Copyright © Edward F. Markquart, 2010 2 Session 2 | Introduction This week, we will examine the...

Copyright © Edward F. Markquart, 2010 2

Session 2 | Introduction

This week, we will examine the principles of Biblical interpretation that influence this course.

Every person who reads the Bible (or anything else) always is wearing a set of colored glasses that affects one’s reading. These colored lenses are one’s intellectual values, cultural prejudices, and the ideas and ideals of one’s primary sub-group.

For example, “mainline” Christians may read the same passage in the Bible differently than “fundamentalist” Christians.

Roman Catholics may read certain passages of the New Testament differently than Protestants.

“Reformed Jews” may read the Old Testament differently than “Orthodox Jews.”

Modern Muslims will read their sacred Scriptures differently than radical Muslims.

Principles of Interpretation



Education, gender, age, income, life experiences, and other factors color our reading of the Bible.

Each one of us belongs to groups or sub-cultures, and these groups affect the way that we study the Bible.

This class will have more power points than other classes, simply because we need to articulate the primary values which influence our study of the four gospels.

Principles of Interpretation



It is important to know the core values and deeply held principles that guide an instructor.

I believe in Christ.

I believe that Christ is the Son of God, the Incarnation, the Mind/Heart of God.

I believe in the divinity and humanity of Christ.

I believe in the Bible as the Word of God.

I believe that the Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God for us.

I believe in the virgin birth, teachings, miracles, parables, death, and resurrection.

I believe in the gifts of God’s forgiveness, new birth, life, and eternal life.

Values of the instructor that shape this course



I believe in the reliability of the Bible.

I believe in the reliability of the faithful transmission of the text of the Bible.

I believe that we cannot prove God’s existence, Christ’s divinity, or eternal life.

I believe that only God is the judge of each human heart and who is saved or not.

Values of the instructor that shape this course (Cont)



I believe that divine love always trumps human knowledge.

I am not a literalist.

I am not a fundamentalist.

I do not use the Bible to “politely” attack or clobber certain groups of people.

Those groups may be of Jewish ancestry, people in interracial marriages, people with HIV-AIDs, divorcees, scientists and scientific positions, gays, lesbians, Arabs, Muslims, etc.

Values of the instructor that shape this course (Cont)



Encounter the living Christ, the living Message, the living Word of God. Encounter the intricacies and emphases of each individual gospel. Encounter one another during our class discussions.

Purposes of this course



Discussion Question:

What do you want to get out of this course?



A deeper walk with God/Christ.

A deeper sense of personal spirituality.

A deeper understanding and appreciation of the gospels.

A greater self-confidence in my knowledge of the Scriptures.

A greater discipline for daily reading of the gospels.

A more effective way of applying the gospels to my daily life.

A competent Bible teacher to help me with my study of the gospels.

A greater knowledge of the differences of the four gospels.

What do you want to get out of this course? Some answers from another class.



Introduction: The Birth, Baptism, Temptation, Call of the First Disciples

Galilee: Narratives, Teachings, Miracles, Parables

Jerusalem: Passion and Resurrection Narratives

A simple outline of the life of Christ



Primary conclusions derived from the birth storiesJesus was/is the Son of God

John the Baptist was a true prophet.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was fully human and born in human poverty.

We know that Jesus’ birth is reliably fixed in human history.

• We know that King Herod died in the year 4 BCE.

• We know that Quirinius officially became governor of Syria in ruled in 10-7 BCE.

• We know that censuses were taken every fourteen years from 20 BCE-270 CE.

• Censuses were taken for military reasons and taxation.

• There was an unusual conjunction of planets in the year 7 BCE

• Many scholars determine the date of Jesus’ birth from 7-4 BCE.



Other conclusions derived from the birth stories True faith.

“Filled with the Holy Spirit.”

“Joy.”

God is Lord; Jesus is Lord; God and Jesus are to be our Lord, the Ruler of our lives.

Memorable Bible verses.



Spiritual diary and page 363



Examination of The Prologue in The Synopsis (see page #1)

Prologue

A.The Gospel According to MatthewWe know that the Gospel of Mathew is heavily dependent on the Gospel of Mark and copies 90% of Mark’s Gospel.

Matthew is a Jewish gospel. It was written to and for Jewish people of that era.

Matthew uses common Jewish words: Genealogy, Christ, David, Abraham.As we study further chapters in the book of Matthew, we will discover other common Jewish idioms and phrases.

Ireneas, Church Father, 180 CE, says that Matthew wrote in the “Hebrew tongue.”



Many Biblical scholars believe that Matthew was addressing a Jewish community of Christians with their Jewish logic, their Jewish rationales, their Jewish way of thinking.

We will start building a contemporary analogy. That is, let us imagine that this particular author is a Jewish rabbi/businessman who heard about Jesus from eyewitnesses and then recorded his observations, conclusions for Jewish people who are living in New York City.

Both the uniqueness of the author and uniqueness of the audience will shape how the message is heard and recorded.

The Gospel According to Matthew Continued…


2| Introduction

Gospel = good news. Mark gives us the word, “gospel,” and that word becomes the title of each book, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

There are no infancy stories in Mark, nor in Paul nor John.

Either Mark did not know of the infancy stories or they were not important to him.

Mark is the shortest of the gospels.

It is reported to us by a Church Father that the Gospel of Mark was written by John Mark, a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul.

“As Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome, and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark, who had followed him for a long time and remembered his sayings, should write them out.” Clement of Alexandria,

B. The Gospel According to Mark



The Gospel of Mark could be entitled, “The Gospel of Peter.” Before Simon Peter was martyred in Rome, Peter told Jesus’ story to John Mark who recorded it for posterity and us.

