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, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing any disease or sickness among the people.
One of the Pharisees asked him to have dinner with him, and he went 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 eyes;
The next day we left there and went on to Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the missionary, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.
And how are men to preach unless they are sent to do it? As the Scripture says, "How welcome is the coming of those who bring good news!"
And he has given us some men as apostles, some as prophets, some as missionaries, some as 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/goodspeed'>26,26/type/goodspeed'>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, "Master, I will follow you wherever you are going!" And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and wild birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head!" read more. And another of his disciples said to him, "Let me first go, sir, and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead!"
When he reached the other side, in the region of Gadara, two men possessed by demons came out of the tombs and confronted him; they were so extremely violent that nobody could go along that road.
Afterward, as Jesus was passing along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tollhouse, 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 out of the boat and walked on the water and went to Jesus.
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" Jesus answered, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for human nature has not disclosed this to you, but my Father in heaven!
It was then that Jesus Christ for the first time explained to his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and endure great suffering there at the hands of the elders, high priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised to life on the third day.
When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple-tax came and said to Peter, "Does not your Master pay the temple-tax?"
When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple-tax came and said to Peter, "Does not your Master pay the temple-tax?" He said, "Yes." But when he went home, Jesus spoke of it first and said, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect duties and taxes? From their own people, or from aliens?" read more. He said, "From aliens." Jesus said to him, "Then their own people are exempt. But rather than give offense to them, go down to the sea and throw in a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, open its mouth and you will find in it a dollar. Take that and pay the tax for us both."
They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Then pay the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and pay God what belongs to God!"
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! murdering the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused!
"You know that in two days the Passover Festival will come, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."
and said, "This man said, 'I can tear down the sanctuary of God, and build it up in three days.' "
And the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
And Jesus came up to them and said, "Full authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all the heathen, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit, read more. and teach them to observe all the commands that I have given you. I will always be with you, to the very close of the age."
And he remained in the desert for forty days, and Satan tried to tempt him there; and he was among the wild animals; but the angels waited on him.
He immediately called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after him.
And as he was passing along he saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.
And he looked around at them with anger, hurt by their obstinacy, and he 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, that is, Sons of Thunder),
So they reached the other side of the sea, and landed in the region of Gerasa.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd, and put his fingers in the man's ears, and touched his tongue with saliva. And he looked up to heaven and sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha!"??hich means "Open."
And all the people were amazed when they saw him, and they ran up to him and greeted him.
And they left that place and made their way through Galilee, and he did not wish anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and three days after he is killed he will rise again." read more. But they did not understand what he meant, and they were afraid to ask him about it. And they reached Capernaum. When he reached home, he asked them, "What was it that you were discussing on the way?"
But one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck at the high priest's slave and cut his ear off.
But go and say to his disciples and to Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; you will see him there, just as he told you.' "
Many writers have undertaken to compose accounts of the movement which has developed among us,
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,
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 governor of Galilee, while his brother Philip was governor of the territory of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was the governor of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, a message from God came to Zechariah's son John in the desert. read more. And he went all through the Jordan Valley preaching repentance and baptism in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins, as the book of the sermons of the prophet Isaiah says, "Hark! Someone is shouting in the desert, Get the Lord's way ready! Make his paths straight. Every hollow must be filled up, And every mountain and hill leveled. What is crooked is to be made straight, And the rough roads are to be made smooth, And all mankind is to see how God can save!" So he would say to the crowds that came out there to be baptized by him, "You brood of snakes! Who warned you to fly from the wrath that is coming? Then produce fruit that will be consistent with your professed repentance! And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather,' for I tell you, God can produce descendants for Abraham right out of these stones! But the axe is already lying at the roots of the trees. Any tree that fails to produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire." The crowds would ask him, "Then what ought we to do?" And he answered, "The man who has two shirts must share with the man who has none, and the man who has food must do the same." Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Master, what ought we to do?" He said to them, "Do not collect any more than you are authorized to." And soldiers would ask him, "And what ought we to do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money or make false charges against people, but be satisfied with your pay." As all this aroused people's expectations, and they were all wondering in their hearts whether John was the Christ, John said to them all, "I am only baptizing you in water, but someone is coming who is stronger than I am, whose shoes I am not fit to untie. He will baptize you in the holy Spirit and in fire. He has his winnowing fork in his hand, to clean up his threshing-floor, and store his wheat in his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with inextinguishable fire." So with many varied exhortations he would preach the good news to the people, but Herod the governor, whom he condemned because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the wicked things Herod had done, crowned them all by putting John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also after his baptism was praying, heaven opened and the holy Spirit came down upon him in the material shape of a dove, and there came a voice from heaven, "You are my Son, my Beloved! You are my Chosen!" Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son, it was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Eli,
Under the power of the Spirit Jesus returned to Galilee, and news of him went all over that region.
