“Compare and Contrast the Portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John.”

The four gospels gives a description of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The word ‘gospel’ itself means to bring or announce good new. To Christians the good news is that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for their sins so that they will become children of God through faith in Christ. The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John paint a powerful and decisive portrait of Jesus Christ. Although, they are not a complete biography of Jesus’ life, they record the truth of who Jesus is.

Gospels are narratives of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. There are many gospels but only four were included in the Christian cannon: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The canonical gospels have many similarities and differences. There are many different theories as to why these differences exist beginning with the observations of Clement, Augustine, and Papias – three fathers of the church. Clement of Alexandria was said to have held a traditional view that Matthew and Luke, the gospels with genealogies, were written first. Augustine of Hippo believed that the gospels were written in what is now their canonical order and that each writer relied upon the work of the previous author. Thus, John derived from Luke who derived from Mark who derived from Matthew. Papias thought that Mark used Peter as a source for much of his gospel. In the late 18th century, church scholars began to challenge the long held views that the gospels were written before any of the other New Testament writings

There are four gospels and the authors who wrote them are: Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John. The ways that the gospels are different are, they all have different angels, the four gospels have given details over Christ’s life and Ministry. Each author is presenting different parts of aspects of Jesus’ Character. We need these four gospels because each gospel has different information that the other gospels don’t have. They have different answers and perspectives and that’s why we have four different gospels that tell us different angels over the life of Christ.

Matthew starts with a traditional genealogy to show prominence, connecting Jesus to King David ancestry, then his birth, and adding early life details of Jesus in the first two chapters. Heading through the rest of the Gospel, the ministry of Jesus begins to take prevalence. The accounts of Christ’s teachings center on “dialogues” such as the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7). Next, the assignment and function of the disciples (Matthew 10); followed by a collection of parables visually displaying examination of the church (Matthew 18); an address about insincerity and

All four of the synoptic Gospels are all unique because they were each written by a different author and for different audiences. Each one had their own sources that reflected different stories of Jesus and the way he lived. They each complement each other with their similarities and differences and help complete our understanding of who Jesus was and is for us today.

The book of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and the first book of the Gospels. Even though the book of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, it is a reinterpretation of the book of Mark. Matthew focuses on the rejection of Jesus by his own people, Israelites. In Scriptures in the World Religions, Coward states that the book of Matthew implies Jesus is the Son of God, which fulfills the Old Testament prophecy (Coward 36). The Book of Matthew is broken down into many different discourses. The first discourse is the account of Jesus’s birth and his family history. Moreover, the second discourse is the account of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist with the temptation of Satan. In addition, the third discourse recounts

The Gospels are essential texts of the Christian faith as they chronical the life of Jesus Christ. And yet they are surrounded by controversies because they seem to conflict each other. But, in the case of the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John, this concern is truly misplaced. Looking closer at the texts shows that they are not entirely dissimilar. Both texts are based in tradition and their relation to Jesus. The texts come from the same founding idea but the difference lies in their uses of tradition to convey different messages to the audience. The Gospel of Matthew uses tradition to provide legitimacy to Jesus and paint him as a continuation of tradition, whereas the Gospel of John alludes to traditional ideas to show Jesus as a

The Synoptic Gospels have different depictions on Jesus due to their sources. It is purposed the Two-Source theory, which Matthew and Luke used information from Mark, and another source called Q (ABD, 263). It shines light on how each gospel writer came to their conclusion of Jesus in their work. There is data to help make this theory be plausible. Matthew and Luke have parallels in them from using information from Q, but

The four Gospels are viewed as their testimonies on Jesus Christ. Matthew, Mark, and Luke demonstrate similar materials and main ideas in their books, which is why they are called the Synoptic Gospels, though each of their stories is unique. However, John’s Gospel is different from the other Gospels by the way he presents theology. For example, in the

The Gospel of Matthew is placed at the very beginning of the New Testament. It shares the story and teachings of Jesus. It has been estimated that at least one-third of Jesus’ recorded teaching is found in the parables (Wiersbe, “Windows On The Parables”, p. 15). The Gospel of Matthew contains over 23 parables. In these parables, Jesus shares stories that everyday people could relate to and understand the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”. Parables are shared in all three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, but there are many that are exclusive to Matthew, particularly in Matthew 13.

Yet, it is Matthew’s Gospel that most profoundly shapes our Christianity. Proclaiming himself the fulfillment of the Old Testament law and prophecies ( In response to John’s question Jesus affirms that He is the Messiah (11:1-6)) , he moves us forward into the New Testament with his teachings. This is the Gospel that gives us Jesus the teacher. It is here that he presents us with the truth, the way and the life expected of his disciples. The Beatitudes, The Lord’s Prayer, the parables and so much of what we hold central to the practice of our faith would be

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 .

Matthew, Mark, and Luke offered various versions to the same story of Jesus returning to his hometown, teaching his community, and then the community reacting to his teaching; while these stories had their similarities, they also had their differences. Luke’s account differed the most widely from the other two, and by adding prophetic material from Isaiah, Luke expounded upon the reason for Jesus being rejected by his home town and offered a reasonable and more detailed explanation for the behavior and the townsfolk’s reaction presented in both Matthew and Mark. The language and meaning within Matthew, despite some differences, resembled that of in Mark, however the language and meaning within Luke deviated from the example set forth in Matthew and Mark.

One must recognize when studying and reading the four Gospels is that each Gospel was written for a specific audience. The Gospel of Matthew was written for the Hebrew audience, the Gospel of Mark was written for the Roman audience, the Gospel of Luke was written to the Greek audience, and the Gospel of John was written towards the Gentile, Christian audience. The purpose of the four Gospels and their variances allows the reader to obtain a more comprehensive picture of Christ. Each author has a different background and personality as well as temperaments. One of Matthew’s purposes was to show that Jesus was the Messiah from his fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and genealogy. Matthew 's was written to convince the Jews that Jesus is the promised King, the “Son of David,” who would forever sit upon the throne of Israel (Matthew 9:27; 21:9). Mark omits the birth and genealogy of Jesus, and is a more result oriented Gospel. Luke’s Gospel attempts to cover the events of the life of Jesus in an orderly sequence (Luke 1:3). The Gospel of John has a broad audience compared to the other Gospels.

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark are two of the four, which talks about Jesus’ ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension into Heaven. When we discuss the Gospels, we tend to look at the message being conveyed to the reader. In both Matthew and Mark, the message is clear: Jesus of Nazareth was born from a virgin who did not come to abolish the laws of Moses, but to fulfill them and to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah. Furthermore, Jesus had come into the world to save all of humanity from sin. Matthew and Mark discuss, in detail, the various events in Jesus’ life, from their perspectives. Both Matthew and Mark share various talking points, from the calling of His disciples, the cleansing of the diseased and impaired, to the final moments of Jesus’ life, as well as His death and resurrection. However, upon reading the two books, one can find distinctive differences between the two.