What are the three stages in the formation of the Gospels?

Answer 1

The books were not arranged in the order of when written but according to subject matter. The first five books are about Jesus life and His activities preaching the good news of the kingdom along with Acts being about what those first four books led to, that is the activities of the apostles and the forming of congregations by the preaching work Jesus commanded them to do at Matthew 28:19-20. The next 21 books were of the inner workings of the congregations. Last the book of revelation which talks of the future out come of God's people and the world.

Answer 2

1. The life and teachings of the Church- took place around A.D. 28-30

2. Oral Tradition- The New Testament had to be written down because many of the apostles were dying ~ happened around A.D. 65

3. The Written Gospels- the gospels were written between A.D. 60s and 90s

Answer 3

The New Testament gospels are called the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. To understand the development of the gospels, it is necessary to recognise that they were originally written anonymously and were only attributed to the disciples whose names they now bear, later in the second century. Modern scholars believe that none of the gospels was really written by the disciples. Mark's Gospel was the earliest gospel to be written and is considered to have been the main source used by the authors of the subsequent gospels. Mark can therefore be considered the first stage in the writing of the gospels. The three stages would be:

1. Mark's Gospel is written
2. The two other synoptic gospels, Matthew and Lukeare written, substantially based on Mark.
3. John's Gospel is written, loosely based on Luke, but with some material taken direct from Mark.

Answer 4

Traditionalists would say that two of the gospels, those of Matthew and John, were written by eyewitnesses to the mission of Jesus, and that the authors simply wrote down what they had seen and experienced. However scholars say that the four gospels were written anonymously and only attributed to the disciples whose names they now bear later in the second century. Moreover, scholars say that the gospels could not have been written by eyewitnesses to the events they portray, or even by close associates of eyewitnesses to those events.

From very early times, Church leaders were aware of a literary dependence among the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. There was simply no other explanation for the gospels using exactly the same words in the Greek language. They made the assumption that Matthew was written first, with Mark andLukebased on Matthew. Modern scholars, using more advanced analyses, say that Mark was the first gospel and that Matthew and Luke were each independently based on Mark, with additional sayings material from the hypothetical 'Q' document. They also say that John's Gospel was inspired by Luke, with some material taken direct from Mark. So the three major stages in the formation of the gospels are:

1. The development of Mark's Gospel, based on unknown sources;
2. The development of Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel, based on Mark's Gospel and the hypothetical Q document;
3. The development of John's Gospel, based on Luke's Gospel and, to a lesser extent, Mark's Gospel.

Answer 5

Another answer from our community:

The life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The oral traditions. The written Gospels.