What is the difference between a gospel and a biography?

Answer 1

A:

A gospel is a scripture, usually written in the form of a biography, but the gospels are a genre separate from biography. A biography should tell us facts about events in the life of the subject person or about his personality, and if the biography is found not to be substantially factual it is no longer a biography. On the other hand, a gospel remains a gospel whether or not it is factual.

Answer 2

Answer

They are similar yet different: a "gospel" can be a "biography", a "biography" can be a "gospel", but a "biography" cannot be a "Gospel".

To better understand this, it comes down to definitions. The Collins Dictionary defines:

- a gospel (small 'g') as " The message of a religious teacher";

-Gospel (with a capital 'G") as "a. The story of Christ's life and teachings as narrated in the Gospels; b.the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ",

(word 'gospel' derived from the Old English 'godspell',from 'god' GOOD + 'spell' MESSAGE );

-a biography as "An account of one person's life by another".

There are 4 Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - and, although they are all biographies of Jesus Christ, they each portray Him in a different way.

-Matthew shows Him as the Messiah of Israel, and it was written for a Jewish audience.

(Mat 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. )

-Mark shows Him as the suffering Servant , and it was written for a Gentile audience in Rome.

(Mar 5:41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.)

-Luke shows Him as the Son of Man and Redeemer of humanity, also written for Gentiles .

(Luk 5:31-32 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Luk 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. )

-John shows Him as the Son of God.

(Joh 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. )

Since the Gospel writers believed Jesus Christ was God in human flesh and that He was "the Way, the Truth, and the Light", they wrote only the truth about what they had actually witnessed, and their accounts were "warts and all". In contrast, a biography may not always be 100% truthful - especially political biographies - and some people might say something is "the gospel truth" to give it more credence when it didn't actually happen that way at all.