Mark's Gospel differs from the other gospels, in that it appears to have been the first written record of the life and mission of Jesus. He was writing for an audience who had probably never heard of Jesus of Nazareth. This, combined with the fact that it was written some forty years after the events it describes, could have created some unique problems for its author. In all this time, little had been proclaimed about the founder of Christianity. Even the Apostle Paul seems not to have understood Jesus to have been a historical person who had died in the recent past.
This Gospel, unlike the later gospels, was careful to provide reasons for the lack of any prior record of the story of Jesus and the great miracles he performed. Usually, he says that Jesus was at pains to tell people he cured not to tell others who he was - a style that is not evident in the later gospels. Mark's Gospel originally ended at Mark 16:8, with the women troubled and amazed that Jesus seemed to have risen, but for those readers who could not accept the reality of Jesus' resurrection it did not press the issue further. The "Long Ending" (Mark 16:9-20) only appears in later manuscripts of the Gospel.
The later gospels used Mark's Gospel as their source for the life and mission of Jesus. Clearly, Mark's Gospel had begun to circulate widely in the Christian community and pehaps among those sympathetic to Christianity. So, the authors of Matthew and Luke could point to Mark if challenged to demonstrate any older evidence that proved the existence of Jesus or of the miracles he worked. The second evangelist, Matthew could assume that his audience accepted the existence of Jesus and of the miracles he performed, and focus on attempting to prove the Old Testament to have prophesied and foreshadowed the arrival of Jesus.
AnswerMark wrote to reach the Romans with the Gospel message simply because they needed it as much as any other people. Jesus commanded that all nations be taught the news of whom He was and what He had done. The Romans had a significant presence in the area where Mark lived. The other writers of the Gospels were moved by the Spirit to write for different people groups.
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Scholars tell us that Matthew's Gospel was actually copied in large part from Mark's Gospel. Whenever the two gospels agree, they use almost exactly the same words in the Greek language, something that could not happen if the two authors were simply relying on a common oral tradition or even Aramaic source.
Matthew's Gospel differs from Mark in that it also contains sayings material believed to have been copied from the hypothetical 'Q' document, as well as some further material unique to Matthew. An interesting example is in the eight beatitudes in Matthew. Four of these are from the Q document, but four of them are unique to Matthew's Gospel. The four beatitudes in Matthew only can be found in various earlier sources. For example, Matthew's beatitude for the meek is likely to have been inspired by Psalm 37:11, especially given the author's frequent use of material from the Old Testament throughout the Gospel.
The best known material unique to Matthew's Gospel is the account of the nativity of Jesus, with the wise men visiting to worship the baby Jesus. John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) calls Matthew'sstory of the wise men, Christian midrash, and the almost universal assumption among biblical scholars is that there was no flight to Egypt and no Slaughter of the Innocent by King Herod.
A thematic difference between the two gospels is in Matthew's much greater use of the Old Testament, which the author sees as prefiguring the life and mission of Jesus.
In summary, Matthew's Gospel differs from Mark in its use of material from Q and other material unique to this gospel, and in its greater use of the Old Testament to prefigure the life and mission of Jesus.
Jewish
Michael Matthews
biblegateway.com
Read the book....
in his head?
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New Testament people
so that when people listend they would now
Matthews Gospel was written by Matthew [also called Levi] for fellow Jews. His account highlights many of the Hebrew messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in connection with Jesus.
There are about 28
Michael Matthews Michael Matthews
Because Mark's gospel is the word of God which is truth and his gospel states: Mark 1.1. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;