Christ BY FRANZ ITTENBACH, THE DUSSELDORF MASTER, DIED 1879. "In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”John, 1, 4. T HE written record of the marvellous life of Christ has been handed down to our day by four different books, the four Gospels, each the work of a holy man who had seen somewhat of the glorious events he relates, and whose whole life and faith had been revolutionized by what he saw. There are other contemporary notices of events in Judea at the time, notices which perhaps bear some slight reference to Christ, but so vaguely that they tell us nothing. Our knowledge of the all-important, all-beautiful human life of Our God upon earth is derived wholly from these four Gospels, with such suggestions as we can gather from the other New Testament books. The intense love of the four Evangelists for the man Jesus, shows through every line they write. Yet nowhere have they left any description of their master's personal appearance, except in the general suggestion of the profound impression which his majesty and gentleness made upon all men, even at first glance. This reserve as to the body of Jesus is perhaps a wise precaution to prevent our worshipping the mortal above the immortal, the man rather than the God. But as a result the painters of all times have drawn upon imagination for their ideal of Christ and the generally accepted picture of Him has been built up by art. It is merely the world's conception of what He might have been. HE books of the New Testament were originally written in the Greek language, during the first century following the death of Christ. The authors were the apostles or their immediate associates and successors. These wonderful books are twenty-seven in number. First and most important, the most treasured writings upon earth, are the four Gospels, four separate but harmonious accounts of the life and mission of Jesus. These books are called in the Greek the "Evangels" or messages of good tidings, a name fairly translated by our old English "Gospel," which means "good news" or perhaps "God's word." The first three of these books are known as the "synoptic" Gospels, because they have so much in common. Each tells many of the same incidents as the others, often in almost the same words. Each has however incidents unmentioned by the others, and each has its own point of view. The fourth Gospel, that of John, is markedly different though not contradictory to the other three. After the Gospels comes a book telling of the acts of the apostles in the years following Christ's death. It forms a sort of continuation to the third Gospel, that of St. Luke. Then follow various letters written by the first great leaders of the Church to their brethren and disciples in distant lands, and this human interpretation of the meaning of the divine teacher has become a most valuable and illuminative part of our Christian faith. Last of all comes the remarkable Book of Revelation, a series of gigantic prophecies, a work similar to the Jewish apocalypses. From the Greek origin of the New Testament arises one source of inconvenience and perplexity to those who read it for the first time. 1499 1500 INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW in connection with the older books of the Law and Prophets. The proper names are spelled in their Greek form, which sometimes differs widely from the Hebrew. Thus "Jesus" is in reality quite a common Hebrew name, being the same as the Joshua or Jehoshua or Hosea of the Old Testament. The Elijah of the earlier record becomes Elias in the new, Judah becomes Judas, and so onward. These difficulties are most of them avoided in the Revised Version; but only careful study can enable the reader to escape them wholly. Thus, for example, the word Christ, which has with us come to be a name bestowed exclusively upon Jesus, is in reality the Greek form of "Messiah," the Saviour so often promised by the prophets. Hence each time the disciples thus addressed or referred to Jesus they were making profession of their faith in Him. Introduction to the Gospel of St. Matthew The Gospel of St. Matthew has always been accepted by the Church as the work of the apostle Matthew, whose call to follow Jesus is told by himself within the book. He was a "publican" or collector of taxes under the Roman government. We have some evidence that Matthew wrote an account of Jesus in Hebrew almost immediately after the death of the Master, but this work has not been preserved. Probably the apostle composed this present Greek book thirty years later, that is, about 60 A. D. The account is undeniably that of an eyewitness of many of the scenes described. Matthew's Gospel differs from the others chiefly in giving us more of the discourses of Jesus, such for instance as the "Sermon on the Mount," and more also of His actual words in argument, the trials of debate forced upon Him by the priesthood. It is also notable that Matthew seems writing for his own countrymen, the Jews. He refers constantly to the Old Testament. By quoting the ancient prophecies he aims to show his people that Jesus fulfills every prophetic promise, and thus is indeed the Christ, the long expected Messiah. |