The New Testament refers to the part of the Bible, which includes the sacred Christian texts written by the holy disciples of Jesus Christ. There are 25 canonical books of the New Testament, which are accepted by the entirety of the Orthodox Church.
All books of the New Testament can be divided into specific categories. So, there are law-positive, teaching books, as well as one historical and one prophetic.
Law-positive books of the New Testament
Among the law-positive books of the New Testament are the four gospels written by the apostles Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. These divinely inspired creations tell about the earthly life of Christ, His miracles. The Gospels bring the good news to people about the coming into the world of the Savior, and also explain to mankind the essence of the New Testament Christian law, which consists in love for God and for one's neighbor.
Historical Book of the New Testament
The only historical book of the New Testament is the creation of the Apostle Luke, called the Acts of the Holy Apostles. This book tells about the spread of Christianity after the ascension of Christ. It describes the life of the Christian community, the activities of the apostles immediately after the ascension. An important place in the book of Acts is occupied by the description of the missionary travels of the Apostle Paul.
Teaching Books of the New Testament
The teaching books of the New Testament include the epistles of the apostles. There are seven conciliar epistles addressed to Christian Churches, as well as 14 separate epistles of the Apostle Paul to specific Christian communities. The conciliar epistles include: the conciliar epistle of the apostle James, two epistles of the apostle Peter, three epistles of John and one epistle of the apostle Jude. The apostle Paul became the most prolific author among Christ's disciples. His authorship in the New Testament has the following letters: to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, two to the Thessalonians, two to the Apostle Timothy, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Jews, to the Colossians, to the Apostle Titus, to the Apostle Philemon. The epistles and epistles of the Apostle Paul to the Churches contain instructions about Christian life, and the pastoral epistles of the Apostle Paul also contain specific indications of the activities of an Orthodox priest.
Prophetic Book of the New Testament
The only prophetic book of the New Testament is the Revelation of the Apostle John the Divine (Apocalypse). In this book, the Apostle John in images describes the fate of the world of the end times. The book is very difficult to comprehend, therefore, a person who has recently been baptized is not recommended at first to read this part of the New Testament.
