RE2: NEW TESTAMENT

WHAT ARE THE

GOSPELS?
Prepared by: Sir Axiel M. Engracial
 I can define the Gospel’s genre, form, and
structure.
I can explain the stages of formation in the
New Testament.

LESSON
TARGETS
INTRODUCTION

“EXPERIENCE COMES
FIRST BEFORE ANY
COURSE OF ACTION OR
PRACTICE”
 Stages of the Formation of
the New Testament
Let us try to understand how the New Testament was formed by
following the following stages:

Stage 1: Experience of Jesus Words and Deeds

People who saw Jesus were astonished for He was mighty in His
words and deeds. Because of this experience, people were attracted
to him that they followed him. But different groups had different
expectations of how a messiah should be. And the common
expectation was that of a political messiah to free them from Roman
oppression.
 Stages of the Formation of the New Testament

Stage 2: Preaching their Experience of Jesus

(1 John 1:1-4) “What I felt and experienced. I also pass on to you so

that your joy may be fulfilled; thus, whatever joy I experience you will
also experience.” Wanting to let others experience what they
experienced people started telling stories of their experiences of
Jesus and faith reflections which are passed from one tongue to
another.
 Stages of the Formation of the New Testament

Stage 3: Writing these Theological Reflections

Writing of their experiences of Jesus and their faith reflections or

theological reflections that were born from their experiences.
 Stages of the Formation of the New Testament

The Bible is at once divine and human. God and the

human author are at once the authors of the book.
God inspired or directed the human author to write
what he wrote and yet it doesn’t take away the
freedom of the person in writing it, so, that all
characteristics that go with writing a book appear.
When we say that the Bible is inspired, we are
referring to that though they were written As
humans, they are unlike human literature because
God is involved in the production. The Bible itself is
full of errors, and technical and historical
discrepancies. But we are not concerned about this
because we are not after history but its theological
meaning.
WHAT ARE THE

GOSPELS?
 WHAT ARE THE GOSPELS?

The word “Gospel,” is originally an Anglo-Saxon term

godspel meaning "good news" which literally translates
the New Testament Greek noun Evangelion. The
Greek word Evangelion is composed of two terms: “ev”
which means good and “angelion” which means news.
So Evangelion means good news. The Gospels are not
biographies for they are stories told that evoke a
certain image of Jesus for a particular audience. The
four Gospels that we find in the New Testament are
the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
 WHAT ARE THE GOSPELS?

a. The Gospels are not Eyewitness Accounts

If you take the Gospels as a factual account of the life of Jesus, you may
find it not all synchronized. Some Gospels include the story of the nativity
of Jesus while the others don’t. It is wrong to read the Gospels as
eyewitness accounts nor as a historical record and so on. The Gospels
are not intended to be read that way for they are stories told. In the
Gospels, we are dealing with theologians, people who are reflecting
theologically on Jesus. So, for a deeper understanding of Jesus and the
Gospels, we should read it not so much as history but more of a theology.
For like the early Christians, the Gospels should be used as stories for
moral enlightenment.
 WHAT ARE THE GOSPELS?

b. Commonalities and Differences in the Gospels

All the Gospels in the New Testament do share Jesus. They are all
interested not simply in repeating Jesus but also in interpreting Jesus. The
four Gospels may vary from one another in telling who Jesus was and this
is because change is consistent with theology and the need of the
audience. That is why in the overview of the four Gospels we have
mentioned that the target audience and the background of the author
affect the way of interpreting who Jesus was in each particular gospel.
Let us try to look at the Story of the Agony in the garden of Mark and
John to see the distinctions: (Read Mark 14: 32-42 and John 18: 1-9).
 WHAT ARE THE GOSPELS?

