How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, Session VII

The Gospels

A teaching by Jack Haberer

based upon the book by the same title,

written by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart

November 7, 2004

 

INTRO:

     A.  REVIEW of 1st week’s class

          1.  the need to interpret:

              whenever we read anything:  we are interpreting as we go

          2.  Goal of interpretation:  to get to the plain meaning of the text

              …so we can hear what God wants us to hear in it

          3.  Working definition of scripture:

              “The Bible is the Word of God, expressed in human words in                                         history.”

          4.  2 essential tasks of interpretation

              a.  exegesis:  deciphering what it meant there and then

                   “What was the intended meaning of the original writers to their                                     original audiences?”

              b.  hermeneutics:  bridging from the there and then to the here and                                     now

                   “How does the original meaning apply to us?”

     B.  Review of 2nd week’s class:  Bible translations

          1.  3 approaches of translators:

              a.  formal equivalence –

              b.  functional equivalence –

              c.  free translation –

          2.  My vote:  Functional Equivalence

     C. Review of 3rd & 4th weeks’ classes:  The Epistles

          1.  exegesis:  primary task: to reconstruct whatever it was the situation 

                   à intent of writer

          2.  hermeneutics:

              a.  use common sense

              b.  Distinguish between teachings that are emphatic & central, vs.                                      teachings that are situational & peripheral.

              c.  Exercise charity when interpreting

     D.  5th week:  Old Testament Narratives

          1.  Allow narratives to be just that:  stories

              Do not turn stories into moral plays or into direct teachings

          2.  Narratives may illustrate a doctrine taught elsewhere

          3.  In the final analysis, God is the hero of all biblical narratives.

     E.  Last week:  The Book of Acts

          1.  All the same issues as Historical Books of OT

              ...PLUS…

          2.  The problem of biblical precedent

              à the tendency to try to take particular experiences of the early                                        Christians and to make them normative for all Christians                                                   thereafter    

          3.  The basic exegesis:

              The six phase story of the Gospel’s move from Jewish roots

              …the church of all the world

          4.  The essential hermeneutics;

              If an action/event is repeated consistently, AND is taught                                                       elsewhere, then it probably ought to be a pattern followed

              BUT if an action is not repeated, or falls along a different pattern                                       elsewhere AND it is not explicitly taught elsewhere, the it may                                                be illustrative BUT it is not normative      

     F.  Today:  Gospels: One Story, Many Dimensions

          1. Like epistles and historical books:  look straightforward

              a collection of teachings of Jesus plus stories about Jesus

          2.  BUT

              a.  gospels form a unique literary genre, with few others to                                                compare to them

              b.  Our attempt to reconstruct the original audience is complicated                                    by fact that Jesus had one audience AND each writer was                                            writing for a different audience

              c.  In fact, in his earthly life, most of what he said was                                             misunderstood and misinterpreted, even by his closest allies,                                                 but by the time his story was being written the writers and                                             many others understood his message fully.

              d.  The fact that every time you are interpreting one gospel you are                                    have the possibility that that same story has been written about                                              by someone else that supposedly is allied with the one you are                                               studying, but who may tell the story in a different way, leads to                                              questions of “What really happened?”

              e.  There are a lot of strange things said:  “hard sayings”

              f.  the overall topic “kingdom of God” presents difficulties for                                          defining it

         

I.  The Nature of the Gospels

     A.  Most difficulties come from 2 facts:

          1.  Jesus did not write a gospel:  these accounts were written by other                           reporters

          2.  There are 4 gospel accounts, not just one

     B.  Jesus did not write a gospel;

          1.  If he had, it probably would have read like a prophetic book of the                               OT

          2.  In contrast, in Paul’s case we have both a biographical account of                               his actions in Acts PLUS his own writings in the epistles.  The two                     together fill out a pretty detailed and thorough report of his                                            theology and practice of faith

          3.  In Jesus’ case you have much of his teaching, but it is filtered thru                                    the writer

              …indeed, filtered thru a translator:  Jesus spoke Aramaic, but the                                      gospels were all written in Greek.

              Indeed, many of his sayings are told in more than one gospel, and                                     when that’s the case, usually the actual wording differs between                                   them.

          4.  FEE (p. 128-9):  “God gave us what we know about Jesus’ earthly                                    ministry in this way, not in another way that might better suit                                    someone’s mechanistic, tape-recorder mentality.  And in any                                            case, the fact that the gospels were not written by Jesus but                                         about him is a part of their genius, we would argue, not their                                          weakness.
     C.  There are 4 gospels

          1.  Why?  We don’t have 4 books of the Acts of the Apostles

          2.  Why keep Mark since most of what he writes is found in either Mt.                              or Lk or both?

          3.  Why four?

              a.  one simple answer:  four different communities of believers                                               needed their own account of the life of Jesus

                   1)  Mark wrote first

                   2)  then Mt. and Luke

                   3)  then years later, John

              b.  one theological answer:  the Holy Spirit intended it that way

              c.  but enlarging the first reason:

                   1) interest of the apostles to record as much as possible about                                          Jesus only increased as they grew older.  They wanted his                                                     story well told for generations that might follow.                                                 2) As the community of faith was expanding from rural,                                                                  Aramaic-speaking Israel to urban, Greek speaking Rome,                                                     Ephesus, etc., they needed an account that would be                                                           understood by those recipients.

