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differences of Luke and Matthew gospel thesis
compare the gospel of matthew and luke
gospel portrayals of jesus
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In the Gospels according to Matthew and that according to Luke, Jesus’ birth and childhood is narrated. While both of these accounts mention Jesus as not only being the son of Joseph and his virgin wife Mary but also the Son of God, they also have numerous differences between the two. When compared and contrasted many scholars find historical inaccuracies between the two Gospels (especially when it comes to the birth and childhood of Jesus). That being said however, after a closer look at some of the historical problems one may be able to see that they are not nearly as important as the deeper motivation they bring out to the reader about God’s kingdom, the Jewish people, and even the Gentiles.
Matthew and Luke each contain short but elaborate birth narratives concerning Jesus. Within each of their narratives, both Matthew and Luke mention the genealogies of Jesus which when compared to each other are quite different. In Matthews gospel, he traces Jesus’ ancestry back to that “of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1). While in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is traced back through David and Abraham to Adam and God. Now, even though both Matthew and Luke’s genealogies are not the same, what is even more concerning is that neither is overly correct. In regards to Matthews take on Jesus’ genealogy, one can see that his “genealogy suggests — indeed, it almost demonstrates— that the entire course of Israel’s history has proceed according to divine providence” (Ehrman116). However, historians today know roughly two thirds of Jesus’ genealogy and when checked against other sources, the sequence that Matthew alludes to does not hold up. Many names were omitted, and probably done so because if he had included them Jes...
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...ely historically correct in order to show important he would be to the people.
Ultimately, both Matthew and Luke’s gospels have different and and even inaccurate historical information in their birth narratives of Jesus. However, as you saw from the two main examples I gave, the chances are that both authors were more focused on showing the reader just how important Jesus was going to be in relation to Gods kingdom, the Jewish people, as well as the Gentiles. In the end, the gospels were probably not written more to show deeper meaning than accurate historical information.
Works Cited
Coogan, Michael D., et al. The new Oxford annotated Bible : with the Apocrypha. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.
Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament : a historical introduction to the early Christian writings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
This work is also said to be anonymous, and believed to have been produced in Syria within a large Jewish and Jewish-Christian community. It is apparent from a number of shared accounts, and overlapping stories of Jesus that the author of Matthew’s Gospel used Mark as a source. Although many of the stories are expanded upon, and carry different connotations, the same basic stories are found in all of the synoptic gospels, and because Mark was the first written, scholars assume it was a source used by both Matthew and Luke. It should also be noted that many of Jesus’ teachings in Matthew were not found in Mark. This led scholars to search for a second source, which resulted in the Q document. Although not available as a feasible document, Q designates a compilation of Jesus’ parables and sayings from about 50 to 70 CE, which are present in Matthew (Harris p.156). Throughout the gospel, Matthew uses formula quotations, meaning he quotes from the Old Testament. This strong relationship with the Hebrew Bible helps scholars determine that Matthew wanted to emphasize his Jewish position. This is important because his interpretations of Jesus throughout the gospel are not agreed upon by all Jews, in fact only a small fraction. Although it is obvious to the readers than John and Matthew carry very different stories of Jesus’ life, it is interesting to
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
E: This is all rather interesting, but what does the Gospel of Matthew of concerning Jesus’s lineage. In other words, how do they back up his “messiahship”?
Luke’s gospel contains stories not found in the other gospels. In Luke’s gospel, the references to Mary are: 1:26-38, the Annunciation, 1:39-56, Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth,2:1-7, the birth of Mary’s son Jesus,2:21-38, Mary takes Jesus to the Temple,2:41-52, Mary and Joseph lose Jesus during a visit to Jerusalem,4:16-30, Jesus is rejected at Nazareth ,8:19-21, the family of Jesus visit him dur...
^ John Arthur Thomas Robinson (1919-1983). "Redating the New Testament". Westminster Press, 1976. 369 halaman. ISBN 10: 1-57910-527-0; ISBN 13: 978-1-57910-527-3
Although the New Testament is the main source of information regarding Jesus’ life, Jews often disregard it as a reliable source of information. It was not written until two to three generations after Jesus, hence it cannot be considered a primary source. Also, from a Jewish perspective, the aim of the Gospels is not to give an accurate account of Jesus’ life and teachings; the Gospels served as missionary documents containing accounts recorded by biased evangelists. They reflect the aims of the church rather than actual facts, and their writers were more concerned with the advancement of Christianity than the transmission of factual historical information. For these reasons, it is impossible to separate the historical Jesus from the divine Christ presented in the Gospels, and Judaism regards the Gospels as unreliable and irrational.
