ntsb 521 – DB 6 Q 2

List the advantages and disadvantages of having four Gospels instead of a single Gospel.  How would you answer a sincere question from a friend who ponders how to distinguish in the Gospels between the words of Jesus and the opinions of the early church?

How to answer the question of multiple gospels? I think that the best answer is to say that just like every other event in history there are multiple accounts. With the American Revolution we have different views about the war, in particular if you compare the American view with the British view there is quite a different perspective of the same events. What would be more amazing is if there was only one account.

One account would leave the modern reader with only one conclusion – that collusion was used to create ‘a perfect account’ of the events. Examining the differences helps create a stronger feeling of truth in the accounts because with the different personalities of the writers you get a feeling that agreement between them is because the knowledge was the same but not the perspective.

I would also explain that the writers were writing for different audiences. Just as opposite sides create different views when writers talk about an event each person will have a unique perspective to share. When looking for the words of Jesus you have to look at it and compare between the books and consider that each author would include the most relevant parts for their intended audience. This does not decrease the value of the different words or how they are presented just simply a choice of the writer much as is done now by writers.

Words and situations that are presented consistently show a lack of opinion in them. Readers will also have to accept the fact that writing during this time period was often editorialized. The writer would always include their views. A detached third-person perspective as is expected of historical and news writers now would have been an alien concept to first-century authors.

Sources:

Woo