Lesson 1 - The History Behind The Gospels

I. The Importance of the Question

A. What this question is not trying to answer

This question is not concerned primarily with the historical occasion which caused the particular Gospel writer to take up a pen and write his particular book. That is an important question, but the question we are asking is a bigger question.

B. What this question is trying to answer

With this question I am concerned with why the Church would have developed these particular books which came out looking as they did. Why do the Gospels look like they do? Why do they have Jesus as their subject? Why do they preserve the information about him which they do?

II. The Life and Ministry of Jesus

Answering the question requires that we start at the point which began it all: the life and ministry of Jesus.

A. The church was convinced that God had entered the world in Jesus as part of his divine plan of redemption.

This in fact is the clear view of Matthew, who uses many OT citations to show that God was in control of history and had worked specifically to bring Jesus at the time he did.

B. Jesus teaching and activity birthed a community upon which he placed the mandate of self-perpetuation.

Throughout Jesus ministry, specifically in Matthew in chap. 10 and in 28:18-20, he mandated mission for those who follow him.

C. This community saw Jesus teaching and activity as the primary vehicle for that self-perpetuation, as the community had its genesis in Jesus and was centered around him.

III. The Oral Period

A. The earliest period immediately following Jesus resurrection and ascension was marked by oral communication.

This often comes as a surprise to many since we only know about Jesus through the written Gospels, but in the early church oral communication was the primary medium in which people communicated about him. Consider all the preaching in Acts.

B. During this time Jesus teaching, stories about his activity, theological conclusions about him, remembrances from those who walked with him, and proclamations about him would be passed from believer to believer, from teacher to student, from church to church, from missionary to convert orally.

IV. The Collection of Tradition

A. Many of the materials were organized into cohesive units.

1. This took place on the level of the individual story or teaching, as repeatable, memorable forms could more readily be passed along orally.

2. This also took place on the level of groups of teachings or stories, as units with similar themes would naturally be collected together.

B. Large units developed which became sources for the written Gospels.

Among other units, Matthew and Luke shared a large block of teaching material and both Matthew and Luke have distinct infancy narratives.

V. The Writing of the Gospels

A. At some point the Church began to record the traditions about Jesus into more permanent form, presumably as the church expanded widely into Gentile areas and as eyewitnesses began to pass from the scene.

B. There is evidence that much of Matthew and Luke existed in written form before those Gospels as a whole did.

C. There is evidence from the early Church that each Gospel may have had an apostolic source to its teaching.

(1). The Gospels of Matthew and John were attributed to actual apostles.

(2). Mark was connected to Peter while he was in Rome.

(3). Luke was connected to Paul at various points, and Paul himself had contact with the Apostles.

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