Bible (New Testament): English Standard Version

Mark, also one of the synoptic gospels, is notable for its shorter length and the pace of its storytelling. According to early traditions, it was written by Mark, one of the younger leaders of the first Christian generation, whose account is based largely on the disciple Peter’s recollections. Because of its shorter length and the way its material is incorporated into the synoptic tradition, many scholars assume that Mark was the first of the gospels to be written. Most of Mark’s material can be found in the other synoptic gospels; Mark is distinguished partly by what it leaves out (for instance, it has no account of Jesus’s birth) and partly by its driving agenda to prove Jesus’s identity, as is evident in its opening verse: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1).

Like the central portions of Matthew, Mark gives an account of Jesus’s public ministry that is marked by his miracles and his teaching, often in response to questions from onlookers. It begins with the story of Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan River and includes many of the same miracle stories as the other gospels, with the story of Jesus’s transfiguration—his illumination in divine light on a mountaintop—holding a pivotal place in the transition from his Galilean ministry to his passion in Jerusalem. Mark focuses on the actions of Jesus, depicting him as being constantly on the move. This is evident in Mark’s frequent use of the word “immediately” to show Jesus’s transition from one scene to the next. The Gospel of Mark builds up to its climax—the events of Jesus’s passion—with careful intentionality, noting several instances in which Jesus predicted his coming sufferings while speaking with his disciples. Mark devotes seven of its 16 chapters to Jesus’s final week in Jerusalem (Mark 11-16), a larger proportion than in any other gospel. The main difference between Mark and the other gospels’ treatment of those final events is the textual variation in the resurrection narrative. Some of the earliest manuscripts of Mark have it ending with the women’s discovery of the empty tomb and the angel’s announcement of the resurrection. Other manuscripts, however, include an expanded ending that correlates with the content of the other gospels, recounting some of Jesus’s post-resurrection appearances and teachings. This appended piece is referred to as the “long ending” of Mark and is denoted in the ESV by the use of brackets (Mark 16:9-20).

The Gospel of Luke contains shared material with the other synoptic gospels, as well as content that is original to Luke itself. Unlike the other gospels, it includes an opening statement by the author, who dedicates the gospel to a reader named Theophilus and describes his method of careful research into the events of Jesus’s life. This preamble, paired with a similar opening to the Book of Acts, establishes the gospel as the first in a two-part work, which according to tradition, was written by Luke, a doctor who accompanied the apostle Paul on some of his missionary journeys. Among the Gospel of Luke’s distinguishing characteristics is the extended birth narrative it provides, a focus on the inclusion of marginalized groups (women, Gentiles, the poor, and the sick), and a practical emphasis on issues of poverty and wealth.

Luke begins with an extended narrative on the events surrounding Jesus’s birth, offering a detailed view of Mary’s experiences. The gospel begins with the birth of John the Baptist, who functions as the prophetic announcer of Jesus’s public ministry, and then moves to Mary’s reception of an angelic visit, which proclaims the miraculous nature of her coming pregnancy (an event celebrated in Christian tradition as the Annunciation). Just as Matthew does, Luke underscores the belief that Jesus is virginally conceived by God’s will alone, and Mary submits to God’s plan with humble grace. Her response to these events is recorded in her song of praise, called the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant” (Luke 1:46-48). Luke then narrates the story of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem and the angelic announcement to the shepherds: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). After stories detailing Jesus’s presentation at the temple as a baby and a later episode in which Jesus speaks with the religious teachers in Jerusalem as a 12-year-old, Luke’s account joins the mainstream of the synoptic tradition in its account of Jesus’s public ministry.

Luke follows the synoptic pattern in showing both Jesus’s miraculous deeds in his ministry as well as providing episodes of his teaching. The gospel presents an analogous version of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (sometimes referred to in its Lukan context as the “Sermon on the Plain”), and here Luke’s concern for the issue of poverty is evident. While in Matthew, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), in Luke he says simply, “Blessed are you who are poor” (Luke 6:20), and he pairs the Beatitudes with a series of prophetic woes aimed against the abuses of the rich (Luke 6:24-25). The narrative of Jesus’s passion also follows the synoptic pattern, closely matching the sequence of events in Matthew and Mark. The distinguishing feature of the end of Luke’s account is its presentation of extensive narratives relating to Jesus’s post-resurrection appearances. Luke shows Jesus appearing to two of his followers who were traveling away from Jerusalem, then to the disciples still in Jerusalem, and then closes his gospel with a Jesus’s ascension from the Mount of Olives.

The Gospel of John is unique among the four canonical gospels. While it, like the others, offers a biographical depiction of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, it contains significant portions of content the others do not and is defined by a tighter thematic focus on love and the spiritual life. Because it does not make use of the shared textual tradition underlying Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it is not one of the synoptic gospels. It is, however, tied thematically to other canonical books—especially to the epistles 1, 2, and 3 John—and is thus part of the Johannine literature. Early traditions ascribe its authorship to John, one of Jesus’s closest disciples, but the text of the gospel itself is anonymous (though its frequent mention of “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” as in John 21:7, is often taken to be self-referential). Many scholars assume it to be the latest of the four gospels to have been written, which is plausible even within a traditional perspective, since John was the longest-surviving member of the apostolic generation.

John begins with a theological prologue that depicts Jesus in the role of the Logos (“the Word”), an idea that may borrow both from Greek philosophy, as an indication of the underlying meaning of all things, as well as from Second Temple-period Jewish reflections on the divine power of God’s self-revelation to the world: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The prologue indicates Jesus’s eternal preexistence as the divine Word, who came and lived among people in a way analogous to God’s presence with his people in the Old Testament tabernacle. John thus sets the stage for his depiction of Jesus as fully divine, a theme that is also present in the synoptic gospels, but often in a more understated way than in John. From there, John progresses with the story of Jesus’s public ministry, beginning with his gathering of a group of disciples.

Scholars have long noticed that John’s presentation of Jesus’s story is framed around a structure of seven “signs” and seven “I Am” sayings. (Seven is an important symbolic number in the biblical tradition, conveying a sense of completeness and perfection.) While following the familiar narrative of Jesus’s public ministry, which is recognizably the same story as in the synoptic gospels, though with a few additional episodes recounted, John organizes the revelation of Jesus’s identity around a series of miracles and personal claims to divinity. The seven miracles presented as signs of Jesus’s identity are as follows: his changing of water to wine (John 2:1-11), healing an official’s son (4:46-54), healing a paralyzed man (5:1-15), feeding the 5,000 (6:5-14), walking on water (6:16-21), healing a blind man (9:1-7), and raising Lazarus from the dead (11:1-45). John also records seven times in which Jesus offers a metaphor of his own identity by using an “I Am” construction that alludes to the personal name of the God of Israel (Exodus 3:14; compare with John 8:58). The seven “I Am” statements show Jesus referring to himself as the bread of life (John 6:35), the light of the world (8:12), the door (10:7), the good shepherd (10:11), the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way, the truth, and the life (14:6), and the true vine (15:1).

John’s account of Jesus’s passion matches the same sequence of events relayed in the synoptic gospels, from his arrest to his crucifixion. John includes five chapters (13-17) describing the events of the night before Jesus’s arrest (on which the other gospels place the Last Supper), recounting Jesus’s washing of his disciples’ feet, his teachings and instructions to them, and the prayer that he prays for them. After the resurrection, John also offers an expanded view of the disciples’ experiences, recounting additional episodes to the ones available in the synoptics, including Jesus’s interaction with Mary Magdalene, with Thomas and the other disciples in Jerusalem, and again with the disciples when they are back in Galilee.