The Gospel of Mark was written during the time of the persecutions under Nero.

In our contemporary analogy, this author is equivalent to a local fisherman, perhaps from Ballard, Washington or other notable fishing village.

Turn to page12 in The Synopsis and see that Mark continues with Mark 1:2. In other words, Mark has no infancy stories about Jesus’ birth and childhood. Gradually, over time, you will learn how to use this basic textbook, Synopsis of the Four Gospels.

B. The Gospel According to Mark Continued…


Ses21 | Introduction

Luke wanted to set his Jesus Story within

Luke is also the author of the book of Acts. The two books compose 25% of the New Testament.

Luke was a traveling companion of Paul

Scholars tell us that the book of Luke has the best Greek in the New Testament.

Luke was a physician.

In Luke 1:1, Luke tells us that there were “many other narratives” about Christ.

The narrative that Luke created was based on “other apostle’s eyewitness” accounts.

These eyewitnesses were also “ministers of the word.”

Luke had “followed all things closely for some time.”

C. The Gospel According to Luke



Luke wanted to write “an orderly account.”

Luke was writing “to Theophilus.” Theophilus is a Greek word and Luke was writing to Greeks and not Jews.

In the Greek language, “Theo” means “God” and “philos” means “lover.” The Greek name, Theophilus, means “lover of God.”

Luke wanted Theophilus to know the truth about which he had already heard.

In our contemporary analogy, Luke is to be compared to a physician/turned historian/turned TV reporter, and he writes his commentary for CNN International News.

He is intending that these stories about Jesus reach a broad, world-wide audience.

C. The Gospel According to Luke



We will discover that the book of John is very different than the first three gospels. One of the purposes of this class will be to explore the differences between John and the first three gospels.

We need to learn to accept the differences and contrasts between John and the first three gospels (which are called “the Synoptics.”).

We will discover that the Gospel of John is highly philosophical.

We will discover that the Gospel of John uses extended, involved speeches.

We will discover that the Gospel of John was written by an eyewitness who actually “hung out” with Jesus and closely watched his every move.

In our contemporary analogy, John is to be compared to a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, and he is writing for deep thinkers, university students and professors all over the world.

D. The Gospel According to John



We need to create a contemporary analogy. Four different authors are involved with the events. They then report their stories to four different audiences.The first and earliest reporter is a fisherman from Ballard, Washington, who reports simply to other fishermen what he heard about Jesus. (Mark)

The second reporter is a Jewish rabbi/businessman who reports the story of Jesus to his fellow Jews living in New York. (Matthew)

The third reporter is a physician and history buff who has become a TV commentator who reports the story through CNN World News to the world-wide community. (Luke)

The fourth reporter is a university professor who teaches philosophy at the University of Chicago. He reports his observations to deep thinkers, students and faculties of all colleges and universities around the globe. (John)

So we have different reports from four different people who addressed four different audiences with different needs.




What is your favorite story from Jesus’ childhood and why do you like it so much?



For dating of events, we need useful abbreviations:

Scholars no longer use BC (before Christ) and AD (in the year of our Lord, not After Death.)

Instead, scholars and commentators now use the following abbreviations:

BCE: Before Common Era or Before Christian Era

CE: Common Era or Christian EraInstead of the “old” way of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Dominei, the

Year of our Lord), now scholars are using the initials BCE and CE.

During the remainder of this course, we will use the BCE and CE when discussing dates.

These initials are clearer than BC or AD, especially since there was so much confusion about the initials AD. In numerous minds, many people translate the initials AD as “after death.”

Abbreviations for dating events



Q or Quella was the earliest New Testament source, written about 40-50 CE.

Then Paul’s letters were written in about 48-62 CE.

Then Mark or John Mark was written in about 65 CE.

Matthew and Luke were written in about 80 CE.

Matthew consists of three parts: Mark, Q and M.

Luke consists of three parts: Mark, Q and L.

The following is a theoretical time sequence for writing the gospels.



As a general rule, Matthew follows Mark’s outline almost all the time. Luke follows Mark’s outline of Jesus’ life but not as faithfully as Matthew.

John, an eyewitness, wrote in about the year 95 CE. John did not use Q, Mark, Matthew or Luke. John seems to be an independent gospel. John’s eyewitness accounts are filled with local flavor and juicy details.

The above comments are all theories and theological speculations. These theories may be interesting and helpful. However, these speculations are part of the minutia, part of the trivia, part of the unimportant theological details. Yet such theories will be helpful as we study the four gospels.

The following is a theoretical time sequence for writing the gospels. Continued…



Did secular, non-Biblical authors refer to Jesus in their writings during the first century? No.

Yes. There are four references to Jesus in non-Biblical literature during the first century. The four references are from the writings of:

• Tacitus (56-120 CE). This Roman historian gives the first non-Biblical reference to “Christ” and “Christians.”

• Suetonius (69-122) CE: “Chrestus.”

• Pliny the Younger (61-113 CE): “hymn to Christ as to a god.”

• Josephus (37-100 CE): “Jesus a wise man,” “tribe of Christians.”



Did secular, non-Biblical authors refer to Jesus in their writings during the first century? Continued…

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man

for he was a doer of wonders,

He drew many after him

When Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him,

and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day (Antiquities 18:63-64).”




What gets in your way of studying the Bible and/or reading the Bible devotionally each day? What can you do to change this within yourself?

Copyright © Edward F. Markquart, 2010 2 Session 2 | Introduction This week, we will examine the...

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