Around 2,000 years ago, the Christian faith began in Israel, and many people documented the historic uprising of Jesus of Nazareth and the growth of the religion. Before Jesus, the Hebraic Old Testament provided Jews with a guideline for one of the first monotheistic faiths, and Jews believed that God would send a Messiah to save His people. Once Jesus came, confusion surrounded Jesus, but amidst the doubt of the public Jesus taught the world about love and faith. Christian people documented His teachings and four biographies, the Gospels, began the process of the writings of the New Testament. Historians and scholars today question the reliability of the Gospels as many doubts about the reliability of manuscripts copied for 2,000 years. …show more content…
Matthew, Mark, and Luke were inserted into the Canon as they each gave several accurate stories of Jesus’ life (Strobel, 1998). Matthew focuses on the background and historic setting of Jesus’ time before transferring over to the teachings of Jesus. This format allows for Christians to have a quick, historical based introduction to Jesus before the author includes significant moments such as the Parable on the Mount and the Great Commission. The first Gospel targeted Jews and tried to convince God’s people that Jesus was the Messiah. Mark offers little introduction and almost immediately by jumping into the description and events of Jesus’ ministry. This book earned its spot in the Bible by addressing the persecution Christian people will face. Luke targeted the Gentiles of the Christian faith and by using Jesus’ teachings, the author tried to convince people that Gentiles hold an important role in the spread of the Christian faith. The last Gospel, John, approaches the writing much differently. John provides more of the facts and signs that Christians may use in a more statistical approach to the story of Jesus (Walvoord, 1983). For several hundred years, the Canon of the Bible developed and the Church leaders eventually settled on the four Gospels known now, to help represent
The Gospel of Luke was written by a Greek- speaking Christian. It was not written to replace the Gospel of Mark, but as a new account written for an audience under different circumstances than Mark’s community. The church was becoming more Gentiles than Jews. Most people in Luke’s community were not familiar with the Jewish traditions that were referred to by many preachers. Many members of the community were well off as well. This community struggled to follow a church that had a Hebrew core. These issues are what influenced Luke’s writing. Luke wanted his community to know that they were all included in God’s plan for salvation even though in history the Jews would have been the first to know. A few of the major themes of Luke’s Gospel were: salvation for all, mercy and forgiveness, and modern
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are all telling a story, a very special story. You can read all of them separately and they will all share a similar theme. All three of them show us a common outlook on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. However, when you read them all together, back to back, you see that where they all tell the same story, they also show us different perspectives on those stories. The writers of these specific books took the same story and they wrote with different outlooks.The books don't contradict each other, they tell the same story. The Synoptic Gospels share three things a similar language, the events taking place, and the timeline in which they happened. After reading the three books I've gained some deep personal insights of my own, and have an amazing new view on the true story of Jesus' life and ministry.
Throughout the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, it is apparent that there are similarities as well as differences when it comes to portraying the life and times of Jesus the Christ, the general descriptions of who Jesus was, and the sayings and deeds of Jesus during his short stay on this earth. Scripture scholars highlight that each Gospel writer viewed Jesus from a different perspective.
The Gospel according to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The story explains how the Messiah, Jesus, was refused by Israel and finally sent the disciples to preach the gospel around the whole world. As Matthew wrote for his fellow Jews, he wrote his Gospel in the language Jesus spoke, Aramaic, which led early Church Fathers to believe Matthew’s was the first Gospel. On the other hand, the Gospel of Mark teaches that Jesus is the Son of God who assumed human nature. Mark wrote the gospel in Greek for a Gentile-Christian audience, which was undergoing persecution, perhaps in Rome. A central theme is that following Jesus often means that a Christian must suffer like Jesus did. Mark’s Gospel points out that Jesus accepted this important title, but that he was reluctant to let people know his identity. (Matthew 26:26-30 and Mark 14:22-26 )
The Gospels of Mark, Luke and Matthew are called the Synoptic Gospels because they all share many of the same stories including some verses that are word for word identical. Most scholar believe that the Gospel of Mark was written first with the Gospel of Luke and Matthew having been written later using Mark and other sources. Since the authors of Luke and Matthew had Mark as a guide while writing, the differences between the three gospels are purposeful and have theological importance. The selected verses in the three gospels contain the same general structure with Jesus asking who the public and his disciples think he is and then correcting them. However, the additions, removals and revisions Luke and Matthew contain change the focus of the argument and have theological implications.
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the recounting of the teachings of Jesus and were preached in many regions that had been conquered by Rome. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the recounting of the teachings of Jesus and were preached in many regions that had been conquered by Rome. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the recounting of the teachings of Jesus and were preached in many regions that had been conquered by Rome. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John which were written in Greek, were the recounting of the teachings of Jesus and were preached in many regions that had been conquered by Rome.
