How To Read The Bible: Lesson Four - The Gospels

How To Read the Bible – And Get Something Out of It

Lesson One – Get To Know Your Bible

What Are You Reading - Understanding What You Are Reading

Lesson Two –  First Testament

How to Read the Torah

Lesson Three – First Testament

How to Read the Writings & Prophets (Hebrew Poetry)

Lesson Four – New Testament

How to Read the Gospels

Lesson Five – New Testament

How to Read the Letters (of Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude)

Lesson Four –  New Testament

How to Read the Gospels

Who were the Gospels originally written to? Knowing who the audience was helps aid in our understanding of what is in the Gospels. The four Gospels all had different authors and different audiences.

Matthew: written to a Jewish community

Mark: written to a Roman community

Luke & Acts: written to Theophilus

John: written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The Synoptic Gospels

Matthew, Mark, Luke – many similarities: stories & teachings

Possible use of a common source – “Q”

You'll notice as you read the four gospels that the first four have a lot of similarities. Hence the name: Synoptic Gospels (synoptic meaning similar). Lots of studies and theories try to explain it all. The most common understanding is that there was a common source called "Q" that Mark used to write his Gospel. Then it is thought that Matthew and Luke each separately used Q and Mark to write their Gospels to their respective audiences.

The Passion of Jesus

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – about 1/3 of each book is spent on the Passion week of Jesus. Each author sets up the events of Jesus’ life leading up to the Passion in a unique way. And each author has their own accounting of what happens after the Passion.

What Are You Reading?

Genre of literatures in the Bible:

Myth                Poetry             Biography

Narratives        Genealogy        Letters

Lawcodes         Wisdom            Apocalyptic

Songs              Prophecy          History

Understanding What You Are Reading

So what is the Gospel? It's a unique kind of literature - it has some similarities to other ancient writings, but it sets its own agenda and form. 

Gospel as History: recounting of events that led up to the Passion of Jesus

We think of history in very modern terms. To the ancients, however, recounting history was always in the context of political, religious, or cultural realities. We must understand how history was used back then to make sense of it now. It is important to note that while there is historical information in the Gospels, they were not written to be a pure history of Jesus.

Gospel as Biography: retelling of the life of Jesus

Whatever we think a biography ought to be, the Gospels fall short. While we can read the Gospels to learn something about the origins, childhood and adult life of Jesus, it is only bits and pieces. It is very difficult to reconstruct the life of Jesus of Nazareth from the Gospels. There are biographical elements in the Gospels, but the purpose of them lie elsewhere.

Gospel as Narrative: reconstructed story of Jesus in the light of the story of Israel as part of God’s Story.

All the Gospel writers are telling the story of Jesus as a retelling of the story of Israel. They understand Jesus to be the King of Israel, the Messiah who will deliver them from evil. To understand the story being told about Jesus, it is crucial to understand the story that had been told about Israel and their relationship with God. To get something out of the Gospels of Jesus for our life today, it will be helpful to understand what the Gospels met to those Israelites who lived then.

As you read the Gospels, here are some key chapters and stories you'll want to be familiar with and appreciate.

Matthew: King Jesus & Kingdom of Heaven

Birth Story (Chapters 1-2)

Sermon on the Mount (Chapters 5-7)

Healings & Miracles (Chapters 8 & 9, 14 & 15)

Parables & Wisdom Teachings (Chapters 13, 18-20)

The Passion (Chapters 21-28)

Mark: Jesus Christ is Son of God & Kingdom of God is Gospel

Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

Immediately…

Healings & Miracles

Parables & Wisdom Teachings

The Passion (Chapters 11-16)

Luke & Acts: Jesus as King of Israel & the Kingdom Coming Through an Ekklesia of Believers

Introductions (Luke 1:1-4 & Acts 1:1-5)

Origins of Jesus (Luke 1-4)

Origins of Disciples & Apostles (Luke 5 & 6, 9 & 10)

Jesus & the Pharisees  (Luke 11-18)

Jesus & Jerusalem (13, 19, 21)

Passion of Jesus (Luke 19-24)

Passion of Paul (Acts 21-28)

The Beginning of the Church (Acts 1-5)

The Gentiles Entering the Church (Acts 6-8)

Introduction to Paul (8-9)

The Leadership of Peter (9-12)

The Ministry of Paul (13—20)

John: Jesus is the Logos, Life Unto the Ages

Introductions to Jesus (Chapter 1)

The Eight Signs (2:11, 4:54, 5:15, 6:14, 6:20, 9:7, 11:41-42, 20:9)

The Passion (12-20)

The Conclusions (20:30-31, 21:24-25)