The Gospels: The First Four Books Of The New Testament

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.

The Gospel according to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The story explains how the Messiah, Jesus, was refused by Israel and finally sent the disciples to preach the gospel around the whole world. As Matthew wrote for his fellow Jews, he wrote his Gospel in the language Jesus spoke, Aramaic, which led early Church Fathers to believe Matthew’s was the first Gospel. On the other hand, the Gospel of Mark teaches that Jesus is the Son of God who assumed human nature. Mark wrote the gospel in Greek for a Gentile-Christian audience, which was undergoing persecution, perhaps in Rome. A central theme is that following Jesus often means that a Christian must suffer like Jesus did. Mark’s Gospel points out that Jesus accepted this important title, but that he was reluctant to let people know his identity. (Matthew 26:26-30 and Mark 14:22-26 )

Gospel is an old English word meaning “good news.” When comparing the four gospels they are all unified, but each gospel can have slight differences to them. Whether is literary structure, length, how many teachings, important events, different significance, geography or chronology; they all are correlated to tell us Jesus’ story, in their own way. In like manner, God didn’t give us one explanation from an confined individual. Rather, God educates us about the broad richness of Jesus’ life through a numerous prophet-witnesses. Moreover, God works through well-documented and a valid history, not through confidential revelations to a single person. The prophetic witnesses of the Gospels endorse the truth that God himself is speaking. Each Gospel

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 first three gospels are sometimes called the 'synoptic' (same view) gospels. This is because they each cover teaching and miracles by Jesus that are also covered in another account. John, writing later, recounts Jesus' other words and miracles that have a particular spiritual meaning.

In his article, Beare focuses not only on what is written in Matthew 10, but he rather he spends much energy on how the three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) interpret/write about the mission of the disciples—which makes sense considering the title of his article. Throughout, Beare further discusses the importance of the missions the disciples were being sent on—coming to the conclusion that the authors of the three gospels aforementioned found the missions to be of lesser importance (if they happened at all is another topic) than the instructions Jesus gives them on how they are to conduct themselves. This revelation by Beare helps the reader to shift their focus from the view of the disciples “preaching the word” to an understanding of the intrinsic message Jesus was trying to communicate. Translation of the original text holds hardly any space in this article, although it does make an appearance somewhat infrequently, rather, our author, Beare, makes clear the point that what is written as sayings from Jesus would be nearly impossible to get fully accurate—thus these may be taken with a grain of salt.

Other than focusing on the composers of the Gospels, The Case for Jesus also discusses the nature of religion during the time the books were being composed, and how this can be used to prove their validity. The Gospels were composed during a time where Christianity was still taking root, and most Christians lived in a small community that placed a lot of emphasis on family and the truth (Brannon & Pitre, 2016). Their belief in telling only what is right was so strong that they ended up rejecting other gospels because they could not determine their validity. An example of these books is the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Peter which were also rejected by devout Christians because most of them were forgeries and were in no way written by the people whose names they bore. The Lost Gospels narrated very peculiar accounts of Jesus’ life, such as the claim that Jesus would use his powers to kill other children who displeased him while playing, or the part in the Gospel of Thomas which suggests that women who changed their genders to become men would automatically enter heaven after their death, as this is what Jesus said to Peter (Brannon & Pitre, 2016).

According to our text, the New Testament is comprised of four primary literary forms: Gospels, History, Letters and Apocalyptic (Harris, 2014). The Gospels was made up of four books written by four separate authors who tell of Jesus from four individual viewpoints based upon their understanding of who Jesus was, yet it does not cover the lifespan of Jesus, only certain accounts. Therefore, it is not considered historical or a biography but is defined as ‘sui generis’. The historical counts of the life of Christ is noted in the book of Acts. This book tells of the history of the early church but by all accounts doesn’t use traditional criteria most often noted in historical writings. The Epistles are known as letters. These letters were thought to be written by Paul and his followers. The letters were often written to the various churches rather than people or individuals. They were also written to address issues, concerns or to offer praise for specific acts or behaviors. Thus, letters or epistles addressing sin were more of the rebuking nature to bring correction and accountability in the effort to restore the parishioners to appropriate, God-fearing behaviors. Whereas, other letters may be to praise churches for exemplifying model behaviors that could be used for strong witnessing. The latter form is known as the apocalyptic writings. This form tends to deal with the End Times and was suspected to have been written during the time of church persecution. The book of Revelation in particular, was written around the 1st century when Christians were said to have been killed for their faith. It is during this time that the question was raised regarding God’s role and whether or not he would win. It was stated emphatically that God would win and would redeem his people.ReferenceHarris, S. L., (2014). The New Testament: A Student’s Introduction (8th ed.). Dubuque:McGraw-Hill Education.

Mark: The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life from when he was baptized by John the Baptist until the days of his death, and his resurrection. Mark was the second of four Gospels although some Scholars argue and insist Mark was the first Gospel written 1. Mark was written by John Mark in AD 65, with a target audience of Roman Christian beleivers 2. Mark was written in a unique manner in regards to literary genre, as it contains figures of speech, and portray life situations in a passionate story like setting that can make the reader feel as if he is there 3. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, however it is written in a manner that emphasizes more so on Jesus’s works than Jesus’s words 4. The key theme in Mark is to portray the life of Jesus Christ as the son of God 5, and the purpose was to show the human qualities and emotions that Jesus displayed from anger (Mark 3:5), and compassion (Mark 1:41). Some of the key events of Jesus Christ’s life in the Gospel Mark include his miracles, his entrance into Jerusalem, the last supper, his arrest and trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension 6. The Gospel of Mark ends with his instruction to the eleven Apostles “And he said unto them “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:16), and his ascension into Heaven (Mark 16:19).

The Gospel of John tells of Christ’s ministry in a behind the scenes fashion, as being a follower of Christ. It tells of the miracles Jesus performs and the meaning to his miracles as God’s presence is with him, as well as, the glorification of Jesus, his crucifixion, and towards the end, his resurrection. Appearing to his disciples, telling them of the news of the Kingdom of God. “As The Father sent me, I send you.” (John 20:21) Why would John write this version so differently from the others?

On the other hand we have John’s accounts which are not anything like that of Matthew, Mark, or Luke’s recordings. When John records the stories of Jesus’ life they are in a way that seems to only be looking to bring glory to Jesus. This is not to say that the other Gospels are not doing the same thing, but John’s Gospel seems to reflect the way John wanted the world to see Jesus.it is as if John was only concerned with his own thoughts and feelings towards Jesus and less about making a history

The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament in the Bible, and is a Gospel narrative. The narratives provided by the Gospels in the New Testament are here to provide us with descriptions of the life, death, and resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ, as well as to share His teachings. Like any other narrative, it is important to understand the historical and literary contexts surrounding the Gospel of Matthew, as well as the importance and significance of Matthew itself. As a Gospel, Matthew is here to present us with the narrative of Jesus Christ as our Messiah, as promised in the Old Testament Prophesy. While it is important to evaluate the extensive context surrounding the narrative of Matthew, the meaning behind the narrative can be found through relating it to the various events that are described in the other Gospels. By comparing the Gospels, it is easy to evaluate the underlying meaning and significance, within the context of the Gospels. Because the Gospels were written as narratives to provide us with information on the life and death of Jesus Christ, and all that happened in between, it is important to compare the different accounts described in the Gospels whenever possible. In doing so, it is possible to examine the Gospels within the appropriate context. With 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), it is important to compare them with one another in order to further evaluate the importance of Jesus Christ, as he is the

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