When Paul speaks of meeting the Lord in the clouds

.docx

School

Saint Leo University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

161

Subject

Religion

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by BrigadierBeaver3591

Identify any historical purpose(s) behind the writing of Mark's and Matthew's Gospels. Include a reference to any historical factor mentioned in the recommended sources that may have triggered the writing of both Matthew's and Mark's Gospels as well as references to statements within both of the Gospels themselves. The word Gospel means Good News, and it is a term used to define the written accounts of Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament. The Four canonical Gospels describe the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, His miracles, and His teaching (Stanton 15). It is believed that all four Gospels were written soon after the Jesus’ death. Therefore, they were created for the early Christian communities with the purpose to retell the life of Jesus, to make people’s beliefs stronger and to bring them hope (Stanton 16). One of the most important historical events described in both texts is the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by Rome soldiers which has happened approximately in 70 AD (Mulder et al. 330) It is important to understand the historical background and purposes of this description in Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospels for their correct understanding and interpretation. By beginning, his composition “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1,authors translation) and by identifying within the framework of a single sentence (1:2-4), John the Baptist with the Isaianic “voice” crying in the wilderness (Isa 40:3), Mark sets then entire work of Christ within a (Deutero-) Isainanic ambit (Watts, 1997). Matthew’s Gospel is the first one, and it makes a link between the Old and the New Testaments. Matthew was writing to and for the Jews and focuses his work on the idea that Jesus is the King of the Jews; “: Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2). There was two reasons Matthew wrote his book. The Gospel of Matthew was written as a message of encouragement and strength for the Jewish Christians. Despite Jesus being killed by Jews, Matthew first message is to strengthen Jewish Christians faith in the knowledge that Jesus was the Messiah. The second

reason he writes his book is to show that Jesus was truly the Messiah. He shows this by recording Jesus\s genealogy and quoting the Old Testament. “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:” (Matthew 1:12). It was written for both Christians and non-Christians for the Jewish community with the purpose author included “affirmations of the Torah in the Gospel” (Sim 5). The author used this event to show the connection between Torah and Christianity and to confirm Jewish people that Jesus was a real Messiah. Therefore, it could be stated that Matthew’s Gospel was created to turn more Jewish people to Christianity (Martin 93). Probably, it was the main purpose of writing the story. The Gospel of Mark is probably the earliest of the three synoptic gospels to be written. Although it is disputed by some, the most widely held solution today to the Synoptic Problem, the problem of the relationship between the three synoptic gospels, is that Mark focuses on the idea that Jesus was a servant. This can be seen by his lack of geneaology of Jesus throughout his gospel. Mark\s work is meant to encourage Christian throughout Rome, despite being persecuted for faith. He goes on to say that persecution is the price that Christians must pay for following Jesus. In the book of Mark, Jesus says exactly that “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said; “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35). Mark’s gospel was written first and was then used as a source by Matthew and Luke. Mark interprets the gospel in both the gospel of Jesus in the sense of the “good news of God” proclaimed by him (1:14; cf. Rom 1:1) and the gospel about Jesus in the sense of its intimate identity with his person and saving work. Thus, to lose one’s life for the sake of the gospel or to suffer the loss of house, family, and possessions in a similar cause is the same as suffering these losses for the sake of Jesus (“for my sake” 8:35; 10:29). The climax and crown

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help