OneYearBibleOnline Discussion

Greetings One Year Bible Forum Readers,

THE GOSPELS: AN INTRODUCTION

Let’s begin our reading of the New Testament with an introduction to the first four books which collectively are called the Gospels. The word 'gospel' means good news. Their names may be familiar to you since each is named after their author; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The first three gospels are sometimes called the 'synoptic' (same view) gospels. This is because they each cover teaching and miracles by Jesus that are also covered in another account. John, writing later, recounts Jesus' other words and miracles that have a particular spiritual meaning.

All four gospels present Jesus as both the Son of God and son of man. They all record His baptism, the feeding of the 5,000 from five loaves and two fishes, Mary's anointing of the Lord Jesus, His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, His betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. However, each writer does so in a slightly different way, recording additional details or emphasizing one aspect more than the others.

FOUR BOOKS, FOUR REPORTERS

Each book has a different approach to recalling Jesus’ life because each had a different target audience. This is so similar to today when we have a news event and we have four reporters on the scene giving four different perspectives on the same event. We will go deeper into this and provide a summary of each book when we begin reading each. Here is a brief Bio on each author/reporter to get us started:

Matthew was one of the first twelve disciples of Jesus (Matthew 9:1; 10:1-4) and therefore an eye-witness; he records more of Jesus' teaching concerning God's heavenly kingdom than the other writers, for example the entire Sermon on the Mount.

Mark was Peter's son (I Peter 5:13, possibly spiritual son), who wrote down what Peter said about who Jesus was, what He did, where He went and what happened; Mark's gospel is therefore Peter's account, an eye-witness account, written down by Mark.

Luke was a doctor and a co-worker with Paul (Colossians 4:14; Philemon v24). Because some spurious stories about Jesus were circulating, Luke decided to interview local eye-witnesses and people who had followed Jesus closely. Luke collated all the interviews into a single account, recording details not mentioned elsewhere, for example regarding the conception and birth of Jesus and Mary's extended family, as you might expect of a doctor.

John was one of the first twelve disciples of Jesus and therefore an eye-witness (John 19:35); John brings out the spiritual significance as well as recording the practical aspects of Jesus' works and words. John lived to be older than any of the other writers. It is therefore likely that he was familiar with their accounts and wanted to supplement theirs with additional teaching and miracles by Jesus which had a bearing on the situation towards the end of the first century AD.

WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO WRITE THE GOSPELS?

It is an amazing fact when you realize that the earliest Christians did not have any written records of the life and teachings of Jesus. The Gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were not written until nearly forty years after Jesus' death. This makes sense because during the course of Jesus' public ministry, no one felt the need to make a written account of what Jesus did or what he said. His disciples who walked with him could pass to others what they remembered about him. The witnesses who personally saw what he did as the Messiah believed that he would soon bring a new kingdom. Both groups were in shock when Jesus was put to death on the cross, for it seemed as though his cause was lost.

Then Jesus resurrected himself, thus proving that he really was the Messiah and God in the flesh. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he commanded that his disciples were to continue his teachings and to make disciples of all nations.

Matthew 28:18-20 (New International Version)
18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

They had their marching orders. His followers realized that since no one could know the timing of his return to establish his eternal kingdom, Jesus’ teachings had to be preserved for future generations. What he had done and taught during his time here on earth had to be passes on. This would provide the evidence that was needed to convince unbelievers that Jesus was the Messiah, and the faith of those who already believed in him needed to be confirmed and strengthened. An authentic record of his life on earth would be a great help to those who were expecting his return, and with the passing of the years, the need for such a record was greatly increased.

GOOD HISTORIANS USE AVAILABLE RESOURCES

As you read through each book, you will begin to see the similarities and differences between the accounts. The Gospels are not all alike, so it can be difficult to harmonize completely all of the materials contained in them. They agree on many points but they appear to differ on others. This is called the "synoptic problem" and scholars have a few hypothesis that addresses the origin of the Gospels and that accounts both for their agreements and for their differences. The most widely held view maintains that the Gospels, in their present form, are based very largely on older source materials in existence at a time not far removed from the events that they record. The authors of the Gospels used the same sources thus the similarities between the Gospels. Likewise, when other sources were used by only one of the authors we can explain the differences that we find when comparing the different accounts. That the earliest source materials were written by people who were also witnesses of Jesus. Most important in all of this is God’s inspiration on Jesus’ apostles which gives considerable weight to their historical reliability.

The Gospel of Mark is generally agreed to be the oldest of the three Synoptic Gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — and was used as one of the sources for each of the other two. The outline of events as they occur in Mark is followed by each of the other biographers, and about two thirds of the material found in Mark is also present in both Matthew and Luke. This similarity suggests very strongly, although it does not prove, that the authors of Matthew and Luke took their materials from Mark. There is also reason to believe that both Matthew and Luke had another source in common. Both of them report a considerable amount of Jesus' teachings in addition to what is contained in Mark. To account for this extra material, it is assumed that a document composed of Jesus' sayings was in existence and was another source for Matthew and Luke. Scholars refer to this other source with the letter Q, the first letter of the German word Quelle, which in English means source. Because there is some unique material in Matthew, possibly its author used still another source M, which was not used in any of the other Gospels. The same holds true for the Gospel of Luke, and scholars use the letter L to refer to his special source. This hypothesis concerning the origin of the Synoptic Gospels appears to be confirmed by the introductory paragraph found in the Gospel of Luke, which states that several lives of Jesus have been written and that Luke's author's purpose is to write a definitive biography about Jesus.

TIME TO READ
Now with all of this scholarly material firmly tucked into our brains, let’s begin to explore each book for ourselves and begin to absorb the teachings of Jesus. As we encounter events that are recorded in other accounts, we will draw them into view for additional information as well as comparing other scripture references to bring all into focus. God Bless you as you read His Word