What are the differences between the four Gospels?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:Each was written by a different person; although we do not know who the real authors were, they're each called The Gospel According to...

1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John

A:

There are huge differences among the four New Testament gospels, just as there are also similarities. The three gospels that are the most similar, Matthew, Mark and Luke, are known as the synoptic gospels because when copies written in the original Greek language are laid in parallel, it is clear that there is a literary dependency among them. Scholars now know that Mark's Gospel was the first to be written and that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were largely based on that gospel, with additional sayings material from the hypothetical 'Q' document. This explains the similarities, but conversely, Mark's Gospel differs from the other two in that it does not contain material from Q. John's Gospel was, in turn, loosely based on Luke's Gospel, with some material taken direct from Mark.

Mark's Gospel originally ended at verse 16:8 , with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled, telling no one, with no resurrection appearance of Jesus. Verses 16:9-25 form what is now known as the "Long Ending" (there was also, at one stage, a "Short Ending") and were added to the Gospel at a later stage. At the time Matthew and Luke were written, the authors had no guidance from Mark in respect to any appearances of the risen Jesus, so their respective accounts differ widely, although Mark's Long Ending harmonises them as well as possible. Even the stories of the empty tomb differ, presumably because the later authors were not satisfied with Mark's version.

The Australian Anglican Primate, Archbishop Peter Carnley wrote of the differing stories of the empty tomb: "The presence of discrepancies might be a sign of historicity if we had four clearly independent but slightly different versions of the story, if only for the reason that four witnesses are better than one. But, of course, it is now impossible to argue that what we have in the four gospel accounts of the empty tomb are four contemporaneous but independent accounts of the one event. Modern redactional studies of the traditions account for the discrepancies as literary developments at the hand of later redactors of what was originally one report of the empty tomb...There is no suggestion that the tomb was discovered by different witnesses on four different occasions, so it is in fact impossible to argue that the discrepancies were introduced by different witnesses of the one event; rather, they can be explained as four different redactions for apologetic and kerygmatic reasons of a single story originating from one source."

Luke's Gospel is the only one to contain the story of the birth of John the Baptist, which Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says is not factual, in addition to which she says that both Zacharius and Elizabeth were literary creations. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says the two nativity accounts in Matthew and Luke are "massively different" and virtually irreconcilable.

Being further removed from the first gospel, John is more different from the others, in addition to which, the author felt more free to alter his source material. An important difference is in chronology. This gospel moves the cleansing of the Temple from the very end of Jesus' mission to the very start. The Last Supper is on the evening before the Passover feast, rather than being the Passover feast as in the synoptics. Rather than being crucified at the third hour (9 am), Jesus is crucified at the sixth hour (12 noon). The single appearance of the risen Jesus to the disciples in the upper room, that we see in Luke's Gospel, is expanded to two appearances and these are followed by an important appearance by the Sea of Galilee.

Answer 2

Another answer from our community:Each was written by a different person; although we do not know who the real authors were, they're each called The Gospel According to...

1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John

A:

There are huge differences among the four New Testament gospels, just as there are also similarities. The three gospels that are the most similar, Matthew, Mark and Luke, are known as the synoptic gospels because when copies written in the original Greek language are laid in parallel, it is clear that there is a literary dependency among them. Scholars now know that Mark's Gospel was the first to be written and that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were largely based on that gospel, with additional sayings material from the hypothetical 'Q' document. This explains the similarities, but conversely, Mark's Gospel differs from the other two in that it does not contain material from Q. John's Gospel was, in turn, loosely based on Luke's Gospel, with some material taken direct from Mark.

Mark's Gospel originally ended at verse 16:8 , with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled, telling no one, with no resurrection appearance of Jesus. Verses 16:9-25 form what is now known as the "Long Ending" (there was also, at one stage, a "Short Ending") and were added to the Gospel at a later stage. At the time Matthew and Luke were written, the authors had no guidance from Mark in respect to any appearances of the risen Jesus, so their respective accounts differ widely, although Mark's Long Ending harmonises them as well as possible. Even the stories of the empty tomb differ, presumably because the later authors were not satisfied with Mark's version.

The Australian Anglican Primate, Archbishop Peter Carnley wrote of the differing stories of the empty tomb: "The presence of discrepancies might be a sign of historicity if we had four clearly independent but slightly different versions of the story, if only for the reason that four witnesses are better than one. But, of course, it is now impossible to argue that what we have in the four gospel accounts of the empty tomb are four contemporaneous but independent accounts of the one event. Modern redactional studies of the traditions account for the discrepancies as literary developments at the hand of later redactors of what was originally one report of the empty tomb...There is no suggestion that the tomb was discovered by different witnesses on four different occasions, so it is in fact impossible to argue that the discrepancies were introduced by different witnesses of the one event; rather, they can be explained as four different redactions for apologetic and kerygmatic reasons of a single story originating from one source."

Luke's Gospel is the only one to contain the story of the birth of John the Baptist, which Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says is not factual, in addition to which she says that both Zacharius and Elizabeth were literary creations. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says the two nativity accounts in Matthew and Luke are "massively different" and virtually irreconcilable.

Being further removed from the first gospel, John is more different from the others, in addition to which, the author felt more free to alter his source material. An important difference is in chronology. This gospel moves the cleansing of the Temple from the very end of Jesus' mission to the very start. The Last Supper is on the evening before the Passover feast, rather than being the Passover feast as in the synoptics. Rather than being crucified at the third hour (9 am), Jesus is crucified at the sixth hour (12 noon). The single appearance of the risen Jesus to the disciples in the upper room, that we see in Luke's Gospel, is expanded to two appearances and these are followed by an important appearance by the Sea of Galilee.

Answer 3

There are numerous differences to be found in the gospels, although the similarities outweigh the differences. Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel are recognised by scholars as largely based on Mark's Gospel, so much of Matthew and Lukeis consistent with Mark, although with some embellishments and other changes. Matthew and Luke are also believed to have used a hypothetical sayings document, called the'Q' document, as a secondary source for sayings and parables attributed to Jesus. However, since the 'Q' document only provided sayings but no details of when or where the sayings may have been uttered, the two gospels places each saying in a quite different context in the mission of Jesus.

Mark's Gospel did not mention the birth or childhood of Jesus. Matthew and Luke each provides a quite different infancy story, as well as different genealogies for Joseph. Similarly, the gospels provide quite different and largely incompatible stories about the crucifixion. Mark did not originally report any appearances of the risen Jesus, but the other gospels, once again, provide three quite different accounts of Jesus' appearances after his resurrection.

John's Gospel was the last to be written and differs significantly from the other three gospels in the New Testament. Whereas Mark, Matthew and Luke record Jesus as attacking the Temple moneychangers shortly before his arrest and trial, John places this episode at the beginning of his ministry. Luke talks of two sisters, Mary and Martha, as well as Lazarus; it tells a parable about the hypothetical death and resurrection of Lazarus. John also tells of two sisters, Mary and Martha, and of their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus really did raise from the dead.