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Definitions and Basic Concepts of a Gospel Literature

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom...” (Matthew 9:35).
Required Reading
Bruce, F. F. “Gospels.” Pages 427-430 in The New Bible Dictionary. 3d ed. Edited by D. R. W.
Wood. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1996.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
1. list some of the extra-canonical gospels;
2. explain the socio-political and economic significance of the term “gospel”;
3. justify the presence of the four gospels in the NT canon.

Keywords
Gospel, Diatessaron, Tatian
Apocrypha, Gospel of Thomas

Discussion

A. Definitions
Literally “good news,” the term “gospel” refers to a message proclaimed by the early Christian
preachers. This means that gospel was originally a non-literary terminology. Such a gospel
proclamation encapsulates God’s salvific activity in Jesus Christ on behalf of humankind
(Matera, 354).

Any Gospel book in the New Testament, say Mark, is not in itself “a gospel”; rather, it contains
the gospel which is something to be believed (Hooker, 33). The Greek word euaggelion
(εὐαγγέλιον) denotes primarily “good news“ of victory in battle. The term figures prominently in
stories of the lives of the Roman emperors who were honored as gods. For instance, the birth of
an emperor or his enthronement was proclaimed “good news” (Schweizer, 30). For instance, the
birthday of Caesar Augustus “was celebrated as the euangelion of the new beginning of the
world” (Seyoon Kim, Christ and Caesar, 79).

In the New Testament the writer of Mark presents the “gospel” as the content of the preaching of
Jesus.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news
(εὐαγγέλιον).” (Mk 1:14-15)

βιος - (bios) biography

approach: looking at Jesus' life as a gospel (theory of evolution), first passed on orally until the story was
written down
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why no birth narrative?

- Mark did not hear about it?
- birth story was (perhaps) not important for Mark (as a gospel), but important was his ministry and death/
resurrection
- Mark: a passion story with a long introduction

Paul, who uses the word more often that any other New Testament writers do, refers to it as the
good news of what God has done on behalf of humanity in Jesus.

...the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared
to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus
Christ our Lord (Rom 1:3-4).

In Paul’s writings, gospel is according to its source/origin euaggelion (tou) theou (cf. 1Thess
2:2,8,9; 2Cor 11:7; Rom 1:1; 15:16). Based on its content, gospel is euaggelion tou Christou (cf.
1Thess 3:2; 1Cor 9:12; 2Cor 2:12; 9:13; 10:14; Gal 1:7; Rom 15:19; Phil 1:27).

The OT (LXX) has the verbal form euaggelizomai (εὐαγγελίζοµαι), which means “to bring good
news” or “to announce good news” (e.g., Isa 40:9; 52:7; 61:1; cf. Matera, HBD, 354).

It was only during the time of Justin Martyr (d.165 CE) when the term “gospel” was used to refer
to a literary text rather than an oral proclamation. In Mark, “gospel” describes the subject matter
of the book (1:1). By transforming what had been an oral proclamation about Jesus into a literary
work, he is primarily responsible for the eventual use of the term “gospel” as a generic [literary]
designation (Aune, 17).

Yet, Mark probably had something to address in mind, especially within an imperial context in
which his “gospel” as a writing is located. Note the observation of Ched Myers:

Gospel was a term associated with Roman propaganda. News of a military victory on the farflung
frontiers of the Pax Romana, or of the accession to power of a new emperor, was trumpeted as “glad
tidings” throughout the empire. Caesar was eulogized as a “divine man” on coins and in emperor-cults. In
contrast, Mark offers decidedly non-imperial “good news” about Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish “Christ.” By
using such rhetoric, Mark was engaging the struggle for hearts and minds through the popular media of
the Mediterranean world. (C. Myers, Say to this Mountain, 5-6).

Why Four Gospels?

Paul notes that there is only one gospel, and this gospel is the one that he is preaching. To the
Galatian Christians he says,

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are
turning to a different gospel, not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you
and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a
gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! (Gal 1:6-9)

As Paul would argue, such “one gospel” keeps the unity of the Christian message. The fact that
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our New Testament canon has four gospels may render our sacred text doubtful as to its veracity,
most especially if one considers some irregularities among the four gospels. A church father,
Tatian, tried to resolve this problem by preparing a harmony of the four gospels, known as the
Dia-tessaron (literaly, “through [the] four”) that came out sometime between 170 and 180 CE
(cf. Johnson, “First Harmony of the Gospels”, 229).

But having four gospels is not a drawback at all. In fact, it provides color and beauty to our
sacred writings. An English New Testament scholar has it to say,

Each of the Gospel writers presents Jesus to us in his own characteristic way. The greatness of this person
could not have been captured in one picture. So we have four portraits—four camera angles on the same
scene—each bringing out its own distinctive facets of the character of Jesus (I.H. Marshall, “The Gospels
and Jesus Christ”, 541).

Extra-canonical Gospels (Apocryphal)

Apart from the four gospels that we now have in the New Testament canon, there are many other
Christian writings that may fall under the gospel genre. A few of these are listed below.
Gospel of Thomas - this is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus
Gospel of Bartholomew - this gospel offers instruction on such matters as Christ’s descent into
Hades, the departure of souls, and the annunciation of Mary
Gospel of Philip - It explains some of the Church practices, such as the sacraments
Gospel of Peter - a narrative that focuses on events surrounding Jesus’ passion, death and
resurrection (also in this category, Gospel of Gamaliel, Gospel of Nicodemus)

Excursus: The Apocryphal Writings

The Greek word apokrypha means “hidden.” Apocryphal books reside on the borders of the OT
and NT canons. As such, these books, strictly speaking, are not considered canonical or
authoritative. In the Old Testament, apocryphal books were those written between 300 BCE and
70 CE. The Jews believe that divine inspiration ended with the prophet Ezra who at the time
believed to exist in the fourth century BCE. Thus, all writings that were written after Ezra were
not inspired and therefore considered not sacred. Furthermore, the Hebrew Bible contains three
main divisions, namely, Law, Prophets, and Writings. The apocryphal books can hardly belong to
any of these divisions.

In the case of the New Testament canon, there are two possible reasons for their exclusion. First,
association of these writings with heretical groups was a big factor for concluding that they do
not conform to the rule of faith. Second, these writings can hardly be derived from apostolic
hands. However, study is still ongoing among Catholic and Evangelical Bible scholars as to their
contributions to Christian life. One striking discovery is that some of these writings are deemed
to be written earlier than were some canonical writings.

Self-Test
A. List three extra-canonical gospels. (1-3)
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B. Explain, briefly, the socio-political significance of “good news” for Filipinos. (4-8)
C. Justify the presence of the four gospels in the NT canon. (9-15)

Research Exercise
Read a few passages in the Gospel of Thomas. Then list some of their ideas that closely relate to
some writings in the New Testament Gospels.

References for Further Reading

Aune, David. The New Testament in Its Literary Environment. Edited by Wayne Meeks.
Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1987.
Marshall, I. H. “The Gospels and Jesus Christ.” Pages 538-544 in The New Lion Handbook to the
Bible. Edited by Pat and David Alexander. Oxford: Lion Publishing, 1999.
Myers, Ched et. al. Say to this Mountain: Mark’s Story of Discipleship. Makati: St. Pauls, 2004.
Patterson, Stephen J. “Apocryphal Gospels.” Pages 1079-1081 in Anchor Bible Dictionary.
Edited by David Noel Freedman. Vol. 2 of Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday,
1992.
R. Bauckham, The Gospels as Witnesses