MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

 

Over the next several weeks we'll be looking at the life and messages of Jesus. History verifies that he was born in Bethlehem of Judea in approximately 4 BCE, grew up in Nazareth of Galilee, and was crucified in Jerusalem in 30 CE. A Jewish prophet, teacher and healer, Jesus was regarded by his followers as the Messiah expected to come and restore Israel. The word "anointed" in Hebrew is meshiah and in Greek it is christos, hence the words Messiah, Christ, and Christianity.

By the sixth century after his life, Christianity dominated the world. Calendars were changed to reflect Jesus' birth which heralded the beginning of a new era, so they dated events BC (Before Christ) and AD (the Latin Anno Domini, which meant "in the year of our Lord"). Non-Christian scholars subtly began changing terms to BCE (Before the Common or Current Era) and CE (Common or Current Era). Early calendars had miscalculated Herod's death date, so the birth of Jesus is now placed at 4 BCE.

Much about Him is found in four Gospels in the New Testament. Strictly speaking, the Gospel writers are unidentified, but the early church was consistent in attributing the books to four authors. Matthew and John were part of Jesus' inner circle of disciples; Mark was a companion of Peter, and Luke later accompanied Paul on his missionary journeys.

The culture during Jesus' lifetime was an oral one, so there was an oral tradition developed before any accounts were written. Paul mentioned these spoken creeds in his letters, penned in the 40s and 50s before any gospels were written. See Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 1:15-20; and 1 Corinthians 15:3-7.

The earliest Gospel was written possibly about 20 years after Jesus' death, and the last around 90 CE. Compare those to early Greek and Roman biographies which sometimes emerged centuries after a person's life. For a more complete discussion of dates and authorship, you may refer to articles we wrote in August 2023 and May 2024. 

There are more than 5800 ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in existence today. Of Homer's Iliad, there are fewer than 650, many in fragments copied 1,000 years after his lifetime. While there are no original manuscripts of New Testament gospels or letters, we have a multitude of copies beginning a few generations after Jesus lived. These are written not only in Greek but in a variety of languages from different geographical areas, all closely reflecting the same materials.

There are other apocryphal accounts [of questionable authenticity] which attest to Jesus, but those are not included among the canonized [accepted] books because they don't sound like Jesus. For instance, in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is quoted as saying, "'Let Mary go away from us, because women are not worthy of life.'" Written 100 to 300 years later, these refer to some of the same material, and are useful to verify the life and influence of Jesus. Some non-Christian authors from the first and second centuries also mentioned Jesus as the source of a new movement. Josephus related the death of James, and called Jesus "the Christ", brother of James. Tacitus cited Jesus' "extreme penalty" under Pilate, and talked of Christians worshiping Jesus as God.

The writers of New Testament Gospels were not historians or biographers; they were more concerned with needs of their readers, and the impact of Jesus' words and life. Yet they provided both direct and indirect eyewitness accounts, giving them credibility with historians. In addition to recollections, as we said earlier, they included materials from oral accounts passed on several years before they wrote. Both Luke 1:1-4 and John 20:30-31 explain their purpose for writing - they had experienced, researched, and were here presenting their findings. In addition to Mark, there's evidence of another collection of sayings called "Q", from which Matthew and Luke appear to have drawn.

In the New Testament, words of Jesus are sometimes printed in red, and quotation marks are used. Jesus' ministry coincided with the use of the rich Greek language which contained no quote marks - but the words of that era were often more precise than English. For example, there are at least four different Greek words translated "love" and when referring to Jesus' words, it's important to see which reflects His meaning. We do believe that God gave them the words to write, and they reflect the essence of a passage while still communicating the specific intent.

The Gospels focus on parts of Jesus' life that teach lessons, which means there are gaps about His upbringing or His appearance. In the next few articles, the focus we hope to keep is on Jesus' teachings. The Gospels provide different viewpoints of the same man. They give tailored accounts of his words and character, to show a very complicated Man, meeting our needs as complex individuals.

Gospel writers found a richness in Jesus' message; His teachings had a great hold on the masses, as in the Sermon on the Mount. He set an ethical standard that went far beyond that of the Old Testament. Other words move beyond the practical, and focus on the coming of the Holy Spirit, and eschatology or end times. We can find answers to our needs as we spend more time reading about Jesus, focusing on who He was and how He lived.

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