The Gospel of Jesus Christ 2 of 155
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen." - From, The Book of Revelation 22:18-21 (the last book of the Holy Bible).
An Overview 1
The History of the Gospel 2
The Oral Gospel 2
Muslims Believe the Bible has Been Corrupted by Mankind. It has not. 3
Historic Editions of the Bible 4
The Latin Vulgate Bible 4
The Douay-Rheims Bible 5
Who Made the First Complete Written Records of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? 5
The Gospel in different languages 6
The Gospel of Jesus Christ recorded by, St. Matthew 7
The Gospel of Jesus Christ recorded by, St. Mark 50
The Gospel of Jesus Christ recorded by, St. Luke 77
The Gospel of Jesus Christ recorded by, St. John 122
An Overview
The Christian Bible is a collection of religious events and teachings that Christians believe were given to mankind through the Holy Spirit of God, and thus God Himself.
Throughout the centuries, these teachings were spoken to mankind through the prophets of God and were clarified and perfected when God came to live among His People. The presence of God was born into this world when Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God in the virgin Mary’s womb. God’s Presence remained in Jesus his entire life as he walked among us teaching the authority, wisdom and love of God.
The prophecy of God promising to live among His People was recorded in the books of the Tanakh (Jewish Bible)[1]. These books are incorporated in the Christian Bible and are referred to as the "Old Testament."
The exact number of books from the Tanakh used in Christian Bibles depend on the religious traditions of the specific Christian denomination. However, it is widely agreed among Christians that the basic message of the Bible is the same. This message is summarized in the “Nicene Creed”.
The Nicene Creed is a statement of Christian faith accepted in most Christian denominations including the Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Anglican Communion, and almost all branches of Protestantism, including the Reformed churches, the Presbyterian Church, and the Methodist Church.[2]
Although there are various words used today by the different Christian denominations to express the Nicene Creed, the fundamental message of the Creed remains the same.
The History of the Gospel
The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the canonical Gospels of the New Testament found in the Christian Bible. The Gospels are the written records of Jesus’ oral teachings (approx: 30AD-34AD) as recorded by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Roman Catholic Church has established the first written record of the entire Gospel to have occurred some time between 36AD and 70AD[3],[4].
The Gospel, as preached by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, combine to make “The Gospel of Jesus Christ”. All four records reflect the same essence of Jesus’ teachings and most parallel the events of his life. There is no dispute among Christians that these records contain the authentic teachings of Jesus Christ as spoken through him by the Holy Spirit of God.
The Oral Gospel
All recent critics admit that the contents of our four Gospels are intimately connected with accounts of Christ's life, which may be described, in a general way, as an Oral Gospel. They are well aware that Jesus Himself did not consign to writing His own teachings, and directed His Apostles not to write, but to preach, the Gospel to their fellow-men. They regard as an undoubted fact that these first disciples of the Master, faithful to the mission which He had entrusted to them, began, from the day of Pentecost on, boldly to declare by word of mouth what they had seen and heard (cf. Acts 4:2), considering as a special duty of theirs "the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4).
It is plain, too, that those whom the Apostles immediately selected to help them in the discharge of this most important mission had to be, like the Apostles themselves, able to bear witness to the life and teachings of Christ (cf. Acts 1:21 sq.). The substance of the Evangelical narratives would thus be repeated viva voce by the early teachers of Christianity, before any one of them bethought himself to set it down in writing. It can be readily seen that such Apostolic teaching was then inculcated in words which tended to assume a stereotyped form of expression, similar to that which we find in the Synoptic Gospels. In like manner, also, one can easily realize how the Apostles would not be concerned with the exact order of events narrated, and would not aim at completeness in telling what they "had seen and heard". Thus, according to this opinion, was gradually formed what may be called the "Oral Gospel", that is, a relation of Christ's words and deeds, parallel, in respect to matter and form, to our canonical Gospels.
In view of this, critics have endeavored to find out the general contents of this Oral Gospel by means of the second part of the Book of the Acts, by a study of the doctrinal contents of the Epistles of St. Paul, and more particularly by a close comparison of the Synoptic narratives; and it may be freely said that their efforts in that direction have met with considerable success. [5]
Muslims Believe the Bible has Been Corrupted by Mankind. It has not.
Muslims believe that because different versions and translations of the New Testament exist (i.e., American Standard, King James, New Living Testament, Douay Rheims, etc.), the different word choices used in various scripture of each translation has somehow altered, or corrupted the meaning behind the teachings of Jesus Christ. It has not.
Anyone comparing and analyzing scripture between the various modern translations of the Christian Bible can see for themselves that even though different word choices are used in some versions, it obviously has not corrupted or changed the meaning behind the teachings.
