This page contains a short description of each book of the New Testament.

Matthew

Matthew's work focused on answering questions about Jesus, such as whether or not He was in fact the Messiah. The overall theme is that Jesus Christ is King.

Mark

While Matthew wrote for the Jews, Mark wrote for the Gentiles. As a result, he didn't include things like genealogies or condemnations of Jews sects. Instead he focused on Jesus' role as a preacher in Galilee and Perea.

Luke

Luke was a physician, and it shows in his focus on medical matters and individuals. He was not an eyewitness to the life of Jesus, but did consult people who were. Notably, this is the only Gospel to describe Christ's birth and childhood. Luke focused on Jesus' humanity primarily.

John

John's approach is different than the above Gospels, as it deals with the theological aspects more than anything else. There are no parables here, instead John focused on seven signs that reveal the person and nature of Jesus Christ.

Acts

Written by Luke, this records the spread of Christianity after the arrival of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to Paul's arrival in Rome. During these thirty years, the religion that would known as Christianity took shape.

Romans

This is a letter by Paul to the church in Rome. It contains the doctrine of justification by faith and discusses a number of issues including spiritual gifts, original sin and respect for government.

1st Corinthians

Paul received a troubling letter about problems with the church in Corinth, and this work is his reply. As such, it deals with practical problems and issues that were being experienced there. These include a case of incest, questions about marriage and public worship.

2nd Corinthians

At first the church at Corinth didn't change their ways, and Paul responded with a more pointed letter. That letter has been lost to time, though the church came around afterwords. This book is a followup to the favorable outcome and a defense of Paul's authority.

Galatians

Paul again defends his authority in this letter to the Galatians. The main topic however is that salvation is by faith and God's Grace, not by works.

Ephesians

This appears to have been a letter intended to be shared and passed around to spread the Good News. Written by Paul, the central theme is the believer's relationship to God and others.

Philippians

While imprisoned, Paul wrote this letter to the church at Philippi. The theme of this short letter is the humility, prize and peace of Christian life.

Colossians

The church at Colossae was preaching a corrupt doctrines, so Paul responded with this letter. The simple theme is that any teaching, practice or intermediary that detracts from Christ is against the faith.

1st Thessalonians

Paul defends himself once again in this letter to the Thessalonians. This time the accusation is that Paul was only ministering for his own profit. Paul also talks about the events of the last days toward the end of the letter.

2nd Thessalonians

There was some confusion about Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians; people thought that the end of the world was at hand, and so stopped working.

1st Timothy

This was a letter from Paul to Timothy over proper behavior in the church.

2nd Timothy

In this second letter to Timothy, Paul described a soldier of Christ; that is, a faithful, ready and obedient follower of God.

Titus

Paul's letter to Titus discussed the workings of the church, such as selection of elders and duties of ministers.

Philemon

Paul wrote this short letter to intercede on behalf of a slave that had stolen money from his owner and run away.

Hebrews

The theme of this book is the superiority of Christianity and Christ. However, who wrote it is a mystery.

James

Believed to have been written by Jesus' half brother James, this book focuses on the role of faith and works in everyday life.

1st Peter

Peter's first letter is to Christians worldwide and talks about the meaning of Grace in everyday life.

2nd Peter

Peter's second letter acts as a reminder of the truth of Christianity by using false teachers as examples.

1st John

Written by the same John as the Gospel of John above, this letter confronts a growing movement called Gnosticism by pointing out the high standards called for among Christians.

2nd John

This is a very short letter written to remind people to follow Christ's commandments to love one another. It concludes with a few paragraphs warning about false teachers.

3rd John

This was a response to a problem about traveling teachers. Diotrephes had refused to receive them, while Gaius had shown them hospitality. Unsurprisingly, Gaius was the one who acted correctly.

Jude

Jude wrote this letter as a response to another growing movement within the church. This growing movement was anything but Christian, and Jude was pretty blunt about condemning this movement.

Revelation

John described a vision of an apocalypse in this book. There are many different views about the contents of his vision. Some take it as a panorama of history, others take it as a prophecy already fulfilled and others take it as prophecy that has yet to happen. Many popular images of evil (the four horsemen, the number of the Beast, the Antichrist etc) hail from the imagery in this book.