The Distinct Depictions of Jesus Throughout the Four Gospels

As the early church began to form and the message of Gospel was spread, the church’s understanding of Jesus’ nature evolved. In class, we covered the depiction of Jesus presented in each of the gospels and the Chalcedonian definition formulated at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 C.E.

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is presented as “the Messiah and the Son of God” (Skinner, THEO 232 Lecture 6). Jesus appears to be “an extraordinary and, indeed, divine being” (Powell 134). Jesus, “often knows the future…or the inner thoughts of other people…and he is in direct and constant communication with God, who is pleased to call him ‘Son’” (Powell 134). Even with this presentation of Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, Mark’s Gospel is “usually said to offer the most human portrait of Jesus in the New Testament” (Powell 134). Jesus calls himself the “Son of Man” (Mark 14:21). Mark’s Gospel grants “particular clarity” (Powell 134) to the humanity of Jesus. Jesus is presented as a man that is “subject to human weakness and frailty” (Powell 134). That is not to say that the other Gospels don’t present Jesus as man, “all four Gospels attribute both human and divine attributes to Jesus” (Powell 134).

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is presented as “the fulfillment of Hebrew Prophecy” (Skinner, THEO 232 Lecture 7). Jesus is presented as the “Son of David...the New Moses…and the New Israel” (Skinner, THEO 232).The Gospel of Matthew “places a special emphasis on the identity of Jesus as the Son of God” (Powell 114). Granted, the Gospel of Mark also presents Jesus as the Son of God, but the Gospel of Matthew expands this theme. In the Gospel of Matthew, “Jesus claims that the reason his enemies want to kill him is that he is the Son of God and sure enough, he is later sentenced to death for claiming to be God’s Son” (Powell 115).

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is presented again as the “Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32) and successor to the as the “throne of David his father” (Luke 1:32). However, the most significant depiction of Jesus is Jesus portrayed as the “The Suffering Messiah” (Skinner THEO 232 Lecture 8). A major focus in Luke’s Gospel is God’s acts of salvation. God grants salvation as a form of “liberation” (Powell 162), allowing people to “experience life as God intends” (Powell 162). Many people are granted healing, exorcism, resuscitation, etc. In the end, however, the greatest act of supernatural salvation, the redemption humanity’s sins, requires the suffering of the Jesus Christ.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus is presented as the Divine Son (Skinner THEO 232 Lecture 9). Portraying Jesus as the Divine Son rather than Son of God is significant. The title of Divine Son conveys a stronger sense of Jesus being God himself while the title Son of God does leave some room for interpreting Jesus as a subordinate creation of God.

While the gospels do not contradict, having these different viewpoints of the nature of Christ left room for many to come to their own conclusions. There were views that Jesus was not a deity at all, others held that he was solely divine, and still others claimed that he had two natures, one human and one God, essentially asserting that Jesus was two persons in one body. (GotQuestions.org) At the Council of Chalcedon (451 C.E.), the church prudently decided to clarify the nature of Christ. The Chalcedonian Definition asserts that “…Our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man consisting also of a reasonable soul and body…”. Jesus is both the Son of God (1 John 5:10) and the Son of Man (Mark 14:21), Jesus does not have two natures but one nature that complement each other and allow for Christ to be humanity’s savior.

Modern historians seek a ‘historical Jesus’, they seek to find what can be understood about Jesus by applying the “generally accepted principles of historical science” (Powell 72). They regard the gospels as “primary sources to be analyzed in order to extract information pertinent to a credible reconstruction of who Jesus was” (Powell 72). To be clear, “the historical Jesus should not be equated with the actual man Jesus who lived in Galilee” (Powell 73). Many parts of Jesus’ life are missing and many things in the New Testament are questionable because “there is insufficient evidence to verify or confirm what is reported there” (Powell 73). Moreover, much of the New Testament asserts Jesus as a divine being and a miracle worker, whereas “Historical science is skeptical by nature…historians usually are unwilling to accept allegation that people performed miracles or other supernatural feats that defy known laws of science” (Powell 74). This why modern historians regard the New Testament as “religious propaganda…written for the express purpose of promoting the Christian faith and persuading people to believe in certain things about Jesus” (Powell 74).

“The categories of ‘historical facts’ and ‘religious assertions’ get fuzzy” (Powell 75) as many historical events have theological implications. Historians have applied different metrics to determine what is ‘authentic history’ in the New Testament. A common metric that has been used is the Criteria of Authenticity. The Criterion of Multiple Attestation claims that “If a saying or act is attested to by more than one source or in more than one genre, it has a greater likelihood of being ‘historical’” (Skinner THEO 232 Lecture 10). The Criterion of Dissimilarity claims that “If a teaching or event is dissimilar to the Judaism of Jesus’ time and to the teaching of the early church, it has greater likelihood of being ‘historical’” (Skinner, THEO 232 Lecture 10). The Criterion of Embarrassment claims that “If an event would have been embarrassing to the early church, it is unlikely that it would have been ‘created’ or ‘invented’… it has a greater likelihood of being ‘historical.’” (Skinner THEO 232 Lecture 10). The Criterion of Rejection and Execution claims that, “That which can help to explain that Jesus was killed has a greater likelihood of being ‘historical.’” (Skinner THEO 232 Lecture 10). The Criterion of Coherence claims that, “That which can be shown to cohere with other established ‘history’ is likely ‘historical’ as well” (Skinner THEO 232 Lecture 10). The problem with these criteria is that they all leave room for error. Each one of them risks granting outsized credibility to a lie while discrediting an accurate passage for the simple fact that it didn’t fit one of the five criteria. In the end, forming an accurate portrait of Jesus is impossible considering the lack of foolproof testimony and evidence from that time.