So they did so, and inclosed such 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, Master, for I am a sinful man."
and so were Zebedee's sons, James and John, who were Simon's partners. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you are to catch men!"
After this he went out, and he saw a tax-collector named Levi sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him, "Follow me!"
One Sabbath he happened to be passing through the wheat fields, and his disciples were picking the heads of wheat, and eating them, rubbing them in their hands.
Soon afterward he went about among the villages and towns preaching and telling the good news of the Kingdom of God. The Twelve went with him,
They made a landing in the neighborhood of Gerasa, which is just across the lake from Galilee.
Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but waking up they saw his glorious appearance and the two men standing by him.
Jesus said to him, "Do not try to stop him, for the man who is not against you is for you." As the time approached when he was to be taken up to heaven, he set his face toward Jerusalem,
As the time approached when he was to be taken up to heaven, he set his face toward Jerusalem,
As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and wild birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head!" read more. He said to another, "Follow me." But he said, "Let me first go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; you must go and spread the news of the Kingdom of God!" Yet another man said to him, "Master, I am going to follow you, but let me first say goodbye to my people at home."
So he went about among the towns and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, "Are only a few to be saved, Master?" He said to them,
Just then some Pharisees came up and said to him, "Go! Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you!"
O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! murdering the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused!
It happened that, on his way to Jerusalem, he passed through Samaria and Galilee.
It happened that, on his way to Jerusalem, he passed through Samaria and Galilee.
People brought babies to him to have him touch them, but the disciples, when they saw it, reproved them for it.
But they persisted and said, "He is stirring up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He began in Galilee and he has come here."
and learned from them that the Master had really risen and had been seen by Simon.
Jesus answered, "Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it in three days!"
After this Jesus went into the country of Judea with his disciples, and stayed there with them and baptized.
Now he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, read more. and Jacob's spring was there. So Jesus, tired with his journey, sat down just as he was by the spring. 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, "If you knew what God has to give, and who it is that said to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." She said to him, "You have nothing to draw water with, sir, and the well is deep. Where can you get your living water? Are you a greater man than our forefather Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, with his sons and his flocks?" Jesus answered, "Anyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but anyone who drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty, but the water that I will give him will become a spring of water within him, bubbling up for eternal life." The woman said to him, "Give me this water, sir, so that I may never be thirsty, nor have to come all this way 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 are right when you say you have no husband, for you have had five husbands and the man you are now living with is not your husband. What you say is true." The woman said to him, "I see that you are a prophet, sir. Our forefathers worshiped God on this mountain, and yet you Jews say that the place where people must worship God is at Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Believe me, the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor at Jerusalem. You worship something you know nothing about; we know what we worship, for salvation comes from the Jews. But a time is coming??t is already here!??hen the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and sincerity, for the Father wants such worshipers. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in sincerity." The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming??e who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will tell us everything!" Jesus said to her, "I who am talking to you am he!" Just then his disciples came back, and they were surprised to find him talking with a woman, yet no one of them asked him what he wanted or why he was talking with her. So the woman left her pitcher and went back to the town, and said to the people, "Come, here is a man who has told me everything I ever did! Do you suppose he is the Christ?" The people went out of the town to see him. Meanwhile the disciples urged him, saying, "Master, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Do you suppose that someone has brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is doing the will of him who has sent me, and finishing his work. Are you not saying, 'Four months more and the harvest will come'? Look, I tell you! Raise your eyes and see the fields, for they are white for harvesting. The reaper is already being paid and gathering the harvest for eternal life, so that the sower may be glad with the reaper. For here the saying holds good, 'One sows, another reaps.' I have sent you to reap a harvest on which you have not worked. Other men have worked and you have profited by their work." Many of the Samaritans in that town came to believe in him because of the testimony the woman gave when she said, "He has told me everything I ever did!" So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he did stay there two days. And a great many more believed because of what he said, and they said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your statement that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that he is really the Savior of the world." When the two days were over, Jesus went on to Galilee,
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
After this Jesus went from place to place in Galilee, for he would not do so in Judea, because the Jews were making efforts to kill him.
