Understanding the Differences in the Gospels Like Their First Readers Did
We’re finishing our series on The Gospels today with a look at a common – and commonly misunderstood – question: Why are there differences in the Gospels?
This was SO much fun to research; you’re going to learn a lot today!
We’re going to look at:
- The timeline of the writing of the Gospels
- What the individual authors of the gospels intended for their writings to be.
- How our own modern-day cultural context might lead us to misunderstand key truths about the gospels and their messages.
- And, we’ll look at some of the places where the gospels record events differently.
Taking You Out of the Equation
Just as we talk about needing to understand the cultural context of the events and people written about in the Bible, we need to understand our own cultural context.
At the end, we’ll talk about how you can better neutralize your unconscious, culturally-skewed expectations about the gospels. As a result, you’ll be able to minimize their influence on the very question of differences in the gospels.
How to Apply What You Learn
As a result of learning to neutralize your cultural expectations, you will grow in your ability to read the Bible for what it intends to be – and understand what it has and hasn’t been for its readers in the thousands of years that have come before us.
The Big Ideas and Helpful Highlights
Origin of the Gospel Material
Scholars believe that much of the gospels were written using shared source material. Either Mark was written first, and then used by both Luke and Matthew or the three of them all used another source document, now lost to history.
John wrote his gospel somewhat later, and probably had access to the same source materials though he tackles somewhat different ideas in his writing.
The Urgent Need for Neutral Expectations
As readers in the 21st century, we need to remember that what we expect from the text may be something that truly could not have existed at the time of its writing.
Early readers and hearers of the Gospels recognized their differences and were untroubled by them. They simply were not regarded as problematic.
A “Literal” Understanding of the Bible Is a New Idea
I’m paraphrasing Harold Atrridge (Biblical Scholar at Harvard Divinity School) in the following:
A contemporary American idea of a “literal” reading of the Bible didn’t really exist until the late 1800s or early 1900s.
This idea came about as a fundamentalist reaction to developments in Biblical scholarship in the 1800s.
Early Christians read the Bible through a different lens, with different assumptions.
They would have understood the Gospel stories to have been accounts of actual events, but would have read the texts looking for insights into the things of God, or advice for living their lives.
They simply did not have the expectation of scientific accuracy that we have today.
So, What Are the Gospels?
The Gospels, when looked at through an appropriately contextual lens, are in fact highly reliable historical material.
They are drawn largely from a single source, and details and sequencing were adapted by their writers for their specific purposes.
How This Helps You Read the Bible Better
When we look at the gospels without the unintentionally cumbersome lens of 21st century western subcultures, we get to see amazing new aspects to what they share. You will learn more about Jesus. You will understand Him in new ways. And you will grow in your relationship with Jesus more when you are able to look at the written stories of His life on earth without the limitations of your own culture-informed expectations.
And this is why we study. I am guessing that you – like me – want to read the Bible better. Learning to dig into the places that may feel scary or complicated or heavy is part of that shearing away of the excess and discovering the essential, the core, the truth.
We want it to be GOD’s message that gets bigger inside us, and what we think we understand about it to get less space.
How to Learn Even More as You Read
Explore the links below. There is a wealth of information about the nature of the gospels readily available for free online.
And if you enjoy looking at some of the nuances in the Bible, you’ll love my FREE Guide, “11 Steps to Meaningful Word Study.” Sign up below to download your FREE copy.
Here are some great materials to further explore this subject:
This article gives an answer to todays question about differences in the Gospels.
Christianity Today reproduced an essay from the HCSB Study Bible written by Robert Stein. Its original title was “Differences in the Gospels, a Closer Look.”
Some years ago, Frontline produced a documentary about Jesus. It spawned great discussion, including a later academic symposium on the subjects raised. PBS has links to the original information, plus a lot more on their site.