There are many similarities between the Gospel of Luke, Mark, and Matthew. But one difference is the way in which they are written. Luke unlike the other two begins his Gospel with a introduction called a historiographic preface. This is a Greco-Roman literary device used by authors to express the depth of the research and scholarship included in the work. Ehrman states "they commonly refer to the sources that were at his disposal, and they not infrequently suggest that the final product of the author's labors, the volume being written on the subject." (Ehrman 96). This brings up another difference which is the style in which Luke writes. The text states that the author of the Gospel of Luke was much elequate and fluent in ancient greek
It focuses on the personality of Jesus. John presents to us who Jesus is. The opening verses of the four-fold gospels the writers provide us with initial signs to the interests that guide their particular versions of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. St. Mark's gospel opening seems to be the most compacted recounting the baptism of Jesus to begin his identity as the son of God. The opening in St. Matthew's gospels begins with a genealogy that links Jesus as a descendant of both Abraham and David.
The entire Bible is centered around the coming of one man. And that man is Jesus Christ. Four different men recorded the story of his ministry on the earth. These stories were recorded and placed in the Bible at the beginning of the New Testament. These books are now known to us as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And even though they are technically four different books, they all tell the same story in the hopes of getting the same message across.
A Gospel in general, is a textual document written in narrative form of the good news and teachings proclaimed by Jesus to announce the power of God. Mark’s Gospel is one of four others (Matthew, Luke and John), where each Gospel has its differences in structure, language and theological slants. Mark’s Gospel is divided into three main sections: The Ministry of Jesus, Jesus’ prologue of foretelling his Passion, and his Passion and Death. Mark set out
Mark: The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life from when he was baptized by John the Baptist until the days of his death, and his resurrection. Mark was the second of four Gospels although some Scholars argue and insist Mark was the first Gospel written 1. Mark was written by John Mark in AD 65, with a target audience of Roman Christian beleivers 2. Mark was written in a unique manner in regards to literary genre, as it contains figures of speech, and portray life situations in a passionate story like setting that can make the reader feel as if he is there 3. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, however it is written in a manner that emphasizes more so on Jesus’s works than Jesus’s words 4. The key theme in Mark is to portray the life of Jesus Christ as the son of God 5, and the purpose was to show the human qualities and emotions that Jesus displayed from anger (Mark 3:5), and compassion (Mark 1:41). Some of the key events of Jesus Christ’s life in the Gospel Mark include his miracles, his entrance into Jerusalem, the last supper, his arrest and trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension 6. The Gospel of Mark ends with his instruction to the eleven Apostles “And he said unto them “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:16), and his ascension into Heaven (Mark 16:19).
The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament in the Bible, and is a Gospel narrative. The narratives provided by the Gospels in the New Testament are here to provide us with descriptions of the life, death, and resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ, as well as to share His teachings. Like any other narrative, it is important to understand the historical and literary contexts surrounding the Gospel of Matthew, as well as the importance and significance of Matthew itself. As a Gospel, Matthew is here to present us with the narrative of Jesus Christ as our Messiah, as promised in the Old Testament Prophesy. While it is important to evaluate the extensive context surrounding the narrative of Matthew, the meaning behind the narrative can be found through relating it to the various events that are described in the other Gospels. By comparing the Gospels, it is easy to evaluate the underlying meaning and significance, within the context of the Gospels. Because the Gospels were written as narratives to provide us with information on the life and death of Jesus Christ, and all that happened in between, it is important to compare the different accounts described in the Gospels whenever possible. In doing so, it is possible to examine the Gospels within the appropriate context. With 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), it is important to compare them with one another in order to further evaluate the importance of Jesus Christ, as he is the
The Gospels narrate the life of Jesus in four seperate, yet similar, accounts by different authors. While there are other theories as to which Gospel came first (the Synoptic Problem), the most widely accepted now is the Markan Priority (Neal, 26). This theory states that Mark came first with Matthew and Luke each using it as their basis (Neal, 26). An interesting fact about Mark is that while it shares 76% of its content with Mathew and Luke, the ending is lacking what the latter two have (Neal, 27). While Mathew and Luke detail Christ’s resurrected body appearing to the disciples and issuing the Great Commission in the end, Mark ends his account with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome finding Jesus’s grave empty and a young
Following the ministry of Jesus here on earth, the several accounts were recorded in the first four books of the bible. The gospel, as they were referred to have similarities in all aspects and they tend to contain similar stories of Christ’s mission compared to one another. In spite of that, it is only the first three books of the gospel that actually follows a certain order and appears similar; that is Mathew, Mark and Luke. Interestingly, the fourth book of the gospel gives the accounts of the gospel of Christ on a different manner. It is more of the spiritual effect of Christ’s mission on earth as opposed to the normal narration of the events .
These words have been stuck in my mind for weeks. After preaching a message at a hometown friend’s church, these were the only words I heard from one particular stranger. That is, these are the only words he said to me before giving me a pat on the back and handing me a crumpled up ball of cash (both of these gestures were received completely unsolicited). The sermon I delivered that morning was titled "The Impossibly Great Commission.” Looking back now, I could have probably worded that better, but the message was clear: we are purposed for a reason and we cannot fulfill that purpose in our own strength. More simply put, "We need Jesus."