The Gospels: Portraits Of Jesus And His Ministry -- By: Robert A. Guelich

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 24:2 (Jun 1981)
Article: The Gospels: Portraits Of Jesus And His Ministry
Author: Robert A. Guelich


The Gospels:
Portraits Of Jesus And His Ministry

Robert A. Guelich*

The changes in gospel studies during the past thirty years have been very subtle and remain far from pervasive within evangelical circles. The goal of this paper is twofold: to highlight the change in perspective regarding the gospels, and to underscore the significant implications of this change for three specific areas of Biblical theology vital to evangelical concerns.

I. The Change In Perspective Regarding The Gospels

Recognizing the risk of oversimplification and acknowledging the ultimate breakdown of all analogies, one may cautiously depict the rather broad spectrum of gospel studies in terms of three artisitic expressions: (1) the snapshot, (2) the portrait, and (3) the abstract painting. Each medium gives its own expression of reality. Yet each differs from the other in the respective treatment of that reality. Consequently one expects to find a descending degree of correspondence to reality in a snapshot, a portrait and an abstract painting. Yet all three media contain specific standards of reliability that are set by the parameters of each medium, standards by which the final product may be evaluated. In other words the existing criteria for determining a good or reliable snapshot differ greatly from the criteria for determining a good portrait or an abstract painting. Therefore in criticizing a work of art one must first take into consideration the medium and then apply the appropriate criteria for evaluation. To apply the analogy to gospel studies, the frequently avoided task of determining whether the gospels—any or all—represent snapshots, portraits, or abstract paintings of Jesus and his ministry directly conditions the task of evaluating the nature of the reliability of the documents.

1. The Gospels as Snapshots. For many centuries—some would say from the beginning—the gospels have been viewed as verbal snapshots of Jesus ministry. Stemming from eyewitness reports and containing a rather detailed chronicle of Jesus’ life and teaching, the gospels offer a “record” of Jesus’ ministry, recording the work and words of Jesus with a precision not unlike that of the Congressional Record. As snapshots, the gospels’ primary intention was to preserve for posterity a precise verbal picture of Jesus’ life and teaching. Together the four gospels provide a solid basis for the construction of a life of Jesus in chronological and geographical sequence by means of harmonizing the similar and dissimilar elements. The natural consequence of such a perspective has been a series of gospel harmonies extending from Tatian’s Diatessaron of the second century to Cheney’s The Life of Christ in Stereo,1...

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