After this Jesus went from place to place in Galilee, for he would not do so in Judea, because the Jews were making efforts to kill him. But the Jewish camping festival was coming.
But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, then Jesus went up also, not publicly, but as though he did not wish to be observed.
In consequence of this, Jesus did not appear in public among the Jews any longer, but he left that neighborhood and went to the district near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword with him, drew it and struck at 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 he did so in this way.
"Throw your net in on the right of the boat," he said to them, "and you will find them." They did so, and they could not haul it in for the quantity of fish in it. Then the disciple who was dear to Jesus said to Peter, "It is the Master!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Master, he put on his clothes, for he had taken them off, and sprang into the sea.
In my first volume, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning
and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to say in foreign languages whatever the Spirit prompted them to utter. Now there were devout Jews from every part of the world living in Jerusalem. read more. And when this sound was heard, the crowd gathered in great excitement, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were perfectly amazed and said in their astonishment, "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears 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 Africa about Cyrene, visitors from Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs??e all hear them tell in our native tongues the mighty deeds of God."
it was in this way that God fulfilled what he by all the prophets foretold that his Christ must suffer.
But many of those who had heard what they said believed it, and their number grew to be about five thousand.
But Peter said, "Never, sir! For I have never eaten anything that was not ceremonially cleansed."
and found him and brought him to Antioch. The result was that for a whole year they met with the church, and taught large numbers of people, and it was at Antioch that the disciples first came to be known as Christians.
When he realized his situation, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where a number of people were gathered, praying.
Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and went to Perga in Pamphylia. There John left them and returned to Jerusalem,
After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue authorities sent to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have any appeal to make to the people, proceed." Then Paul got up, and motioning with his hand, said, "Men of Israel, and you who reverence God, listen! read more. The God of this people of Israel chose our forefathers, and made the people great during their stay in Egypt, and then with uplifted hand led them out of Egypt. Then after he had taken care of them for forty years in the desert, he destroyed seven nations in Canaan, and settled them upon their land for about four hundred and fifty years. After that he gave them judges, down to the time of the prophet Samuel. 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 removed him and raised David up to be their king, bearing this testimony to him: 'I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart, who will do all that I desire.' It is from his descendants that God has brought to Israel as he promised to do, a savior in Jesus, in preparation for whose coming John had preached to all the people of Israel baptism in token of repentance. Toward the end of his career, John said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he! No! Someone is coming after me, the shoes on whose feet I am not fit to untie!' Brothers! Descendants of the house of Abraham, and those others among you who reverence God! It is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. For the people of Jerusalem and their leaders refused to recognize him, and condemned him, thus fulfilling the very utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath,
For the people of Jerusalem and their leaders refused to recognize him, and condemned him, thus fulfilling the very utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, and though they could find no ground for putting him to death, they demanded of Pilate that he be executed. read more. When they had carried out everything that had been said about him in the Scriptures, 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 to Jerusalem with him from Galilee, and they are now witnesses for him to the people. So we now bring you the good news that God has fulfilled to us, their children, the promise that he made to our forefathers, 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 evidence that he has raised him from the dead, never again to return to decay, he said this: 'I will fulfil to you my sacred promises to David.' For in another psalm he says, 'You will not let your Holy One undergo decay.' Now David, after serving God's purposes in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his forefathers and did undergo decay, but he whom God raised to life did not undergo it. You must understand therefore, my brothers, that through him the forgiveness of your sins is announced to you, and that through union with him everyone who believes is cleared of every charge of which the Law of Moses could not clear you. Take care, therefore, that what is said in the prophets does not prove true of you: " 'Look, you scoffers! Then wonder and begone! For I am doing something in your times Which you will never believe even when it is related to you!' " As they were going out, the people begged to have all this said to them again on the following Sabbath, and after the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and the devout converts to Judaism went away with Paul and Barnabas, and they talked with them, and urged them to rely on the favor of God. The next Sabbath almost all the town gathered to hear God's message.
