The Accounts of Birth of Jesus as Found in the St.Matthew and St.Luke
The story of the birth of Jesus is recoreded in two books of the new
testament, the Gospels according to St.Matthew and St.Luke. We find
the accounts of Jesus' birth in them. Luke's account, the most
popularly known, includes the angel's visit to Mary, the world-wide
census, the birth in the manger in Bethlehem, the angel's visit to the
shepherds, and the shepherd's visitation to the stable
Matthew's account is different. It contains Joseph's visit by an angel
in a dream, the birth in Bethlehem ( with no details ), the visit by
the magi ( the wisemen ), the presentation of their gifts, the
subterfuge of King Herod, and the escape to Egypt by the holy family
These Christian writers have recorded the good news about Jesus' life
and death. Christmas is the story of Jesus's birth. Important things
are mentioned, for example, that Jesus is the Son of God. Also, that
he is both human and divine, that he is the Messiah the chosen one who
the Jews believe will liberate them and that he is that he is the
decendant of the great king David. One thing for certain that both
accounts have the same is that both Mary and Joseph were betrothed. As
I mentioned before, Luke tells us more about the actual birth of
Jesus, while Matthew's version concerns more on the visit of the
wisemen, which the church connects with the feast of Epiphany on the
twelth day of Christmas.
Luke's gospel tells us about how Mary and Joseph had to leave their
home in Nazareth, Northern Palestine. They had to be registered in
Bethlehem in accordance with Caesar Augustus' degree. Bethlehem was a
litt...
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...ourse with Joseph. Luke describes this on more detail.
So, to come to an end, Mathew's account was really the narrative which
seems to be told from Joseph's point of view. Matthew wanted to
establish the legitimcy of Jesus' claim to the messianic throne by
taking Joseph's standpoint. Where Luke, apparently tells the nativty
story from the stand point of Mary. He emphasizes her feelings and
emotions as the mother of the Messiah. So, the differences between the
birth stories in the gospels may have been for a variety of reasons,
including the possibility that Jesus wasn't born in Bethlehem at all.
However , the two birth accounts do inform us of God's intentions to
minister to rich and poor, oppressed and mighty. And that Jesus, even
as an infant, was Emmanuel God withn us. The two texts, however,
cannot be harmonized.
In the parables and teachings of Jesus in the book of Matthew, when Jesus is faced with describing how one should judge others he states, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way that you judge, you will be judged…” (Matthew, pg. 179). To Jesus withholding judgement was crucial to stemming hypocrisy and empowering his followers to self-reflect. When thinking of the philosophical implications of Jesus’ teachings it is important to ask what the principles upon which he defines goodness are. How might his teachings differ from the works of Aristotle when it comes to defining relationships and defining what makes people good or bad?
Long time ago, there was only one religion, Judaism. However as time passing by, the society had a lot of changes. Because of the changing of emperors and the geographic changes, Judaism occurred a lot of variations with those changes. More and more branches started to emerge under the Judaism. Christian became the strongest branch and had their own theological beliefs. Then Christian gradually began to separate from the Judaism. In the Bible, the New Testament part recorded the faith of Christianity. Christian based mostly on the New Testament. In the New Testament of the Bible, it describes the birth and preaches of Jesus, as well as the Paul’s Epistles explains the faith of the Christian. However, the descriptions of the Jesus in the gospels are different. They have many places paralleled.
The Christian Scriptures is the entire Christian Bible. It is composed of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) is composed of several books all containing stories about Jesus, and the Christian Testament (New Testament) which contains the stories of Jesus and the earliest Christian Communities. Although these stories cannot confidently prove to us that they are true there are several distinct similarities, which are contained in nearly all of the books. These similarities are so frequent that their constant occurrence seems more than coincidence. Although these similarities occur often in the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, there are four short books included in the Christian Testament, which we must rely on to understand Jesus’ ministry and life.
The Gospel of Matthew is an eyewitness story written for an audience of believers, under great stress, and persecution. Matthew develops a theological plot incorporating genealogy, speeches, parables, inter and intra textual references, common vocabulary, and fulfillment quotations, with a tension that builds as we are invited into the story. The crucifixion and resurrection bring us to a Christological climax that symbolically points beyond its conclusion to God’s Kingdom, bringing atonement, salvation and the ushering in the Eschaton. The extraordinary events surrounding the crucifixion act as commentary, adding important details concerning the death of Jesus.1
The New Testament teaches about who Jesus is and what he did on the earth. John wrote the last of the four gospels which recount Jesus’ life and what is to come. The gospel of John is somewhat different from the other three gospels, in that it is more symbolic and less concrete. For example, John expresses Jesus as the Passover Lamb when Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. This gospel is showing that Christianity is moving away from the long-practiced Jewish traditions. John’s gospel can be laid out into four parts: the prologue or the incarnate word, signs of the Messiah with teachings about life in him, the farewell teaching and the passion narrative, and the epilogue or the roles of Peter and of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The Gospel of John is arguably the most
The birth narrative of Luke begins with the announcement of the birth of John, whose mother was Elizabeth. An angel came to Zechariah, Elizabeth?s husband and the angel said that his son John would be in great sight of the Lord that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother womb and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel...
