Reference: Gospels
Easton
The central fact of Christian preaching was the intelligence that the Saviour had come into the world (Mt 4:23; Ro 10:15); and the first Christian preachers who called their account of the person and mission of Christ by the term evangelion (= good message) were called evangelistai (= evangelists) (Eph 4:11; Ac 21:8).
There are four historical accounts of the person and work of Christ: "the first by Matthew, announcing the Redeemer as the promised King of the kingdom of God; the second by Mark, declaring him 'a prophet, mighty in deed and word'; the third by Luke, of whom it might be said that he represents Christ in the special character of the Saviour of sinners (Lu 7:36; 15:18); the fourth by John, who represents Christ as the Son of God, in whom deity and humanity become one. The ancient Church gave to Matthew the symbol of the lion, to Mark that of a man, to Luke that of the ox, and to John that of the eagle: these were the four faces of the cherubim" (Eze 1:10).
Date. The Gospels were all composed during the latter part of the first century, and there is distinct historical evidence to show that they were used and accepted as authentic before the end of the second century.
Mutual relation. "If the extent of all the coincidences be represented by 100, their proportionate distribution will be: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 53; Matthew and Luke, 21; Matthew and Mark, 20; Mark and Luke, 6. Looking only at the general result, it may be said that of the contents of the synoptic Gospels [i.e., the first three Gospels] about two-fifths are common to the three, and that the parts peculiar to one or other of them are little more than one-third of the whole."
Origin. Did the evangelists copy from one another? The opinion is well founded that the Gospels were published by the apostles orally before they were committed to writing, and that each had an independent origin. (See Matthew, Gospel according to.)
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Then He went all over Galilee, as He continued teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and curing any disease or malady among the people.
Now one of the Pharisees invited Him to take dinner with him. So He came to the Pharisee's house and took His place at the table.
I will get up and go to my father, and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your opinion;
The next day we left there and went on to Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.
And how can men preach unless they are sent to do so? As the Scripture says, "How beautiful are the feet of men who bring the glad news of His good things!"
And He has given some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers,
Fausets
From the Old English god spel, "good news." The providential preparations for the gospel attest its divine origin.
(1) The translation at Alexandria of the Old Testament into Greek (by the Septuagint), rendering the Jewish Scriptures accessible through that then universal language of the refined and polite to the literary of all nations. All possibility of questioning the existence or falsifying the contents of Old Testament prophecy was precluded thereby, however much the Jews who rejected Jesus would have wished to alter the prophecies which plainly identified Him as the foretold Messiah. The canon of the Old Testament having been completed, and prophecy having ceased before the Sept. translation, they could not deny that the divine knowledge derivable from it was complete.
(2) Greek and oriental philosophy had drawn attention to religious and moral speculations, which at once exposed and undermined paganism, and yet with all its endless labors gave no satisfactory answer to the questionings and cravings of man's spiritual being.
(3) The Roman empire had broken down the barriers between E. and W. and united almost the whole world, Asia, Africa, and Europe, in one, and established peace and good order, making possible the rapid transmission of the glad tidings from country to country; compare Lu 2:1; Mt 22:21.
(4) The universal expectation in the East of a great king to arise in Judea, probably due to fragments of revelation (as the prophecy of Balsam, Nu 24:17) such as led the wise men of the East to conic seeking "the king of the Jews."
(5) The settling of the Jews, and the consequent erection of synagogues, throughout all the towns of Asia. Greece, Italy, Africa, and western Europe. Hence by the reading of the law and the prophets in the synagogues everywhere each sabbath proselytes of righteousness were gathered from the Gentiles, such as the eunuch or chamberlain of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, a student of Scripture, Cornelius the centurion who "feared God with all his house, and gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always."
These not being bound under the ceremonial yoke, as the original Jews, formed a connecting link with the Gentiles; and hence at Antioch in Pisidia, when the Jews rejected the preaching of Paul and Barnabas, these proselytes, with the Gentiles, "besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath, ... and on that day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God" (Ac 13:15-44). So at Iconium (Ac 14:1), and at Thessalonica (Ac 17:1-4). Such were the "devout men, out of every nation under heaven," the collected representatives of the world, to whom Peter preached with such success (Ac 2:4-11). The 3,000 converts of that day and the 5,000 of a few days after (Ac 4:4) would act as missionaries on their return to their several nations. To the Jews first in each synagogue abroad the apostles preached, and gathered many converts from among them; and then to the Gentiles.