At Iconium in the same way, they went to the Jewish synagogue and spoke with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.
But Paul did not approve of taking with them a man who had deserted them in Pamphylia instead of going on with them to their work.
After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they reached Thessalonica, where the Jews had a synagogue. Paul went to it as he was accustomed to do, and for three Sabbaths he discussed the Scriptures with them, read more. explaining them and showing that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "Jesus," he said, "of whom I am telling you, is the Christ!" He convinced some of them, and they joined Paul and Silas, along with a great many devout Greeks and a number of the principal women.
After spending some time there, he started out again, and traveled systematically through Galatia and Phrygia, reassuring all the disciples.
"Or who has advanced anything to him, for which he will have to be repaid?"
For in the Law of Moses it reads, "You shall not muzzle an ox that is treading out the grain." Is it about the oxen that God is concerned? Is he not clearly speaking in our interests? Of course this law was written in our interests, because the plowman ought to plow, and the thresher to thresh, in the expectation of sharing in the crop.
another, the working of wonders, another, inspiration in preaching, another, the power of distinguishing the true Spirit from false ones, another, various ecstatic utterances, and another, the ability to explain them.
If anyone claims to be inspired to preach, or to have any other spiritual endowment, let him understand that what I am now writing you is a command from the Lord.
I am sending with him his brother, who is famous in all the churches for his work in spreading the good news.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, for his own conduct condemned him. For until some people came from James, he used to eat with the heathen, but after they came, he began to draw back and hold aloof, for fear of the party of circumcision. read more. The other Jewish Christians followed his example in concealing their real views, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their pose. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the good news, I said to Cephas, right before them all, "If you live like a heathen, and not like a Jew, though you are a Jew yourself, why should you try to make the heathen live like Jews?"
And I beg you, my true comrade, help them, for they toiled at my side in spreading the good news, 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 Barnabas' cousin Mark. (About him you have had instructions; if he comes to see you, make him welcome.)
No one but Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is of great assistance to me,
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you that are in union with Christ.
For they were no fictitious stories that we followed when we informed you of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his coming, but we had been eye-witnesses of his majesty.
Dear friends, do not believe every inspired utterance, but test the utterances to see whether they come from God, for many false prophets have come 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 do away with the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to do away with them but to enforce them.
"You have heard that the men of old were told 'You shall not murder,' and 'Whoever murders will have to answer to the court.'
No slave can belong to two masters, for he will either hate one and love the other, or stand by one and make light of the other. You cannot serve God and money.
But which of you with all his worry can add a single hour to his life?
But I would have you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, pick up your bed and go home!"
Come to me, all of you who toil and are burdened, and I will let you rest.
And the men of the place recognized him, and sent all over that district and brought to him all who were sick,
"Why do your disciples break the rules handed down by our ancestors? For they eat their bread without first washing their hands."
He said to them, "Because you have so little faith. For I tell you, if you have faith the size of a grain of mustard, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here over to there!' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Jesus answered, "I tell you, if you have faith and have no doubt, you will not only do what I have 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! murdering the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused!
