The Gospels: Early Christian Study

Luke was a medical doctor, a missionary, and evangelist, a historian, a researcher, and the writer of the third Gospel. The book of Luke was written in a formal literacy introduction noting his purpose in writing, his methodology, and the attempts others had made in such writing. Luke is the author of the book and it was written in AD 60 in Caesarea. According to Hindson and Elmer Luke’s purpose is to give “an orderly sequence” of the events about Christ’s birth, life, and sacrificial death followed by his resurrection and ascension back to heaven. The occasion calling for Luke to write his Gospel was that Theophilus, and other new believers like him, needed a clear account of the life and ministry of Jesus as an aid to confirm his faith

Many people do not know that loving your enemy is the heart of the gospel. Although loving and praying for your enemy may seem impossible at times, it is written in the gospel of Matthew that loving your enemy is loving God. In Matthew 5:43, Jesus teaches about loving your enemy, praying for your enemy, and shows examples of loving your enemy.

The medieval period consisted of many techniques of artwork that inspired materials we use in present day. Not only are medieval techniques used to inspire present day art but architectural design, clothing and interior decorating also. Medieval artwork inspired concepts and techniques to portray symbolism and stories in other ways than just paint. So, what mediums were most common in medieval art? Some common mediums used during the medieval period were metalwork, gold rendering and jeweled settings. The Lindau Gospels Cover exemplifies these popular techniques and represents the Middle Ages artistry greatly.

The Synoptic Gospels are composed of the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. These three gospels covered many of the same stories; yet, they disagree with each other on various details within certain stories. Also, numerous events that are in Mark, is not in Matthew or Luke and vice versa. Many historians have concluded that Mark was the first of the three gospels written and that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source to their own gospels. The Synoptic Gospels were first written in Greek, which would suggest to some ambiguity within Mark, Matthew, and Luke due to certain perceptions and translations within the Greek language. One ambiguity that is shown within the Synoptic Gospels dealt with Jesus’s view on marriage and divorce. Using

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.

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

The new testament contains four (4) accounts of the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as presented by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The 3 accounts are similar, while Johns bible presents Jesus in a unique way. These differences exist because Matthew and Luke got their information from Mark and John got his information from another source, maybe John did not have access to the other gospels or he chose not to use them. No one really knows the source of John’s gospel and we don’t know for sure who wrote the gospels. Scholars refer to the authors as Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, this may not even be their real names. The Gospel were not first hand accounts except for Mark. John did not seem to have known the existence of the other

Beare, Francis Wright. "Mission of the Disciples and the Mission Charge: Matthew 10 and Parallels." Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 89, no. 1, Mar. 1970, pp. 1-13.

The synoptic gospels have a major similarity in their writing and the content written. Dr. Luke’s writing was different from the rest of the gospels because he tried to give a humanly explanation. He portrays Jesus in his perfect human nature basing on the ministry that he came to save all human beings. Mark has portrayed Jesus as a divine servant of God. He gives no explanations of what he was doing. Mark 14:3-9 explains about a woman who went to see Jesus in the house of Simon the leper. The woman anointed Jesus’ head but those present thought it was a waste. Jesus then replied telling them, “She has done what she should have for she has anointed my body for burial (mark 14:9). Luke 7:36-50 on the other hand talks of a woman

The gospel of Luke is one of the four gospels pertaining to the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke is the most extensive historical account of the life of Jesus. It was originally written for a certain Theophilus, probably a Gentile of high social standing, and intended to inform him extensively of the life and work of Christ. Throughout this gospel the person of Jesus is presented as the perfect Man who always lived according to the will of God. And the account that Luke offers us of his life appears divided in two basic parts: the coming to the world of the Son of God and the return to his glory. It narrates from before the birth of John the Baptist, until the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When judging the historical reliability of the gospels many factors come into paly. In judging the historical reliability of the Gospels the kind of the gospels is important in understanding the intentions of the writers concerning the historical value of the text. When ranking the following sayings of Jesus:

The first three Gospels were Matthew, Mark, and Luke and considering they were so similar the scholars called them Synoptic Gospels. They were the same stories and often similar sequence and in similar wording. The Synoptic Gospel is in contrast to John and can present the Jesus story from the same point of view. Or as they stated it can be read together, “with one eye.”

In Matthew Christ is bestowed as King, as Servant in Mark, the Son of Man in Luke and therefore the Son of God in John. Every Gospel has several similarities, each portray Christ's earthly ministry, His death and resurrection, teachings and miracles, though every Gospel has some variations. Each of the writers gave a special image of our one Lord and Savior. For instance, Matthew adds to his account what Mark leaves out. Every Gospel presents a special facet of Christ's life on earth. Along the four gospels provide us an entire image of His life.

Form criticism puts its focus on the period of oral tradition and sees the Bible as a collection of traditional stories and sayings which were spread from word of mouth and eventually preserved in writing. Source criticism is the quest for the earliest sources which lie behind a given biblical text. Redaction criticism is a study of the collection, orchestration, editing, and modification of Biblical sources, often used to recreate the community and purposes of the authors at that time.

In the Bible, the four Gospels push different ideologies, views, lessons and different stories that center around the central figure of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke main themes center on Universalism, social justice, compassion for outcasts, the role of woman and the Holy Spirit.(Hauer and Young) These parables are able to connect to the context of when Luke was able bring these stories together in 85 CE. The Gospel was most likely written in Greek speaking area located in the Roman empire.(Coogan et al.) This time of stability allowed for the proliferation of Christianity and Gospels such as Luke. The passages that will be discussed will mainly focus on compassion for outcast seen in Luke 16:19–31 and warning against greed in Luke 12:13-34. Luke 13:6-9 focuses on a fig tree talks of the opportunities people and if they use them properly. Finally, the last parable is 7:11-17, which focuses on holy spirit and the possibilities for miracles and the importance of life. These parables in Luke are able to give a social justice commentary that can make a person feel compassionate for the poor and the reckoning they would receive in the afterlife if they didn’t follow Jesus’s teachings. As, well the story is able to push across a message that will everlasting importance to people. This has led to the Gospels of Luke becoming one of the main 4 Gospels and one of the most highly regarded of the Gospels. (Hauer and Young)