The Gospels

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The Gospels

• Central Sources for Understanding Jesus

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Sources on Jesus

• Gospels Foundation of Christianitys
  understanding of Jesus
• Contain the traditions of Jesus life, death, and
  Resurrection.
• Set up the rest of the New Testament.
• Not the oldest writings in the New Testament.

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How do we Read the Gospels?

• The gospels are part of the faith sources of
  information about Jesus What we read is
  revealed to us from believers.
• The gospels were written under the inspiration of
  the Holy Spirit in a particular time and place
  it was influenced by early Christian
  life/culture.
• Although the Gospels are not objective
  biographies of Jesus! They are testimonies of
  faith.
• The gospels concern is religious truth, the
  deeper meaning God intends to reveal to people
  through historical events.

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• Gospel means Good news
• Greek word evangelion
• Gospel writers evangelists
• Wrote down the good news

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Evangelion

• The term evangelion figures in the vocabulary of
  the Roman emperors who understood themselves as
  lords, saviors, and redeemers of the world.
• The messages issued by the emperor were called in
  Latin evangelium
• The idea was that what comes from the emperor is
  a saving message, that it is not just a piece of
  news, but a change of the world for the better.
• A message endowed with plenary authority, a
  message that is not just talk, but reality.

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• Evangelium, gospel, is not just informative
  speech, but performative speech
• But action power that enters into the world to
  save and transform.
• Mark speaks of the Gospel of God
• The point is that the world is saved by God not
  by emperors.

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The Gospels

• The gospels differ in terms of author, time of
  writing, audience, and purpose.
• Each is unique, but none tells the full story.
• To gain a fuller understanding of Jesus, we must
  consider all four gospels together.

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EVANGELISTS

• SYMBOLS OF THE FOUR

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Symbols of the Evangelists

• Christian tradition has long connected the
  authors of the four canonical gospels with the
  four living creatures that surround Gods
  throne, as described in Rev 46 in the following
  pairs
• MatthewHuman/Angel
• MarkLion
• LukeOx
• JohnEagle

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Medieval Art

• It was common for medieval artists to depict
  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John writing (or
  holding) their Gospel accounts of Jesus.
• It was recognized that each of the Gospels
  provided a distinctive portrayal of Jesus
• Each evangelist came to be associated with a
  symbolic animal thought to be appropriate to his
  account.

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• Therefore, artistic portrayals of the evangelists
  sometimes included a picture of an animal
• Or actually depicted the evangelist himself as
  the animal

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Mark

• Portrayed as a Lion
• Emphasizing Jesus royalty
• Royal power
• leadership

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Matthew

• Portrayed as a man/Angel
• Emphasizing Jesus humanity
• A humble and meek man

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Luke

• Portrayed as an Ox
• Emphasizing Jesus servility
• Taking up his priestly character

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John

• Portrayed as an Eagle
• Emphasizing Jesus divinity
• pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering
  with His wings over the Church.

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Quiz
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Quiz 4 5

• Matching
• a. Mark b. Matthew
• c. Luke d. John
• 1. 2. 2. 3. 3.

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Quiz 4. Lk 5-Jh

• Matching
• a. Mark b. Matthew
• c. Luke d. John
• 1. - Mt. 2. Mk. 3. Lk

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Review questions.

1. What does the word gospel mean?
2. What is another name for the gospel writers?
3. List and describe the three stages of the
   development of the gospels
4. In what year was Jesus born?
5. When was the gospel of Luke written?
6. Which is the oldest gospel?
7. What was written first, the gospels or the
   letters of Paul?
8. Do the four gospels have the exact same
   information?

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Quiz historical sources

• Word bank Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger,
  Suetonius you will use one of the names twice
• A Roman historian that blames Christians for a
  fire that burned Rome.
• In his work, he narrates how Claudius expelled
  the Jews from Rome.
• He is a Jewish historian.
• He is a Roman governor who wrote letters to
  Emperor Trajan.
• He describes Jesus as a wise man a doer of
  wonderful works.

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Quiz historical sources

• Word bank Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger,
  Suetonius you will use one of the names twice
• A Roman historian that blames Christians for a
  fire that burned Rome. Tacitus
• In his work, he narrates how Claudius expelled
  the Jews from Rome. Suetonius
• He is a Jewish historian. Josephus
• He is a Roman governor who wrote letters to
  Emperor Trajan. Pliny
• He describes Jesus as a wise man a doer of
  wonderful works. - Josephus