Harmony of Gospels

The Word made flesh and He dwelt among men!

Harmony of Gospels The compiling of the Christian canonical Gospels into a single account. Early examples and editors of harmonies of Gospels include:

• The Diatessaron (Tatian);

• Ammonian Sections (Ammonius of Alexandria);

• Harmony of the Gospels (Augustine).

Four Gospels on One Jesus

Each of the four Gospels presents a distinct portrait of Jesus. Historical critics tend to attribute the differences to different audiences, authorial purposes, or multiple layers of editorial work. However, the canonical approach emphasizes that the portraits of Jesus in the four Gospels display harmony on a deeper level, despite their differences (Marshall, New Testament Theology, 707–32). Two predominant unifying elements include:

1. The four Gospels tell Jesus’ stories in the light of Israel’s Scripture. The biblical stories of God’s dealings with the people Israel provide the larger narrative context within which Jesus’ stories are to be understood. If any part of the Gospels is taken out of the framework provided by the canonical texts, misinterpretation will inevitably follow.

2. The four Gospels demonstrate a similar Christology. Although the details and sequences of events vary, all four Gospels agree that Jesus is the Lord and Christ, and that He was seen as alive, as a resurrected one, by His disciples after His crucifixion.

 Kwok, H.-L. (2016). Jesus, Canonical Approach to. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Luke is the first critic of the life of Christ whose criticism has been preserved to us. Others had drawn up narratives of certain portions of Christ’s work. Others still had been eyewitnesses of the ministry of Jesus and gave Luke their oral testimony. Luke sifted it all with care and produced an orderly and reasonably full narrative of the earthly ministry of Jesus. We cannot reproduce all the sources that Luke had at his command, but it is clear that he followed in the main our Gospel of Mark, as any one can see for himself by comparing the two Gospels in this Harmony. Both Matthew and Luke made use of Mark. But they had other sources also.

Luke alone follows the method of ancient historians in dedicating his Gospel, as also the Acts, to a patron who probably met the expense of publication. So Luke as a Gentile Christian writes an historical introduction in literary (Koiné) Greek after the fashion of Thucydides and Plutarch. Mark had no formal introduction. Matthew’s introduction is genealogical because he is writing for Jewish readers to prove that Jesus is the Messiah of Jewish hope. John, writing last of all, has a theological introduction to meet the Gnostic and philosophical misconceptions concerning the Person of Christ. Thus he pictures Christ as the Eternal Logos, with God in his pre-incarnate state, who became flesh and thus revealed the Father to men. Robertson, A. T. (2009). A Harmony of the Gospels (Lk 1:1–4). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

(1:1) The Fourth Gospel makes no further use of the term Logos (Word) for Christ. No other Gospel employs the term, but in 1 John 1:1 we find “the Word of life” in this sense and in Rev. 19:13 we have: “and his name is called the Word of God.” The Greek word has a double sense (reason and speech) and John seems to have both ideas in mind (1:18). Christ is the Idea of God and the Expression of God. The Stoics followed Plato in the philosophical use of Logos. Philo took it up and made it familiar to Jewish readers who were already used to the Hebrew Mêmra (Word) in a personal sense. But John carried the term further than any of his predecessors and placed it on a par with Messiah, Son of God, Son of Man, and other phrases that portray aspects of the Person of Christ. John writes his Gospel to prove the deity of Jesus (John 20:31) against the Gnostics (Cerinthian) who denied it, as he wrote his First Epistle (1 John 1:1–4) to prove the humanity of Jesus against Docetic Gnostics who disclamed it. Robertson, A. T. (2009). A Harmony of the Gospels (Jn 1:1–18). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Luke 1:1-4

Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. NKJ Bible.

