4. A Review of the First Division of Gospel Accounts and the Determination of the Sequence of Events for the First Part of the Gospel History

By reviewing the first section of the outline of Gospel content, you can easily see that the events indicated here are divided into two parts: some constitute the hidden life of the Lord before His revelation to the world; others took place in the Lord’s revelation of Himself to the world, or were the initial acts of His incarnate economy.

The hidden life of the Lord was lived in Galilee in Nazareth, but its deeds remained unknown. What is known from the early years of the Lord’s incarnate presence on earth all took place in Jerusalem and Judea; in Galilee there was only the Annunciation.

Likewise the Lord’s revelation of Himself to the world, and His first actions in this order took place chiefly in Jerusalem and Judea; in Galilee there was only the miracle at Cana and a brief stay of the Lord in Capernaum before the first Passover.

The Lord’s return from Judea to Galilee through Samaria marks the transition to the second part of Gospel history.

Let us now review everything part by part.

Let us first distinguish three prefaces, or introductions, to Gospel history.

The first is given by the Evangelist Luke in the opening verses of his Gospel. This is a historiographic introduction. With it, anyone wishing can recall all the arguments for the authenticity of the Gospels and, if desired, all the disputes about it.

The second is given by the genealogies of the God-man, transmitted by the Evangelist Matthew and the Evangelist Luke. This is a historical and biographical introduction to Gospel history. The genealogies bring to mind all the prophecies and prefigurements that foretold and indicated the appearing on earth of God incarnate for our salvation; and they introduce into the contemplation of the New Testament Gospel in the Old Testament. And when, having reached the end of the genealogy of the Evangelist Luke, we read: Son of God, we cannot but recall the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and not think that at the basis of creation lay the mystery of the incarnate economy, all the more so because the end of the world is determined by the attainment of its purposes.

The third is given by the Evangelist John the Theologian in his divinely illuminated contemplation of the mystery of the incarnate economy. This is a dogmatic introduction to Gospel history. Here lies the seed of all Christian theology.

All of them have a special place at the beginning, as befits introductions or prefaces.