How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart
Week 7: Chapter 7 — The Gospels: One Story, Many Dimensions
Read Chapter 7 of How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. Key texts: Matthew 5–7 (Sermon on the Mount); compare Matthew 5:1–12 and Luke 6:20–26.
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We have four Gospels, not one — and that remarkable fact is itself a clue to how God wants us to read them.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Fee and Stuart explain that the Gospels present Jesus's life and teaching through the unique theological perspective of each evangelist. Why did the early church preserve four Gospels rather than harmonizing them into one? What is gained by having four distinct accounts?
2.The authors distinguish between three 'contexts' for understanding a Gospel pericope (passage): the context of Jesus's own ministry, the context of the early church that first heard the account, and the context of the evangelist's literary and theological purpose. How do all three contexts illuminate the meaning of any given passage?
3.Fee and Stuart use the Beatitudes as an example of how comparing Matthew and Luke reveals that each evangelist shaped the material for his audience (Matthew's 'poor in spirit' vs. Luke's 'poor'). What does this kind of comparison teach us about the nature of inspiration and authorial intention?
a.Does the difference between Matthew and Luke unsettle you or enrich your reading? Why?
b.What does each version emphasize that the other does not?
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