The Gospels as Jewish Literature

What Are the Canonical Gospels?

The four New Testament books known as the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John narrate the life, teaching, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. The term gospel, meaning “good news,” a translation of the Greek evangelion, refers to the message of Jesus’ teaching and the salvation that came from his death and resurrection.

The four Gospels included in the New Testament (the “canonical Gospels”) are traditionally attributed to specific disciples of Jesus, but the works themselves are anonymous and contain overlapping material. Three of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke, known as the Synoptic Gospels—have enough material in common for scholars to conclude that they are literarily interdependent. According to the most common view, the Gospel of Mark, likely the earliest of the four, served as a source for both Matthew and Luke. Matthew and Luke also contain material not found in Mark, which most scholars attribute to a hypothesized source called Q (from German Quelle, meaning “source”). John, the latest of the four Gospels, contains material not found in the other three and has a somewhat different chronology. While the Synoptic Gospels identify Jesus as the Messiah descended from David and depict him as a teacher and miracle worker, John has a “high christology,” emphasizing that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God.

The Gospels were composed in the first and second centuries of the common era, when the early Jesus movement included both Jews and gentiles. Scholars speculate over whether the authors and intended audiences of the individual Gospels were Jewish or gentile based on the content of the works, but we cannot know for certain. What we do know is that the Gospels are deeply rooted in the Judaism of late antiquity. Both Jewish and gentile Jesus followers were presumed to be familiar with the Jewish scriptures (if only through the Greek translation, the Septuagint). Jesus refers to Jewish scriptures in his teachings, visits the Temple, attends synagogue, and participates in internal Jewish debates over beliefs such as resurrection of the dead and practices such as ritual handwashing and Sabbath observance. The Gospels, for their part, frame Jesus’ life as fulfilment of the Hebrew scriptures’ prophecies regarding the coming of a Messiah descended from King David.