Lesson #2

Just What Is a Gospel?

In Lesson #1 we learned that although the worlds of the Old and New Testaments are patriarchal, monarchial, polytheistic and slave holding, they are profoundly different from one another. The world of the Old Testament spans 2,000 years (2100 B.C. 2nd century B.C.); it is tribal and insular; and it is centered in what today we call the Middle East, with tribal warlords vying for land and resources.

The world of the New Testament spans 100 years (4/6 B.C. A.D. 95) and it is global (in 1st-century terms) with a centralized, highly-developed government and infrastructure, consisting of the landmass surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, an authentic Empire that was already 500 years old as the New Testament opens. Although fundamentally stable, New Testament times saw considerable political and religious turmoil within the Roman Empire, especially in the east in Palestine.

In Lesson #2 we ask the question: Just what is a Gospel? and we investigate how the four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) came to be written. As a literary genre gospel is unique. A gospel is not a biography of a person, although it does contain biographical information; it is not an historical account of a person, although it is rooted in historical time; it is not a fictional account of a person, although it does include miracles, wonders and the large dose of the supernatural. Rather, a gospel is an account of the good news of the coming Kingdom of God and of the redemption of humanity through the life, death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Christianity is arguably the single most important force in shaping the past 2,000 years of western civilization, and one may reasonably argue that Jesus of Nazareth is the single most influential person who ever lived. Yet, what do we really know about the historical Jesus?

Desis Mosaic, depicting Christ Pantrocrator (c.1261), South Gallery, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey.
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

There is not a single piece of documentary evidence from the time of Jesus (4/6 B.C. A.D. 32) to suggest that he ever existed.
Not a birth certificate. Not a death certificate. Not a letter. Not a property record. Not a record of his trial. Not a single document with his name on it.

Nothing.

Apart from the New Testament written decades after Jesus life on this earththere are only a few references to him.

Flavius Josephus, c. A.D. 95 Jewish Antiquities (18:3:3)

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.

Flavius Josephus, c. A.D. 95 Jewish Antiquities (18:3:3) Josephus mentions Jesus again in passing (20.9.1) when he notes that the High Priest Ananias summoned the Sanhedrin, the Jewish governing council . . .
and brought before them the brother of Jesus who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned . . . [Acts 12 chronicles the result of this incident].

Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Annals (XXV.44.2-8) A longer account shows up in Tacitus Annals (c. A.D. 116). He recounts the great fire in Rome under Nero (XXV.44.2-8):
Nero fastened the guilt and afflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom their name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a deadly superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out, not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but also in the city, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world meet and become popular.

Pliny the Younger Letters (10.96) The earliest non-biblical report about the Christians comes from Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia (c. 112 A.D.) He isnt quite sure how to deal with the Christians, so he writes to the emperor Trajan for advice (Letters 10.96). Pliny had tortured a few Christians, and he passes on the information he received:

Pliny the Younger, cont. Letters (10.96)

They maintained, moreover, that the amount of their fault or error had been this, that it was their habit on a fixed day to assemble before daylight and recite by turns a form of words to Christ as to a god; and that they bound themselves with an oath, not for any crime, but not to commit theft or robbery or adultery, not to break their word, and not to deny a deposit when demanded. After this was done, it was their custom to depart, and to meet again to take food, but ordinary, harmless food . . .. I discovered nothing else than a perverse and extravagant superstition.

Lucian of Samosata Passing of Peregrinus (11-13)

A final account of the Christian movement before the end of the second century comes from the satirist Lucian of Samosata (A.D. 120-180). In his Passing of Peregrinus he slams Peregrinusthe very model of the conman. Among those duped by Peregrinus was a group of Christians (Peregrinus 1113):
It was then he learned the wondrous lore of the Christians by associating with their priests and scribes in Palestine. Andhow else could it bein a trice he made them all look like children; for he was prophet, cult leader, head of the synagogue, and everything, all by himself. He interpreted and explained some of their books, and even composed many, and they revered him as a god, made use of him as a lawgiver, and set him down as a protector, next after that other, to be sure, whom they still worship, the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world.

Among Jewish writings, the Talmud contains only a few references to Jesus (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a, b; 103a; 106b; 107b), though later censors may have removed others. The ones that do remain are very brief and often veiled. If we did not know of Jesus from the New Testament, we would probably not recognize the allusions to him in the Talmud.

During the first century after Jesus death, the world took little notice of what it considered to be a minor Jewish sect. For the most part, Jewish and Hellenistic writers completely ignored both Jesus and Christianity.

Sea of Galilee, Google Earth

The Arbel Cliff viewed from Nof Ginosar, Galilee, Israel.

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

Sea of Galilee from atop the Arbel Cliff. Ninety Percent of Jesus public ministry took place here.
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

Lambert Lombard. The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes (oil on canvas), early 15th century. Rockox House, Antwerp.

1.

2.

3.

For three years (A.D. 29-32) Jesus went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and curing every disease and illness among the people (Luke 4: 23). During his 3-year public ministry Jesus gathered many followers, twelve of whom became his inner circle, his Apostles. They lived with him, traveled with him, studied with him: they were eyewitnesses to his public ministry and to his death, burial and resurrection. After his resurrection, Jesus commissioned his inner circle to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matthew 28: 19-20).

3.

4.

5.

