This week is about to heat up, and start going depth into the Bible. Today the topic is The Gospels and the Historical Jesus. The Gospels' 4 Evangelists that we receive the most useful written information about Jesus. The 4 Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The word "Gospel" means "good news." Gospels present biographical information about Jesus combined with the author's beliefs about the Son of God to convey The Kingdom Og God is active in the world. Ancient biographies, The Gospels present brief accounts of Jesus' life, without the exhaustive detail. They do not tell us much about Jesus' youth or physical appearance. It focuses on the key events that tells us the true character of Jesus Christ. Certain aspects of the Gospels, however, are unique. Jesus Himself, is the Gospel- because the Good News proclaimed He is JESUS CHRIST.
Process of Writing Gospels
1. Historical Jesus ( 4-6BC- AD 30-33)
2. Oral Tradition(AD 30-50)
3. New Testament Writings (AD 50-ca 120)
The Jesus proclaimed in the Gospels is identified by a few different "surnames." In the ancient world, people with the same 1st name were identified by things like where they came from, who their father was, and what they did for living. During public ministry He traveled countryside teaching, healing, and proclaiming God's Kingdom. He is the center of human history. AD for Anno Domini, meaning "In the year of Our Lord" to assign years from the time of Christ's birth on. BC meaning "Before Christ" any year thought to be before the birth of Christ. Apostles obeyed Jesus' command to go out into the world, and spread the Good News. Kerygma- apostles preached an outline of basic truths about Jesus. Didache- an oral set of essential teachings about Jesus. Liturgy- public worship.
2. Oral Tradition(AD 30-50)
3. New Testament Writings (AD 50-ca 120)
The Jesus proclaimed in the Gospels is identified by a few different "surnames." In the ancient world, people with the same 1st name were identified by things like where they came from, who their father was, and what they did for living. During public ministry He traveled countryside teaching, healing, and proclaiming God's Kingdom. He is the center of human history. AD for Anno Domini, meaning "In the year of Our Lord" to assign years from the time of Christ's birth on. BC meaning "Before Christ" any year thought to be before the birth of Christ. Apostles obeyed Jesus' command to go out into the world, and spread the Good News. Kerygma- apostles preached an outline of basic truths about Jesus. Didache- an oral set of essential teachings about Jesus. Liturgy- public worship.
3 things that caused early Christians to finally Commit the "Good News" to writing
1. End of The World: didn't come as soon as they had 1st expected it to
2. Distortions to the apostles' messages needed to be clarified.
3. Early Christians realized that people needed to be instructed about the faith.
The earliest New Testament writings are letters of St. Paul. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were recognized as Scriptures based on the fact that they were connected to the apostles, they had widespread acceptance in the early Church, and they reflected what the early Church truly believed about Jesus. "Apocryphal" means "hidden". These were the writings about Jesus that did not meet these requirements. Certain writings in early Christianity reflected various heresies. Presence of heretical ideas is the reason some books aren't in the Bible. The four Gospels have different perspectives and audiences. Biblical "criticism" analysis, judge, and investigation of the text itself. Source Criticism tries to determine what sources Gospels used. Form Criticism different literary forms used. Redaction Criticism studies had the author edited his material for particular audience. Textual Criticism analyses the Gospels by comparing various early texts of the same passage. Historical Criticism uses knowledge of ancient history. Jesus was the first to invite us to refer to God as "Abba" meaning "daddy." "Amen" used to start things which became a source of unusual authority. In the bible Parables were stories to communicate truths. There was Consistency with Jesus. He never contradicted in words, stories, or actions.
2. Distortions to the apostles' messages needed to be clarified.
3. Early Christians realized that people needed to be instructed about the faith.
The earliest New Testament writings are letters of St. Paul. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were recognized as Scriptures based on the fact that they were connected to the apostles, they had widespread acceptance in the early Church, and they reflected what the early Church truly believed about Jesus. "Apocryphal" means "hidden". These were the writings about Jesus that did not meet these requirements. Certain writings in early Christianity reflected various heresies. Presence of heretical ideas is the reason some books aren't in the Bible. The four Gospels have different perspectives and audiences. Biblical "criticism" analysis, judge, and investigation of the text itself. Source Criticism tries to determine what sources Gospels used. Form Criticism different literary forms used. Redaction Criticism studies had the author edited his material for particular audience. Textual Criticism analyses the Gospels by comparing various early texts of the same passage. Historical Criticism uses knowledge of ancient history. Jesus was the first to invite us to refer to God as "Abba" meaning "daddy." "Amen" used to start things which became a source of unusual authority. In the bible Parables were stories to communicate truths. There was Consistency with Jesus. He never contradicted in words, stories, or actions.
Linguistic Analysis
He has poetic quality to His words. He spoke clearly more than most teachers. People who deny Historical evidence of Jesus have a difficult time explaining how the Church came to be. Most apostles died as martyrs. Martyrs- of the early Church provide us a strong witness to the truth of the Gospels.