Parallel Lives of Jesus

A Guide to the Four Gospels

Edward Adams

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780664233310
• eBook ISBN: 9781611641547
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

In this highly readable introduction to the Gospels, Edward Adams demonstrates how the four canonical Gospels function separatelyâ€"as unique accounts of Jesus' lifeâ€"and as narrative renditions of a shared story: the Fourfold Gospel. Building on the premise that the Gospels are ancient biographies or "lives of Jesus, " Adams examines parallel Gospel passages, highlighting the similarities and differences between them. He begins by approaching the four Gospels generally, then looks at each of them individually, and finally considers six key Gospel passages to further explore the unity and plurality of the Gospels in a more focused way. Adams's lucid prose helps to make this text ideal for beginning students of the Gospels.

PART I

Approaching the Four Gospels

This first section provides introductory information about the Gospels and explains our model for reading them as four yet one. Chapter 1, “Grappling with the Gospels,” first takes an initial look at the unity and individuality of the Gospels. We begin with the commonality, observing the common shape of the Gospels and the similar features of the Synoptic Gospels. Then we look at some of the differences, first between the Synoptic Gospels and John, and then between Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We discover that although the four Gospels exhibit shared characteristics, each asserts its individuality in particular ways. Attention then turns to introductory issues. How did the Gospels come to be written? Who wrote them? For whom were they written and for what purposes? Particular emphasis falls on the question, What are the Gospels? The reasons for viewing the Gospels as “lives” are specified, and we consider the interpretive implications of this generic classification.

Chapter 2, “Four Narratives, One Story,” explains the distinction between “story” and “narrative” and shows its relevance to the unity and plurality of the Fourfold Gospel. The central story that the four Gospels manifest is set out and common narrative features are identified.

1

Grappling with the Gospels

The four Gospels look very alike.¹ All four are narratives of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the central figure of the Christian faith. All four concentrate on a particular phase of his life: the period of his public ministry culminating in his arrest, trial, death, and subsequent resurrection. Two of the four, Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, have birth stories, and Luke recounts an incident involving Jesus as a twelve-year-old boy; but the main narrative development in all four begins with his baptism by John the Baptist (though Jesus’ baptism is alluded to rather than narrated in John’s Gospel). All four report his miracles (especially his healings), his gathering of disciples, his attraction of public attention, his teaching, and his conflicts with the religious authorities; in each Gospel a disproportionate amount of attention is given to his last days. The four narratives parallel each other to a significant degree. They relate the same broad sweep of events and have numerous particular episodes in common (the feeding of the five thousand, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the betrayal by Judas, the arrest of Jesus, Peter’s denial, and so forth). The common shape of the four Gospels distinguishes them from other surviving “Gospels” from the early centuries of the Christian era.²

THE SIMILARITY OF THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS

The similarity of Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—is especially striking. These Gospels follow the same general narrative progression: preliminaries to Jesus’ mission; ministry in Galilee; journey to Jerusalem; arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. They share many specific episodes. Shared textual units or “pericopae” (the singular is “pericope”; from peri + copt

, meaning “cut around”) include the following:

John the Baptist’s ministry

Jesus’ baptism

The temptation of Jesus

The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law

The healing of a paralyzed man

The call of Matthew/Levi

The healing of a man with a withered hand

The parable of the Sower and its interpretation

The feeding of the five thousand

Peter’s confession

The first prediction of the passion

The transfiguration

The healing of an epileptic boy

Jesus’ encounter with the rich, young ruler

The triumphal entry into Jerusalem

The cleansing of the temple

The prediction of the temple’s destruction

The “eschatological” discourse

The preparation for the Passover

The Lord’s Supper

Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane

The arrest of Jesus

Peter’s denial of Jesus

Jesus’ appearance before Pilate

All these pericopae occur in exactly this order in all three Gospel narratives, though with varying intervening material. The wording used in parallel passages is often very close, as can be seen from the call of Levi/Matthew, set out in parallel (synoptically, viewed together), below.

Matthew 9:9	Mark 2:14	Luke 5:27–28
As Jesus was walking along,	As he was walking along,	After this he went out
he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth;	he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth,	and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth;
and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up	and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up	and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up, left everything,
and followed him.	and followed him.	and followed him.

The Gospel writers, or “evangelists” (from the Greek [Gk.] euangelion = eu + angelion, “good news,” often translated as “gospel”), narrate this incident in similar terms, with only slight verbal differences. Additionally, the Synoptic Gospels give the same broad account of Jesus’ activities: proclaiming the kingdom of God, teaching the disciples, speaking in parables, sharing in table, fellowship with “tax collectors and sinners,” healing the sick, casting out demons.

