The New Testament

The Four Gospels

These are our only information about the life of Jesus of Nazareth, whom Christians believe to have been the Christ or Messiah, the fulfilment of the Jewish Scriptures. They are written by Christians for Christians, and should not be treated as unbiased historical documents. Mark sets out his intention in the very first verse of his gospel "Here begins the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God". The word "gospel" means "good news" (Greek euangelon from which the word evangelist comes), Christ is a title of faith not a surname, as is the expression Son of God.

When the critical eye is cast over the four books we can learn more about their character, the faith of the early Christians and the way in which the stories have been passed down. The order in which they appear in the NT is traditionally the order in which they were written, but close scrutiny shows this is not the case. The first 3 gospels are closely linked and are known as the synoptic gospels as they follow the same pattern. The nature of their relationship is known as the synoptic problem. John's Gospel is somewhat different.

The Earliest Gospel Mark

Mark's Gospel is now thought to have been the first to have been written, about 60-65AD. This places it 30 years after the events which are described. The early Christians expected the Second Coming of Christ to be imminent and so it was unnecessary to write anything down. When this was delayed and the eyewitnesses of events began to die it became important that there was a record which others would be able to use. Mark is traditionally said to have written down Peter's memories, and there is support for this theory. Mark himself is usually identified with the young man in the Garden of Gethsemane who fled naked when one of the soldiers tried to catch him on the night of Jesus' arrest (Mark 14:51-2). Also he is thought to be the John Mark in Acts, at whose mother's house the Christians met in Jerusalem, and the one time travelling companion of St Paul. It is the shortest of the Gospels, contains no account of Jesus' birth but starts at his baptism. It seems that we have lost the ending of the gospel, as it finishes rather abruptly with the finding of the empty tomb.

A Gospel for Jewish Christians - Matthew

Matthew's gospel was written by a Jewish Christian about A.D. 85-90. He used Mark's gospel to base his account on, but added other material to it. Some of this extra material he shares with Luke and some we only find in Matthew eg the stories about the wise men and the flight to Egypt at the time of Jesus' birth. He portrays Jesus as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah who fulfilled the prophecy of the Old Testament. The exact identity of Matthew is not known. It is only in this gospel that the tax-collector who becomes a disciple is called Matthew, elsewhere he is called Levi, and this is the reason for the name given to the author of this work.

Luke's Two Volume Work for Gentiles Luke was a Gentile Christian, who wrote his gospel about the same time as Matthew, but for the Gentiles, portraying Jesus as the Saviour of the World. He explains many Jewish terms and customs.

The Gospel is very much concerned with the poor, women and the outcasts, and in the birth narratives Jesus is shown as one of these outcasts - born in a stable and visited by shepherds. Some of the best loved parables are found only in Luke eg the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. We are told in Luke 1:1-4 that he is writing for "his excellency, Theophilus" presumably an important Gentile. The same dedication is also found in Acts, showing that Luke wrote both books. He was a travelling companion of Paul; in Colossians 4:14 he refers to "our dear friend, Luke the doctor". As this is one of the letters Paul wrote from his captivity in Rome, we know that Luke was with him in Rome too. The Acts of the Apostles concentrates very much on the activities of Paul, to the virtual exclusion of the other apostles so that we know very little about the spread of the gospel by them. This is because Luke's purpose was to show how Christianity spread from its Jewish roots in Jerusalem to the capital of the world at that time - Rome.

John - A Spiritual Gospel,

John's gospel is thought to be the last gospel to have been written, and in style it is very different to the other three. Events are recorded in a different order, and John tells of several events which we do not find in any of the other three eg the wedding at Cana and the raising of Lazarus. The style is very different, being much more like the philosophies of the time. There are no stories about Jesus' birth but instead the passage known as the prologue in chapter 1:1-18 where the incarnation of God's Word is set out in a philosophical way. It may be that John was trying to present Jesus and his teaching in a way which would be more acceptable to the academics of his day, and would prevent them from turning it into some form of heresy. The identity of the author is traditionally thought to be John, the 'beloved disciple" writing in extreme old age. Whether this is the case is debatable.

Collections of Letters

Paul's Epistles are rarely questioned as to authorship. They show a unity of style and thought, and while Paul probably dictated them rather then writing them himself, there is little reason to doubt them. Except for Romans they are all addressed to churches which he had founded and were intended to help them with various problems about doctrine and behaviour.

Some letters in the New Testament are less certain as to authorship; it is unlikely that Peter himself wrote the First Epistle of Peter, and it was a different person who wrote the second epistle. The reason for the author's adoption of Peter's name is that, while they are very worthy documents, it was difficult to get them accepted unless they had the name of one of the apostles attached to them, hence such names were borrowed.

A Vision to encourage the Persecuted The final book of the New Testament is Revelation. It was probably written during the persecution of the Christians by the Emperor Domitian at the end of the First Century, and is full of visions and symbols. These are intended to be understood by the converted and to encourage those threatened by persecution. It is very much in the style of Jewish apocalyptic writing such as is found in the book of Daniel, the apocalypse being the end of all things.

And some didn't get in

When the Christians drew up their canon of scripture they looked at all the books on their merits concerning whether they contained orthodox ideas. The Church was plagued very early with all sorts of heresies and so had to be very careful what was allowed in to the canon. There were many other books which also could be helpful but which were left out because it was felt they were not close enough to the Truth. There is a gospel of Thomas, and of Peter which were omitted because they were thought to be heretical. There is an epistle of Barnabas and a book called the teaching of the Twelve which are not heretical but were felt to be too far away from the eyewitnesses to merit a place.