Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The Four Gospels

Contents:

  • Background
  • Introduction
  • Matthew
  • Mark
  • Luke
  • John
  • Critical verses in the Gospels
  • Some stories in the Gospels
  • Some stories closely related to the Gospels

Background:

For background, see the videos (and articles): 

Introduction:

The gospel is always about Jesus and what Jesus did on the cross for us,
and not about us. We are recipients of God's grace. The word "gospel" means
"good news" but we must embrace it.

The four Gospels in the Bible are:

The first three Gospels are called the Synoptic Gospels because they are written according to a similar pattern. All four Gospels describe the life of Jesus, especially his ministry, and especially The Crucifixion of Jesus and The Resurrection of Jesus.

Note that there is no contradiction between the gospel of Jesus and the gospel of Paul, see time 0:36–3:41 in Bible Q&A With Pastor Paul │April 2024.

Apostle John wrote: 
  • "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him (in Jesus) should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." (John 3:16–18).
  • "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life
    is in his     Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.    " (1 John 5:11–12). To receive the Son
    means to believe in the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
Jesus said: "Come to me (to Jesus), all you who are weary and burdened, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Mat 11:28–30 (NIV)). See Salvation.

We come to Jesus, not because we are good enough, but because he has invited us. See also the meaning of "another gospel" at time 9:21–10:23 in
Bible Q&A With Pastor Paul │April 2024 | (Individual links in description).

Matthew:

The Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew to the nation Israel.
It was written primarily for a Jewish audience. Matthew was very keen to show
that Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecies in the Old Testament, see 
Prophecies that Jesus Fulfilled. Matthew, who was a tax collector, was called
by Jesus to be a disciple (Mat 9:9, 10:3), see Jesus Calling of His Twelve Apostles. 

Characteristics of the Gospel of Matthew:

  • It presents the teacher Jesus. It contains five longer blocks of his teaching:
    1. Chapters 5–7: The Sermon on the Mount.
    2. Chapter 10, 28:16–20: The Great Commission. 
    3. Chapter 13: Some of Jesus' Parables.
    4. Chapter 18: The speech to the congregation.
    5. Chapters 24–25: The speech about Jesus' return.
  • It's arranged by subject and theme, not always chronologically.
  • It contains more quotations from the Old Testament than any other Gospel.
  • It reveals Jesus as the promised Messiah, prophesied in the Old Testament.
The Gospel of Matthew was probably written after the Gospel of Mark, 
probably sometime between the late 50s and 60s AD.

Mark:

The Gospel of Mark was written for Gentiles in Rome, for the Roman mind. It was probably the first Gospel written. The basic reason for that is that you find parts of the Gospel of Mark in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, but not some parts of those Gospels in the Gospel of Mark. 

Mark was very involved in the early church as a youth. He is known as John Mark in The Book of Acts. He was the son of a Mary who had a house in Jerusalem where the Christians used to gather (Acts 12:12). He was also the cousin (or nephew) of Barnabas (Col 4:10).

He accompanied apostle Paul and Barnabas on their first part of
Paul's First Missionary Journey (Acts 12:25), but returned home, to Paul's dismay
(Acts 15:36–40). But it appears that he and Paul were reconciled and worked together on later occasions (Col 4:10, 2 Tim 4:11, Philemon 1:24), see time
38:08–39:42 in Acts 15 (Part 2) 36-41 • The Collision of Opposing Ideas. 

Later he became assistant to apostle Peter. He had a close relationship with him 
and became a spiritual son to him (1 Pet 5:13). This Gospel is more memories and eyewitness testimony of Peter, according to church tradition. It's said that Mark in his Gospel got his facts from Peter and the explanations from Paul.

Characteristics of the Gospel of Mark:

  • Mark addresses a lot of Gentile Christians.
  • It's a Gospel of actions.
  • He focuses on Jesus as a worker, and more on Jesus' deeds.
  • There isn't so much about Jesus as a teacher or the words of Jesus.
  • It reveals Jesus as a servant of mankind.
The Gospel of Mark was probably written sometime between 55 and 59 AD, 
during Nero's persecution of the church.

Luke:

The Gospel of Luke was written to the Greek, to the Greek mind, to the thinking man. The Greeks were the representatives of reason and humanity in the ancient world. According to a consistent ancient church tradition it was written by Luke,
who was a medical doctor (Col 4:14). He is the only New Testament writer of
non-Jewish descent (he is mentioned in a list of Gentiles (Col 4:12–14)). He travelled a lot with apostle Paul (2 Tim 4:11, Philemon 1:24). Luke was with him at his second and third missionary journey, see Paul's Second Missionary Journey and
Paul's Third Missionary Journey. Luke is also the writer of The Book of Acts. Both books are addressed to Theophilus (Luk 1:3, Acts 1:1). Luke wrote the best Greek, together with apostle Paul and the author of The Book of Hebrews.

He wrote it for a two fold purpose:

  1. Historical purpose. It contains a complete historical narrative.
  2. Spiritual purpose. He presents the person of Jesus Christ,
    as the perfect man (Luke 2:40, 52) and the Son of God.

    Characteristics of the Gospel of Luke:

    • Luke is very careful with dating the events (see Luke 3:1–2). 
    • His intention is to write the events in consecutive order (Luke 1:3).
    • He points on the mercy of Jesus.
    • He shows Jesus as the perfect glorified man.
    • He describes several of Jesus' Parables.
    • He describes Jesus' encounters with women and marginalized persons.
    Note: No writer gives a perfect chronological order of the writings.
    For example Luke 3:19–20 occurs after Luke 3:21–22.

    The Gospel of Luke was probably written after the Gospel of Mark, but before 
    the Book of Acts,     perhaps in the early 60s AD. The Book of Acts was written in
    Rome sometime between 62 and 64 AD.

    John:


    The Gospel of John is mainly written to believers to build them up, even though it's very universal used. John who was a fisherman was called by Jesus to be a disciple (Mat 4:21–22, Mark 1:19–20), see Jesus Calling of His Twelve Apostles. It was the last Gospel that was written. It's the most profound Gospel of all the Gospels even though it uses such a simple language. The focus of John's Gospel is to declare Jesus' deity. He is also the writer of The Book of John and The Book of Revelation. 

    Characteristics of the Gospel of John:

    • It reveals that Jesus is God (John 16:28).
    • It reveals Jesus' humanity (John 11:32–36).
    • It gives us the Word of Christ.
    • It's written both in a chronological order and in a logical order.
    • It adds information that's missing in the Synoptic Gospels. 
    • It calls attention to different geographical places and cities.
    The Gospel of John was probably written sometime between the 70s and 90s AD,
    probably from Ephesus.

    Critical verses in the Gospels:


    Some stories in the Gospels:



    Some stories closely related to the Gospels:

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