Harmony Highlights 1
Harmony Highlights Introduction
Harmony Highlights Introduction
Here's a great option for Christ-centered personal or group study. An eye-opening, inspiring, scholarly, easy-to-understand event from the life and ministry of Jesus Christ will be sent out every week, starting now.
The four New Testament accounts of the life of Christ, known as the Gospels, are based on eyewitness reports. Matthew and John appear to be reporting their own experiences. Mark's primary source seems to be Peter. Luke relies on several firsthand narratives. The four gospels are similar and different enough to confirm that they come from authentic witnesses.
There are no known “original” manuscripts of the New Testament Gospels. The earliest manuscripts are fragmentary and contain variant readings. Original expression, textual variation, translation, and interpretation are all serious issues. The apostle Peter expressed concern about misunderstanding, saying that some inspired writings "Contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." (NIV 3 Peter 3:16)
Peter also gave this assurance, “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (KJV 2 Peter 1:20–21) In other words, since scripture was given by inspiration, it can best be understood with inspiration.
Variants due to human frailty do not reduce the significance of divine communication. The Lord knows how to deal with human weakness, as confirmed by the fact that there are multiple accounts of the life and ministry of Christ.
When teaching the New Testament on secondary and university levels, I discovered that understanding increased if the events in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were harmonized, rather than covered separately. After more than thirty years of research and teaching, I eventually compiled, wrote, and published the "Concise Harmony of the Four Gospels."
When working on the harmony and commentary, I attempted to get the most correct meaning possible from each account and witness. I also sought and received inspiration. Even though it is similar to other harmonies, my volume includes many unique features and insights.
The Concise Harmony includes 246 charted events with related references and notes. I occasionally conduct firesides including some of my favorite events. Harmony Highlights is a non-denominational effort that includes about 30 especially-appealing events with related commentary and links.
Link to Harmony Highlights section: https://genevanshaar.substack.com/t/5-highlights