For proof that the teachings of Jesus Christ are the same in every Christian Bible, we can refer to the earliest translations of the New Testament from the original Greek manuscripts that recorded the words of Jesus. These early recordings on “parchments” are referenced by St. Paul in his 2nd Letter to Timothy. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy in 66 or 67AD while he was imprisoned in Rome for preaching the Gospel.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: [8] henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing. [9] Give diligence to come shortly unto me: [10] for Demas forsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. [11] Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee; for he is useful to me for ministering. [12] But Tychicus I sent to Ephesus. [13] The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when thou comest, and the books, especially the parchments. (The New Testament, 2 Timothy, 4:7-13)
Historic Editions of the Bible
The name “gospel”, as designating a written account of Christ's words and deeds, has been, and is still, applied to a large number of narratives connected with Christ's life which circulated both before and after the composition of the Third Gospel (The Gospel, Luke 1:1-4)[6]. The titles of some fifty such works have been discovered over time, a fact which shows the intense interest which centered, at an early date, in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. It is only, however, in connection with twenty of these "gospels" that some information has been preserved. Their names, as given by Harnack (Chronologie, I, 589 sqq.), are as follows:
1-4. The Canonical Gospels5. The Gospel according to the Hebrews.
6. The Gospel of Peter.
7. The Gospel according to the Egyptians
8. The Gospel of Matthias.
9. The Gospel of Philip.
10. The Gospel of Thomas.
11. The Proto-Evangelium of James. / 12. The Gospel of Nicodemus (Acta Pilati).
13. The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles.
14. The Gospel of Basilides.
15. The Gospel of Valentinus.
16. The Gospel of Marcion.
17. The Gospel of Eve.
18. The Gospel of Judas.
19. The writing Genna Marias.
20. The Gospel Teleioseos.
Despite the early date, which is sometimes claimed for some of these works, it is not likely that any one of them, outside the four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), should be reckoned among the attempts at narrating the life of Christ, of which St. Luke speaks in the prologue to his Gospel8. Most of them, as far as can be made out are late productions, the apocryphal character of which is generally admitted by contemporary scholars.[7]
The Latin Vulgate Bible
Pope Damasus I oversaw the assembling of the first complete book of the Holy Bible at the Council of Rome
in AD 382. He commissioned Saint Jerome to produce a reliable and consistent text by translating the original Hebrew text (Tanakh) and Greek text (Septuagint) of the Old and New Testament into Latin. This “Latin Vulgate Bible” became the definitive and officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. In the 13th century it came to be called “versio vulgata”, which means “the published translation”.[8]
The Douay-Rheims Bible
The Douay-Rheims Bible, also known as the Rheims-Douai Bible, or Douai Bible and abbreviated as D-R, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English. The Roman Catholic Church published the New Testament in one volume with extensive commentary and notes in 1582. The Old Testament followed in 1609–10 in two volumes, also extensively annotated. The notes took up the bulk of the volumes and had a strong polemical and patristic character. They also offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate. The Douay-Rheims version is the preferred Bible among traditional Roman Catholics. (see also, http://www.drbo.org/)
Who Made the First Complete Written Records of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Saint Matthew
Matthew was one of the original twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was a publican (tax-collector) who Jesus passed by one day and said, “Follow me.” (The Gospel, Matthew 9:9)
Matthew stopped what he was doing and followed Jesus. For three years Jesus taught his Apostles about the Word of God (the Gospel). Matthew was an eyewitness to Jesus’ teachings, miracles, passion and resurrection. Details of his later life are vague. The latest theory is he died on his way to Greece after founding several Christian communities along the way. Historians believe his record of the Gospel was finished between the years 36 AD and 70 AD.[9].
Saint Mark
Mark, and his mother were early devout followers of Jesus’ teachings. Christian historians tell of Mark being requested by the Romans to write down Peter’s preaching of the Gospel in the Greek language for the Gentile converts to Christianity. Peter (aka. Simon Peter) was a fisherman who Jesus chose to be one of his original twelve Apostles. Peter was with Jesus during his entire ministry. Jesus knew that Peter had a deep faith in God. Before being crucified, Jesus said to Peter, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (The Gospel, Matthew 16:18).
It is historically certain the Gospel, as it was taught to Peter and the Apostles by Jesus, was recorded by Mark in Rome sometime between the years 50 AD and 67 AD.[10]
Saint Luke
Luke was Gentile who accepted Christianity when he became a disciple of Jesus’ original twelve Apostles. Luke would later record the “Acts of the Apostles” which tells about the Apostle’s experiences while teaching the Gospel. Luke was a physician who left his profession to accompany Paul on his missionary work throughout Asia Minor. Paul (originally named, “Saul”) was not one of the original twelve Apostles. Saul was a Jewish man who persecuted his fellow countrymen for believing Jesus was the Messiah. One day, while on the Road to Damascus, Saul had a blinding revelation from Jesus (around 35 AD, Acts 9:1-31). This convinced Saul to convert to Christianity and change his name to “Paul”. Paul learned about the Gospel from the original Apostles of Jesus and then went on to spread the Gospel to Gentiles and Jews alike until he was martyred in Rome around the year 67 AD.
Historians do not know the exact place or time when Luke made his record of the Gospel. It is believed Luke's inspiration for recording the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles came from his close association with Paul and his companions as he explains in his introduction to the Gospel:
“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, 2Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; 3It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” (Luke 1:1-4)