Gospels
Adult Version
The first four books of the of the Christian Scriptures or New Testament are called the Gospels. The word “gospel” means “good news”. What is the good news? The good news are the stories about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. These are the primary books that have stories about Jesus. While Jesus makes a quick appearance in Acts, all the other 62 book in the protestant Bible are either before Jesus was born or talking about what happened after he was no longer on Earth in physical form.
Check out the BibleProject: The Gospel
Kid Version
The first four books of the New Testament are called the Gospels, which means “good news.” They tell the stories about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—are similar in some ways but also have unique details. The Gospels show different sides of who Jesus is, and each book helps us understand more about Jesus and his message of God's great love.
Hmmm...
Canonical: The written books that over time seemed to be most important and worthy of being in the Bible. (There are other stories about Jesus that did not make the “canonical” Bible.)
The 27 books of the New Testament were largely confirmed as scripture in a letter written by Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, in 367 AD.
FYI - The Christian Scriptures are not written in chronological order. So some of the letters written by Paul were much earlier than the gospels.
Luke
The family tree in this book goes all the way back to Adam.
Most scholars believe that the author of Luke also wrote the Book of Acts.
Luke is the gospel with shepherds. They are not in any other gospels.
Luke probably wasn’t Jewish. (The other three probably were. Remember, Jesus was Jewish.)
Luke is the longest gospel.
John
This gospel does not have a birth story but starts with some deep thoughts about Jesus’ presence in the beginning of all things.
Some scholars think that this book was written by a group of people who all were living in a community that followed Jesus together.
This gospel is popular because there are what is called the seven “I am” statements. (Remember that God said that God’s name is “I am”.)
There is a disciple in this book that doesn’t seem to have a name. This person is referred to as the “disciple that Jesus loved” several times. People have argued for years over who that disciple might be.
Matthew
The family tree in this book is different than the one in Luke. Matthew goes back to Abraham and really cares that Jesus is connected to King David. Jesus being a king is important to the writer of Matthew.
This is the only gospel with the wisemen/magi as part of the Christmas story as we know it. Those magi probably came to see Jesus when he was a toddler.
This is the gospel with the Sermon on the Mount. Lots of good stuff from Matthew 5-7 (beatitudes and parables!)
This is the gospel that the musical Godspell is based on. (I am a theater dork.)
Mark
This is the probably the oldest gospel because it is the shortest. (The more a good story gets told, the longer it gets.)
There is no Christmas story in Mark. It starts with Jesus as an adult.
Mark always has Jesus telling people to not tell others that he is well… Jesus!
CONFUSING STUFF
They were written by four different authors: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, each with their own perspective.
Some of the stories are the same or very similar, while others have different details or are unique to that Gospel. (For example, compare who visits Jesus' tomb in each one!)
Matthew, Mark, and Luke share many similarities and are often called the "Synoptic Gospels," while John stands out with a different style and approach.
Think about it...
What is the difference between Jesus and Jesus Christ?
Jesus is a name.
Christ is a title. Christ refers to how divine (like God) or special.
The gospels all have different points in which Jesus becomes most Christ-like. What do you think?
Do you think Jesus is most special when he was born?
When he was baptized?
Before he was born?
At the beginning of time?
Or when he was resurrected?
Can you figure out which gospel goes with which? (I know I listed five and there are only four gospels. Hmmm…)