What New Testament gospel gives the most complete account of the birth of Christ?

Answer 1

A:Luke's Gospel contains at least 39 verses relating to the birth of Jesus.

Matthew's Gospel contains 22 verses relating to the birth of Jesus.

However, these accounts can not be simply added together to create one fuller account, because they tell two completely different and largely incompatible stories. Unfortunately, Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says that both nativity accounts are, with respect to time, place, and circumstances, a collection of legends. In sum total, they tell us nothing historical about Christ's birth.

A:Luke.

Answer 2

Matthew's Gospel contains 31 verses about the birth of Jesus and the events surrounding it. This gospel tells us that Bethlehem was the home town of Joseph and Mary. After the birth of Jesus, magi came following a star from the east and worshipped Jesus. King Herod sought to have Jesus killed, so the young family fled from Bethlehem to safety in Egypt. After the death of Herod, they began to return to Bethlehem, but being warned in a dream, turned aside and travelled to a new home in Nazareth.

Luke's Gospel contains 39 verses about the birth of Jesus and the events surrounding it. This gospel tells us that Nazareth was the home town of Joseph and Mary. There was a census in the time when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, and Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem, the town of his ancestors. While they were there, Jesus was born, and poor shepherds camre to worship Jesus. After eight days, Jesus was circumcised and the soon after he was taken to the Jerusalem Temple to be presented. They then returned peacefully to their home in Nazareth.

No other New Testament Gospel mentions the birth of Jesus. Even the nativity accounts in Matthew and Luke are so contradictory that only one could be true, and probably neither account is true. On this view, no gospel really provides any information about the birth of Jesus.

Answer:Luke is the only gospel that contains ANY information about the birth of Jesus.

The account in Matthew, which most people mistakenly try to make concurrent with Luke, begins with the words, "Nowafter Jesus was born in Bethlehem..."(Matthew 2:1). What follows is NOT a "nativity account."

All of the events surrounding Jesus' birth, which are recorded in Luke 2, take place well before the events described in Matthew 2, where Jesus is said to be a "young child," not a newborn babe. From the actions of Herod I recorded by Matthew (the "slaughter of the innocents"), Jesus was up to two years old by the time the magi arrived at Jerusalem seeking Him.

Answer 3

There are two New Testament accounts of the birth of Jesus, in Matthew's Gospel and in Luke's Gospel. They are both entirely complete, but also quite different. Neither can be described as a summary or abbreviation ofthe other.

In Matthew's Gospel, Bethlehem was the home town of Joseph and Mary. Mary was pregnant by the Holy Ghost and an angel appered to Joseph in a dream and told him that Mary was a virgin, as had been prophesied. When Jesus was born, a star appeared in the east and magi (wise men) followed this westward to Jerusalem, where they asked of King Herod where the baby was who was born to be king of the Jews. Herod consulted his priests and wise men, who said he must be in Bethlehem. The magi then followed the star back south-east to Bethlehem, where it stopped over the very house where Jesus lived. Herod sought to kill Jesus, but the young family fled to Egypt to escape his wrath. When he realised that he had been tricked, Herod ordered all the boys under two years old to be slaughtered. After the death of Herod, Joseph, Mary and Jesus returned towards their home in Bethlehem, but being warned by God, turned aside and travelled to Nazareth in Galilee.

In Luke's Gospel, Nazareth was the home town of Joseph and Mary. This time, an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would conceive. Because of a census of the entire Roman Empire during the time that Quirinius was governor of Syria, but also during the reign of King Herod, Joseph and Mary were required to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where they could only find lodgings in a stable. The new-born Jesus was wroapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger. In a parallel story to Matthew's story of the wise men, Luke tells us that an angel appeared to poor shepherds watching their flacks in a field. A few weeks after the birth of Jesus, the young couple took Jesus to Jerusalem to be presented at the Temple, where they offerred two young pigions for sacrifice. Simeon saw Jesus and worshipped, recognising him as Christ; Anna, a prophetess, gave thanks likewise to God. The young family then returned peacefully to their home in Nazareth. Luke's Gospel also tells of the birth of John the Baptist to Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary, although the other gospels seem to suggest that John did not really know Jesus.

The differences are not those of completeness but of contradiction:

• Either Bethlehem was the home town of Joseph and Mary, or Nazareth was;
• The angel would not have appeared like this to both Mary and Joseph - it had to be one or the other;
• Matthew knew nothing of the poor shepherds, while Luke knew nothing of the wise men or the star;
• Either the family fled from Bethlehem to Egypt or they went home peacefully to Nazareth just forty days after the birth of Jesus;
• If Matthew's story was historically correct, Luke's story of travelling to Jerusalem would have been dangerous and foolhardy, since Herod could have soldiers waiting for Jesus, knowing it was the custom to present newborn children at the Temple.

The genealogies of Jesus, as shown in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, purport to show that Jesus was destined for greatness, but each contradicts the other time and again. In Matthew's Gospel, Jacob was the father of Joseph, just as in the Old Testament, but in Luke's Gospel, Heli was the father of Joseph.

Answer 4

The books of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament tell the story of Jesus' birth. The gospel of Luke has more details than Matthew.
In the Gospel of Luke

Answer 5

The gospel of Luke. Read this account in Luke chapter 2.

Answer 6

Luke has the full account of Jesus. Not the most complete, but from before birth to the days after his resurrection.(Luke 2:1-21)(Matthew 1:18-25)