NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible CBSB_Digital Sampler | Page 23

Introduction to the Gospels & Acts  | 1599
­ xamples to avoid. Both historians and novelists sought to communicate their stories in an engag-
e
ing way, but only the former sought to do so using genuine information, and only the former
normally presented models to imitate. In this period, historians and biographers, rather than
novelists, used the facts of history to communicate moral, political or theological ideas or empha-
ses. This is true of the Gospels as well. If we read them only as a matter of historical interest and
not to hear what we can learn for our lives today, we miss part of the purpose of the Gospels. At
the same time, the Gospels do not merely teach us moral lessons. Most of all they teach us about
who ­Jesus is — ​a theological message. This characteristic is also consistent with biographies, which
were first and foremost about the individuals whose stories they recount.
Above all else, the Gospels are stories about ­Jesus. J ­ esus was both hero and Lord to his early
followers, and his disciples would have been expected to tell and retell the stories about him as
long as they lived. Most of what is significant about most founders of movements — ​whether
Socrates, Muhammad, or Joseph Smith — ​is preserved by the movements themselves, by those
initially most interested in the founders. For Christians, the Gospels are of prime importance,
because they help us to know better the one we also honor as our Lord.
The Gospels’ Reliable Sources
Ancient tradition reports that two of the Gospels’ authors were eyewitnesses of the events:
Matthew and the beloved disciple of John 19:35 and 21:24. Early tradition also reports that Mark’s
Gospel r