Lesson 2: THE GOSPELS

The word GOSPEL means good news, and is a term used to define
the written accounts of Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament.
The four widely known gospels are the canonical gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. However, the term can also refer
to the apocryphal, non-canonical, the Jewish, and the gnostic
gospels. There are several accounts of Jesus that are not
recognized or accepted by orthodox Christians however the gospels
of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are going to be my primary
focus. It is important that we understand these sources and what
they are trying to accomplish. The Gospels are neither biographies
of the life of Christ nor are they a disinterested record of certain
events in His life. Each writer wants the reader to know the truth
about Jesus and become a disciple. To accomplish this purpose,
each Gospel is aimed at a certain audience and each writer is
selective of the events he includes.
 Despite the gospel of Matthew being the first book in the new testament the
majority view today, is that Mark was actually the first gospel followed by
Matthew and then Luke. It is believed that Matthew and Luke borrowed
passages from Mark's gospel and one other source lost to history. This view is
known as the two-source hypothesis. The two-source hypothesis came out
around the 19th century. Due to Matthew and Luke borrowing passages from
Mark these three gospels are known as the synoptic gospels. Synoptic means
having the same view, and if you read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and
Luke you will understand why they are considered the synoptic gospels. John
was the only author who actually knew Jesus and his gospel takes a different
view than the first three. John's gospel follows a very different time line and
does not share much content with the other gospels in general. The gospel
of John uses different verbiage, and style of writing and was actually
rejected by the orthodox Christians for a long time. Today, it is widely
accepted and is the favorite gospel by most conservative Christians.
 The Gospel of John: The gospel of John was the only gospel written by a follower of Jesus.
The other three writers were followers of Jesus's apostles, and likely never met Jesus for
themselves. John's message was a personal account of his following closely with Jesus.
Therefore, John's message is for all ethnic groups and his whole purpose for writing is to bring
evidence to prove that Jesus is Christ and truly the Son of God.

 Throughout John's work one will find that John's focus is on emphasizing the divine status of
Jesus. This can be seen through Jesus' statements of "I am" that will be found in John's gospel.
From the very first verse to the end of the book John's message of divinity is clear. In John 1:1
he lays the foundation for the entire gospel, and one will find that he continues to show how
Jesus is the word made flesh; " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God". In John 20:31 the message of his entire book is layed out in black in
white; "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name".
 The Gospel of Matthew: Matthew was writing to and for the Jews and focuses his work
around the idea that Jesus is the King of the Jews; "Where is the one who has been born
king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." (Matthew
2:2). There were two main reasons Matthew wrote his book. The gospel of Matthew was
written as a message of encouragement and strength for Jewish Christians. Despite Jesus
being killed by Jews, Matthew's first message is to strengthen Jewish Christian's faith in
the knowledge that Jesus was the Messiah. To prove that Jesus was the promised Messiah
of the Old Testament, Matthew quotes the Old Testament more than any other synoptic
writer. The second reason he writes his book is to show that Jesus was truly the Messiah.
He shows this by recording Jesus' geneology and quoting the old testament. "A record of
the geneology of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:" (Matthew 1:1). This
verse fulfills the prophecy from 2 Samuel 7:1214 "When your days are over and you rest
with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your
own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my
Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he
will be my son.".
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 The Gospel of Mark: Mark focuses on the idea that Jesus was a servant.
This can be seen by his lack of geneology of Jesus throughout his gospel.
Mark's work is meant to encourage Christians throughout Rome, despite
being persecuted for their faith. He goes on to say that persecution is the
price that Christian's must pay for following Jesus. In the book of Mark,
Jesus says exactly that "Then he called the crowd to him along with his
disciples and said: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save
it.'" (Mark 8:34-35).
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 The Gospel of Luke: Luke was known to be an accurate historian, and as a result
he carefully researched everything. Luke approaches his work by making Jesus
the Son of man. He shows how Jesus was a real person and how He showed a
genuine interest in people from all walks of life. Luke spends ample time
focusing on Jesus' birth and childhood as well as His human traits. The first two
chapters are dedicated to the history and geneology of Jesus.

 Many of Luke's other versus portray a Jesus who was able to feel human
emotions as well as express other human traits. "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty
days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the
end of them he was hungry" (Luke 4:1-2). Jesus is portrayed to have feelings
such as pain and sorrow. "He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt
down and prayed, 'Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my
will, but yours be done.' An angel from heaven appeared to him and
strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat
was like drops of blood falling to the ground." (Luke 22:41-44).
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