Religious and Cultural Backgrounds
In religious and cultural backgrounds, fifty years after the crucifixion of Jesus, four evangelists explored Jesus's teachings through historical events. In this regard, the evangelists examined the importance of Jesus's life, his death, and resurrection at large. Eyewitnesses such as Mathew, Peter, and John played a significant role in the testimony of the gospel books. The four gospel books include Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John precisely. Therefore, this paper will talk about the gospels and Jesus, their origin, the reason why they were written, when and who had they wrote to, the synoptic problem, and the two theories that contribute to the better understanding of the origin of the gospels at large. Moreover, scholars' perception on the book of John depict historical events of Jesus's crucifixion and baptism that cannot be disputed in the contemporary society.
Origin of the Four Gospels
The four gospels originated from testimonies of eyewitnesses as depicted earlier in this context. There is no specific author entitled in the books for the work done because the practices are traditional and cannot be rejected. Peter, Mathew, and John were the eyewitnesses, and only John wrote the book in its final and official form. Unlike John, Mathew wrote his work in Aramaic while the book of Mark is Peter's testimony. On the other hand, the text of Luke is a compilation of historical resources on the book of Mathew, Mark and the events of Jesus's birth. The proclamation that Jesus's fulfilled his promises creates a high perception of the reason why the books came into existence. The purpose of the books is the need to teach and preach the teachings of Jesus Christ in the society at large especially in the stories of Jesus's resurrection (Bethune, 2016).
Target Audience in Christian Churches
In this perspective, the books involve Christians at large. The gospel books tend to address Christian churches to spread the word of God. Christian movements in the contemporary society play a significant role in networking communities with the aim of spreading the written gospels. For example, the Christian audience is addressed in the doctrine of Mathew whereby Mathew owns a church known as the Matthean community that performed activities of spreading the gospel of God in the first century (Bethune, 2016). The above narrative displays the idea that the books were for circulation in the churches at large. Additionally, as depicted earlier, it is not mentioned in any book in the ancient history of who wrote the gospel books because the content in the books depends on traditional historical events that cannot be ignored. In this regard, the information displayed in the public domain is that there were eyewitnesses who offered testimonies concerning the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Synoptic Problem
The term synoptic means something of the same meaning, wording, or the same eye of perspective in other person's view. Therefore, the above notions stem out in the book of Mathew, Mark, and Luke. The three books are the same and have identical phrasing making the book of John different from the rest of the gospel books. The synoptic problem stems out because the sense of wordings in Mathew, Mark, and Luke show the content in the gospel books and that the attributes are the same. Majority of the scholars favor the three books, unlike John that stands on its own creating a different version concerning the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in this context. Therefore, the notion depicted above facilitates the idea that the book of John is not in the list of synoptic gospels and that the other three books fall under the synoptic problem (Knight, 2017).
Theories on the Origin of the Gospels
The two source theories emerged in the nineteenth century whereby it involved the gospel of Luke and the gospel of Mathew. The origin of these gospel books stems out in the book of Mark whereby the two above mentioned Gospels formed the crux of its existence at large. The emergence of hypothetical oral proverbs also came into perspective known as Q. The narrative elaborated in this context shows an understanding in the origin of the gospel book of Mark that teaches about Jesus Christ at large. The hypothetical oral sayings have an advanced nature of talking to the general public concerning the gospels books hence showing an understanding of the origin of the books.
References
Bethune, B. (2016). DID JESUS REALLY EXIST? (cover story). Maclean's, 129(12/13), 38-41.
Knight, C. C. (2017). The Synoptic Problem: Some Methodological Considerations and a New Hypothesis. Heythrop Journal, 58(2), 247-261. doi:10.1111/heyj.12326
