spawned all sorts of spiritual hazards. One of them being the popular practice of lashing verses together to build floatable doctrines. Another is that of proof-texting to win theological arguments. (A vast majority of Western Christianity behaves as if the mere citation of some random and de-contexualized verse ends all discussion on virtually all subjects.)

The Medievals called this cut-and-paste method a string-of-pearls. You take one text, find some remote metaphorical connection with another text, and voil, an ironclad doctrine is born! But this is a pathetic approach to understanding the Bible. While it is great for reading ones own biases into the text, it is horrible for understanding the intent of the biblical authors.

It has been rightly said that a person can prove anything by taking Bible verses out of context. Let me demonstrate how one can biblically prove that it is Gods will for believers to commit suicide. All you have to do is lift two verses out of their historical setting and paste them together:  

And he [Judas]went and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5). Then said JesusGo, and do thou likewise (Luke 10:37b).

While this is an outrageous example of the cut-and-paste approach, it makes a profound point. Without understanding the historical context of the NT, Christians have managed to build doctrines and invent practices that have fragmented the Body of Christ into thousands of denominations. Understanding the sequence of each NT Book and the socio-historical setting that undergirds them is one remedy for this problem.[1]

I have stated four reasons why rediscovering the NT story is a worthwhile endeavor. But there is one more reason. There is a very good chance that it will revolutionize your Christian life and your relationship with your Lord.

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For ordering information, go to www.ptmin.org/untold.htm