The similarity of the Synoptic Gospels, especially the agreements in order and wording, points to a literary relationship. The most widely accepted account of that relationship is that Mark’s Gospel served as the main source for the other two. This is the theory of Markan Priority, which is the bedrock of modern scholarly study of the Synoptic Gospels.³ The theory of Markan Priority relates to the “triple tradition,” which is material common to all three Synoptic Gospels.⁴

There is another body of parallel material called the “double tradition”: pericopae common to Matthew and Luke but absent from Mark, which consist mainly of teachings of Jesus. On the majority view, the double tradition is a source used independently by Matthew and Luke.⁵ The alleged shared source is normally regarded as written, though some conjecture that it is a collection of oral traditions or a mixture of oral traditions and written material. The hypothetical source has come to be known as Q (an abbreviation of the German word Quelle, “source”).

Markan Priority and Q together form the two-source hypothesis, the most popular solution to the Synoptic Problem (the problem of how the Synoptic Gospels relate to each other). In recent years, an alternative to the two-source hypothesis has been growing in strength and accepts the priority of Mark but explains the double tradition in terms of Luke’s direct use of Matthew.⁶

THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF JOHN’S GOSPEL

The likeness of the Synoptic Gospels to each other distinguishes them from the Gospel of John. The Synoptics describe a ministry conducted chiefly in Galilee, followed by a single, fatal visit to Jerusalem around the time of the festival of Passover.⁷ In the Fourth Gospel, Jesus’ ministry is set for the most part in Judea; he makes several trips to Jerusalem at festival times (2:13; 5:1; 7:10; 10:22; 12:12).

While John’s narrative broadly parallels the Synoptic narratives, many specific events reported in the Synoptic Gospels are absent. Of the twenty-four pericopae listed above, John includes seven: ministry of John the Baptist, feeding of the five thousand, triumphal entry, cleansing of the temple, arrest, Peter’s denial, appearance before Pilate. He alludes to Jesus’ baptism but does not directly describe it, mentioning only the descent of the Spirit that accompanies it (see further chap. 5). Also, he narrates a cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry rather than at the end, where it occurs in the Synoptics. John’s version of common episodes is often quite different from the Synoptic accounts. For example, John gives a more extensive report of Jesus’ trial before Pilate (John 18:28–19:16), which includes a dialogue between the two characters.

In John’s Gospel the nonappearance of so many events that are integral to the Synoptic narration of Jesus’ ministry is surprising. The absence of the Lord’s Supper is especially noteworthy. Like the Synoptists, John narrates Jesus’ final meal with his disciples, at which Jesus predicts Judas’s betrayal and Peter’s denial, but there is no reference to words of institution said over the bread and wine. Instead, he describes Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet (an incident exclusive to this Gospel).

Conversely, John includes in his narrative numerous well-known incidents that are entirely unique to this Gospel, including these:

The miracle of changing water into wine (2:1–11)

The conversation with Nicodemus (3:1–21)

The meeting with the Samaritan woman (4:1–42)

The healing of a lame man at the pool of Bethesda (5:1–15)

The healing of the man born blind (chap. 9)

The raising of Lazarus (11:1–44)

Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet (13:1–17)

The Farewell Discourses (chaps. 14–16)

The high-priestly prayer (chap. 17)

Jesus’ special resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene (20:11–18)

Jesus’ appearance to Thomas (20:24–29)

The contours of Jesus’ ministry in John’s Gospel are broadly the same as in the Synoptics, but curiously, there are no exorcisms (i.e., expulsions of demons from individuals). Also, Jesus doesn’t speak much about the kingdom of God (the actual phrase occurs only twice in the Gospel). Instead, he talks a lot about “eternal life.” Moreover, he doesn’t teach in parables, as is his custom in the Synoptics. Rather, he employs symbolism: “I am the bread of life,” and so forth.

The differences between John and the Synoptics raise the question of how this Gospel relates to them. Does John write with knowledge of any of the Synoptics, or in complete independence of them? Until the twentieth century, it was generally accepted that John wrote to supplement the other three Gospels. Around the middle of the twentieth century, scholarly opinion changed, leading to the dominant view that John wrote independently of the Synoptics.⁸ On this...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I Approaching the Four Gospels
• Part II The Individual Gospels and Their Narrative Features
• Part III Selected Parallel Episodes
• Conclusion
• Bibliography