Welcome to my secular study of the Gospels. This is Episode 1.01, focusing on the prologues in Mark, Matthew, and Luke. I will discuss John’s prologue separately in the next episode.

Point #1: Mark’s Prologue

Mark 1:1: “The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,”

Mark’s Gospel is concise and direct from start to finish. The preface exemplifies this, comprising a single line with minimal words: Good News, Jesus Christ, Son of God.

The Greek word ‘evangelion’ translates as ‘good news’ and was used similarly to how we use it today. You might say to someone, “Hey, I’ve got good news about that job you applied for…” ‘Evangelion’ was not exclusive to announcing the birth of a king or other extraordinary events. It was a common term that early Christians adopted, giving it a special significance. In their context, lowercase ‘g’ good news evolved into uppercase ‘G’ Good News, a change Mark mirrors in the opening of his Gospel about Jesus. When we call this book the “Gospel of Mark,” we mean it is the “Good News (about Jesus) according to Mark.”

The good news is that God sent His Son to live among us as a human. Roman and Jewish leaders executed him, and then he rose from the dead three days later. Jesus’ life and death paved the way for eternal salvation for those who believe in Him as the Messiah. Although interpretations of the good news differ among denominations, these fundamental elements are shared by all Christians.

Point 1a: The Meaning of Christ

The translation I used states, “…about Jesus Christ…” Christ, or Kristos, is the Greek equivalent of “Messiah.” The term “Messiah” comes from the Semitic language family, with Hebrew and Aramaic both having their own variations of the word.

The term “Messiah” means “Anointed One.” Anointing involves the ritualistic application of oil or other substances to a person or object. In ancient Israel, this ritual was carried out on a new king before they could ascend to the throne.

Ancient Jews believed the Messiah would be a completely human descendant of King David, destined to become the King of the Jews. As king, the Messiah would unify the tribes of Israel and lead them to military triumph over other empires. This victory would initiate a Messianic Age of worldwide peace lasting a millennium.

The words Christ, Messiah, and Anointed One all mean the same thing; they are just different terms used in various languages. Using multiple terms indicates that early Christians expressed their faith across different languages. Many believe Jesus’ name was Jesus Christ, but in fact, that was a title rather than a name. He would have been called Jesus of Nazareth or just Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary.

Point 1b: The Son of God

Scholars debate the final section of Mark’s Gospel introduction. The phrase “…the Son of God…” is rarely found in the earliest Mark manuscripts, suggesting it might be a later addition by scribes rather than part of the original text. I include it because Jesus, as the Son of God, is a central theme in Mark. Though its original presence is uncertain, Mark clearly highlights its importance.

Today, it is widely accepted that Jesus was the son of God. Recognizing Jesus as God’s son is significant because the early Christians were Jews who believed in the covenant made between Abraham and God. This covenant was also reaffirmed through Moses after the Jews escaped from Egypt.

The covenant between Abraham and God is detailed in Genesis 17, where God vows to make Abraham the father of many nations. In return, all male descendants of Abraham and others are required to be circumcised. Additionally, Genesis 15 connects the Mosaic covenant to the one with Abraham. Genesis 15 says, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.”

In Exodus 12, the final plague strikes Egypt, killing all the firstborn males, both humans and animals. The only survivors are those in households that perform a specific ritual: slaughtering a lamb, eating it, and painting their doorframes with its blood. These homes are spared from God’s judgment.

In Exodus 13, God reminds Moses about the importance of the firstborn. He instructs, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” The chapter continues, guiding the children of Moses to observe Passover—a commemoration of God’s act of passing over the doors of His chosen people, sparing the firstborn males during the plague. This weeklong celebration includes rituals such as eating unleavened bread, drinking unsweetened wine, and sacrificing a lamb. These acts serve to remember God’s grace in freeing the Israelites from slavery and leading them to the Promised Land, now called Israel.

A key element of early Christianity was that the Good News of Jesus provided a new way to attain salvation. It signified the conclusion of the Passover and the people’s obligation to God for His grace. The Christian narrative was that they no longer needed to observe the Passover.

Passover was a ritual that symbolized life only in the Promised Land during this mortal existence. It was also inconsistent—some individuals lived in the Promised Land without truly earning it, while others who obeyed God’s commands still faced exile or suffering. To address these issues of mortality and inconsistency, which later Christians saw as a failure of faith within the Jewish community, Jesus introduced a new form of offering. This offering is based on the details of the Abrahamic and Mosaic commandments. It involved wine, bread, the sacrifice of a lamb, and was centered on a firstborn son.

Christians believe that God sent His firstborn son, known as the Lamb of God. This title references the Passover ritual. Jesus, God’s son, was sent as the ultimate sacrifice, making all previous sacrifices unnecessary. His death fulfills the Passover permanently. Traditionally, sacrificing a lamb each year grants entry into the Promised Land, but it must be repeated annually to continue receiving this reward. It’s like paying on an interest-only loan. God’s sacrifice of His only Son offers a much greater reward; it’s like paying off a debt entirely in a single payment. As a result, God’s one-time sacrifice grants eternal life in paradise to all who believe in it after this world ends.

Mark clearly states the main theme of his book: The Good News as the new path to salvation through Jesus, the unexpected Messiah. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection sealed the covenant between humanity and God, which started with Abraham, was renewed by Moses, and culminated in God’s sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. Accessing this salvation requires understanding Jesus’ message, believing wholeheartedly, and spreading the Good News. 

Point #2: Matthew’s Prologue

Matthew 1:1: “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

Matthew begins with a brief Preface, similar to Mark’s, but their objectives differ. Mark states that his Gospel focuses on the Good News of Jesus Christ. By contrast, Matthew’s introduction does not mention it. Instead, Matthew emphasizes that Jesus fulfills the qualifications of the Messiah. His Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus to establish from the outset that he embodies all Messianic expectations in the Old Testament’s various prophecies.

In his opening line, Matthew highlights an essential criterion for recognizing the Messiah: he must be a descendant of both David and Abraham. It appears that Matthew’s gospel aims to respond to early Jewish followers’ debates about whether Jesus was the true Messiah, especially since he did not achieve the expected worldly conquest during his lifetime. Many people interested in Jesus’s followers likely questioned how they could assert Jesus was the Messiah if Roman rule persisted.

Matthew’s gospel emphasizes how Jesus fulfills the Prophets’ expectations. Matthew’s need to emphasize this suggests that Jesus was not immediately recognizable as the Messiah to his audience. His life, actions, and death require explanation because most Jews expected a victorious, conquering king Messiah, not the suffering servant Jesus became when the Roman state executed him.

Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy linking Jesus to Abraham, drawing on his audience’s knowledge of the Genesis covenant between God and Abraham. Because Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, the covenant still applies, and it is worth the audience’s time to understand what Jesus’s death means for them.

Matthew highlights Jesus’s family link to David to meet the criteria in 2 Samuel Chapter 7, which describes the end times as ‘being fulfilled by a son of David.’ Jesus also satisfies Messianic expectations by being a descendant of David and is able to renew the covenant with Abraham, as Moses did in Exodus.

Point #3: Papias of Hierapolis

Papias of Hierapolis (60–130 CE) is thought to be the first Christian to attribute names to the four Gospels. Although initially anonymous, Papias asserted that he knew some apostles and named the authors of each Gospel. He also mentioned that Matthew’s Gospel was the only one originally composed in Aramaic instead of Greek.

Papias’ assertions are widely disputed, and most scholars today doubt his claimed connections. However, his claims were later supported by notable Christian figures, including Bishop Irenaeus (125–202 CE), who helped establish the attributions of the Gospels to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as we know them today.

The Gospel of Mark was likely composed in the late 60s CE in Koine Greek. Many verses in Matthew’s Gospel are directly sourced from Mark. This theory, known as “The Markan Priority,” proposes that Matthew and Luke relied on Mark as a main source. The idea is well-supported, with in-depth analyses available in the works of scholars like Mark Goodacre and Delbert Burkett. Additionally, a comprehensive Wikipedia page offers enough details to persuade most readers of the validity of the Markan Priority hypothesis.

Marcan Priority indicates that the current version of Matthew must have originated in Greek. It is based on Mark’s Gospel and another source, commonly referred to as “the Book of Quotes” or “the Book of Q.” Both sources were originally composed in Greek. Since Matthew copies them almost exactly, it is unlikely they were translated from Hebrew or Aramaic into Greek and then copied; such a process would have significantly degraded their quality.

An early Aramaic version of Matthew might have existed and later been integrated with Mark and Q to create the Gospel of Matthew known today. While there is no direct evidence for this earlier version, the lack of proof does not mean it never existed. In this case, the original Matthew would contain parts from the early version, combined with material from Mark and quotations from other sources.

As a result, the book now known as Matthew may have been assembled by someone who collected these texts rather than written by the original author. Nonetheless, it is most probable that a Greek Christian authored the Gospel of Matthew in Koine Greek during the 70s or 80s CE. Whether this author was Matthew, knew Jesus personally, or was merely a dedicated and educated Christian remains unknowable today.

Point #4 Luke’s Prologue

“¹ Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, ² just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³ With this in mind, since I, myself, have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

Point 4a: Who Was Theophilus?

Before comparing Luke with Mark and Matthew, it’s important to recognize a dedication. Both Luke and Acts are authored by the same individual, as evidenced by their shared dedication to Theophilus. This common dedication suggests they were written by the same author.

In English, Theophilus roughly means “one who loves God,” a name that has intrigued scholars for centuries. There are no known early Christian figures named Theophilus from the late first century, so we can only speculate whether Theophilus was a real person or a literary device employed by Luke to signify that his Gospel is intended for all “lovers of God.”

Point 4b: Luke the Most Synoptic of the Synoptic Gospels?

Luke is the third and final of the “Synoptic Gospels.” The first three gospels are called “Synoptic” because they provide a historical overview of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. John’s Gospel is not classified as synoptic because it presents Jesus’s story in a markedly different way, often diverging significantly from the others in content, style, and purpose.

Luke’s opening is interesting because he responds to Theophilus’s concern about the different accounts of Jesus among early Christians. Theophilus anticipates that Luke will carefully examine the sources and deliver a gospel with precise, truthful information, excluding any false or misleading details.

This suggests that by the 80s CE, several accounts were circulating, many of which Christians questioned. How Luke distinguished what was true from what was false remains unknown today. We cannot tell whether any material he considered ‘false’ appears in the version of the Bible we have today.

Theophilus appears to have viewed Luke as a respected scholar with direct contact with key early church figures. He trusted that Luke’s education and personal experience made him capable of discerning truth from falsehood in the materials accessible to their community.