The Accounts of Birth of Jesus as Found in the St.Matthew and St.Luke

The book of Luke is the third gospel book in the New Testament. Luke was the Author as well as a Physician, the only Greek writer of the four Gospels. The theme in Luke is centered around the perfect man Jesus, as being Holy and Righteous. Jesus was also referred to as the Son of Man. The book of Luke speaks about the birth of Jesus to a Virgin Mary and how Joseph wanted to put her away for being pregnant before marriage to him.

In the Gospels according to Matthew and that according to Luke, Jesus’ birth and childhood is narrated. While both of these accounts mention Jesus as not only being the son of Joseph and his virgin wife Mary but also the Son of God, they also have numerous differences between the two. When compared and contrasted many scholars find historical inaccuracies between the two Gospels (especially when it comes to the birth and childhood of Jesus). That being said however, after a closer look at some of the historical problems one may be able to see that they are not nearly as important as the deeper motivation they bring out to the reader.

Compare and contrast the birth stories in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. How do the differences set up distinct theological emphases in each Gospel?

It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.

In the Bible there are 4 different so called eye witness accounts of the life of Jesus Christ which are supposedly written by Matthew and John, two of Jesus’ disciples, Luke, a journalist and historian while Jesus was alive and Mark was a teenage Jew during the time that Jesus visited Jerusalem. Although many scholars do not agree with some of the specific episodes described in these texts, it is still believed that these documents present a fairly accurate portrayal of the life of Jesus Christ. One of the reasons that have to believe this was the time when these texts were written and how close this was to the death of Jesus Christ. It is generally believed that the gospel of Luke was written in the year 60 AD, the gospel of Mark in the year 70 AD and the gospels of Matthew and John within the years 70-100 AD. This is so significant because these books were all written within one generation of the life and death of Jesus Christ and it shows that the people writing these texts were really around to witness the events that they quoted in their texts. Another reason that historians have to believe that these texts are accurate accounts of the life of Jesus is the amount of copies of original manuscripts that still exist today. These images on the screen are just some of the ancient original texts of the bible, all of which were written before 300 AD and all of which still exist today. Although there are no original documents of any of the books of the Bible, there are several original copies by monks whose profession was to accurately copy texts so that they copies of these texts could be distributed amongst many

Jesus Christ is the central figure of Christianity, the only way of salvation and the second person of the Trinity. (Funk & Wagnalls, 2015) The Gospels Matthew and Luke introduce the birth and childhood of God’s one and only Son, Jesus. His story began when the Angel Gabriel visited His virgin mother, announcing that she would give birth to a son, and that she was to call Him Jesus, for He would be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:30-35) The incarnation of the Messiah, was the Word

It can be argued that the similarities and differences of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke can cause the reader to either see both of these accounts to complement one another with their different perspectives or that they contradict one another by certain events being mentioned in one birth narrative but not the other. Different aspects of both of these birth narratives such as the way Matthew and Luke treat Mary, the extent to which they use the Old Testament and the audience to whom they are writing to reveals the authors’ agenda as they allow their culture and own personal beliefs to influence what they write. These factors could be argued to have an effect on the historical authenticity of these texts as it could be possible that they could have caused the authors to twist the truth to fit in with their own beliefs.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the author discusses the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Some people could argue that this story is an argument in favor of lenient immigration policies and international laws, especially those regarding refugees and asylum. Matthew mentions the dream that Joseph had about “an angel of the Lord” (Matthew 2:13) telling him to flee to Egypt with his wife and their new baby because King Herod was searching for baby Jesus in order to kill him since Herod did not want to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. This dream conversation is important because part of the context of Matthew is trying to convince people that Jesus is the Messiah.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the infancy narrative contributes a large sum of background information of Jesus that contributes to the development of Matthew’s Christology. In order to analyze how Matthew develops the Christology, we have to cut the infancy narrative into sections. This paper will discuss background information of the writing of this Gospel, literary elements of Jesus’ miraculous conception that reinforce his Jewishness, how Magi and literary devices help to understand Matthew’s Christology, what important biblical hero the infancy narrative parallels, and what foreshadowing is caused from this infancy narrative. Comparatively, the use of divine intervention in dreams to fulfill prophecy has been a key focus of the infancy narrative in order to create an unusual birth narrative and develop the unique Christology that Matthew envisioned specifically for the Jewish Messiah.

     Who is this man Jesus? Where was he from? What did he do for others and us? A great source of reference to answer this question would be someone who had direct contact with him in everyday life. Someone who saw the daily wonders he created would be the best source for information. Matthew, the apostle, is believed to have written the gospel of Matthew. He was able to experience firsthand all of the amazing miracles that Jesus performed. God inspired his words, and his gospel relates to the other three gospels in overall context. They were written in different formats and styles, but the overall message and story remains constant throughout all four gospels. This creates a strong

All four gospels present Jesus as both the Son of God and son of man. They all record His baptism, the feeding of the 5,000 from five loaves and two fishes, Mary's anointing of the Lord Jesus, His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, His betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. However, each writer

"Therefore, the lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

It is important to know that “In antiquity, dreams were thought to be signs from divine powers exposing their intent” (Plaut, 388). This view toward dreams makes Joseph’s gift very valuable. Throughout the writing we see that “Dreams play an important role and hint at unusual developments” within the story (Plaut, 360). The dreams come in three different episodes, each episode contains two dreams. This is one form of repetition that is used with regard to the dreams (cfr. Humphreys, 97). The first set of dreams occurs at the beginning of the narrative. Joseph has a dream and he goes to share it with his brothers: “There we were binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf” (Gen. 37:7). The brothers are extremely disgusted with Joseph and they see his dream as a purposeful attempt to mock them and show his power over them (cfr. Levenson, 75). They already do not like him because he is the favorite son, but they hate him even more after his dream. The second dream which occurs within this episode is similar to the first. This time Joseph describes the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him. Joseph’s brothers and father take exception to his dream.

This first volume contains 39 books, and 929 chapters: almost identical to the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible. Interpretation of the scriptures are more about God ‘The Father’, himself, but lays the foundation for the second volume the New Testament. Originally written in Greek about 45 AD, this volume contains 27 books and 260 chapters. Its scriptures tell the story of the life of Jesus, believed by Christians to be the Messiah, Son of God in human form, and sent by God to fulfill the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament.

The title "Christ" is used most often for Jesus in throughout Luke and Acts. “Christ” also served as foundation in constructing Jesus’s journey from earth to him being exalted [1, pg 14]. It refers to Jesus as the Anointed One of the Lord, the Messiah. The title was first used in Luke 2:11, and the strength of this title was clearly outlined in Luke 1:31-35, which described the role of Jesus as the Messiah. Stating that he was the royal figure promised