Preface
JESUS FROM SEVEN SOURCES Copyright © 2000 - Kenneth Ray Taylor http://jesusseven.tripod.com/Jesus.html mailto:kayraytay@crosswinds.net
PREFACE Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Jude, and James- seven men who wrote eleven books that bear their names. The Acts of the Apostles is a sequel penned by Luke.
John wrote four books named for him and Revelation, too.
Fourteen letters, named for their recipients, were penned by Paul.
Together, the New Testament-- twenty-seven books in all.
What follows is a reconciliation of every detail found in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), with additional material gleaned from The Acts of the Apostles, First Corinthians, and Second Peter. The English text I’ve used is the Authorized King James Version, but the gospel texts I’m actually comparing are the original Greek texts. This being so, I have at times achieved different results than I would have obtained had I consulted the English text alone. For instance, the Greek word translated "Calvary" in Luk 23:33 is translated "skull" in the other three gospels. Since I didn’t want to note differences between the gospels that don’t exist in the Greek, I use the word "skull" in all four gospels. I could cite many similar examples, but they’re all relatively minor. The source (or sources) of each detail of the narrative is indicated at the beginning of each line, abbreviated as follows:
[Mt] for Matthew,
[Mk] for Mark,
[Lk] for Luke,
[Jn] for John, [Ac] for The Acts of the Apostles, [1C] for First Corinthians, and [2P] for Second Peter.
Thus the inscription above Jesus’ cross reads:
[Mt Lk ] THIS IS [Mt Jn] JESUS [ Jn] OF NAZARETH, [Mt Mk Lk Jn] THE KING OF THE JEWS
Words enclosed in brackets are those that are not found in the Greek text but have been added to make the English easier to understand. Most of these words were added by the translators of the King James Version (and are in italics in most editions of the Bible). The few such words that I have added are indicated by empty brackets at the beginning of the line. May you find salvation and blessing as you sit and learn at Jesus’ feet. Amen.