This New Testament quiz has 60 free questions with answers and covers all 27 books, not just the famous scenes. You will find the nativity and the Magi, the parables and miracles of Jesus, the passion week from Gethsemane to Golgotha, the resurrection appearances, Pentecost and the early church in Acts, Paul's conversion, journeys and letters, and the seven churches, horsemen and numbers of Revelation. Questions start with basics anyone who has sat through Sunday school will know and build to details for people who have read the whole text: who fell asleep during Paul's sermon, which book is the shortest, what a tetrarch was, and which apostle was chosen by lot. It works for youth group, Bible study, a church quiz night or a family game, and there is nothing here that requires a particular denomination. Every answer has been checked against the text and standard reference sources, and each question shows an explanation and its citation once you have answered.
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Q 01How many books make up the New Testament?
27
All of them were written in Koine Greek, the everyday Greek of the Roman world, and the earliest surviving manuscripts date from around the late second century.
Q 02In what language was the New Testament originally written?
Greek
The word 'gospel' itself comes from Old English for 'good news', translating the Greek euangelion.
Q 03Which Gospel do most scholars believe was written first?
Mark
Early tradition says it records the preaching of the chief apostle as set down by a companion.
Q 04The Gospel of Luke and which other book are widely thought to be a two-volume work by the same author?
Acts of the Apostles
Together they make up more than a quarter of the New Testament, and tradition names the author as Luke, a doctor who travelled with Paul.
Q 05Which Gospel builds Jesus' ministry around seven 'signs', ending with the raising of Lazarus?
John
It is also the Gospel that names an unnamed 'disciple whom Jesus loved' as its source.
Q 06Which archangel tells Mary she will bear a son, in the scene called the Annunciation?
Gabriel
The scene is described only in Luke's Gospel and became one of the most painted subjects in Western art.
Q 07Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, is described in Luke as what relation to Mary?
Her relative
She and her husband Zechariah were childless until old age; the exact relationship, often called 'cousin', is not specified.
Q 08According to the first Gospel, King Herod ordered the killing of all boys in Bethlehem up to what age?
Two years
The Magi had been warned in a dream not to report back to Herod, and Joseph fled with the family to Egypt.
Q 09The Gospels describe John the Baptist's diet as locusts and what?
Wild honey
He also wore clothing of camel's hair, and he is the only saint whose birth and death are both commemorated in the Roman martyrology.
Q 10Which ruler had John the Baptist beheaded after John condemned his marriage to Herodias?
Herod Antipas
He was tetrarch, meaning 'ruler of a quarter', of Galilee and Perea, and Josephus says the execution took place at the fortress of Machaerus.
Q 11In John's Gospel, Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in which town?
Cana
His mother pointed out that the wine had run out, and the water was drawn from stone jars used for Jewish purification.
Q 12Which Sea of Galilee village was the base of much of Jesus' ministry and Peter's home?
Capernaum
A house there was progressively turned into a church in the 4th and 5th centuries, and the ruins of its synagogue still stand.
Q 13The Feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle apart from the resurrection that appears in how many Gospels?
All four
John adds that the five loaves and two fish were supplied by a boy; the separate Feeding of the 4,000 appears only in Matthew and Mark.
Q 21Nicodemus, who visited Jesus by night, was told a person must be what to see the kingdom of God?
Born again
He appears three times in the fourth Gospel, later helping Joseph of Arimathea prepare Jesus' body for burial.
Q 22The name Gethsemane, the garden where Jesus was arrested, comes from Aramaic words meaning what?
Oil press
The garden lies at the foot of the Mount of Olives, and Judas knew to find Jesus there because the group visited it often.
Q 23Which disciple cut off the ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant, during the arrest of Jesus?
Peter
All four Gospels mention the ear, but only John names both the swordsman and the servant.
Q 14At the Transfiguration, Jesus is seen talking with which two Old Testament figures?
Moses and Elijah
Origen was the first to suggest the pair stood for the Law and the Prophets; Peter, James and John were the witnesses.
Q 15Zacchaeus, the tax collector of Jericho, climbed what to see Jesus over the crowd?
A sycamore tree
He then promised to give half his possessions to the poor; tax collectors were despised as collaborators with Rome.
Q 16How many days had Lazarus been dead when Jesus raised him?
Four
The village of Bethany is today called Al-Eizariya, which translates as 'the place of Lazarus'.
Q 17In the parable of the Good Samaritan, which two people pass the wounded man first?
A priest and a Levite
The road ran from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and the story is Jesus' answer to the question 'Who is my neighbour?'
Q 18In the parable of the Prodigal Son, what job is the younger son reduced to before he returns home?
Tending pigs
Jesus tells it in Luke 15 alongside the lost sheep and the lost coin, to critics who complained he ate with sinners.
Q 19The Samaritan woman whom Jesus meets at Jacob's Well had had how many husbands?
Five
The meeting is at Sychar in John 4, and Eastern tradition gives her the name Photine.
Q 20The Sermon on the Mount opens with which set of sayings?
The Beatitudes
The sermon is the first of five long discourses that structure Matthew's Gospel.
Q 24For how many pieces of silver did Judas Iscariot betray Jesus?
Thirty
Matthew says he tried to return the money and hanged himself, and the priests used it to buy the Field of Blood.
Q 25Which prisoner did the crowd ask Pilate to release instead of Jesus?
Barabbas
All four Gospels describe a Passover custom of releasing one prisoner at the crowd's request.
Q 26Who was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus?
Simon of Cyrene
Mark names his sons Alexander and Rufus, suggesting they were known to the early church; Cyrene was in modern Libya.
Q 27The crucifixion site Golgotha is translated in the Gospels as 'the place of' what?
A skull
The Latin equivalent gives us the name Calvary.
Q 28Which woman is honoured as the 'Apostle to the Apostles' for first witnessing the resurrection?
Mary Magdalene
The church for centuries conflated her with the repentant sinner of Luke 7, a reading it later abandoned.
Q 29On the road to Emmaus the risen Jesus walks with two disciples. Which one is named?
Cleopas
The pair only recognise him when he breaks bread at supper, and his companion is never named.
Q 30The Great Commission, Jesus telling followers to make disciples of all nations, closes which Gospel?
Matthew
It is delivered on a mountain in Galilee to the eleven remaining apostles.