The Jews' national rejection of Jesus is no valid objection to the gospel, since He foretold it Himself (Mt 16:21; 26:2), and the Old Testament prophets did so too (Isa 49:16,21,26/type/williams'>26,26/type/williams'>26; Psalm 22); so that, fixing their eyes on the prophecies of Messiah's glory and kingdom which they wrested to mean His setting up a temporal kingdom at Jerusalem and overthrowing the Roman existing dominion, and shutting their eyes to the prophecies of His humiliation, "they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath," and yet in spite of themselves, like their types Joseph's brethren (Ge 50:20), "they have fulfilled them in condemning Him" (Ac 13:27; 3:18). The harmony in Christ of prophecies seemingly so opposite, His temporal and temporary humiliation, and yet His spiritual dominion now and His final visible and everlasting kingdom, furnish conclusive proof of the Divinity of prophecies which no human sagacity could have anticipated or human agency fulfilled.
The correspondence of the gospel event to the predictions of the Old Testament is thus established by the Jews, unwilling witnesses and therefore beyond suspicion. Graves (Pentateuch, 2:3,6) well says, had they universally embraced the gospel at its first publication, the sceptic might allege the prophecies to have been fabricated or altered to fit them to the events; the contrary is now certain. This is one great cause why the national conversion of the Jews is delayed "until the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in" (Ro 11:35). They continue guardians of the prophetic records until these shall have had their contents examined, and their application ascertained, by every other nation in the world. Genuineness and inspiration of the Four Gospels. The "prophets" in the Christian church who had the spiritual gift of "discerning spirits" were an effectual check on the introduction of a pseudo-inspired writing. Paul appeals to them on the inspiration of his letters (1Co 14:37; 12:10; compare 1Jo 4:1).
Thus, by the two-fold inspiration, that of the authors and that of the judges, the canonicity of the four Gospels, as of the other books of New Testament, is established. The anonymous fragment of the canon of the New Testament attributed to Caius a presbyter of Rome (published by Muratori, Antiq. Ital., iii. 854, and known as the Muratorian Fragment), recognizes the Gospels (Luke and John, the sentences as to Matthew and Mark are obliterated) as inspired, and condemns as uninspired the Shepherd by Hermes, "written very recently in our own times," i.e. in the first part of the second century, the age in which John the last apostle died. Theophilus (Ad Autol., iii. 11), Bishop of Antioch A.D. 168, refers to "the evangelists" and "the Holy Scriptures" of the New Testament. Clement of Alexandria in the latter part of the second century refers to the collection of Gospels as one whole, "the gospel" (Quis Dives Salvus?).
The anonymous letter to Diognetus (sec. 11 ed. Hefele) attributed to Justin Martyr refers to "the Gospels and the Apostles" (i.e. the letters). Ignatius of Antioch, a hearer of John (Ep. ad Philad., sec. 5), calls "the (written) Gospel the flesh of Jesus," and classes it with the Old Testament prophets. Tertullian (Adv. Marc. iv. 2), mentioning the Four Gospels two as the work of apostles and two as that of apostolic men (A.D. 208); Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., ii. 27; iii. 11, sec. 7); martyred A.D. 202; Origen, speaking of the four Gospels as "the elements of the church's faith"; Eusebius; and not only these orthodox writers but heretics, Marcion dud others, appeal to the Gospels as the inspired standard Canon. (See CANON.) .
They were translated into Syriac in the second century, and into Latin and the two Egyptian dialects by the fourth century. We have better evidence for their genuineness than for any other ancient writing. Theophilus arranged the Four Gospels so as to form one work (Jerome, Ep. ad Algas., iv. 197). Tartan, who died A.D. 170, formed a Diatessaron or harmony of the Four Gospels. Barnabas (Paul's companion), Clement of Rome (Php 4:3), and Polycarp quote the Gospels, though not with verbal exactness. Justin Martyr quotes Matthew, Luke, and John largely and exactly. As the heretic Gnostics and Marcion arose early in the second century their acceptance of the Gospels proves that these had been promulgated some time before (i.e. in the apostolic age itself), for after the dissensions between the orthodox and heretics had arisen the Gospels would never have been accepted by mutually hostile parties.