     D.  One other point about the genre:

          These gospels are not biographies in the pure sense of the term

          2nd century church father, Justin Martyr, defined the genre well:

              he called these the “memoirs of the apostles”

          In the process, the gospels do record facts about Jesus…

              …recall the teaching of Jesus…

              …and bear witness to Jesus.

    

II.  The Historical Context

     A.  As taught in past weeks:  The first step of exegesis: 

          Reconstruct the original situation being addressed

     B.  This is a more complex task in the case of the gospels, since they are                     2-level documents.

          1.  there’s Jesus’ context of ministry in Palestine

                   --doing ministry prior to the resurrection and Pentecost

          2.  and there’s each writer’s context years later, and usually far away

                   --doing ministry after resurrection and Pentecost

          3.  There is enormous speculative scholarship in this area

              …with scholars agreeing that the writers clearly shaped the                                                     historical account of Jesus’ life

              …BUT with some extremists, e.g., Jesus Seminar, claiming that                                             much or even most of what’s said about Jesus is fabricated.

     C.  The historical context of Jesus in General

          1.  for background of life of Jesus:

              bibliography:

              Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, Eerdmans                                        1993

              Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, Fortress, 1969.

          2.  Of Jesus’ teaching style:  parables

              we will give another week to that topic next week

              He used a variety of parable methods

              Jesus also used other teaching forms like proverbs, similes &                                            metaphors, questions, and irony to name a few.

     D.  The historical Context of Jesus in particular

          1.  Hard to reconstruct because many of his teachings and events are                           reported with little, if any, context

                   REASON:  Because Jesus’ teachings were spread abroad                                                 widely and orally for 30 years or more before they were written. 

          2.  Writers often would introduce a story or teaching by saying,                                             “Then...” or “Immediately…”       

          3.  What is striking, when you can decipher it, is how Jesus’ teachings                          were so shaped by the audience he was addressing at any given                                        time

              Art Baird:  Audience criticism

                    Was Jesus addressing the 12?  the larger band of disciples?

                        the crowds?  opponents? 

     E.  The historical context of the gospel writer (aka evangelist)

          i.e., the situation and people each writer was addressing

              that prompted him to write this account

          This requires some educated guess work, given that we don’t actually                          know who wrote these books.  They were not signed works, cf.,                                 most of Paul’s letters.        

          Here Bible dictionaries do help try to reconstruct

 

III.  The Literary Context

     The key:  thinking “Horizontally” and “Vertically”

     [[INTRODUCE:  Gospel Harmony]]

     A.  Think horizontally:

          1.  compare any one text with the other gospels’ accounts of that text

              a.  this helps us to discover that is distinctive about the account we                                        are studying

              b.  this helps us see how the particular story lived itself out in                                                 difference Christian contexts in the 1st century

          2.  NOTE:  many believers assume the gospels were written simply by                          divine inspiration

              TRUTH:  Matt and Luke probably had copies of the earlier                                                    accounts in hand—as well as at least one other source—as                                                    they wrote.

                             Whereas John probably did not.

              SO points of difference are for cause

          3.  illustrated:  p. 136

              “The following conclusions seem inevitable:

                   John represents a clearly independent telling of the story.  He                                            uses only those words absolutely necessary to be telling the                                                   same story, an even uses a different Greek word for “fish.”!

                   The other three are just as clearly interdependent in some way.

     B.  Think Vertically

          This points our effort more toward the movement of ideas by the                                 particular gospel writer.                 

          NOTE:  In doing Bible study, we are not trying to be pure historians                                 to reconstruct the life of Jesus.  The scriptures as we have them are                             inspired by the HS.  Reconstructions of Jesus’ life are not inspired.

          In this case we are following the flow of ideas in each gospel account                               to see where the writer is taking us.

     C.  Interpreting the gospels as wholes

          Keep in mind that as they wrote these accounts, they were exercising                            three kinds of options:

          1.  selectivity

          2.  arrangement

          3.  adaptation

          ENLARGED:

          1.  selectivity:  what events and teachings of Jesus serve a purpose in                                my telling this gospel story?

                   NOTE:  John tell us of his selectivity (20:30-31; 21:25)

          2.  arrangement:  What flow of ideas am I pursuing, and how shall I                                       arrange these stories about and quotes from Jesus accordingly?

          3.  adaptation:  “How shall I adapt and apply a story/periscope from                                      Jesus’ life to make my intended point?”

               this accounts for most apparent contradictions in gospel accounts

                   e.g., fig tree withering

         

IV.  Some Hermeneutical Observations

     A.  The imperatives of Jesus need to be brought into 21st century as are                       Paul’s teachings

     B.  Jesus’ commands often have been avoided as throwbacks to OT                                legalism

          Reality: they are not methods of salvation

              BUT they are direction for living in the grace-filled life

     C.  Key theme:  kingdom of God

          1.  the expectation:  John the Baptist: “The kingdom of God is near.”

              anticipation was at feverish pitch

          2.  messianic expectations were fueled by Jesus

              …anticipation of liberation from Rome

          3.  crucifixion crushed hopes

          4.  resurrection renewed such hopes

          5.  expected “Now will establish the kingdom”

          6.  Yes, but no:  Giving of Holy Spirit à kingdom

          7.  result

              already-not yet reality

                   the in-breaking of the new …but not yet the end of the old

                        see p. 147, first pp.

         

CLOSING:
     next week:  Parables

 

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