Lesson 2

Question 1

1. What are the different views on the genre of the Gospels? Who are the major players in the discussions?

Answer 1

1. Collection of Oral Jesus Stories (or Sermons)
   a. Gospels are simply collections of early oral material combined together in a written document
   b. Little stories about Jesus.
   c. Like a peril necklace with each peril being a story.
   d. Advocates: Form Critics (e.g., Dibelius and Bultmann)
   e. Features
   i. Individual stories with no overall structure of the Gospel book
   f. Problems
   i. Does not give the authors any role in shaping the narrative.
   ii. Lots of material in a book would not appear in a sermon
   iii. De-Historicizes the Gospel narratives. Form critics are attempting to show the Gospels are not intending to be history. They are stories of Jesus, not history about Jesus.
   g. Note: There are better versions of the idea that the Gospels are the embodiment or early preaching. C.H. Dodd (Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments)- Mark outline reflects the summarized account of the Gospel message in Acts 10:36-41, and this Mark is a more detailed version of the early Christian Kerygma.
2. Greco-Roman Biography (Bios)
   a. Literature seeking to immortalize and eulogize a hero, whether it be a philosopher, general, or king
   b. Examples: Philo’s Moses, Xenophon’s Agesilaus, Lucian’s Demonax.
   c. Justin Martyr refers to the Gospels in similar language used within that of Xenophon’s Memoirs of Socrates.
   d. Adherents:
   i. C.W. Votaw (1915) suggested the gospels were modelled after the form of Greco-Roman biographies.
   ii. Richard Burridge, What are the Gospels: A Comparison with Greco-Roman Biography, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), has recently revitalized this approach, and it is now the dominant position among scholars today.
   e. Features:
   i. Focus on a real historical person.
   ii. General chronological outline, but main character can also be analyzed thematically.
   iii. Can be lopsided: tends to focus on birth and public life and not as much childhood.
   iv. Average length is 10k-20k words (Gospels of Matt and Luke are approx. 20k).
   v. Written by a singular author, not a generic “community” as Bultmann and the form critics allege (they suggest the authors are merely collectors of community material).
   f. Implications-
   i. Gospels are not just recording theology (as Form critics maintained) but also recording history,
   ii. but this history is not “pure” but always limited due to the written medium.
   g. Gospels cannot be viewed liked “video tapes” of the past but are
   i. more like paintings (which can be abstract and different than a photograph)
   ii. Authors impression.
   h. Problems
   i. Does not go far enough
   ii. Implies they are JUST historical narratives (documents)
   iii. They need to be historical but also “from God”.
3. Covenant Document
   a. Meredith Kline: Parallel between the Gospels and Exodus
   b. Similarities include: Combination of narrative and teaching material.
   c. Structure: Life of covenant mediator. Redemption of God’s people by covenant mediator. Moses/Exodus Typology in the Gospels.
   d. Exodus and the Gospels have similar story of “exodus” from Egypt by the blood of the lamb = and exodus of Sin by the blood of the lamb
   e. Life of the covenant mediator (Moses = Jesus)
   f. Jesus is a new Moses
   g. Works of redemption
   h. Luke 9:31 – Exodus
   i. Matt 2:15- Out of Egypt I called my son, Association of Jesus with the Passover meal, Jesus in the wilderness as the Israelites were
   j. Matt 5: Jesus the new lawgiver in the place of Moses
   k. John 6: Jesus feeds people with bread from heaven like Moses did
   l. Armin Baum- Gospels are Patterned After OT Historical Books .
   m. Gospels are more than history – they are covenant documents
   n. More than history, God’s testimony to man.

BOTTOM LINE: Gospels can be both Greco-Roman biography AND Covenant documents.

Question 2

2. What are the different uses of the word “Gospel”? How does it change based on the Greek context vs that of a Christian context?

Answer 2

C. Definition and Usage of “Gospel”
1. Greco-Roman usage
a. Good news or Good tidings
b. Announcement of victory of war
c. Verb = to make an announcement or declare good news.
2. Christian usage
a. “Gospel” was first used NOT for a book but to refer to the announcement of good news of Jesus. (PREACHING) Good news of the Jesus (See Gal 2:7; 1 Thess 2:4; 1 Cor 15:3-5; Rom 1:3-4; 2 Tim 2:8; 1 Pet 4:7; Heb 4:6; Rev 14:6)
b. To Preach the good news of Jesus
c. Primarily dependent on OT, not Greco-Roman usage: See Isaiah’s usage in chapters 44-66. God promise that he will deliver Israel through a “New Exodus” in the desert and restore their blessing and bring them redemption.
d. See Is 40:9, 50:7
e. Seen as a fulfillment of the book of Isaiah
f. Transition from oral proclamation to a written text. The word “Gospel” is used for written texts by the early second century.
g. Around early 2nd century, Some books started to be called “Gospel”
h. Didache 8.2 “Nor should you pray as the hypocrites but pray as it is written”
i. How did the transition happen? It may be due to the Gospel of Mark. Mark 1:1 – “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ”