1. It contains 27 books that are divided into four categories: Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Revelations. Number of books in each category are four, one, twenty one and one respectively.
2. It contains over 180,000 words, 7959 verses and 260 Chapters. It makes up 75% of the Christian bible. The other 75% is the Old Testament.
3. There are four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Luke is the longest of the four (19,482 words) and Mark the shortest (11,304 Marks).
4. Although Matthew appears first in the New Testament. It is believed that Mark was written first. Some scholars disagree though with this mainstream assertion and believe that both Luke and Matthew preceded Mark and are derived from a lost Q source..
5. The Gospels tell the story of Christ – his life and ministering, death and resurrection.
6. The first three Gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke – have a similar style and appear to come from the same or a related source. They are known as the synoptic gospels. Best approximate dates for writing Mark - 70CE, Matthew and Luke – 80CE, John – 100CE.
7. Most scholars believe the gospels were a product of a school of thought rather than a single character.
8. All the Gospels were written in Koine Greek although there may be an Aramaic source behind this.
9. Matthew appears to be written to a Jewish audience while Luke focuses on a Gentile readership.
10. The Pauline Epistles are actually older than the Gospels. There are 13 books here of which the Letter to Galatians ad Second Thessalonians are the oldest (49-51 CE).
