Gospels Vertical Approach

The Gospels is four different depictions about the life and ministry of Jesus. The Holy Spirit inspired four different writers to tell the story about Jesus. There are three ways one can study the Gospels and they are vertically, horizontally, and harmonizing. Studying the Gospels vertically is the preferred way scholars suggest one to study the Gospels. The vertical approach looks at the each Gospel from top to bottom and follows the movement of the narrative. In the narrative, it consists of an introduction, conflict, climax and resolution. As a reader, it is important to look at the Gospels from an individual or independent perspective. Each writer looked at Jesus from a different outlook. When a person look at a car, he does not look at the car from one side. It is important to see the car from the front, back, sides and the interior. This allows one to gain a better overall view of the vehicle. Just as one looks at a vehicle, Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote about Jesus from their perspective and this give a reader a broader viewpoint about Jesus. Looking at the Gospels vertically, it allows a reader to see the

Horizontally is an approach which compares the Gospels and view their comparisons. This approach allows readers to gain clarity about themes and theology. Since the Gospels have different authors, no individual Gospel gives all the information about Jesus. Therefore, one can look at Gospel horizontally and gain more information about certain topics or themes. Some scholars suggest Mark was the orignal text and Mathew ans Luke used Mark’s writing as a reference. With that hypothesis, scholars deemed it was impossible for three people to write the same story in different parts of the Roman Empire. This is why the horizontal studying method can be benefitial for researching topics (Strauss,