Comparing the Gospels

Studying the Gospels from a New Perspective.

Readers of the Bible have always known that the Gospels tell many of the same stories, usually with differences in detail, but sometimes with significant variations. Comparing the Gospels identifies these parallel passages and lays them side by side so you can compare them more easily. Relieved of the burden of flipping Bible pages back and forth among two, three, or all four of the Gospels, you can focus on what each witness has to report. As a rule, you will end up with a more complete picture of each episode, as details from each can often be combined. But you will also find some sources of perplexity, where two or more of the Gospel witnesses tell inconsistent stories. Sometimes it even seems not all the accounts of a particular episode can possibly be true. Bible students using this book will find it necessary to decide what to make of these conflicting pieces of evidence.

Bible study leaders and students will find this approach intellectually challenging and a welcome change from classic book-of-the-Bible studies. Pastors developing a sermon on a particular theme will also find it useful to have at their fingertips all the Gospel passages that report on an episode in Christ’s ministry.

David G. Muller, Jr. is an experienced Bible study group leader. Educated at Dartmouth College, Stanford University, and the University of Michigan, he is a published Bible historian. Mr. Muller lives with his wife in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.