A distinct line was drawn between the apocryphal and the genuine Gospels. Unbelievers, as Celsus in controversy with Origen, could not deny the genuineness of the four even while rejecting their contents. The fathers' large quotations (Origen's especially) prove our Gospels were the same as theirs. Our Saviour wrote nothing Himself, the alleged letter to Abgarus, king of Edessa, being probably spurious. If He had (like Muhammed) recorded His own miracles and teachings, internal consistency would have been nothing marvelous. People would have deified the form, while failing to discern the inner essence. "If I bear witness of Myself My wit
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And a scribe came up and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you may go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, even wild birds have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." read more. Another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go back and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
When He reached the other side, in the district of Gadara, there faced Him two men, who were under the power of demons, who were just coming out from the tombs. They were such terrors that nobody could pass that way.
And as He was passing along from there, He saw a man named Matthew in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed Him.
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector, James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus,
And He said, "Come." And Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water, and he went toward Jesus.
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for it is not man that made this known to you, but my Father in heaven.
It was just after that that Jesus Christ for the first time clearly taught His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem and submit to many forms of suffering at the hands of the elders, high priests, and scribes, and be killed, but be raised to life on the third day.
When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and asked, "Does your Teacher pay the temple tax?"
When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and asked, "Does your Teacher pay the temple tax?" He answered, "Yes." When Jesus reached home -- He got there ahead of Simon -- He asked him, "What do you think about it, Simon? From whom do civil rulers collect duties or taxes, from their own citizens or from aliens?" read more. He answered, "From aliens." Jesus said to him, "So their own citizens are exempt, but still, that we may not influence them to do anything wrong, go down to the sea and throw over a hook. Pull in the first fish that bites, open its mouth and you will find in it a dollar. Take it and pay the tax for both of us."
They answered, "Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Pay Caesar, therefore, what belongs to Caesar, and pay God what belongs to God."
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that has kept on murdering the prophets, and stoning those who have been sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused!
"You know that in two days the Passover Feast will take place, and the Son of Man will be turned over to be crucified."
and said, "This man said, 'I can tear down the temple of God, and build it again in three days.'"
The eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them,
Then Jesus came up to them, and said, "Full authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptize them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, read more. and teach them to practice all the commands that I have given you. And I myself will surely be with you all the days, down to the very close of an age."
And He stayed in the desert forty days, while He was being tempted by Satan; yea, He was with the wild beasts, but the angels continued to wait upon Him.
He at once called them. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went after Him.
And as He was passing by, He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting in the tax-collector's office, and He said to him, "Follow me." Then he got up and followed Him.
So Jesus looked around at them in anger, because He was pained over their stubbornness of mind, and said to the man, "Hold out your hand." And he held it out, and his hand was cured.
James the son of Zebedee, and John, James's brother (He named them Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder),
So He took him off from the crowd by himself and put His fingers in his ears and touched his tongue with saliva. Then He looked up to heaven and sighed, as He said, "Ephphatha," which means, "Be opened."
And all the people were utterly amazed when they saw Him, and ran up to Him and greeted Him.
Then they left there and were making a trip through Galilee, and He did not want anybody to know it; for He was now teaching His disciples, and saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be turned over into men's hands, and they will kill Him, but three days after that He will rise again." read more. But they did not understand what this statement meant, and they were afraid to ask Him. Then they reached Capernaum. When He got home, He asked them, "What were you discussing on the way home?"
But one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck at the high priest's slave and cut his ear off.
But you go and tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going back to Galilee to meet you; you will see Him there, just as He told you.'"
