The Good News Paradigm

The Gospel According To Jesus

J.C. Ward

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781640284371
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Bibles

Most Christians have some degree of familiarity with the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Fewer Christians have the same familiarity with the gospel according to Jesus. This gospel is something Jesus taught using figurative language such as parables and metaphors. This study examines the figurative parables, phrases, and words that are attributed to Jesus and His disciples. As an example, Matthew records that Jesus emphatically states, "Do not think that I came to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matt. 10: 34). This statement alone appears to contradict with what most Christians believe a peace-loving Jesus represents!What is the gospel or "good news" that Jesus taught? What is the figurative meaning of words such as "sword, " "leprosy, " and "water" for example? Did Jesus raise people from the dead back to a physical life? Did Jesus feed thousands with a few loaves of bread? Is there a figurative understanding to the miracle parables? Did Jesus confirm that sin is original? What did Jesus say about His return? These and other Biblical questions are addressed and explained by Jesus and presented in this study for the reader's contemplation. This book is a must-read for the sincere Christian who wants to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of who Jesus was and what He taught.

Chapter 1

Introduction

“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

Any discussion of the gospel is a challenge of Herculean proportion since there is very little historical material to go by, and what manuscripts do survive are copies subject to a great deal of debate. There simply are no original manuscripts. To further complicate matters, not all manuscripts that have survived are in agreement with each other.

Many readers will wonder which Bible translation is the best one to use and is considered most reliable. Is the King James Version still considered valid? Is the Living Bible a better choice? How about the New International Version (NIV)? Or are one of the other Bibles a better selection? There is no shortage of options available to the student.

That is why it is necessary to try to understand what the Bible is telling us. It is hoped that this study will assist the reader to gain a more spiritual understanding of the gospel rather than the more obvious meaning of the passages and stories of the Bible.

The only surviving manuscripts are not original documents penned by the authors but transcribed copies in either Hebrew or Greek. Thus, any Bible in English (German, French, or any other language) is subject to translation meanings. That is one reason why it is important to try to grasp the meaning or “spirit” of the word and not necessarily the obvious or “letter” of the word. If the reader does this, it doesn’t matter what version of the Bible is used.

In addition, the only remaining remnants of early manuscripts are copies of copies, and words may have been changed in the copying process of transcription. These changes are not necessarily intentional, but sometimes it happens. These early manuscripts did not divide the verses, but instead, all the words ran together. For example, the word “nowhere” could mean “now here” or “no where.” The early writings are full of these potentially confusing transcriptions.

Most of the early manuscripts that have survived are only fragments written on papyrus from the third and fourth centuries, although a few New Testament fragments have been identified as possibly being from the second century. There is not a unanimous agreement about the dating of many of these early pieces of manuscript, as papyrus was susceptible to extremes of moisture and dryness.

Rudimentary paper as we know it was first developed in China in the first century, spread to the Middle East by the eighth century, and later into Europe during the eleventh century.

Gospel is usually translated as “good news” or “glad tidings,” and there is some debate among Biblical scholars and theologians as to what “good news” actually means. Is it the good news that Jesus is the Messiah? Is it that Jesus taught about the kingdom of heaven? Is it the good news that Jesus brought a message of salvation? Might it be the forgiveness of sins? Is it the resurrection? Could it be the virgin birth? Is it something else or all of the above? If Jesus brought the “good news,” the “good news” must be about something He preached. Did the concept of what constitutes the “good news” change over time?

Different Christian doctrines will be happy to share with you their interpretation of what constitutes the “good news.” Jesus Himself appears to explain the good news in a synagogue when He reads from Isaiah as written in Luke 4:18–19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent Me to announce freedom to prisoners, to announce the restoring of sight to the blind, to set free those who have been oppressed, to announce an acceptable year of the Lord.” Then in verse 21, Jesus said, “Today, while you are listening, this Scripture passage is fulfilled.”

Also in Luke 7:20–23, Jesus gives another example of the good news that already is here when He replies to two disciples of John the Baptist. “The men came to Jesus and said, ‘John the Baptizer sent us to ask You, “Are You the One who is coming or should we look for someone else?”’ Right at that time He healed many people of their diseases, ailments, and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. Jesus answered, ‘Go tell John what you have seen and heard: blind people see and those who were lame are walking; lepers are made clean and deaf people hear; those who were dead are raised and poor people hear the gospel; and blessed is anyone who does not stumble in his evaluation of Me.’”

Thus, according to Jesus, the gospel is something He is teaching or announcing. The good news that Jesus taught will be explored in more detail in the coming chapters as well as offering explanations of these miraculous events of cleansing lepers, healing the sick and raising the dead.