Jesus’ life was ministry and death. Much of the early life of Jesus Christ is a mystery. The preponderance of information on or about his life is found in the four gospels of the New Testament. Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary in the year “0” B.C. near the town of Bethlehem in a manger outside an inn. This humble beginning was the foreshadowing of a life of humility and service.
The book of Luke, found after the books Matthew and Mark, focuses on the ministry of Jesus Christ but it also gives us a look into His birth and growth in totality. In this chapter we see a historical account of some of the journeys that Christ experienced. It is important to keep in mind that the Bible and all of its books do serve as historical accounts but each book is unique in the fact that they incorporate a theological timeline. The Bible is, conceivably, the most important book that has ever been written. It gives the world eyewitness accounts to historical events that helped not only shaped a region of the world but the whole entire world. It is nearly impossible to go through some formal societal education and have never once read a part of the bible or have heard a story that adapts from the stories within the bible. The bible has helped formed institutions, associations and so much more. By reading the Gospel of Luke we are truly reading what is meant for us to read as Christians. The principal plot in the book of Luke is the life of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice, His ability to beat death and remain perfect as the son of GOD despite being human as well. Jesus is seen as the perfect savior for humans in the book of Luke. Luke not only gives multiple examples of the power of Jesus but also it gives us a look at The Lord’s triumph over temptation. Luke also depicts Jesus as a man/GOD who had a very deep concentration on people and relationships. The book of Luke gives Jesus a loving characteristic but doesn’t shy away from showing that at times Jesus got angry too. Jesus showed a great deal of compassion to the sick, those in pain, the poor, and unambiguously the sinful. Jesus had genuine love for everyone. Throughout this...
Every Christians today knows the story of Jesus birth. The story of how Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem for a censes declared by the Roman Empire. While not being able to find an inn to stay in and Mary getting ready to give birth, they stow away in the cave where the animals were kept. While there Mary gave birth to a son and called him Jesus. While Jesus was in a manger a heavenly host of angles came down and also Shepard’s from the field came and rejoiced the savior was born. This is where the typical nativity scene comes from. Unless you have a Doctorate and teach a History of the New testament class and go into fine detail about the story, then story this is what people hear. Well this is for History of the New Testament so the fine details are what we are looking for. Most people do not realize that the story they tell every Christmas is actually a combination of two stories. The birth story is told in the Gospels of Luke and the Gospels of Mathew but each tell a very different version of what actually happened and that is what leads to people questioning the accuracy of the bible today.
events leading to the birth of Jesus including the concept of virginal conception of Mary. Sura Maryam of the Quran specifically talks about this virginal conception
The traditional story of Jesus tells of his birth in a stable in Bethlehem in the Holy Land, to a young virgin called Mary who had become pregnant with the son of God through the action of the Holy Spirit. The story of Jesus' birth is told in the writings of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. The New Testament, a collection of twenty-seven books written in the century after Jesus' death in 30 C.E., has had importance by shaping the church's teachings, ethics, ritual, organization, and mission in the world (Van Voorst 245). His birth is believed by Christians to be the fulfillment of prophecies in the Jewish Old Testament which claimed that a Messiah would deliver the Jewish people from captivity ("The Basics"). Christians ultimately believe in two places to go after death, Heaven, where eternity is spent in a state that is beautiful beyond our ability to conceive, or Hell, where eternity is spent with Satan and his demons.
Since Matthew and Luke are not modern day biographies, they do not follow the standard that we imagine. I think the explanation for the combination of similarities and differences comes from the fact that the Matthew and Luke are styled differently and also have different audiences. Since Matthew and Luke are interpreting history for a specific audience, this would explain why Matthew and Luke contains differing details. For example, Matthew tells of the Wise Men that came to visit Jesus in Matt.2:1-12 while Luke tells of shepherds that came to visit Jesus in Luke 2:8-20. Since Matthew is styled for a Jewish audience, perhaps it is considered more impactful and stunning that wise philosophers came to worship a child. On the other hand,
In the gospels of Mark and John, both showed a vivid portrait of Jesus in their writing. Mark’s gospel describes much more of Jesus' life, miracles, and parables as suffering servant. However, John’s gospel was written to convince people to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Nonetheless, both John and Mark present many of the crucial events of Jesus' life, including his trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.
The Bible contains two parts, which are the Old Testament, the so-called the Jewish Bible, and the New Testament. Though many different writers involved in writing the Bible, the two Testaments are not independent; they are cross-referenced to each other. Christians often treat the Old Testament not only as the historical documents or literatures of the Israelites, but also as an important element of the foundation of the New Testament, because the writers of the New Testament lay strong emphasis on the relationship of Jesus with the prophecies of the Old Testament, which includes "the birth of Jesus, the place of His birth, the flight into Egypt, the return to Nazareth, the role of John the Baptist in preparing Jesus for His public ministry," the crucifixion of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus.
The Virgin birth of Christ is an actual Historical fact. God came (in the sinless form of Jesus) into the earth "HE" created. No other event in the past has had so much impact out side of Calvary where Christ paid the price for our transgressions. Seven hundred years earlier, this was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah and it came about just as predicated in (Matthew 1:22, 23)