Mark tells the story in which Jesus before the night he dies was on the
ground begging God; “If this all could pass, but I will do what you want." In
Mark's Gospel Jesus is on the ground and is not in control of the situation
while in John's gospel whole cohort of the Jerusalem forces to come out
to capture Jesus but ended up with their faces on the ground. And Jesus
says "Let my disciples go.” Which portrays a Jesus who was not on the
ground and who was in control of the situation.
“God, I’m scared, what
if this doesn’t work?”
 But there are some things that you cannot be
sure of,
You must take a chance. If you wait for perfect
weather, you will never plant your seeds. If you
are afraid that every cloud will bring rain, you
will never harvest your crops.

“God, I’m scared, what You don’t know where the wind blows. And you
if this doesn’t work?” don’t know how a baby grows in its mothers
womb. In the same way, you don’t know what
God will do - and he makes everything happen.

ECCLESIASTES 11:4-5
ANY QUESTIONS OR
CLARIFICATIONS?
THANK YOU AND
GOD BLESS Y’ALL!
RE2: NEW TESTAMENT

GOSPELS
GENRE, FORM,
AND STRUCTURE

Prepared by: Sir Axiel M. Engracial

 A. The Genre of the Gospels
The New Testament scholars were unanimous in the opinion that the
Gospels are whatever else they might be but the Gospels are certainly
not biographies.

1. Gospels are not biographies or historical reconstructions about

Jesus for they are stories told that evoke a certain image of Jesus
from a particular audience. In the Gospels, we deal with theologians,
not historians.

2. Gospels are not logical or systematic syntheses of the truth and

the precepts taught by Christ
 A. The Genre of the Gospels

3. Gospels are not four versions that are radically different about the
same event.

4. Neither are they versions that are similar in all and therefore are
simply repetitions that can be interchangeable.

5. Gospels are not direct or live and immediate records of the facts at
the moment they happened. They are stories told from generation to
generation through words of mouth which we call oral tradition which
later on put into writings.
 B. Gospel as Form

The four Gospels were written anonymously between 60-100 AD

and assembled into a collection about 125 AD. The authors did not
provide them with titles, and others added them later. The earliest
Gospel titles consisted of just two words, the Greek preposition
kata which means “according to” followed by the name of the
Evangelist.
 C. Gospel Structure
Evangelists chose to maintain the appearance of a chronological-
order narrative. Mark (closely followed by Matthew) includes formal
features of the Greek tragedy:

1. Introduction or exposition
2. Rising action or complication
3. Climax or crises
4. Falling action
5. Catastrophe
6. Conclusion
 C. Gospel Structure
The Gospels also include oral forms that are categorized into
narrative type and discourse type. The narrative type includes
miracle stories, pronouncement stories, and stories about Jesus
while the discourse type includes parables and sayings or
aphorisms.

The content of the Gospels is a stereotyped presentation of the

public career of Jesus beginning either with his Divine commission
mediated through John the Baptist (Mark and John) or with his
ancestry and birth (Matthew and Luke), and concluding with his
death and resurrection (All the Gospels), his commission to the
disciples (Matthew and Luke) and ascension (Luke).
Imagine you're a student tasked with writing a
group report on a significant event from your
school year. Each of you witnessed different
aspects of the event, and you all have unique
perspectives. To create a comprehensive
report, you gather everyone's accounts,
discuss and compare details, and then
collaboratively craft a cohesive narrative. Just
like the authors of the Gospels, you're piecing
together the story of an important event from
various perspectives to convey its significance
to others.

How do you ensure the accuracy
and reliability of your report,
considering factors like bias,
varying perspectives, and the
passage of time, similar to the
challenges faced by the Gospel
writers?
Imagine you're a student tasked with writing a
group report on a significant event from your
school year. Each of you witnessed different
aspects of the event, and you all have unique
perspectives. To create a comprehensive
report, you gather everyone's accounts,
discuss and compare details, and then
collaboratively craft a cohesive narrative. Just
like the authors of the Gospels, you're piecing
together the story of an important event from
various perspectives to convey its significance
to others.
ANY QUESTIONS OR
CLARIFICATIONS?
THANK YOU AND
GOD BLESS Y’ALL!