GOSPEL (AS. godspel, godspell, OHG. gotspel, from god, OHG. got, God + spel, tidings; proba bly corrupted by popular confusion with god, God, from gotspel, good tidings, a translation of Gk. daryAcov,evangelion, good tidings, from sS,eu, well erryAXetv, angellein, to announce). The word used to denote (1) the message of salvation given to the world by Jesus Christ, and (2) the his torical record of this message as contained in the first four books of the New Testament; so that each of these hooks is designated a Gospel, and the collection is known as the Gospels. The term, as used in the earlier books of the New Testament, has an active sense, best expressed by the phrase 'the preached Gospel.' This was due to the missionary character of the initial proclamation which was given by the Apostles to the message of salvation. It is frequently so used in Paul's Epistles (e.g. I. Thess. iii. 2; Rom. i. 1-3, 9, 16; Phil. i. 5, 12; ii. 22; iv. 3). In the later books the term is used sometimes in a technical sense, denoting the historical record of this salvation message (e.g. Alark i. 1), or even the message itself as an article of faith and confession (e.g. Rev. xiv. 6). This technical sense was fully acquired by the end of the sec ond century.
The following article naturally confines itself to the term as denoting the historical records of the Gospel message—the New Testament books commonly known as the Gospels. Of these Gos pels, the first three (Matthew, Mark, Luke) cover practically the early portion of Jesus' life —i.e. His ministry in Galilee and the north—to
gether with the close of His life in Jerusalem, re cording largely the same events and reproducing largely the same teachings. For this reason they are technically known as the Synoptic Gos pels, and the question of their literary relation to one another and to common and specific sources is known as the Synoptic Problem. Their origin dates within generally the same period; say from A.D. 65 to 80. The fourth Gospel (John) covers the later portion of Jesus' life—i.e. His ministry in Judma and Jerusalem, not only on the occasion of His visits to the city during His Galilean min istry, but especially during the closing ministry in that city and region—recording events and reproducing teachings largely different from those given in the Synoptic Gospels. For this reason the literary relation of the fourth Gospel to the Synoptic Gospels constitutes in itself a specific problem known as the Johannine Prob lem, or the Problem of the Fourth Gospel. The origin of the fourth Gospel dates from a period much later than those of the Synoptists; say about A.D. 90. The discussion of these two prob lems has enlisted the interest of most New Testa ment scholars, and has really gathered around itself the most significant New Testament work which has been done in the last fifty years. More definitely stated, these problems are as follows: