Exploring the Bible: The Life of Jesus in the Gospels

There seems to be no end to the books that have been and will be written about Jesus. Which is, of course, what John tells us at the end of his gospel: “…I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (Jn. 21:25b).

What this means for us, far from it being a fruitless endeavor into the life of Jesus, is that we don’t need to go searching through all the books that have been written—and will be written someday. Instead, we can look intently at the four short stories about Jesus’s life found in the New Testament: the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In those four short stories we’ll find enough on the life of Jesus to last us our lives.

On the evening of September 30 and the morning of October 1, Lord willing, we’ll be able to do exactly that—look intently at the life of Jesus through the four gospels. During the “Exploring the Bible” seminar for 2022, we’ll follow the stories told by the four gospel writers as they tell the story of Jesus, beginning with his birth (even the time before his birth as John tells it), his call to and the events of his public ministry, his confrontation with the religious leaders and with Rome, and his eventual death and resurrection from the dead.

I hope you’ll consider joining us for the “Exploring the Bible” seminar on “The Life of Jesus in the Gospels”.

Register for the seminar now!

Can You Really Trust Luke to Tell a True Story?

It doesn’t take long to see how people’s memories (short-term or long-term) aren’t always the most reliable.

Ask ten people what happened thirty-minutes after a car accident and you’d really have to do some work to determine what actually took place. Did the driver of the red truck run the stop sign or was it actually the blue sedan driver’s fault that caused the crash in the intersection? There would probably be eyewitnesses arguing over the colors of vehicles involved. It wasn’t a blue sedan, it was a green sedan!

What do we do, then, when it comes to the gospels and their supposed “eyewitness testimony”? Can we trust them?

Some say absolutely not. The fact that these stories are put together through the memories of folks who witnessed certain things being done and said by Jesus doesn’t make any of them true.

I, however, have a different opinion on the matter.

It makes a difference to me whether or not the writers of the gospels were concerned to get the stories right or just to tell a good story. There’s no doubt that the stories are compelling and fascinating, but that means very little if the authors didn’t care to get the details correct.

Luke, whoever he was, is helpful here.

He almost certainly authored both the Gospel of Luke and Acts. Two distinct stories that revolved around the person of Jesus and how he changed the world. Interestingly, both writings are dedicated to the same person: Theophilus (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1). And, in the gospel, Luke makes at least two things clear: 1) his purpose for writing and 2) the care he took in putting the stories together. Two things that can help us trust him as he tells these stories.

The first: his purpose in writing. Luke writes, “it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:3-4, ESV).

Luke is straightforward with his purpose. He wrote his gospel because it seemed good to him. And it seemed good to him because he had been following these things (Jesus’ life and all that came along with it) closely. Therefore, Luke wrote an orderly account. Note that. Luke didn’t just write an account of what took place; he wrote and orderly account. That goes a long way to show us his motivation and the care he took in bringing this gospel to life.

Luke also says that he wrote his gospel for Theophilus so that he would have certainty concerning the things he had been taught. Theophilus had known some of these Jesus stories because he had been taught them, and Luke wants him to be confident in what he has been taught. In other words, Luke wants Theophilus to be know that he has been told the truth.

The second thing Luke makes clear: he spoke with many eyewitnesses to get the stories correct. Luke writes, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us” (Luke 1:1-2, ESV).

Luke says that many people have taken it upon themselves to put together stories about the life of Jesus and the impact he had on the world. This was not a novel thing Luke was stepping into. However, Luke being motivated by accuracy, was driven to consult with many people who saw Jesus say and do things. He didn’t just try his best to remember what Jesus said; he went and talked to the people who heard him and he put their stories together in a way that told the greater story accurately. He spoke with people who had a vested interest in getting these stories right: ministers of the word.

It’s sometimes said that you can’t trust the gospels because they were written by people who liked Jesus, so they told their stories in such a way as to make sure everyone would like him. If that meant putting words in his mouth, taking words out of his mouth, or changing the responses of the people who saw and heard him, then so be it.

I, for one, don’t think that argument is as compelling as some make it seem.

The assumption to that sort of argument is that you can only trust those who are emotionally removed and personally uninvested. To really trust someone they have to be a person who really doesn’t care about the story. I think that’s backwards.

