Read and reflect on passages from Matthew book of the entire New Testament
Journals are to contain your own reflections on the New Testament.
Each reflection is to have the month, date and year above it.
Each reflection is to have the book, chapter and verse or verses.
Your journal will contain mostly your reflections, with a minimum of scriptural quotations.
If your blank journal is 8 ½” x 11,” then write one of your reflection minimum for each book, but write as many pages as you wish.
If your blank journal is smaller than 8 ½” x 11,” then write two pages
must enter their reflections of each New Testament book in the same order we find them in the New Testament, e.g., Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s Epistle (Letter) to the Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, etc.
Books such as Philemon, Jude, and 2nd and 3rd John may be less than one page.
Your notes from class time are not your journal.
Questions to help you reflect on the New Testament
The commentary sections in Called by the Gospel will help answer questions such as:
What did the passage mean to the early Christians? The expository footnotes in the ESV Bible or the Lutheran Study Bible will be helpful here.
Why was it important to them?
Why is it important to Christians today?
Personal observations
How will I be applying it to my life?
Write what I saw: the truth, idea, or principle that became clear
Write what I heard:what God said to me as I meditated on the text
Write what I thought and felt: how the text engaged my mind and emotions
How I responded in prayer: what I said back to God
Write what I am still trying to understand: questions about the passage
Example of good journal entries
January 24th, 2012
Matthew 1:1-17 The genealogies of Jesus. I never noticed the presence of women in Jesus’ genealogy (vv. 3, 5, 6). Each woman has a sexual scandal in her past. Why are they mixed in here?
Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.” Some may say that Matthew’s Gospel is a long, beautiful extended poem about Christ, but it reads as history.
January 29th, 2012
Matthew 3 Jesus’ baptism. Done “to fulfill all righteousness.” What does that mean? (Ask in class!)
Matthew 7:1-20 “Do not judge” in context clearly means that we should in fact judge, after we can “see clearly” (v. 5). The text has the word, “then” we can be aware of “dogs,” “pigs” and “false prophets” (vv.6, 15). The word used here is “recognize” (v. 16).
“Lord, may I always not prejudge people, discern dogs, pigs and false prophets only when I can ‘see clearly.’”