Since many writers have undertaken to compose narratives about the facts established among us,
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His forefather David,
Now in those days an edict was issued by the Emperor Augustus that a census of the whole world should be taken.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was governor of Galilee, and his brother Philip was governor of the territory of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was governor of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the message of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert. read more. And he went all over the Jordan valley, preaching a baptism conditioned on repentance to obtain the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the sermon-book of the prophet Isaiah: "Here is a voice of one shouting in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord, make the paths straight for Him. Every ravine must be filled up, and every mountain and hill leveled down; the crooked places must become straight roads, and the rough roads must be made smooth, And all mankind must see the salvation of God.'" So he used to say to the crowds that continued to come out there to be baptized by him: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming? Produce, then, fruit that is consistent with the repentance that you profess, and do not even begin to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather,' for I tell you, God can raise up descendants for Abraham even out of these stones. Now the axe is already lying at the roots of the trees. Every tree, then, that fails to bear good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire." So the crowds were asking him this question, "What then ought we to do?" He answered them, "The man who has two shirts must share with him who has none, and the man who has food must do the same." Then even the tax-collectors came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what ought we to do?" So he said to them, "Stop collecting any more than is prescribed for you." Then some soldiers too were asking him, "What ought we too to do?" So he said to them, "Never extort money from anyone, never make a false accusation, and always be satisfied with your wages." Now while the people were on tiptoe in their expectations, and they were all arguing in their hearts about John whether he was himself the Christ, John expressly answered them all, "I am baptizing you in water only, but there is coming the One who is stronger than I am, whose shoestrings I am not fit to untie. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire; His winnowing-fork is in His hand, and He will clean out His threshing-floor, and store His wheat in His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with fire inextinguishable." So with many and varied exhortations John continued to proclaim the good news to the people. But Herod the governor, because he was repeatedly reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife, and for all the wicked deeds that Herod had done, added this on top of it all, that he put John in prison. Now when all the people had been baptized, and when Jesus had been baptized and was still praying, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit came down upon Him in bodily form as a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are my Son, my Beloved! In you I am delighted!" Now Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His work; He was the son, as was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Eli,
Then Jesus in the power of the Spirit returned to Galilee, and news of Him spread all over the surrounding country.
They did so and caught so vast a shoal of fish that their nets began to break.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' feet and said, "Leave me, Lord, because I am a sinful man."
as well as James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Stop being afraid; from now on you will be catching men."
After this He went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me."
One Sabbath He happened to be passing through the wheat fields, and His disciples were pulling and eating the heads of wheat, rubbing them in their hands.
Soon afterwards He chanced to be making a tour of Galilee from town to town and from village to village preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve went with Him,
They landed in the neighborhood of Gerasa, which is just across the lake from Galilee.
Now Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but all at once they became wide awake and saw His splendor and the two men who were standing with Him.
Jesus said to him, "Stop hindering him, for the man who is not against you is for you." Now as the time was coming to a head when He should be taken up to heaven, He firmly set His face to continue His journey to Jerusalem;
Now as the time was coming to a head when He should be taken up to heaven, He firmly set His face to continue His journey to Jerusalem;
While they were going along the road, a man said to Him, "I will follow you wherever you go." But Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, even wild birds have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." read more. He said to another man, "Follow me." But he said, "Let me first go back and bury my father." Then He answered him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but you go on and continue to spread the good news of the kingdom of God." Still another man said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say 'Goodbye' to the homefolks."
Then He was traveling from town to town and from village to village, teaching and making His way toward Jerusalem. And someone asked Him, "Lord, are only a few to be saved?" And He said to them,
Just at that time some Pharisees came up and said to Him, "Get out at once! Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you!"
"O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! The city that continues to murder the prophets, and to stone those who are sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But you refused!
Now some people were bringing even their babies to Him to have Him touch them, but the disciples, when they saw it, reproved them for it.
But they continued emphatically insisting, "He is exciting the people by teaching all over Judea. He started in Galilee and now He is here."
who told them that the Lord had really risen and had been seen by Simon.
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. So He sought out Philip and said to him, "Follow me."
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it in three days."
After this, Jesus and His disciples went into Judea, and for some time He stayed there with them and kept baptizing people.
