Weekly Blog

Last time we saw how the beginning of each Gospel draws heavily upon the Old Testament with quotes and allusions. Today I want to show that comparing the way each Gospel begins and ends shows how the story of Jesus is the fulfillment of key Old Testament themes. This is true for all four Gospels.

When we open our New Testament, we are greeted with four Gospels. Each Gospel gives a unique yet consistent and complementary picture of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The fact Jesus is the focus and fulfillment of the Old Testament may be seen in how each of the four Gospels begins with clear quotes or allusions to the Old Testament to show that the story of Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

Last time we saw that the Old Testament was divided into three sections in the Jewish Canon. These were the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi’im), and the Writings (Ketuvim). The first letters of the Hebrew words for Law Prophets and Writings may be seen in the modern name for the Jewish canon – TaNaK. As Christians, the Scripture is not only the Old Testament – it is both the Old and New Testament. In fact, the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. We see this a few ways.

The Old Testament was divided into three sections in the Jewish Canon. These were the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi’im), and the Writings (Ketuvim).

In Christ, Bret

In Christ, Bret

The idea came to me during my hermeneutics class in seminary when the professor showed a few of the Old Testament types and shadows, how Christ fulfilled them, and how the church inherited the reality to which the Old Testament shadow pointed through Christ. I then greatly expanded it to include many other types and shadows, and then recently added more verses specifically from the Gospels for the Gospel overview class.

In the coming weeks/months, I will be giving my teaching notes for an overview of the Gospels class I did for a local training group known as the Seminary Without Walls. This week is simply an overview of three key themes we had taught when we did an Old Testament overview. These are foundational to understanding how to read the Gospels.

As we have traveled through Mark’s Gospel, I have mentioned a number of times of the importance of reading each Gospel individually but also reading them together. Recently, a friend shared the graphic below with me, and I thought it gave a good snapshot of why this is so important.

On Sunday we looked at Mark 11:1-11, which is Mark’s account of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. This event began the final week of Jesus’ life, which we often call Holy Week. In After Hours for this week, I noted that this week is given huge emphasis in each of the four Gospels: