New Testament  Gospels in the New Testament are main sources of information about Jesus  ‘Gospel’ means Good News  Christians believe the Good News is that Jesus was the Son of God  There are 4 Gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke & John  They explain the purpose of Jesus’ life on earth

The Evangelists  Matthew ~ Mark ~ Luke ~ John  Men of deep faith who wrote the Gospels to spread the Good News of Jesus  They wanted to show that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Saviour of all  They write very little about his early life (before the age of 30) – they focus on his last 3 years  They focus on his: - Teaching - Healing - Death - Resurrection

The Evangelists - Witnesses  The Evangelists firmly believed Jesus is God  They gave witness, or publically proclaimed their faith, through their writings  The Gospels were written in the First Century CE  The reasons for writing them: 1.To spread the news of Jesus 2.To help others have faith in Jesus too They were written for Christian communities around the Roman Empire

The Evangelists  The Evangelists tell the story of Jesus from different points of view  Each community within the Roman Empire had its own problems when the Gospels were being written.  Each Evangelist focused on different aspects of Jesus’ life to meet the needs of their own community:  They all tell the same story but in different ways MatthewMarkLukeJohn Teaching sideSuffering sideCaring sideSpiritual side

Matthew  A Jew before he became a Christian  He was a Rabbi (teacher) who taught Jewish Scripture in the synagogue  Written about 85 CE  Written for: new Christians in Antioch – the were Jews until they realised Jesus was the Messiah  Main Points: Jesus is the Messiah & knew a lot about scripture

Mark  A Jew before he became a Christian  Knew Peter (friend of Jesus) & wrote down all the stories Peter told him  First Gospel – written about 70 CE  Written for: new Christians in Rome – they were suffering because of the Romans  Main Points: Jesus had feelings & suffered like everyone else

Luke  Not a Jew (Gentile) before he became a Christian  He was a doctor & was impressed by Jesus healing people  Written about 85 CE  Written for: New Christians in Cornith – they were Gentiles before they heard about Jesus  Main Points: Jesus is the Saviour of people. He was a friend to everyone & cared for people regardless of who they were

John  A Jew before he became a Christian  Follower of the youngest disciple of Jesus (also called John)  Written about 95 CE (last Gospel)  Written for: Mature Christians in Ephesus – they were Christians for a few years but needed to deepen their faith  Main Points: Jesus is the Messiah. He had a spiritual natures & thought deeply about things

The Evangelists & their Symbols  Early Christians used symbols to represent the Evangelists  These symbols came from the Book of Ezekiel (Old Testament)

Represented as a Man – emphasizes the Human Nature of Jesus Represented as an Ox – begins with the story of a man who sacrificed animals & ends with Jesus’ death Represented as a Lion – showed courage writing Gospel for persecuted Christians Represented as a Eagle – emphasizes the Divine Nature of Jesus (majestic bird)

Three Gospel Stages  Evidence from oral and written traditions: the way information about Jesus passed from the spoken to the written word.  The evangelists believed in Jesus and wrote about him in their Gospels. Yet none of them actually met Jesus when he was alive.  The evangelists wrote the Gospels more than forty years after Jesus’ death and Resurrection.  The Gospel came together in three separate stages: 1.Life Stage 2.Oral Stage 3.Written Stage

Stage 1- Life Stage (30-33 CE)  Jesus teaches about the Love of God and performs miracles in the last three years of his life.  The words, actions, death and Resurrection of Jesus convinces the disciples that Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus is crucified and dies on the cross.  Jesus is raised from the dead after three days and appears to his disciples.

Stage 2- Oral Stage (30-70 CE)  When the apostles travel all over the Roman Empire to TELL the Good News of Jesus Christ.  This happened after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit gave the apostles the courage to spread the word of Jesus and God  They travelled all over Palestine and some went further  The stories were passed on from person to person by word of mouth

Stage 3 - Written Stage (70-95 CE)  When the evangelists, Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, WRITE the story of Jesus in the four Gospels.  The apostles’ account of Jesus is gathered together and written down by the evangelists. It was important to do this before the main witnesses of all Jesus had said and done grew too old or died.  A written Gospel would help new Christians at that time and in the future to know Jesus and follow his teachings.

Synoptic Gospels Synoptic: means to be ‘seen together’; to be alike or be similar. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are so alike they are known as the Synoptic Gospels. The three Gospels agree on:  The main events in Jesus’ life.  The order in which those events occurred.  Jesus’ words on those occasions.

Synoptic Gospels Similarities in the Synoptic Gospels are due to:  Mark’s Gospel being written first.  Matthew and Luke’s Gospels: written later, rely on a lot on Mark’s account of Jesus’ life. They each borrowed most of Mark’s Gospel for their own work.

Synoptic Gospels Differences in the Synoptic Gospels are due to:  Matthew and Luke using other sources in addition to Mark’s Gospel.  The Q document (a collection of Jesus’ sayings written down at an earlier time).  M: eye witness accounts unique to Matthew.  L: eye witness accounts unique to Luke.

Q Document Q – short for Quelle (means Source in German) It is a collection of Jesus’ sayings written down at an earlier time Matthew & Luke use this document as a source when writing their Gospels EG. Matthew & Luke speak about the Beatitudes but Mark does not

The Fourth Gospel - John  John’s Gospel was written last and used other sources to tell the story of Jesus.  It focuses more on explaining who Jesus is, rather than describing what he says and does.  The writing style in John’s Gospel is poetic and abstract with no references to Jesus’ parables and few references to his miracles.  The writing style in the Synoptic Gospels, in contrast, is more concrete and down to earth, with many references to Jesus’ parables and miracles.

Documents of History  Most of what we know about Jesus comes from the New Testament.  However, Historical documents from non-Christian sources confirm that Jesus did exist. These documents were written by:  Josephus, a Jew (60 years after Jesus’ death)  Tacitus, a Roman (80 years after Jesus’ death)

Documents of History Josephus and Tacitus were non-Christian historians who wrote about people and events in the Roman Empire. Both historians mention Jesus in their writing saying:  Jesus lived in Palestine.  A group of people called Christians were his followers.  Jesus was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Palestine. Documents from first century Jewish and Roman sources show:  Jesus was a real person, he did exist.  Jesus lived in Palestine in the first century and founded a new religion.

Documents of Faith  The Gospels tell the story of Jesus however they were not interested in the historical facts  They wanted to explain the meaning & purpose of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection  Gospels are called Documents of Faith because: - they believed Jesus was the Messiah - they provided evidence to support this - they invited others to share this belief