He left Judea and went back again to Galilee. And He had to go through Samaria. read more. So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the field which Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob's spring was there. So Jesus, tired from His journey, was sitting by the spring just as He was. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For His disciples had gone into the town to buy some food. So the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that a Jew like you asks a Samaritan woman like me for a drink?" For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, "If you just knew what God has to give and who it is that said to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have been the one to ask Him, and He would have given you living water." She said to Him, "You have nothing to draw with, sir, and the well is deep. Where do you get your living water? You are not greater than our forefather Jacob, are you, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, with all his sons and flocks?" Jesus answered her, "Anyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never, no never, be thirsty again, for the water that I will give him will become a spring of water that keeps on bubbling up within him for eternal life." The woman said to Him, "Give me this water at once, sir, so I may never get thirsty again, nor have to come so far to draw water." He said to her, "Go and call your husband and come back here." The woman answered, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You were right in saying, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true." The woman said to Him, "I see that you are a prophet. Our forefathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship Him." Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans do not know what you are worshiping; we Jews do know what we are worshiping; for salvation comes from the Jews. But a time is coming -- indeed, it is already here -- when the real worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and reality, for the Father is looking for just such worshipers. God is a spiritual Being, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and reality." The woman said to Him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, the One who is called the Christ. When He comes, He will tell us everything." Jesus said to her, "I, the very one who is talking to you, am He!" Just then His disciples came up, and they were surprised to find Him talking with a woman, yet not one of them asked Him, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" The woman then left her pitcher and went back to town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who has told me everything I ever did. He is not the Christ, is He?" So the people left town and rushed out to see Him. Meanwhile the disciples were asking Him, and saying, "Teacher, eat something." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples began to say to one another, "Nobody has brought Him anything to eat, has he?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work. Are you not saying, 'In four months more the harvest comes'? Look! I tell you, lift up your eyes and scan the fields, for they are already white for harvesting. Now the reaper is already getting pay, for he is gathering a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For in this matter the adage is true, 'One sows, another reaps.' I have sent you to reap a harvest which you have not labored to make. Other men have labored, but you have reaped the results of their labors." Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony, when she said, "He has told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they kept on urging Him to stay with them; so He did stay there two days. Then a much larger number believed in Him because of what He said Himself, and they were saying to the woman, "It is not merely because of what you said that we now believe, for we have heard Him ourselves, and we know that He is really the Saviour of the world." After the two days were over, Jesus left there and went on to Galilee,
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
After this, Jesus went on moving about in Galilee; He would not do so in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill Him.
After this, Jesus went on moving about in Galilee; He would not do so in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill Him. Now the Jewish feast of Dwelling in Tents was approaching.
But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He went up too, not publicly but, as it were, privately.
It was for this reason that Jesus no more appeared in public among the Jews, but He left that part of the country and went to the district near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with His disciples.
So Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was Malchus.
After this Jesus again showed Himself to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, and this is the way He showed Himself.
Then He said to them, "Set your net on the right side of the boat, and you will catch them." They did so, and they could not drag it in for the big catch of fish. So that disciple whom Jesus used to love tenderly said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he belted on his fisherman's coat, for he had taken it off, and plunged into the sea.
I wrote my first volume, Theophilus, about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in foreign languages as the Spirit granted them to utter divine things. Now there were devout Jews from every part of the world living in Jerusalem. read more. And when this sound was heard, the crowd rushed together in great excitement, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were perfectly astounded, and in bewilderment they continued to say, "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? So how is it that each of us hears them speaking in his own native tongue? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, of Judea and Cappadocia, of Pontus and Asia, of Phrygia and Pamphylia, of Egypt and the district of Libya around Cyrene, transient dwellers from Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs -- we hear them all alike telling in our own tongues the great wonders of God."
But in this way God fulfilled what He by the lips of all the prophets foretold, that the Christ should suffer.
But many of those who heard their message believed, and the number of the men grew to about five thousand.
But Peter said, "Never by any means, sir, for I have never eaten anything common, or not ceremonially cleansed."
and after he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. Now for a whole year their meeting with the church lasted, and they taught large numbers of people. It was at Antioch too that the disciples first came to be known as "Christians."
When he became conscious of his situation, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, were a large number of people had met and were praying.
Then Paul and his party set sail from Paphos and crossed over to Perga in Pamphylia. Here John quit them and returned to Jerusalem,
After the reading of the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue worship sent to them and said, "Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you may speak." Then Paul got up and motioned with his hand and said: "Fellow Israelites, and you who reverence God, listen! read more. The God of this people Israel chose our forefathers, and made this people important during their stay in Egypt, and then with an uplifted arm He led them out of it. Then after He had fed them forty years in the desert, He destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave them their land as an inheritance for about four hundred and fifty years. And after that He gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then they demanded a king, and for forty years God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin. Then He deposed him and raised up for them David to be king, to whom He bore this testimony, 'I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all that my will requires.' It is from this man's descendants that God, as He promised, has brought to Israel a Saviour in the person of Jesus, as John, before His coming, had already preached baptism as an expression of repentance, for all the people of Israel. As John was closing his career, he said, 'What do you take me to be? I am not the Christ; no, but He is coming after me, and I am not fit to untie the shoes on His feet.' Brothers, descendants of the race of Abraham, and all among you who reverence God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent. For the people of Jerusalem and their leaders, because they were ignorant of Him, by condemning Him have actually fulfilled the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath,
For the people of Jerusalem and their leaders, because they were ignorant of Him, by condemning Him have actually fulfilled the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, and although they could not find Him guilty of a capital offense, they begged Pilate to have Him put to death. read more. When they had carried out everything that had been written in the Scriptures about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead, and for many days He appeared to those who had come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now witnesses for Him to the people. So now we are bringing you the good news about the promise that was made to our forefathers, that God has fulfilled it to us their children, by raising Jesus to life, just as the Scripture says in the Second Psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have become your Father.' Now as a proof that He has raised Him from the dead, no more to return to decay, He has spoken this, 'I will fulfill to you the holy promises made to David.' Because in another psalm he says, 'You will not let your Holy One experience decay.' For David, after having served God's purpose in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his forefathers, and so he did experience decay, but He whom God raised to life did not experience it. So, my brothers, you must understand that through Him the forgiveness of your sins is now proclaimed to you, and that through union with Him every one of you who believes is given right standing with God and freed from every charge from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. So take care that what is said in the prophets does not come upon you: 'Look, you scoffers! Then wonder and vanish away, for I am doing a work in your times which you will not at all believe though one may tell you in detail.'" As they were leaving the synagogue, the people kept begging that all this be repeated to them the next sabbath, and after the congregation had broken up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism allied themselves with Paul and Barnabas, and they kept talking to them and urging them to continue to rely on the unmerited favor of God. The next sabbath almost the whole town turned out to hear God's message.
At Iconium too they went to the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks came to believe.
Paul, however, did not consider such a man fit to take along with them, the man who deserted them in Pamphylia and did not go on with them to the work.
Now they traveled on through Amphipolis and Apollonia until they reached Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue. So Paul, as he usually did, went to the synagogue, and for three sabbaths discussed with them the Scriptures, read more. explaining them and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and said, "This very Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ." So some of them were convinced, and they joined Paul and Silas; also quite a number of devout Greeks and not a few women of the first rank.
After spending some time there, he started out again, and by a definite schedule traveled all over Galatia and Phrygia, imparting new strength to all the disciples.
For in the law of Moses it is written, "You must not muzzle an ox that is treading out your grain." Is it that God is concerned about oxen only? Is He not really speaking on our behalf? Yes, indeed, this law was written on our behalf, because the plowman ought to plow and the thresher ought to thresh, in the hope of sharing in the crop.
to another, power for working wonders; to another, prophetic insight; to another, the power to discriminate between the true Spirit and false spirits; to another, various ecstatic utterances; and to another, the power to explain them.
If anyone claims to have the prophetic spirit, or any other spiritual gift, let him recognize that what I now am writing is the Lord's command.
I am sending with him the well-known brother whose praise for spreading the good news is ringing through all the churches.
Now when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before the coming of certain people from James, he was in the habit of eating with heathen Christians, but after they came, he began to draw back and hold aloof from them, because he was afraid of the circumcision party. read more. The rest of the Jewish Christians, too, joined him in this pretense so that even Barnabas was influenced to join them in their pretense. But when I saw that they were not living up to the truth of the good news, I said to Cephas, and that before them all, "If you are living like a heathen and not like a Jew, although you are a Jew yourself, why do you try to make the heathen live like Jews?"
And I solemnly beg you, my true comrade, keep on cooperating with those two women, because they shared with me the struggle in spreading the good news, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Aristarchus, my fellow-prisoner, wishes to be remembered to you; and so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas; if he comes to see you, give him a hearty welcome.
Luke is the only one who is now with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is of great service to me,
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you that are in union with Christ.
For it was not mere stories of fancy that we followed when we told you of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of His majesty.
Dearly beloved, stop believing every so-called spiritual utterance, but keep testing them to see whether they come from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Hastings
Under this heading we may consider the four Gospels as a whole, and their relations to one another, leaving detailed questions of date and authorship to the separate articles.
1. The aims of the Evangelists.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"Do not suppose that I have come to set aside the law or the prophets.
"You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You must not murder,' and 'Whoever murders will have to answer to the court.'
No one can be a slave to two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and money.
But which of you by worrying can add a single minute to his life?
But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth" -- turning to the paralyzed man, He said to Him -- "Get up, pick up your bed, and go home."
Come to me, all of you who toil and carry burdens, and I, yes, I, will lead you into rest.
And the men of that place recognized Him, and sent into all the countryside and brought to Him all who were sick,
"Why do your disciples break the rules handed down by our forefathers? For they do not practice washing their hands when they take their meals."
