One of the courses I enjoy teaching the most is the Survey of the Gospel and Acts on the Theology and Ministry Course at the Latvian Biblical Centre.
I am in Riga now and am halfway through teaching this course. Having a week in Riga after teaching on the School of Preachers last weekend I had some time to freshen up my Gospel and Acts course.
One of the things I did was read Joshua W. Jipp’s fine work Reading the Gospels as Christian Scripture (Baker ISBN 9781 540 963345). What a treat it was to revisit the Gospels and reflect again on their enduring significance.
Jipp looks at the Gospels through three lenses:
Reading the Gospels in their First-Century Historical Context.
Reading the Gospels as Narratives.
Reading the Gospels for Transformative Discipleship.
Each of these three lenses are vital if we are to read the Gospels today.
Speaking of historical context, I think of how important this is for reading the Gospel of Matthew. Although it is probably the most popular and most frequently cited of the four Gospels, it was not written first, and yet it is the first Gospel in the New Testament.
I guess the decision was made because of the way that Matthew seems to be a convenient bridge between the Old and New Testaments. To 21st Century readers starting the New Testament with a long genealogy does not seem to be smart but to the ancient world it made perfect sense. Such an approach rooted the story of Jesus in the big story of the Old Testament. Matthew continues to do this with his use 12 times of the formula, “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet.”
This emphasis on historical context is a reminder that the Gospel accounts are based on eyewitness history. I often say in my preaching, “It is only good news if it is true news!”
Speaking of the Gospels as narratives is important because they have been shaped as four distinctive retellings of the same story of Jesus. Luke is the Gospel writer who in his introduction (Luke 1:1–4) is quite explicit about his approach to composing his Gospel as an “orderly account.”
This is instructive for preachers if they see that Luke helps us not only with the content he provides concerning Jesus but also in the form in which he presents it. Luke’s Gospel is a carefully shaped piece of Gospel communication.
Luke and the other Gospel writers are like preachers, who speak the truth with a clear narrative structure.
Speaking of transformative discipleship, I am reminded that Scripture and preaching on Scripture does not exist for “information only.” The Gospels are written to do more than just inform us, they are written to transform us. Here John is the most explicit in declaring his purpose:
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”(John 20:30–31).
The Gospels are true, compelling and convincing. Preachers on the Gospels should be also.