Literary Features of Gospels

Literary Features of Gospels

The books of Gospels in the Bible can be categorized under the group of narratives. They are fundamentally focused on the narration of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. At this level, there is a universal understanding of the purpose and nature of gospels. Every believer acknowledges the purpose of gospels in revealing the life from birth to death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Fee & Stuart, 2014). Gospels have similar features and serve the same functions to the fictional works of literature. Such an aspect is evident in the four main Gospels in the New Testament Bible. The Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John give supportive narrative religious texts. They have common literary arguments with only a few aspects of disparities in their narration of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Rather than being just “good news,” the Gospels give a supportive description of the messianic nature of Christ. There are significant literary features of Gospels that define the function and purpose of the Gospels.

Gospels address both the inside and outside audiences. While some doctrines targeted those in the church, others addressed the people outside the church. Theological scholars discuss the primary classification of the New Testament books as either Didache or kerygma. Kerygma gospels proclaim the word of God intending to convince the outsiders to convert them (Fee & Stuart, 2014). On the other hand, Didaches provide significant teachings of the word to guide the Christians on how to live. The Sermon on the Mount in Mathew’s gospel impacts the members in the church with instructions on the Christian rules (chapter 5-8). Similarly, the gospel of Luke was addressed to Theophilus, who was a member of the informed Christians.  Conversely, the gospel, according to Mark, is directed to the outsiders to convert the non-Christians. Saint John also focuses on the conversion of the non-believers in his gospel. All gospels address both the inside and outside audiences.

The Gospels uphold a significant literary continuity. There are substantial interrelationships among the four gospels. Despite the differences in points of detail, the four gospels collaborate to provide a separate narration of the life and teachings of Jesus. The first three gospels, the Synoptic, are so similar that they support the literary continuity of the doctrines. The authors of the books inspired each other to narrate the same story with related phrases (Bock & Simpson, 2017). The gospels complement each other in their narration. The similarities in the Synoptic formed an essential reference for the Christian community. Various other authors of the New Testament make references on the description in the gospel to maintain literary continuity. The Gospels are mainly historiography, lacking the aspects of fables, myths, and other ancient genres (Fee & Stuart, 2014). Although there are significant literary devices used, the Gospels are factual accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ..

Gospels are not only local but also universal.  Although some accounts were intended for a specific community of Christians, the Gospels were universally written for all Christians. The main message carried in the gospels is that Jesus Christ died for the salvation of all people from the bondage of sin. Thus, the accounts of His life and teachings targeted both the believers and non-believers to bring them into the light of Christ. The narration of the life and ministries of Jesus Christ translate into evangelism to bring about the conversion of the non-believers (Bock & Simpson, 2017). To the believers, the narration in the gospel strengthens their faith in Jesus Christ. Conversely, the gospels build a foundation of faith among the non-Christians. The various literary features of Gospels are significant in supporting the attainment of the purpose of the narration. Through the literary narrative, the gospel of Jesus Christ is taught to all the readers.

References

Bible, The New Testament.

Bock, D. L., & Simpson, B. I. (2017). Jesus, according to Scripture: restoring the portrait from the Gospels.             Baker Academic.

Fee, G. D., & Stuart, D. (2014). How to read the Bible for all its worth. Zondervan Academic.