He answered them, "Because you have so little faith! For I solemnly say to you, if you have the faith that is living like a grain of mustard, you can say to this mountain, 'Move over from here to yonder,' and it will move over, and nothing will be impossible for you to do."
And Jesus answered them, "I solemnly say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt at all, you will not only do the sort of wonder done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Get up and throw yourself into the sea,' it will be done.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that has kept on murdering the prophets, and stoning those who have been sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused!
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that has kept on murdering the prophets, and stoning those who have been sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! Now your house is abandoned by me! read more. For I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
"When the Son of Man comes in His splendor, and all the angels with Him, He will take His seat on His splendid throne,
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah: "Here I send my messenger ahead of you; He will prepare your way.
But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth," turning to the paralyzed man He said,
For this very Herod had sent and seized John and bound him and put him in prison, just to please Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her.
For whoever is ashamed of me and my teaching in this unfaithful, sinful age, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when He comes back in His Father's splendor with the holy angels."
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom price to set many free."
While He was in Bethany, He was a guest in the home of Simon the leper, and as He was sitting at table, a woman came in with an alabaster bottle of pure nard perfume, very costly; she broke the bottle and poured the perfume on His head.
Then He said to them, "This is my blood which ratifies the covenant, the blood which is to be poured out for many.
Jesus said, "Yes, I am, and you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty and coming in the clouds of the sky!"
Now after He had risen, early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary of Magdala, out of whom He had driven seven demons. She went out and told it to His disciples, while they were mourning and weeping. read more. But although they had heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. After this He showed Himself in a different form to two of them as they were walking along, on their way into the country. Then they went back and told the rest, but they would not believe them either. Later on He appeared to the Eleven themselves while they were at table, and reproved them for their lack of faith and their stubbornness, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had been raised from the dead. Then He said to them, "You must go all over the world and preach the good news to all the creation. He who believes it and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe it will be condemned. And the following signs will attend those who believe: By using my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in foreign languages; they will take snakes in their hands; even if they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well." So the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was caught up into heaven and took His seat at God's right hand. Then they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept on working with them and confirming their message by the signs that attended it.
Since many writers have undertaken to compose narratives about the facts established among us,
Since many writers have undertaken to compose narratives about the facts established among us, just as the original eyewitnesses who became ministers of the message
just as the original eyewitnesses who became ministers of the message have handed them down to us, I too, most excellent Theophilus, because I have carefully investigated them all from the start, have felt impressed to write them out in order for you read more. that you may better know the certainty of those things that you have been taught.
But Herod the governor, because he was repeatedly reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife, and for all the wicked deeds that Herod had done,
But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth" -- turning to the man who was paralyzed, He said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet, and go home."
Now as the time was coming to a head when He should be taken up to heaven, He firmly set His face to continue His journey to Jerusalem;
Now as the time was coming to a head when He should be taken up to heaven, He firmly set His face to continue His journey to Jerusalem;
Which of you by worrying can add a single minute to his life?
"O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! The city that continues to murder the prophets, and to stone those who are sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But you refused!
No house-servant can be a slave to two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
I tell you, this man, and not the other, went back home forgiven and accepted by God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Omitted Text.
who had not voted for the plan and action of the council. He came from a Jewish town, Arimathea, and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.
So the Word became human and lived a little while among us, and we actually saw His glory, the glory of One who is an only Son from His Father, and He was full of spiritual blessing and truth.
So the Word became human and lived a little while among us, and we actually saw His glory, the glory of One who is an only Son from His Father, and He was full of spiritual blessing and truth.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, "Look! He is the Lamb of God who is to take away the world's sin.
Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him.
I did see it; and my testimony is that He is the Son of God."
He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means, the Christ).
Philip sought out Nathaniel and said to him, "We have found the One about whom Moses wrote in the law and the One about whom the prophets wrote; it is Jesus, the son of Joseph, who comes from Nazareth." Then Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
Nathaniel answered Him, "Teacher, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel!"
Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot again enter his mother's womb and be born, can he?"
So the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that a Jew like you asks a Samaritan woman like me for a drink?" For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.
She said to Him, "You have nothing to draw with, sir, and the well is deep. Where do you get your living water?
The woman said to Him, "Give me this water at once, sir, so I may never get thirsty again, nor have to come so far to draw water."
But the Jews kept on wrangling with one another and saying, "How can He give us His flesh to eat?"
