The Formation of the Gospels
Some Chronological Order
• Year 0
Jesus is born (but it’s probably more likely
anywhere from 7 BCE to 4 CE)
• Year 30 to 33
Jesus is crucified
CE- Common Era
The Genre Known as Gospel…
• Meaning ‘good news’
• Deals solely with life and teachings of
Jusus
• Matt and Mark begin with birth
• Mark and John begin with Baptism
(beginning of ministry)
• Late 60s – Early 70s
Gospel of Mark is written for the persecuted
Christian community in Rome, Christianity is
illegal at this time
• 70
The Romans destroy the Temple in Jerusalem,
split between the Jewish community and the
Jewish followers of Jesus
• Late 70s - Late 80s
The Gospel of Matthew is written for the
Jewish followers of Jesus
• Mid to Late 80s
The Gospel of Luke is written for nonJewish Christians, Greeks living in an
urban environment
• 90 – 100
The Gospel of John is written for an
unknown Jewish Community
The Three Stages of the
Development of the Gospels
• Stage 1: The Lived Experience
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as
experienced by the disciples
• Stage 2: The Oral Tradition
the stories and sayings of Jesus were kept
alive
orally among the followers of Jesus
• Stage 3: The Written Gospels
as the eye witnesses of Jesus began to die
the members of the Christianity
community began to put these oral stories
into written form
The Synoptic Gospels
• Synoptic means “same view”, Mark,
Matthew and Luke are called the Synoptic
Gospels as they follow the same general
pattern
• Narrate same incidents, use similar
phrasing (sometimes identical phrasing!)
• Matthew and Luke seem to have had
another source named “Q” - hypothetical
source of sayings and stories found in
Matthew and Luke but not in Mark
• the Gospel of John in unlike the Synoptic
Gospels, it has a unique writing style and
contains passages found only in John’s
Gospel
• John’s gospel more concerned with Jesus’
divine nature and relationship to God,
synoptics emphasize his messianic
vocation and everyday religious and
ethical matters.
Matthew’s Gospel
• Written in Antioch (modern day Turkey)
around 80 CE
• For a Jewish community who became first
Christians
• Warnings to stay united, refrain from
judgement, accept sinners, form stable
structure (church).
Matthew’s Focus…
• Jesus as ultimate teacher and authority on
earth
• Traced back through genealogy to King
David
• Portrayed as on who brings
teachings/ethics of Moses to perfection
(New Torah)
The Sermon on the Mount: The
Five Contrasts
• In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s
gospel Jesus makes a series of contrasts
between the law of the prophets and that
of his teaching.
• He doesn’t abolish the Torah, but rather
gives it deeper meaning…
In-class assignment…
• Make notes on the 5 contrasts listed below as
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outlined in your text on pages 93-94.
What did the original law of Moses say? How
does Jesus give a new interpretation to the laws
and customs of the Jewish ppl?
1. concerning anger
2. concerning adultery and divorce
3. concerning oaths
4. concerning retaliation
5. love for enemies