Because it is quite different in the two books, for one thing, Luke and Matthew have different ending points. Matthew only traces the line from Abraham, whereas Luke goes all the way back to Adam. This is not a real issue but it is interesting why they would choose to do this in such different manners. The real issue is the fact that, there only a few names that match between the two. In fact, between Jesus and David only two names match, Shealtiel and Zerubbabel. This could be a real issue for believers, except for the fact that it does not really matter. Joseph was not Jesus ' true father, that is the basis of the Christian faith. This begs the question, why did Matthew and Luke both put this genealogy in if it does not pertain to Jesus in the slightest? Because that is just how it was done, when someone of great importance was written about, the history of that person 's ancestors was also given. Matthew and Luke would not have thought to not give the genealogy, it was a tradition, even if the genealogy they gave was to someone not related to
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the origin of nearly everything the Christian Church teaches about Jesus. The Gospels, in turn, serve as the scale or test of truth and authenticity of everything the church teaches about Jesus. It is said that the Gospels are the link between Jesus of Nazareth and the people of every age throughout history who have claimed to be his followers. Although the Gospels teach us about Jesus’ life they may not provide concrete evidence that what they speak of is true there are several other sources.
In the beginning of Mark, the author does not include Jesus’ genealogy or his birth story, like Matthew and Luke do. Instead, the gospel begins with John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus. Interestingly, unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark’s author also does not mention or allude to Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph. An example of the intentional omission of Joseph is when Jesus is rejected at Nazareth. In Matthew, Joseph is alluded to when people ask, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?”
The birth narrative of Matthew begins with a long genealogy of Jesus, which basically shows how Jesus is son of Abraham who is the father of the nation of Israel, and David the King of the Jews. This may not seem important but this genealogy shows how Jesus is connected to the Davidic line. Then we have Mary, who just found out she was pregnant and Joseph decides it is best to divorce her because he wanted to break his union with someone who is pregnant, by someone else. But behold the angel comes down and reassures Joseph that Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that he should take her back into his house. The angel also said to name the child Emmanuel. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and King Herod heard of this new newborn king of the Jews and he ordered that all boys under the age of 2 be killed. The magi gave Jesus the gifts and left. In a dream, the angel of the lord told Joseph to take the child and go to Egypt and hide, Herod then died, and Jesus was safe.
Matthew characterizes Jesus as the prophesized Messiah that has finally arrived. Every time a significant event, Matthew highlights that these events fulfill a certain specific prophecy. One example is the revelation that the power of the Holy Spirit caused the Virgin Mary to conceive. Matthew 1:22-23 says, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” Later on, Matthew 2:18 quotes a prophecy in Jeremiah that foretold the Herod’s actions, and Matthew again quotes another prophecy in Matthew 2:15 where “the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘out of Egypt I called my son.’” This was when Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had fled to Egypt to avoid the wrath of Herod. Other important details that fulfilled prophecies are Joseph’s lineage of the House of David and Jesus’ childhood in Nazareth (which makes him a Nazarene). (Matt. 2:23) The very end picture that Matthew intends to portray is that Jesus fulfills so many specific prophecies in the Old Testament, that surely, without a doubt, Jesus was the Messiah the Jews were waiting
All four gospels present Jesus as both the Son of God and son of man. They all record His baptism, the feeding of the 5,000 from five loaves and two fishes, Mary's anointing of the Lord Jesus, His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, His betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. However, each writer does so in a slightly different way, recording additional details or emphasizing one aspect more than the others.
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
In the gospels of Mark and John, both showed a vivid portrait of Jesus in their writing. Mark’s gospel describes much more of Jesus' life, miracles, and parables as suffering servant. However, John’s gospel was written to convince people to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Nonetheless, both John and Mark present many of the crucial events of Jesus' life, including his trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.
Wenham, G.J., Moyter, J.A., Carson, D.A. and France, R.T., eds. New Bible Commentary. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1998.