This study is intended to provide a spiritual perspective to the gospels of the first four books of the New Testament, namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels as they generally are about the life, teachings, and resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel of John has some similar stories but is more about the divinity of Christ.

It should be noted that the word Christ comes from “christos,” a Greek word meaning, “anointed” and “messiah,” in Hebrew meaning, “anointed.” Being anointed carries special importance as kings were anointed with oil as a symbol that they were chosen by God. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, or Messiah. This may come as a surprise to some readers that Christ is not Jesus’s last name. It is a title, a designation. Over time, Jesus the Christ has been shortened to just Jesus Christ.

The information provided herein is based on the premise that the gospel (the good news) is the revealed Word of God; and as such, it carries inspired and sacred messages and teachings. It should be understood from a spiritual perspective, not a physical or material viewpoint. These first four books of the New Testament contain the sayings of Jesus or sayings that are attributed to Jesus. They also include the sayings of Jesus’s disciples. This study is therefore based primarily on these first four books, or the gospels.

The Word of God is the standard, not what some human interpretation says is the standard. In other words, we should not judge God’s Word by our human standards. We should seek to understand, not interpret. However, we proclaim that the gospels do represent the Word of God although we won’t debate whether the gospels are inerrant, infallible, inspired, or something else since Christians cannot agree among themselves on these issues.

For example, the disciples were asking Jesus when He would return in Matthew 24:3. Some translations ask the question “What will be the miraculous sign which will tell us when the world will come to an end?” Other translations put the question somewhat differently as “What will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” There is a significant difference between the “end of the physical world” and the “close of the age” if understood in material terms. But if understood figuratively, there shouldn’t be any difference.

In explaining this spiritual understanding concept to the church in Corinth, Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 2:13–15: “And we speak about them in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, explaining things of the Spirit to those who have the Spirit (or we explain spiritual things in spiritual words). But an unspiritual person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. He thinks they are foolish, and he cannot know them because one must have the Spirit to judge them correctly. The person who has the Spirit judges everything correctly, but he himself is under no man’s judgement.”

The remaining books of the Christian New Testament are letters written by individuals to the early churches reflecting their perspective of the “good news” which may or may not coincide with the teachings of Jesus. Jesus says, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near!” In Matthew 4:17, He is preaching that the “good news” or “glad tiding” is here and now. Thus, the good news is not something that occurred after His death, as Paul frequently expressed in his letters.

Biblical students and scholars generally agree that the gospels were not written by the people for whom they are named. That is, Mark did not write the Gospel of Mark. Unfortunately, the author is anonymous and lost to history. But the author did compile the Gospel of Mark from two or more manuscripts and oral traditions circulating among the early Christian churches at the time. Again, no original manuscripts have survived, and the manuscripts that have survived are transcribed copies. Therefore these are not eyewitness accounts but records of oral traditions passed along for at least forty years after the crucifixion of Jesus.

The author of the Gospel of Mark wanted to establish credibility for his manuscript or grant an honor to a noted individual and so credited his book to a prominent Christian named Mark, who early Christians might recognize as an authority. We do much the same thing today when we honor a prominent individual by naming roadways or buildings after them.

The same is also true of the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John. Contrary to what the reader may have heard or read, these names are not the authors of the gospels but named after a noted individual to honor them and establish credibility. Thus, we have Gospels “according to” Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is possible that the Gospel according to Matthew is named to honor an early follower of Jesus by the name of Matthew who would be known among early Christians and possibly was some sort of tax official mentioned in Matthew 9:9.

There were no gospels written during Jesus’s lifetime, or even shortly thereafter. There are likely two reasons for this. One is that the early followers of Jesus were probably illiterate. They were fishermen and laborers, not scribes and priests. Their language was Aramaic, and maybe they spoke some Hebrew but certainly would not know how to read or write Hebrew or Greek. The earliest existing manuscripts were written in Greek or Hebrew by educated Christians who were former Jews living in Greece.

Secondly, the early followers of Jesus fully expected His physical return either during their lifetimes or soon afterwards. When asked when He would return, Jesus tells His disciples, “I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of Man will come” (Matt. 10:23).

The term “Son of Man,” as used here, is a reference to Jesus Himself. Then later in Matthew 24:34, Jesus makes this prediction concerning the many signs that will accompany His return. “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”

“All these things” are noted by Jesus in Matthew 24:29–31 and will be discussed in a later chapter. In any event, Jesus seems to make it clear that these signs and His return will be soon, certainly within the lifetimes of t...

Table of contents

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• About the Author