Biblical Foundations

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The written account of what happened to Jesus and the significance it holds for the world is preserved
in four documents we call the Gospels. The word "Gospel" is an English translation of the Greek word Euangelion, which means "Good News," a term originally used to announce the reign of a new Caesar. Christians took this word from the Romans and applied it to their message about Jesus.

"Let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah." — Acts 2:36

It was only later that "Gospel" came to refer to the narrative accounts about Jesus's life which we see in the Bible. Despite being the origin stories of the Faith, the Gospels are among the last documents in our Bible to be written, and yet they have become so central to the Christian faith that they have become synonymous with the Christian message itself.

The Heart of the Message

What each of the Gospels shares in common is an emphasis on the death and resurrection of Jesus. While most chapters briefly treat several events in Jesus's life, this one event we call the Passion Narrative takes up at least three chapters in all four of the Gospels.

The amount of time these authors spent on this story shows us just how important they believed it was to communicate. It is the heart of the Christian faith, the content of its proclamation. That's the main reason these Gospels were preserved, while others were not.

Other Gospels

Some Gospels, like Thomas, Mary Magdalene (2nd century), and Philip (3rd century), do not even have the Passion Narrative, while others have what was considered to be a defective view of Jesus. The Gospel of Peter, for instance, denies that Jesus had a human nature by stating that he felt no pain during the crucifixion, while the Gospel of Judas claims that Jesus plotted with his betrayer to be free of his mortal body, thus affirming a Gnostic belief in the superiority of the spirit over the physical body.

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