New Testament: Broken down and summarized.

Gospels: The Greek word for gospel (euangelion) means “good news.” The word is not unique to the Bible. It was often used in ancient times to announce military victories. The genre known as the Gospels is the collection of the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each of these is a record that describes Christ’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection. However, it would be best not to think of the Gospels as biographies of Jesus given that very little space is dedicated to his early life and, conversely, a large amount of space is dedicated to his final days. Each of the four accounts was written by a different author for different audiences. Therefore, there is value in studying each account by itself. However, since a single event is often recorded across multiple Gospels, there is value in studying an event across the various records.

Acts: The second category of genre in the New Testament is represented by a single book: Acts. This book is part two of a two-volume composition by Luke—the Gospel of Luke being part one. If Christ is the central figure of the Gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit is the central figure of Acts. If Luke’s Gospel was a record of the work of Christ that made the church possible, Acts is a record of the inception of Christ’s church through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Epistles: the New Testament are as follows: Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, and Jude. Revelation is also a letter, but its uniqueness sets it apart in it its own category. Each letter had a recipient. These recipients could be an individual (Titus), a group of individuals (Philemon), a church (Philippians), a group of churches (Galatians), or a group of believers in general (1 Peter). The epistles of the New Testament are, in some ways, easier to approach than other genres in the Bible. Sometimes the purpose of a letter is explicitly stated and the contents are teachings on a particular subject matter, such as submission to authority (Romans 13) or the husband/wife relationship (Ephesians 5). Additionally, the letters are all written during the time of the church, so modern readers have fewer hurdles in interpretation and application than they might have with, for example, poetic books of the Old Testament.

Revelation: The final genre category of the New Testament is Revelation. Revelation is unique in that it includes three genre types: letter, prophecy, and apocalyptic.

The opening verses of Revelation clearly identify the book as a letter to the seven churches of Asia. Each of these churches receives some form of commendation or condemnation in the early pages. When possible, it is useful to pursue understanding of the historical context when studying any one of these ancient churches.

Revelation is also prophetic. In other words, parts of Revelation predict future events. Although there is much debate about the details and timing of these events, there is a fair amount of agreement on the prophetic nature of the events.

Lastly, Revelation is apocalyptic. Generally speaking, apocalyptic literature provides a vision of events concerning the end of the world. In other words, not only does Revelation predict future events (prophecy), but these particular prophecies deal particularly with the end of world history. Like many of the Old Testament prophetic warnings, Revelation is not merely a pronouncement of the end of the world. Readers of these prophecies are also called to repentance. The doom of the end of the world must also be seen with a view of God’s offer of salvation.

Source:
John Cartwright and Chris Hulshof, Everyday Bible Study: Growing in the Christian Faith, ed. Gabriel Etzel and Ben Gutierrez, 2nd edition, Everyday Bible Series (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2019), 21–22.