Gospels

2 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Gospels
       n : four books in the New Testament that tell the story of
           Christ's life and teachings [syn: {Gospel}, {evangel}]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:



  Gospels
     The central fact of Christian preaching was the intelligence
     that the Saviour had come into the world (Matt. 4:23; Rom.
     10:15); and the first Christian preachers who called their
     account of the person and mission of Christ by the term
     _evangelion_ (= good message) were called _evangelistai_ (=
     evangelists) (Eph. 4:11; Acts 21:8).
     
       There are four historical accounts of the person and work of
     Christ: "the first by Matthew, announcing the Redeemer as the
     promised King of the kingdom of God; the second by Mark,
     declaring him 'a prophet, mighty in deed and word'; the third by
     Luke, of whom it might be said that he represents Christ in the
     special character of the Saviour of sinners (Luke 7:36; 15:18);
     the fourth by John, who represents Christ as the Son of God, in
     whom deity and humanity become one. The ancient Church gave to
     Matthew the symbol of the lion, to Mark that of a man, to Luke
     that of the ox, and to John that of the eagle: these were the
     four faces of the cherubim" (Ezek. 1:10).
     
       Date. The Gospels were all composed during the latter part of
     the first century, and there is distinct historical evidence to
     show that they were used and accepted as authentic before the
     end of the second century.
     
       Mutual relation. "If the extent of all the coincidences be
     represented by 100, their proportionate distribution will be:
     Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 53; Matthew and Luke, 21; Matthew and
     Mark, 20; Mark and Luke, 6. Looking only at the general result,
     it may be said that of the contents of the synoptic Gospels
     [i.e., the first three Gospels] about two-fifths are common to
     the three, and that the parts peculiar to one or other of them
     are little more than one-third of the whole."
     
       Origin. Did the evangelists copy from one another? The opinion
     is well founded that the Gospels were published by the apostles
     orally before they were committed to writing, and that each had
     an independent origin. (See MATTHEW, GOSPEL {OF}.)