(Lk. 1:5–25) It is certain that Luke tells the infancy stories from the standpont of Mary while Matthew writes from the standpoint of Joseph. Matthew gives the public account while Luke tells the private story from Mary herself. Luke could have seen Mary, if still alive, or could have obtained it from one of Mary’s circle either orally or in manuscript from. Some scholars even suggest “Gospel of Mary” and even, “Gospel of the Baptist” as a written source for Luke in 1:5–2:52. Sanday (The Life of Christ in Recent Research,) says: “These two chapters—whatever the date at which they were first committed to writing—are essentially the most archaic thing in the whole New Testament.” Certainly Luke reveals the use of Aramaic or Hebrew sources by the sudden changes in his style from 1:1–4. Luke, if familiar with the current account as seen in Matthew, apparently felt that he owed it to Mary to record her story of her great experience.

 Robertson, A. T. (2009). A Harmony of the Gospels (Lk 1:5–25). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

John 1:1-19

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth

John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”

And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Jesus, Genealogy of Two New Testament genealogies of Jesus Christ are found in Matthew 1:1–17 and Luke 3:23–37. Matthew emphasizes Jesus as the royal son of Abraham and son of David. Luke traces Jesus’ descent back to Adam to show that He is the Son of God.

Matthew’s Genealogy

Ancient genealogies can guarantee tribal unity by emphasizing one’s identity or status. They might also guarantee the legitimacy of a specific role, such as a priest or a king. Matthew uses his genealogy to present both Jesus’ family identity and His role as the Messianic king. 

Matthew begins his genealogy with Abraham. The names in the genealogy are separated into three groups of 14 generations each. In Matthew 1:17, Matthew states the structure of his genealogy: “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations” (NRSV). Thus, the genealogy has three groups:

 Anderson, K. G. (2016). Jesus, Genealogy of. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

The two junctures highlight two major turning points in the history of Israel: the reign of King David and the Babylonian exile.

Three Groups of 14 Generations

A number of theories exist regarding Matthew’s purpose in structuring the genealogy as he did:

1. Matthew’s list is eschatological in orientation. The coming of the Messiah marks the fulfillment of God’s plan (Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, 81).

2. It points to God’s plan of salvation. If the third set of 14 is short one member, it might suggest to the reader that God cuts short the time of distress for His elect (Matt 24:22) (Carson, “Matthew,” 68).

3. It’s a veiling of multiple sevens. Seven is a well-known and significant biblical number that is common with predetermined historical periods. Three 14s is six sevens, which points to the coming of the seventh seven, where God’s ongoing purpose for His people reaches its climax. However, Matthew explicitly divided the genealogy into three groups of 14 people. It seems much more likely that the 14 names from Abraham to David guided the later two lists (Hagner, Matthew 1–13, 7; France, Matthew, 31–32).

An examination of the genealogy and a comparison with relevant Old Testament texts reveals that Matthew has omitte names.Explanations for this range from the purposeful omission of sinful kings, to faulty information, to accidental omissions.

In Matthew 1–17, the word “Christ” is used three times in conjunction with Jesus. The later two uses feature a definite article before the word Christ. In Matthew 1:1, however, there is no definite article before “Christ”; it becomes nearly like a surname: “Jesus Christ.” By binding the title “Messiah” or “Christ” to Jesus, Matthew prepares the reader for both a genealogy and a messianic narrative (Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, 67).

The emphasis on Jesus being a “son of David” refers to His royal descent. In 2 Samuel 7:12–16, God promises that David’s kingdom and throne would endure forever. Unlike Luke, Matthew chronicles Jesus’ line through David and the Davidic Dynasty in Judah. Passages like Isa 9:6–7 speak of a messiah that would sit on David’s throne and rule with justice and righteousness for all time. Psalms of Solomon 17:21 also understood the Messiah to be a “son of David” (Carson, “Matthew,” 62; Luz, Matthew 1–7, 69–70).

If Jesus is a son of David, then He’s a son of Abraham. Theological reasons exist for mentioning this, ranging from its messianic connections to its connection to the nations (Carson, “Matthew,” 62; Albright, Matthew, 2; Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, 67–68).

 Anderson, K. G. (2016). Jesus, Genealogy of. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.