New Testament Survey

1

• New Testament Survey
• Class 2
• The Gentile World
• the glory that was Greece
• the grandeur that was Rome

2
To Helen

• Helen, thy beauty is to me
• Like those Nicean barks of yore
• That gently, oer a perfumed sea,
• The weary way-worn wanderer bore
• To his own native shore.
• On desperate seas long wont to roam,
• Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
• Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
• To the glory that was Greece,
• And the grandeur that was Rome.
• - Edgar Allen Poe

3
Emphasis on Beauty

• Helen and Homers Illiad
• Art, Architecture, Drama, Athletic competition
• 1 Cor 924-25

4
Emphasis on Truth

• Philosophy the Big 3
• Science, Physics, Math, Geometry, Medicine,
  History, Ethics, Politics
• Acts 1716-21
• 1 Cor 118-25

5

• Alexander the Great (photo by Andrew Dunn)
• Impact of Greek culture on the Jews
• Acts 1824-25 (Apollos)
• Universality of the Greek Language (John 1920)
• NT written in Greek

6
Grandeur that was RomePax Romana (27BC 180 AD)
7
Temple of Artemis (photo by Zee Prime _at_
cs.wickipedia)

• Religion in the Roman Empire
• Greek gods
• Acts 1923-28
• Greek Philosophy
• Epicureans (pleasure)
• Stoics (reason)
• Cynics (nonconformity)
• Platonists (ideals)
• Mystery religions

8
Moral conditions in the Roman Empire

• Example of the Emperors
• Divorce, abortion infanticide
• Greeks and homosexuality
• Roman stage debauchery
• Roman arena violence
• Rom 118-32

9
Conclusion

• The Roman Empire was a place full of people in
  desperate need of good news and mercy in a
  society with a universal language, political
  stability and good transportation across a large
  area of many nationalities.
• . . . at the right time, Christ died for the
  ungodly.
• -Rom 56