The Birth of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

(as told by Matthew and Luke)

Before we begin lets take a look a the writers of Matthew and Luke.

The Book of Matthew

• Church fathers unanimously agreed that the apostle, Matthew wrote this book.
• The name Matthew means “gift of the Lord.”
• He was a tax collector before following Jesus and becoming an apostle.
• Scholars disagree as to when the book was written, however, most agree it was written between 50-60 BC.
• The book was written to a Jewish audience.
• Originally written in Greek.
• Purpose of the book was to convince Jewish readers that Jesus was the Messiah and to show that his life and ministry fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures.

The Book of Luke

• This gospel was a companion volume to the book of Acts.
• Writer was the apostle, Luke. The Muratorian Fragment (170AD) and the works of our early church father, Irenaeus (180 AD) uphold that this is the writings of Luke.
• The Muratorian Canon or fragment, as it is often known as, is very important to the history of the Biblical canon. This fragment was believed to be written in Rome (170-200 AD). Additionally, scholars believe that it was originally written in Greek and then translated into Latin. The manuscript of the Ambrosiana has preserved this Latin text. Some of the Muratorian Canon is preserved in the codices of St. Paul's Epistles in Monte Cassino. It also supplies historical information and text pertaining to some of the Gospels, the Acts, Philemon, Titus, and Timothy.
• Irenaeus, Bishop of Lundunum in Gaul, was mentored by Polycarp of Smyrna who was said to be a disciple of John. He is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
• Luke was a Gentile by birth, educated in Greek culture, a companion to Paul and he was a doctor and historian.
• The book was written to Theophilus and to those that he would distribute the book to.
• The purpose of the book was a message to the Gentiles so that they might know that Jesus’ teachings provided a place for the Gentile in God’s kingdom and that we should carry the gospel to the whole world.

Click here "Fairytale or Actual Event" for lesson one.