The Gospels: The First Four Books Of The New Testament

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

Bible Scholar David Garland points to two possibilities as to why Mark’s Gospel is written in a narrative style or form. Garland believes the Gospel of Mark either came from an oral story circulating in the Jerusalem church or it came from a firsthand account of the Apostle Peter. Some bible scholars point to the idea that the Gospel of Mark was narrativized, so it could be heard rather than be read silently. Bible scholar Robert Tannehill believes the Gospel of Mark may even have been collected and delivered orally before it was ever written down. Michael Licona believes if a certain text appears in all three Synoptics, the Gospel of Mark is the most likely source for Matthew and Luke’s accounts. Licona notes that this rule should not be held hard and fast, since Mark may also have been using an oral story while Matthew and Luke choose another source or omitted material where it differs in each of their Gospel’s. The Apostle Peter seems to be the eyewitness account which Mark narrates into a single unified story, which centers around a single central figure Jesus and a group of His closest companions. If the author of Mark was using an oral story to write his gospel from, this would definitely explain its narrative style.

The Synoptic Gospels are the primary three books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three books plus John are entitled the “Gospels.” they record the illustrious news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection the establishment of our salvation. The Gospel of Matthew was record by Matthew an apostle of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark was written by John Mark, a confidante of the Apostle Peter. The Gospel of Luke was inscribed by the physician, Luke was a comrade and traveling companion of the apostle Paul.

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

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called Synoptic Gospels because they gave similar accounts and timelines of the life and death of Jesus. All three follow the same order of events in narrating Jesus' public ministry(Harris, 2015). They all begin with his baptism, followed by his tours. After readers read any of the three stories, they can see how Jesus performed miracles. Proponents of the Griesbach theory believe that Mark is a blending of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke(Harris,2015). They believe this because a few passages mentioned in all three Gospels show Matthew and Luke agreeing against Mark. Supporters believe that Mark was the source for Matthew and Luke. Arguments for this theory state that this theory is a better argument because while

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.

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 Gospels goal is to combine the gospel message with other important material as it relates to Jesus' life and teachings. Collectively to say that Jesus is the one true Savior of the world and through him we could have eternal life.

The Bible consists of four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospel of Mark is considered to be the first gospel written, although some may disagree with that. Written between 50 AD and 67 AD and being originally drafted in Greek. It was addressed to the Gentile Christians and reached out to members of the community being persecuted, even to death for their beliefs and emphasised the humanity of Jesus. There is no known author of the Gospel of Mark, which is why many people believe it is written on opinion. There is a belief that the author of this Gospel may be John Mark. The gospel illustrates Jesus as a humanist and tells us how the Christian population believed Jesus was the Messiah. Mark is able to capture Jesus as not only a healer, but also a teacher throughout the gospel. We believe the Gospel is written to portray Jesus as the suffering servant and to help emphasise Jesus as a humanist.

As stated by The Drama Scripture Finding Our Place, “the Gospel means ‘good news’ and this is the best news there can be: in Jesus, the kingdom of God has come!” (Bartholomew, Craig pp. 126) The Gospel helps us understand more about Jesus and his life; therefore, reading and understanding each Gospel on its own before attempting to put the events of Jesus in order is essential and helpful. An article titled An Overview of the Four Gospels of the New Testament states that the four testaments all reflect different ideas even though they are all the same stories. (FRONTLINE) which I think is very relevant. Luke, Mathew, Mark are said to be the most similar but regardless of how similar they seem they all are special in their own way. They wouldn’t

Spiritual disciplines are learned through periods of time that impose certain boundaries or directions on a believer’s life in order to further their relationship with Christ. In our daily lives it can be difficult to set aside special time to think about divine matters, but it is ever important that we do so; especially in today’s age of never ending materialism. As Blaise Pascal said, “Human things must be known to be loved; but divine things must be loved to be known”. If we don’t specifically set aside time to love the divine things, we will never know them.

Mark, Matthew, John, and Luke are the four gospel writers that describe Jesus in different perspectives. In the Gospel of Matthew, presents the Messiah (Jesus), as the promised Savior, the King of the Jews and talks of wise men and their expensive gifts, but not as shepherds. For Mark, sees Jesus as a perfect servant of god. Also in Mark sees Jesus as mysterious and intentionally keeps people from understanding who he really is by telling the people he performs miracles on a secret. Jesus seems to be a very secretive kind of figure in Mark's gospel.

For a long time, the Gospel of Mark was the least popular of the Gospels, both among scholars and general readers. Mark’s literary style is somewhat dull—for example, he begins a great number of sentences with the word “then.” Luke and Matthew both contain the same story of Jesus’s life, but in more sophisticated prose. Mark also leaves out accounts of Jesus’s birth, the Sermon on the Mount, and several of the most well known parables. Mark became more popular, however, when biblical scholars discovered it was the earliest written of the four Gospels, and was probably the primary source of information for the writers of Luke and Matthew.

The synoptic problem is the problem of the literary relationships among the first three "Synoptic"Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called Synoptic Gospels because they can be seen together and displayed in three parallel columns.The three gospels contain many of the same stories and sayings often related in the same relative sequence, however there are also important differences in the wording of individual stories and sayings, in ordering of some materials, and in the overall extent of each gospel. In some instances, the degree of verbatim agreement or the sequential agreement in the arrangement of episodes and sayings is so strong that one must posit some kind of literary relationship among the gospels.By contrast there are often marked

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)