Development Of The Gospels Research Paper

The process by which Scripture has been preserved and compiled is one whose history is worth noting. The early church had many opportunities to share the Good News of Christ via word of mouth, but from the time of Christ’s resurrection until the mid-second century, there had not been a single culmination of writings considered to be essential for the purposes of

Should one fully read the opening four Gospels of the New Testament, he or she can find many similar patterns of literature and themes affording much attention to detail and study. This is what someone such as Merriam Webster would define as the ?Synoptic Gospels?. So, what are and how can we explain the differences and similarities among synoptic authors Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the gospel, John? Which Book was written first? To what extent did the Evangelists depend on oral tradition, written sources, or each other? The phenomenon and mystery of these similar but unique Synoptic Gospels has for centuries challenged some of the best minds of academia and the church, stirring up much scholarly

“The Church has always and everywhere maintained, and continues to maintain, the apostolic origin of the four Gospels. The apostles preached, as Christ had charged them to do, and then, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they and others of the apostolic age handed on to us in writing the same message they had preached, the

     The gospels may differ from one to the next but they still all carry the same basic message and considering that the writers were all speaking to unique and separate audiences. This enabled at that time, many different groups of people to relate to Jesus' universal theme. The people at that time might not have been totally united in religion or politics therefore having a personalized version of the gospel allowed them to understand how God was communicating directing with them.

Similarly, the topic of the Synoptic Gospel and its problems relate to the questions surrounding this core issue. With the Synoptic Gospel, similarities are found across all three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Stories were accounted for and verbal identical versions were found too, so the speculative questions that revolved around this matter, were how can this phenomenon be explained? Who copied from whom? Or was there an older document that acted as a source? The same type of questions can also be said for the Documentary Hypothesis as the same themes are running through this

(4) The textbook lists several things that we should keep in mind when considering the authenticity of the Gospels. Briefly summarize what they write about the cultural role of

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.

The word 'gospel' means good news. There are four gospel accounts in the New Testament:

This means that during the second stage many of Jesus’ sayings were not simply treated as things to be memorized. They were to be used as living words that would eventually guide Christian communities in all new situations. Third Stage: The oral traditions about Jesus were written down. If Marks gospel was already being used, why would Matthew and Luke want to write their respective Gospels as well?

The story of Jesus' life is described and depicted in each of the four Gospels in the Bible. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are also known as the synoptic books, which means see things the same. There are some beliefs that Mark was written as a summary of the book of Matthew, but more scholars actually believe now that Mark was the first of the Gospels to be written. The book of Mark paints a vivid picture of Jesus' life, and all that he carried out on earth. Many examples of Jesus healing, forgiving and teaching are given throughout the book.

A lot about the gospels remains unknown to scholars. But the similarities help understand what texts were available to who. The “two-source hypothesis” already depicts and early Christianity where some gospels, such as the Gospel of Mark and the ‘Q’ scroll were easily accessible to enough people that the other synoptic gospels could be based on them. There may be many similarities in the gospels that help pin together the life and death of Jesus, but many of the differences prevent a crystal clear

The most known books of the New Testament are the Gospels. These four books are written by four different people, yet they all align with the same content. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John present the good news as eyewitnesses. Although the canon was not yet formed, the agreement by the four men on the actual occurrence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus aligned to the others. The Gospel had been known in the churches. Alexander Souter states, The Gospel was something well known in the churches, a document or body of documents, to which it was sufficient to appeal without further specification.” The letters written by Paul in the New

The New Testament was canonized over a period of approximately four hundred years (Stotesberg). From AD 50-125, the books which in the end constitute the New Testament were written. Simultaneously, other books, which did not end up being included in the final canon, were produced. These books are the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didache, I Clement, the seven letters of Ignatius of Antioch, etc. (“Development of the Difficult Canon”). As more and more books were written, Christians realized that it was imperative that they gather and consolidate this material before it became lost. Sometime before AD 100, ten of Paul’s letters were gathered and combined into their own canon. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were combined to form another canon soon after the canonization of Paul’s letters. The Gospels and Paul’s letters became the main body of a new group of Scriptures that would soon become the New Testament. Soon Acts, I Peter, I John, and Revelation were inserted into this body of Scripture. Following this, the rest of the books were added to the New Testament (Barker).

The majority of the information that we have today, describing the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, is contained in the four Gospels.

The word "gospel" is a translation of the Greek word "euangelion" which means "good news. The first three books in the New Testament (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) are often referred to as the Synoptic Gospels (from Greek synoptikos, "seen together") They bear greater similarity to each other than any of the other gospels in the New Testament. Along with these similarities come some differences among the gospels, suggesting that each gospel was written for a specific audience and for a specific purpose. This paper will examine the resurrection of Jesus, while identifying the significant differences between Mark, Matthew and Luke. This paper will also analyze the differences to suggest the prominent theological perspective each gospel author