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! murdering the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused! Now I leave you to yourselves. read more. For I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed be he who comes in the Lord's name!' "
"When the Son of Man comes in his splendor, with all his angels with him, he will take his seat on his glorious throne,
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "Here I send my messenger on before you; He will prepare your way;
But to let you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth," turning to the paralytic he said,
For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him and put him in prison, on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her.
For if anyone is ashamed of me and my teachings in this unfaithful and sinful age, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes back in his Father's glory, with the holy angels."
For the Son of Man himself has not come to be waited on, but to wait on other people, and to give his life to free many others."
Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, and as he was at table, a woman came in, with an alabaster flask of pure nard perfume, very expensive; she broke the flask and poured the perfume on his head.
And he said to them, "This is my blood which ratifies the agreement, and is to be poured out for many people.
But Jesus said, "I am! and you will 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, from whom he had driven out seven evil spirits. She went and told it to his old companions, while they were mourning and weeping. read more. When they heard that he was alive and that she had seen him, they would not believe it. Afterward he showed himself in a different form to two of them as they were walking along, on their way into the country. They went back and told the rest, but they would not believe them. Still later he appeared to the Eleven themselves when they were at table, and reproached them for their obstinacy and want of faith, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead. And he said to them, "Go to the whole world and proclaim 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 signs like these will attend those who believe: with my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in foreign tongues; they will take snakes in their hands, and if they drink poison 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. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed their message by the signs that attended it.
Many writers have undertaken to compose accounts of the movement which has developed among us,
Many writers have undertaken to compose accounts of the movement which has developed among us, just as the original eye-witnesses who became teachers of the message have handed it down to us.
just as the original eye-witnesses who became teachers of the message have handed it down to us.
just as the original eye-witnesses who became teachers of the message have handed it down to us. For that reason, Theophilus, and because I have investigated it all carefully from the beginning, I have determined to write a connected account of it for Your Excellency, read more. so that you may be reliably informed about the things you have been taught.
but Herod the governor, whom he condemned because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the wicked things Herod had done,
But to let you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"??urning to the man who was paralyzed he said to him??"I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!"
As the time approached when he was to be taken up to heaven, he set his face toward Jerusalem,
As the time approached when he was to be taken up to heaven, he set his face toward Jerusalem,
Which of you with all his worry can add a single hour to his life?
O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! murdering the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused!
No servant can belong to two masters, for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will stand by one and make light of the other. You cannot serve God and money!"
I tell you, it was he who went back to his house with God's approval, and not the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted."
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who had not voted for the plan or action of the council. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea and lived in expectation of the Kingdom of God.
So the Word became flesh and blood and lived for a while among us, abounding in blessing and truth, and we saw the honor God had given him, such honor as an only son receives from his father.
So the Word became flesh and blood and lived for a while among us, abounding in blessing and truth, and we saw the honor God had given him, such honor as an only son receives from his father.
Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb over again and be born?"
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 water with, sir, and the well is deep. Where can you get your living water?
The woman said to him, "Give me this water, sir, so that I may never be thirsty, nor have to come all this way to draw water."
This led the Jews to dispute with one another. They said, "How can he give us his flesh to eat?"
He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though he was one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.
Then the Jews said to one another, "Where is he going, that we shall not find him? Is he going to our people scattered among the Greeks, and will he teach the Greeks?
Others said, "This is the Christ!" But they rejoined, "What! Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
They answered, "Are you from Galilee too? Study and you will find that no prophet is to appear from Galilee." OMITTED TEXT
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The Father and I are one."
It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, and it was about noon. And Pilate said to the Jews, "There is your king!"
The man who saw it testifies to it??is testimony is true; he knows that he is telling the truth??o lead you also to believe.
Jesus said to her, "You must not cling to me, for I have not yet gone up to my Father, but go to my brothers and say to them that I am going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
But these have been recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through believing you may have life as his followers.
If I am inspired to preach and know all the secret truths and possess all knowledge, and if I have such perfect faith that I can 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.