Life of Christ: Introduction- Two Books

Life of Christ: Introduction- Two Books

There are two books that have guided my preparation for this series.

John H. Sailhamer. The Life of Christ.

I will use Sailhamer’s book to divide the Gospels into sections and see how the events are covered in more than one of the books.

I will use his book in understanding the chronology of Jesus’ life.

I have used this book often since its publication and was in a church Bible class that John taught when we were both on the faculty at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

David Alan Black. Why Four Gospels.

Black’s books clearly summarizes what the church believed about the origins of the Gospels and their teaching.

This is very important because many of the attacks against Christianity by unbelievers have focused on whether Jesus even existed and what can we know for sure about him.

As Black summarizes:

The Jerusalem phase of the church is covered in Acts 1-12 and was led by Peter. One of Twelve, Matthew, wrote his Gospel from a Jewish perspective.

The Gentile mission is covered in Acts 13-18 and was led by Paul. Luke, a Gentile companion of Paul, researched his Gospel during this time. He had access to eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life when Paul was in prison in Caesaria before he was sent to Rome.

The church in Rome probably began soon after Pentecost. Peter and Paul were martyred there in the late AD 60s. Peter left his account of Jesus’ ministry which is contained in Mark’s Gospel.

John, another one of the Twelve, wrote his Gospel near the end of the first century.