Deck 26: The General Epistles and the Book of Revelation

Question 1

1. Discuss Jesus' superiority to all things Jewish in the Epistle to the Hebrews. To what, exactly, is Jesus superior? What is the author's point in underscoring this? Is this perspective anti-Jewish? Why or why not?

Answer 1

The Epistle to the Hebrews asserts the superiority of Christ to the prophets, the angels, Moses, Joshua, and the Jewish priesthood. Christ brings a superior covenant, a superior tabernacle, and makes a superior sacrifice. Drawing on Platonic thought, this author argues that the old covenant was a foreshadowing of the new, an imperfect reflection of a perfect reality. According to this author, Christianity represents the perfection of Judaism; those who do not believe that Jesus is the messiah, moreover, are not the true people of God.

Question 2

4. The Epistle of James was originally a non-Christian Jewish book. Pick one side of the debate and present the most compelling arguments for it. Keep in mind that the most persuasive arguments anticipate (and answer) counterarguments.

Answer 2

Students who take the affirmative side might discuss the fact that Jesus' name is only mentioned twice in the book and that none of the book is uniquely Christian. The ethical exhortations could have been drawn from Jewish scripture. Students arguing the negative side of the debate could discuss the fact that even though Jesus and his teachings are not directly mentioned, many of the teachings seem to allude to Jesus traditions, especially in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. The book, moreover, serves as a corrective to misunderstandings of Paul's doctrine of justification by faith.

Question 3

1. The epistle of James has very little to mark it as a distinctly Christian document.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

2. The epistle of James was written to oppose Paul's message of justification by faith alone.

Question 5

3. The catholic epistles were not written in response to specific situations.

Question 6

4. Most scholars think Peter wrote 1 Peter but not 2 Peter.

Question 7

5. 2 Peter used the book of Jude as a source.

Question 8

6. Hebrews argues that Jesus is superior to all the angels.

Question 9

7. Hebrews consistently portrays Judaism as a "shadow" of Christian reality.

Question 10

8. Christianity was outlawed in the first century.

Question 11

9. Nero engaged in an empire-wide persecution of Christians in the 60s C.E.

Question 12

10. 1 Peter is written to a community that has been suffering persecution.

Question 13

11. Jude claims to have been written by the brother of James.

Question 14

12. Christianity was originally unified but later divided into numerous sects.

Question 15

13. Most scholars think the Johannine epistles were written by the author of the Gospel of John.

Question 16

14. The author of the Gospel of John also wrote Revelation.

Question 17

15. Revelation was written about a future time long after the author's own life.

Question 18

16. Revelation is an example of a Christian apocalypse.

Question 19

10) Scholars refer to the Johannine epistles using all of the following phrases except

A) catholic.
B) general.
C) universal.
D) Pauline.

Question 20

11) All of the following were probably produced by the same community except

A) the Gospel of John.
B) 1 John.
C) the Revelation of John.
D) the farewell discourse.

Question 21

19) Which early Christian group believed in two Gods: the vengeful God of the Old Testament and the merciful God of Jesus?

A) Gnostics
B) proto-orthodox Christians
C) Jewish Christians
D) Marcionites

Question 22

20) What does the term "heresy" mean?

A) evil
B) to choose
C) to reject
D) to agree with

Question 23

21) Scholars estimate literacy in antiquity to have been __________ percent.

A) 1 to 5
B) 10 to 15
C) 20 to 25
D) 40 to 45

Question 24

22) According to Marcion, the Jewish Law

A) was evil.
B) brought peace and stability.
C) continued to be binding after Jesus' death.
D) was good.

Question 25

23) Which of the following groups thought it was blasphemy to call Jesus God?

A) Marcionites
B) Gnostics
C) Ebionites
D) proto-orthodox Christians

Question 26

24) The Marcionites particularly liked which of the following apostles?

A) Paul
B) Peter
C) James
D) Mary

Question 27

25) The Marcionites believed Jesus came to save people from

A) sin.
B) the Jewish God.
C) Rome.
D) Paul.

Question 28

26) According to some Gnostics, the Old Testament God was

A) perfect.
B) evil.
C) nonexistent.
D) dead.

Question 29

44) 1 Peter reminds its readers all of the following except they

A) have been sprinkled with Christ's blood.
B) are being persecuted because they are sinning.
C) are holy priests.
D) have been born into a new family.

Question 30

76) Apocalypses are rarely

A) first-person narratives.
B) pseudonymous.
C) straightforward and direct.
D) repetitive.