From the Bible Bunker: Each Gospel in a Nutshell

During this corona lock-down, we all have the time to grow in our understanding of God and his word. With that in mind, I invite you to join in a series presentations dealing with the faith-related topics.

In this video, found at the bottom of the page, we discussed the distinct characteristics of each gospel. Below are the bulletin points from the presentation:

Mark in a Nutshell

• Mark is probably the earliest gospel. Both Matthew and Luke have most of Mark in their gospels.
• The structure of Mark is found in the 1:1 (The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.)
• With the except of  a brief prologue and epilogue, the material to 8:29 (He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”) deals with Jesus as the Messiah/Christ and from 8:30 to 15:39 (Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”) deals with Jesus as the Son of God. 
• When compared to the other gospels, Mark devotes a lot more space to the crucifixion.
• After Mark 16:8 (So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.), there are two endings, neither written by Mark.

Matthew in a Nutshell

• Matthew was probably written after Mark, because 95% of Mark is in Matthew. Luke and Matthew also shared some common teaching. Matthew follows Mark’s chronology.
• Since the author is not mentioned in the text, the author is anonymous.
• The audience would seem to be influenced by Judaism, but not educated Jews.
• There’s a strong emphasis in Matthew on the Kingdom of Heaven.
• The history of Israel is reflected in the life of Jesus.

Luke in a Nutshell

• Luke was written to a community of knowledgeable Jewish Christians. 
• Like Mark and Matthew, Luke has a horizontal world view. Unlike the other synoptic gospels, Luke focuses on 3 ages: the old age, the age of Jesus, and the age of the church.
• The gospel and the Book of Acts are two volumes of one book.
• John the Baptist and Jesus are parallel figures.
• The gospel focuses on the movement of Jesus to Jerusalem, where Jesus is crucified, is raised, appears to his disciples, and ascends. The Book of Acts traces the church moving from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
• There's a major focus on the poor and the lowly.

John in a Nutshell

• John makes use of irony and ἐγω εἰμι ("I am") statements.
• John follows this pattern: the word came down and became flesh in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ revealed the word to humanity, the word returns by way of the cross.
• John emphasizes the Christian life now. For example, eternal life, as defined by 17:3 (And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.)
• The following pattern tends to repeat itself: something happens, people don’t understand and ask for an explanation, Jesus explains, people still don’t understand, Jesus explains more.