He was referring to Judas, Simon Iscariot's son, for he was going to betray Him, although he was one of the Twelve.
The Jews then said to one another, "Where is He about to go that we shall not find Him? He is not going to our people scattered among the Greeks, and going to teach the Greeks, is He?
Others said, "This is the Christ." But still others said, "The Christ does not come from Galilee, does He?
Then they answered him, "You are not from Galilee, too, are you? Search the record and see that no prophet has ever come from Galilee." And each one went to his own house.
And she said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go. Stop sinning from this point on."
The Father and I are one."
It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, and it was about noon. Then Pilate said to the Jews, "There is your king!"
The man who saw it has testified to it -- and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth -- in order that you too may come to believe it.
Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to me so, for I have not yet gone up to my Father; but go to my brothers and tell them that I am going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
But these have been recorded, in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life, as bearers of His name.
If I should have the gift of prophecy, And know all secret truths, and knowledge in its every form, and have such perfect faith that I could move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing.
Smith
Gos'pels.
The name Gospel (from god and spell, Ang. Sax. good message or news, which is a translation of the Greek euaggelion) is applied to the four inspired histories of the life and teaching of Christ contained in the New Testament, of which separate accounts are given in their place. They were all composed during the latter half of the first century: those of St. Matthew and St. Mark some years before the destruction of Jerusalem; that of St. Luke probably about A.D. 64; and that of St. John towards the close of the century. Before the end of the second century, there is abundant evidence that the four Gospels, as one collection, were generally used and accepted. As a matter of literary history, nothing can be better established than the genuineness of the Gospels. On comparing these four books one with another, a peculiar difficulty claims attention, which has had much to do with the controversy as to their genuineness. In the fourth Gospel the narrative coincided with that of the other three in a few passages only. The received explanation is the only satisfactory one namely, that John, writing last, at the close of the first century had seen the other Gospels, and purposely abstained from writing anew what they had sufficiently recorded. In the other three Gospels there is a great amount of agreement. If we suppose the history that they contain to be divided into 89 sections, in 42 of these all the three narratives coincide, 12 more are given by Matthew and Mark only, 5 by Mark and Luke only, and 14 by Matthew and Luke. To these must be added 5 peculiar to Matthew, 2 to Mark and 9 to Luke, and the enumeration is complete. But this applies only to general coincidence as to the facts narrated: the amount of verbal coincidence, that is, the passages either verbally the same or coinciding in the use of many of the same words, is much smaller. It has been ascertained by Stroud that "if the total contents of the several Gospels be represented by 100, the following table is obtained: Matthew has 42 peculiarities and 58 coincidences. Mark has 7 peculiarities and 93 coincidences. Luke has 59 peculiarities and 41 coincidences. John has 92 peculiarities and 8 coincidences. Why four Gospels. --
1. To bring four separate independent witnesses to the truth.
2. It is to give the Lord's life from every point of view, four living portraits of one person. There were four Gospels because Jesus was to be commended to four races or classes of men, or to four phases of human thought,--the Jewish, Roman, Greek and Christian. Had not these exhausted the classes to be reached, there would doubtless have been more Gospels. In all ages, the Jewish, Roman and Greek natures reappear among men, and, in fact, make up the world of natural men, while the Christian nature and wants likewise remain essentially the same. The FIRST GOSPEL was prepared by Matthew for the Jew. He gives us the Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews, the Messianic royalty of Jesus. He places the life and character of Jesus, as lived on earth, alongside the life and character of the Messiah, as sketched in the prophets, showing Christianity as the fulfillment of Judaism. Mark wrote the SECOND GOSPEL. It was substantially the preaching of Peter to the Romans. The Gospel for him must represent the character and career of Jesus from the Roman point of view, as answering to the idea of divine power, work, law, conquest and universal sway; must retain its old significance and ever-potent inspiration at the battle-call of the almighty Conqueror. Luke wrote the THIRD GOSPEL in Greece for the Greek. It has its basis in the gospel which Paul and Luke, by long preaching to the Greeks, had already thrown into the form best suited to commend to their acceptance Jesus as the perfect divine man. It is the gospel of the future, of progressive Christianity, of reason and culture seeking the perfection of manhood. John, "the beloved disciple," wrote the FOURTH GOSPEL for the Christian, to cherish and train those who have entered the new kingdom of Christ, into the highest spiritual life. --Condensed from, Prof. Gregory.