His Apostles did exactly that, becoming his witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth [i.e., throughout the Roman Empire+ (Acts 1: 8). Jesus Apostlesand other followerstraveled throughout the Roman Empire telling stories about him: they repeated his teaching; they told about his encounters with the religious authorities; and they told about the miracles God performed through him. Over time, this oral teaching and preaching took on a fixed form and shape through repetition: expository teaching (e.g., Sermon on the Mount), parables (e.g., the Prodigal Son); dialectic (argumentation); healing stories; etc.

Between A.D. 32 and the mid 60s, teaching and preaching about Jesus was primarily oral, with occasional letters, such as those written by Paul. Faith communities formed throughout the Roman Empire based on such teaching and preaching.

Virtually everyone in the early Christian communities believed that Jesus was crucified, buried and raised, and that he would return again, ushering in the Kingdom of God.
They believed this would happen in their lifetime.

By the mid-60s the eyewitness generation was drawing to a close either through natural death or persecution. Jesus had not yet returned, so it became imperative that the oral teaching and preaching about Jesus be written down, lest it be distorted or lost.

Thus, the written Gospels begin to emerge in the mid to late 60s.

There were many gospels written during the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., but the Gospels we shall study are the four canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are the gospels the early church believed were written by the Apostles (Matthew and John) or someone closely associated with the Apostles (Mark and Luke)during the first generation of the Church.

The Canonical Gospels,

Matthew, Mark, Luke & John
Matthew, a tax collector, left his work to follow Jesus (Matthew 9: 9-13). One of the twelve apostles, he was a Jewprobably a Leviteand he wrote for a Jewish audience. John Mark, a young man, was not an apostle, but he was on the fringes of the group that followed Jesus. He is first mentioned in Acts 12: 12When this dawned on him *Peter+, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Mark was a nephew of Barnabas (Colossians 4: 10) and the spiritual son of Peter (1 Peter 5:13).

The Canonical Gospels, cont.

Matthew, Mark, Luke & John
Luke was not an apostlenor was he a follower of Jesus during his three-year public ministry. Rather, Luke, the beloved physician was a Gentile, a close friend and traveling companion of Paul during A.D. 50-68. Luke wrote both the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. John was an apostle, the son of Zebedee and Salome, the brother of James and one of Jesus cousins. Of all the apostles, John was the most intimate with Jesus. He is the beloved disciple who rests his head on Jesus shoulder at the last supper and the one to whom Jesus entrusts the care of his mother, Mary, as he is dying on the cross. Traditionally, John is the author of the Gospel according to John; 1, 2 & 3 John and Revelation.

The Synoptic Gospels

Matthew, Mark & Luke

New Testament Manuscripts

The New Testament was written entirely in koine Greek, that is, the common Greek understood by ordinary people living in Palestine at the time of Jesus. They understood Greek because Alexander the Great had conquered the region in 331 B.C., establishing a long period of Greek rule that lasted until the Roman general, Pompey, conquered the area in 63 B.C. A Jew living in Palestine at the time of Jesus would have understood Greek, spoken Aramaic as his native language, and been able to read Hebrew. Most would also have had a working knowledge of Latin, since they were living under Roman rule.

Although the events in the New Testament happen in the first century A.D., the manuscripts that record those events date from much later. Manuscripts of the New Testament are divided into four types: papyri, uncials, minuscules, and lectionaries.

Example of a Papyrus Manuscript

This is the oldest existing manuscript of the new Testament, a fragment of the Gospel according to John, A.D. 125 (John 18: 31-34; 37-38). John Rylands Library, Manchester, England.

Example of an Uncial Manuscript

Codex Sinaiticus, perhaps the most important of the New Testament manuscripts. Dating from the 4th century, it contains part of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament. British Library, London.

Example of a Miniscule Manuscript

This is a parchment manuscript from the 10th century containing the Acts of the Apostles, and the general and Pauline letters (Philemon 10-25 is shown above). Mt. Athos, Greece.

Example of a Lectionary

This is a parchment codex containing a gospel lectionary dated A.D. 991. It is carefully written with elaborate decorative letters in yellow, blue, green and scarlet. The text is John 19: 10-16 and Matthew 27: 3-5. Vatican Library.

Textual Criticism
How do you know that the Gospel according to Mark that you have in your Catholic Study Bible is what Mark actually wrote, given that the earliest manuscripts of Mark are 300-400 years older than the events they portray? That is the job of textual criticism: A textual critic reconstructs ancient texts based upon the manuscripts that do exist.

Just What Is a Gospel?

The word gospel derives from the Old English godspel, which means good news. Godspel is the Old English rendering of the Greek euangelion (eu = good, angelion = message). Euangelion is the word St. Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 15: 1 when he reminds the church at Corinth of the gospel I preached to you.

Just What Is a Gospel?

A gospel is an account of the good news of the coming Kingdom of God and of the redemption of humanity through the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as seen through the eyes of a living faith tradition, guided by the Holy Spirit, 30-60 years after the events it portrays.

1. 2. 3.

4.

5.

How does a gospel differ from other genres of literature? If the four canonical gospels emerge from 30-60 years of oral tradition, would the stories they tell have evolved with the telling? If so, how? If not, why? Although Jesus lived in a remote corner of the Roman Empire, wrote nothing and never traveled more than 100 miles from home, he and his message became a global enterprise with 2 billion followers today. How do you account for that? Why are Matthew, Mark, Luke & John in the New Testament, while other gospels, such as the Gospel of Thomas, are not in the canon of Scripture? How do you know that the Gospel you are reading is what its author or authors actually wrote?

Copyright 2014 by William C. Creasy

All rights reserved. No part of this courseaudio, video, photography, maps, timelines or other mediamay be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval devices without permission in writing or a licensing agreement from the copyright holder.