Brian Simmons - The Life of Jesus: Harmonized Gospels

BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC

Savage, Minnesota, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

ThePassionTranslation.com

The Life of Jesus: Harmonized Gospels, Readers Edition, The Passion Translation

Copyright 2018 BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC

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978-1-4245-5667-0 (e-book)

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This is a special book, for it contains the fullness of revelation insight into the complete life of Jesusfrom his birth to his ministry to his ascension; it includes his miracle wonders and heavens-realm teachings; his suffering, justifying death and victorious, life-giving resurrection. It is a biography of Jesus of Nazareththe Son of God, Savior of the world, Lord of hosts.

What makes this particular biography of Jesus Christ especially unique is that it doesnt contain just one of the Gospel accounts, or even two; it is a harmony of all four Gospels. Merging the particular biographies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, The Life of Jesus offers one seamless chronological narrative to present to you the fullness of Gods heart unveiled before humanity in the person and work of Jesus, the Messiah.

It is a Gospel harmonization, built on four separate perspectives on the life of Jesus that introduces his life and the work of his Spirit to invite seekers, encourage saints, and challenge skeptics alike.

A Gospel harmony or harmonization merges together the biographical accounts of Jesus found in the four canonical GospelsMatthew, Mark, Luke, and Johncreating a single narrative account of his life and teachings, death and resurrection. The goal is to offer readers a single, complete biography of Jesus life-story, helping you intimately know who Jesus is and what he has done for you, while encountering the heart of God through him and his story.

Sometimes such harmonizations arrange the various Bible passages of Jesus life into parallel columns, highlighting places where the stories overlap or offer singular accounts of Jesus story. Others offer a single, merged narrative that blend the four stories into one story, expanding each account, and adding events unique to each Gospel account.

The unique portrait of the life of Jesus found in this book takes the second approach, bringing together the four perspectives of the Gospel writers into one seamless story, using the Gospel of Luke as a base text and the other three to expand and emphasize the details of Lukes account. The result is readable and reliablean exciting and engaging narrative of Jesus life that reads like a novel.

There is a rich history of merging the four Gospel accounts of Jesus life into one single account. The most prominent early harmony was from Tatian, the second-century Christian apologist. His Diatessaron offered an authentic account of the life of Jesus through the prism of all four Gospel accounts togetherdia tessaron meaning through [the] four in Greekand had lasting influence into the Middle Ages.

Augustine wrote extensively on the subject in Harmony of the Gospels, highlighting the variations of the Gospel narratives and revealing their different focuses: Matthew focused on Jesus royalty as king; Mark on Jesus humanity; Luke presented Jesus the priest; and John offered a portrait of Jesus divinity. The great Reformer John Calvin followed this same tradition by harmonizing what are called the Synoptic GospelsMatthew, Mark, and Lukein his commentary, perhaps illustrating why such harmonizations are necessary.

Many have tried to discredit the accounts of Jesus life presented in the Bible by pointing to the seemingly diverse and divergent ways the writers tell his story, particularly in the Synoptic Gospels. Yet this so-called synoptic problem isnt really a problem, for just as four people who witness an event would tell the same story in different ways, resulting in four truthful retellings of the one story, the Gospel writers also retold the life of Jesus in different ways.

The differences among the Gospel narratives reflect the differences in theological emphasis for the Gospel writers. A Gospel

harmonization both highlights these differences and shows how the different points of view fit together like a puzzle to showcase the one narrative portrait of Jesus life, centered around the same message of Gods love. You will find this Gospel harmony to offer a refreshing perspective on the single story of Jesus and his love.

Following in the tradition of Tatian, Augustine, and John Calvin, we have merged the four canonical Gospel accounts of Jesus life into a single, seamless narrative, offering readers a richly majestic, moving portrait of the Son of God. In order to tell this complete story well, we have chosen a single Gospel narrative to serve as the foundational account of Jesus life in The Life of Jesus: the Gospel of Luke. We have used Lukes biography for a few reasons.

First, at the start of his narrative of Jesus life, Luke confesses to having set out to write an orderly account of what Jesus, the Anointed One, accomplished and fulfilled, compiling his meticulous investigation and thorough research of the story of his life. Lukes style, then, is close to a true historical biography. On one hand, he includes stories of Jesus not shared in Matthew, Mark, and John. On the other hand, he shares much material across the Synoptic Gospels, so that adding the Matthew and Mark material expands what Luke wrote. Finally, Lukes chronological retelling of Jesus story from before his birth with the announcement of his forerunner, John the Baptizer, to his ascension into the heavens to the right hand of God, offers a truly biographical narrative of Jesus life in a way the other Gospels do not.