Sure, there are situations where stories get manipulated by someone exactly because they have vested interest in the story being told. However, when it comes to the gospels (and the rest of the New Testament for that matter), what I think we find is a group of people who told these stories accurately because their whole world relied on them. These weren’t just fanciful stories about some guy. These were true stories about a person who changed everything for everyone he came into contact with. They had to get the stories right because of the magnitude of the person they were writing about.

And Luke decides to make that clear from the very beginning of his gospel story, which is why I have no problem trusting him.

Free Tyndale House Class on Trusting the Gospels

Tyndale House Cambridge is offering a free online class on the trustworthiness of the gospels, Can We Trust the Gospels?: Evidence for the Gospel’s Historical Reliability, taught by Dr. Peter J. Williams. The gospels class will take place on Saturday, September 26, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Continue reading for more information on the class and click here to sign up.

The Gospels―Matthew, Mark, Luke, John―are four accounts of Jesus’s life and teachings while on earth. But should we accept them as historically accurate? What evidence is there that the recorded events happened? 

The Master Class will cover the following five topics: 

1) What are the earliest records of Christianity?
What do the earliest non-Christian sources (Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Josephus) tell us about the beginnings of Christianity?

2) Did the Gospel writers know what they were writing about?
This session will examine the levels of knowledge of the Gospel writers and see that they were familiar with the things they wrote about. 

3) How were Jesus’s teachings handed down?
This session will examine how Jesus’s teachings came to be recorded in the Gospels, including the languages and methods of his teaching.

4) How do skeptics explain the data?
Skeptical approaches to the Gospels often have predictable anatomy. This session will evaluate the method and claims of a leading Bible skeptic, Professor Bart D. Ehrman.

5) What about contradictions?
This session will consider one of the biggest objections to the truth of the Gospels today.

By the Numbers: "And" in the Gospels

While reading the Gospel of Mark (in the ESV) the other day I was struck by how many verses begin with the word “And”. What made this stand out to me all the more was a section in Mark 8 where “And” began nine sentences in a row in just five verses (8:6-10). That got me thinking about the way in which Mark wrote his gospel.

Nearly everyone who picks up and reads the Gospel of Mark can sense the pace of his story. This is even more clear when it’s compared with the other gospels writers—Matthew, Luke, and John. Matthew’s gospel seems to me to be episodic. There are large chunks of episodes (five for sure) that Matthew uses to tell his story. Luke’s gospel seems to me to be investigative. Luke writes his gospel to explain what has been going on and he goes into great detail. John’s gospel seems to me to be reflective. The story John lays out begs the reader to sit back and meditate again and again as they read. With Mark’s gospel, there’s just something about it that pushes the reader along through the story.

I think one of the reasons for this is Mark’s frequent use of the Greek word kai, which is (I think) almost always translated as and.

Now, to be fair to the rest of the gospel authors, and (kai) is used a lot. It’s not only one of the favorite words for the gospel writers; it’s one of the favorite words for the rest of the New Testament authors. And yet, Mark stands out when we go by the numbers.

What I’ve broken down below are three sections of numbers related to how the gospel writers use the word and.

“And” in the Gospels (ESV)
Mark: 1,160
Matthew: 1,395
Luke: 1,600
John: 718

Now, here you might be wondering why I focused on Mark’s gospel when Luke is the clear winner. Well, appearances can be deceiving. When we compare the number of times a gospel writer uses “and” with the total number of words, a different story emerges.

Total Words in the Gospels (NA27)
Mark: 11,304
Matthew: 18,346
Luke: 19,482
John: 15,635

Here we can see how Luke runs away with the total word count and Mark comes in last. This can also be easily seen just by looking at the total number of chapters for each gospel (Mt. 28; Mk. 16; Lk. 24; Jn. 21). Finally, let’s compare the usage of and with total number of words to see truly how often each gospel writer uses that word.

Percent Usage of “And”
Mark: 10.26%
Matthew: 7.60%
Luke: 8.21%
John: 4.59%

What we see here is quite interesting. Luke is the longest gospel and Luke uses the word “and” more than any other gospel; however, when compared to the total number of words Luke comes in third. Mark, as we can see, wins by almost 3%. He has the shortest gospel, comes in third with the number of times “and” is used, but he uses “and” more often than all the other gospel writers.