Part THE EVENT The Life of Christ Christianity is built upon the foundations of divinely controlled historical fact Christian doctrine, Christian conversion, Christian living, and Christian service would not exist, or at the most would be false, if such great events as Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection were not historical facts, sovereignly planned and accomplished by God It is not by accident that the rst books of the New Testament canon (the four gospels and Acts) are historical narratives God rst establishes the factual evidence of Christ’s career and the church’s origins, for upon this is built the whole structure of Christian doctrine and life as revealed in Scripture The historical books are more than narrative, however They throb with key doctrines, sure commands, warm exhortations, and promises They are truly a volume of Scripture by themselves The rst four historical books, the gospels, focus on one person: Jesus Christ So the theme of Part is THE EVENT: The Life of Christ Matthew Mark Luke John 4The Life of Christ The opening verse of the New Testament introduces the reader to Jesus Christ, whose life is in nite in dimension and one-of-itskind So the natural starting point for an overview of the New Testament is to survey the earthly life of Christ, as reported by the four gospels Each gospel is selective in what it reports of Jesus’ life, and so the fullest biography is in the composite picture given by the combination of all four gospels.1 This chapter surveys the composite picture Focus on the individual parts of that picture will be made later when each gospel is surveyed separately Your study approach in this chapter is mainly deductive, that is, you will rm the points made, by checking them with the Bible texts furnished In the following surveys of each gospel (Chapters 5-8), your approach will be mainly inductive, as you engage in more of the independent, discovery kind of study I BEFORE THE EVENT OF BETHLEHEM The thirty-three-year span of Christ’s earthly career is small as compared to His eternal existence There were antecedents leading up to His birth in Bethlehem; and sequels since His death and resurrection are still shaping world history Before we survey the periods of Jesus’ earthly career, it would be enlightening to consider some subjects that are related to His life in an anticipatory way A THE PREINCARNATE CHRIST The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was the ... person: Jesus Christ So the theme of Part is THE EVENT: The Life of Christ Matthew Mark Luke John 4The Life of Christ The opening verse of the New Testament introduces the reader to Jesus Christ,... in nite in dimension and one -of- itskind So the natural starting point for an overview of the New Testament is to survey the earthly life of Christ, as reported by the four gospels Each gospel... it reports of Jesus’ life, and so the fullest biography is in the composite picture given by the combination of all four gospels.1 This chapter surveys the composite picture Focus on the individual