Editing Gospel (section)

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The four canonical gospels share the same basic outline of the life of Jesus: he begins his public ministry in conjunction with that of [[John the Baptist]], calls disciples, teaches and heals and confronts the [[Pharisees]], dies on the cross and is raised from the dead.{{sfn|Thompson|2006|p=183}} Each has its own distinctive understanding of him and his divine role{{sfn|Culpepper|1999|p=66}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ehrman |first1=Bart |title=Jesus as God in the Synoptics (For members) |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/jesus-as-god-in-the-synoptics-for-members/ |website=Ehrman Blog |date=13 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311164815/https://ehrmanblog.org/jesus-as-god-in-the-synoptics-for-members/ |archive-date=11 March 2015}}</ref> and scholars recognize that the differences of detail among the gospels are irreconcilable, and any attempt to harmonize them would only disrupt their distinct theological messages.{{sfn|Scholz|2009|p=192}}

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are termed the [[synoptic gospels]] because they present very similar accounts of the life of Jesus.{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=217}} Mark begins with the baptism of the adult Jesus and the heavenly declaration that he is the son of God; he gathers followers and begins his ministry, and tells his disciples that he must die in Jerusalem but that he will rise; in Jerusalem, he is at first acclaimed but then rejected, betrayed, and crucified, and when the women who have followed him come to his tomb, they find it empty.{{sfn|Boring|2006|pp=1–3}} Mark never calls Jesus "God" or claims that he existed prior to his earthly life, apparently believes that he had a normal human parentage and birth, and makes no attempt to trace his ancestry back to [[King David]] or [[Adam]];{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=158}}{{sfn|Parker|1997|p=125}} it originally ended at [[Mark 16]]:8 and had no [[Resurrection of Jesus#Biblical accounts|post-resurrection appearances]], although Mark 16:7, in which the young man discovered in the tomb instructs the women to tell "the disciples and Peter" that Jesus will see them again in Galilee, hints that the author knew of the tradition.{{sfn|Telford|1999|p=148-149}}

The authors of Matthew and Luke added infancy and resurrection narratives to the story they found in Mark, although the two differ markedly.{{sfn|Eve|2021|p=29}} Each also makes subtle theological changes to Mark: the Markan miracle stories, for example, confirm Jesus' status as an emissary of God (which was Mark's understanding of the Messiah), but in Matthew they demonstrate his divinity,{{sfn|Aune|1987|p=59}} and the "young man" who appears at Jesus' tomb in Mark becomes a radiant angel in Matthew.{{sfn|Beaton|2005|pp=117, 123}}{{sfn|Morris|1986|p=114}} Luke, while following Mark's plot more faithfully than Matthew, has expanded on the source, corrected Mark's grammar and syntax, and eliminated some passages entirely, notably most of chapters 6 and 7.{{sfn|Johnson|2010a|p=48}}

John, the most overtly theological, is the first to make Christological judgements outside the context of the narrative of Jesus's life.{{sfn|Culpepper|1999|p=66}} He presents a significantly different picture of Jesus's career,{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=217}} omitting any mention of his ancestry, birth and childhood, his [[baptism of Jesus|baptism]], [[temptation of Christ|temptation]] and [[transfiguration of Jesus|transfiguration]];{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=217}} his chronology and arrangement of incidents is also distinctly different, clearly describing the passage of three years in Jesus's ministry in contrast to the single year of the synoptics, placing the [[cleansing of the Temple]] at the beginning rather than at the end, and the [[Last Supper]] on the day before [[Passover]] instead of being a Passover meal.{{sfn|Anderson|2011|p=52}} According to Delbert Burkett, the Gospel of John is the only gospel to call Jesus God, though other scholars like [[Larry Hurtado]] and Michael Barber view a possible divine [[Christology]] in the synoptics.<ref name="web">{{Cite web |date=16 March 2016 |title=Jesus in the Gospels |url=https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/jesus-in-the-gospels/ |access-date=29 September 2024 |website=Larry Hurtado's Blog |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Barber |first=Michael |year=2023 |title=The Historical Jesus and the Temple: Memory, Methodology and the Gospel of Matthew- Foreword by Dale C. Allison, Jr. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=xi |isbn=978-1009210850}}</ref>{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=216}} In contrast to Mark, where Jesus hides his identity as messiah, in John he openly proclaims it.{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=214}}