FORWARD TO THE GOSPELS

In defending, and asserting the great doctrine of being Once Saved In Eternal Spiritual Salvation (OSIESS), and correcting the errant position of the Not Eternally Saved Theory (NEST), working through the Gospels requires applying interpretive principles that have some unique factors.

(1)
First and foremost, when we come to the Gospels to interpret their contents, we do so recognizing that they are written much like chronicles of history, and in many ways that is exactly what they are. The word "gospel" means "good news." What we find with the Gospels is that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the good news chronicles of the coming, the life, the events, the teachings, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the promised Messiah-king. The good news continues, and it is experienced in the fact that eternal spiritual salvation is in Him.

(2)
This leads to the second consideration that we must understand in interpreting the Gospels, and that is that they record various teaching events of Jesus as He traveled around and spoke to specific audiences. It is important to recognize that Jesus spoke and taught in various contexts concerning various things. Sometimes He would be speaking to the Old Covenant Jewish religious leaders and would address specific issues having to do with them. Sometimes He would be speaking to those students who were following Him, and so He would address specific issues that had to do with them. Sometimes He would speak to people He would meet while he was walking around the Judean region. Occasionally Jesus would encounter someone who was not Jewish, and so He would teach concerning Gentiles. Sometimes He would speak to crowds that would converge, and gather, around Him. The primary audience, though, for which Jesus came to teach, was made up of Israelites. We find Jesus explaining the reason why Israelites were His primary audience, saying in Matthew 15,

"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matthew 15:24)

(3)
This fact leads to the third consideration that we must realize; namely, the Gospels primarily take place in the Old Testament. About the first 90-95 percent, or so, of the first part of each of the four Gospels is a chronicle of Jesus' ministry in the Old Testament. The remaining sections record New Testament events during and directly after the establishment of Christ's New Covenant through His blood and resurrection.

Confusion often occurs among many Bible readers with the terms Old Testament, and New Testament, because the Gospels are placed in a reference section of our modern Bibles that has come to be called the "New Testament." Because of this, there is a tendency to think of the Gospels as being completely New Testament scriptures. Since many today are confused about the anachronistic, and somewhat esoteric, language that the term "New Testament" has come to mean, we must make sure that we understand its proper definition. We do this by primarily recognizing what the term testament literally means. Testament is exactly the same word as covenant. When we speak of old covenants in the Biblical sense, we recognize that there were many old covenants (testaments) that God made with His people in the past. To name a few, there is the one that God made with Noah. In that covenant, God said that He would never destroy the world with a flood again. Another covenant is the one that God made with Abraham concerning Abraham's seed. It was not until the New Covenant that we see this Abrahamic covenant finding its ultimate fulfilled in Messiah, (cf. Galatians 3:16-19). A similar kind of covenant was made with king David concerning his descendants and the kingdom line that would continue through him. Again, it was not until the New Covenant that we find this covenant ultimately fulfilled in Messiah, (cf. Acts 13:23, Isaiah 11 etc.). All of those covenants are examples of old covenants that God made with His people in the ancient past. Those old covenants are important to recognize; but for this third consideration the particular Old Covenant that the Gospels take place in, that we need to be particularly aware of, is the Old Covenant Law of Moses that God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. There is language concerning this that must also be understood. For example, the first five books of the Bible were called the Torah, or more technically, the Pentateuch. The Torah was also called, The Law, by the Jews. The books that followed The Law, in the next section of the  Bible are called the Prophets (Old Testament is also called Tanakh). When both are referred to together, they are typically called, The Law and the Prophets. Keeping this language in mind, when Jesus arrived in His Old Covenant, He lived according to His Old covenant, and just like the other covenants mentioned in this point, Jesus also fulfills the Old Covenant Law of Moses, (cf. Matthew 5:17). In Matthew 17 Jesus states that He did not come to abolish the Torah, "or" the Prophets, but rather to fulfill both. Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies concerning Himself, in Himself, that are in the Prophets, and Jesus also fulfilled the Mosaic Law in Himself. Jesus expressed that He originally came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and in so doing, He lived and taught in His Old Covenant until He established His New Covenant at the cross and resurrection. In the New Covenant, Christ abolished the Old Covenant, (cf. Ephesians 2:15, 2 Corinthians 3:11, Hebrews 8:13) which is the Law (cf. Deuteronomy 29:21, Exodus 19:5, 24:7-8; Leviticus 26:15, etc.) while at the same time He fulfilled it. A generation later, He wiped away all remaining defunct vestiges of the Old Covenant system when He, as providential God, sovereignly destroyed (utilizing the Roman army according to His plan), apostate Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. This is what we mean when we consider that the Gospels primarily take place in the Old Testament, with the New Testament being established at the end of each Gospel.

(4)
This leads to the fourth consideration that we must realize, and that is that while Messiah arrived, lived, and fulfilled His old Covenant, He came to fulfill His prophecies concerning Himself as the promised Messiah, announce to Israel that He was in fact the promised King, warn the Jews of what is going to happen if, and when, they reject Him, and establish His new and better covenant through His prophesied rejection and crucifixion. Within the chronicles of the gospel accounts, we see Messiah living under the Old Covenant, yet teaching principles, mysteries, prophetic warnings, and blessing expectations concerning His New Covenant He will establish when rejected, crucified, and risen from the dead.

(5)
This leads to the fifth consideration that we must realize, and that is that after Messiah resurrected from the dead, all His post resurrection teachings, whether given to men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God, or from His mouth directly, are New Covenant (New Testament) teachings. Some of His New Covenant teachings are new commissions to His remaining students that He sends out again as New Covenant apostles. Some of His teachings are new and deeper revelations that come in a progression, such as we find in Acts, with Peter in Acts 10 and 11, then later with the conversion of the man who was once a Christian killer, Saul of Tarsus, in Acts 9, and such as we find with John on the island of Patmos, (cf. Revelation 1:1). All these New Covenant revelations are recorded as Bible scripture.

(6)
A final consideration in respect to interpreting the Gospels, is Christ's teaching method in regard to the various subjects He taught. Jesus taught in expository sermons directly from the scriptures. He usually did this in various synagogues. Jesus also taught in point to point propositional teachings, such as the sermon on the mount (which is also a prophetic declaration). Jesus taught in direct confrontations, such as with the Pharisees. Jesus used metaphors, humor, exaggeration, irony, and logic. Jesus also taught in mysterious parables. Jesus spoke in parables specifically so that Israelites would hear, yet not understand, as we read in Matthew 13:13, Mark 4:12, Luke 8:10.

The above are all important considerations, and they will be brought up as we proceed through the Gospels, starting with, and primarily concentrating upon, the gospel of Matthew.