A Comparative Analysis of Jesus' Birth and Childhood in the Gospels

This essay provides a comparative analysis of the Gospel accounts concerning the birth and childhood of Jesus Christ, focusing on the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. The paper explores how each Gospel portrays this crucial period in Jesus' life, highlighting similarities and differences in their narratives. The essay examines the unique perspectives of each author, including the intended audience and theological emphasis. It discusses key events such as the infancy narratives, the role of the Old Testament, and the portrayal of Jesus' development and powers. The study contrasts the presence or absence of childhood stories across the Gospels and emphasizes the importance of these narratives for understanding Jesus' identity and mission. The essay concludes by underscoring the significance of these accounts for early Christians and the enduring impact of these varying perspectives on Christian theology.

Running head: THEOLOGY AAND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Theology and Religious Studies
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1THEOLOGY AAND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
The birth and childhood of Jesus are very crucial factors of the life of Jesus Christ. The
different Gospels have shed lights on this period of Jesus Christ’s life. The Gospel of Mark is an
example how the birth and childhood has been presented. The aim of the following paper is to
highlight the ways how the different aspects of Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke will be
discussed. These Gospels have discussed about several things about the life and growing up of
Jesus Christ. The similarities and differences would be discussed in this essay so the accounts of
the life of Jesus Christ could be traced. The passages have demonstrated the important scenes
from the Hebrew Bible about how the life of Jesus had been shaped.
Before proceeding with this topic further, the identities of these people should be
introduced. Mark was a Christian of the second generation. Matthew was an unknown Jewish
Christian and Luke was a Gentile Christian (Ratzinger: 36). He was the travelling partner of
Paul. According to Luke in his Gospel, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in the reign of Caesar
Augustus. This was the time when Quirinius was in charge of the province of Syria. In his
writings, Matthew had focused on the fact that Jesus was the king of Jews since he wrote for the
Jews only (Aslan: 25). He always wanted to strengthen the idea that the Jesus Christ was the
Messiah. As a result of the messages sent by Matthew in his Gospel, all the Jewish Christians
had been encouraged largely. Matthew had quoted many lines from the Old Testament to show
that Jesus was the true Messiah in His own right. From the Old Testament, Matthew had quoted
the line “A record of geneology of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham”. (Matthew
1:1). However, very few incidents or stories could be recorded from the Gospel of Matthew to
support the childhood of Gospel.
On the other hand, Luke is another Gospel where the birth of Jesus Christ has been
discussed. The story of Matthew in his Gospel had ended when Jesus Christ was still a baby. In

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the Gospel of Luke, an incident has been included for discussion when the age of Jesus Christ
was only twelve (Ratzinger: 36). However, the gap between Jesus being a baby and a boy of
twelve years is of a big contrast. All the early Christians had been very much interested about the
childhood of Jesus in the ultimate manner. This text had been devoted to discuss the childhood
years of the life of Jesus Christ (Davis: 18). This is why the infancy Gospel of Thomas came to
the scenario. In these gospels, Jesus Christ had been shown as a being who possessed some
special powers but He still possessed the mind of a child. He was a child who was not able to use
all His powers in a wise manner (Edwards,: 18). Thus, this factor proved to be a matter of
concern for the people who read this gospel story. Therefore, this had been largely upsetting for
all the church leaders because they did not believe Jesus Christ could do any sort of malicious
thing. Finally, this Gospel ended with the growth of maturity for Jesus Christ (Brooks: 81).
There are not such incidents where the mention of Jesus’ childhood could be found in the
Gospel of Mark (Davis: 18). There is a interconnected link between the Gospel of Luke and the
Infancy gospel of Thomas. This link is mainly based on Zechariah. The Lukan story began with
this only (1:5-23). Some events could be found in the Gospel of Luke regarding the events of
infancy and childhood of Jesus. Once Herod decided to kill the infants aged two years or
younger (22:1). Regarding this context, Mary became aware of the situation and she wrapped up
Jesus in clothes (Ironside: 29). After that she put him in the feeding trough to save his life. This
feeding trough was mainly used by the cattle (Luke 2:7).
In the first two chapters of the narrative, the infancy and childhood period of Jesus Christ
is found. Many relevant details about the life of Jesus Christ have been revealed. In the Gospel,
Luke has seen the life of Jesus Christ as a visitation from the God. Apart from that, the childhood
of Jesus Christ has been seen through the eyes of Mother Mary. There is only one time when

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Jesus Christ has spoken as a child (Wilkins: 30). This is the Infancy Narrative of Luke (2:49).
The escape of the family to Egypt can be found in the gospel of Matthew (2:14). The return of
the family to Nazareth has also been discussed in this gospel as well (2:23, 2:39). Other events
that are noticed in this scenario are his visit to the temple at Jerusalem at the age 12 (Luke 2:41-
51) and the growth of his wisdom (Luke 2:40-52). Through these gospels, it can be understood
that Jesus Christ grew up in the atmosphere with the teachings of Old Testament.
On the other hand, the gospel of Mark should be addressed as well. The gospel of Mark
does not contain so vivid explanations about the childhood of Jesus Christ (Bultmann: 20).
Therefore, the absence of childhood from the life of Jesus Christ is not given that much
importance indeed. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus Christ had been established as a Messiah. This
was probably one of the most significant things that could be attributed to this gospel (Wilkins:
30). However, the growth of Jesus Christ from childhood has not been traced properly.
Therefore, it has been a growing concern indeed to have an idea about the holiness of Jesus
Christ. This Gospel of Mark has been known for the miracles that Jesus Christ did in His life.
These miracles include the calming of the storm (Mark 4: 37-41), walking on the water (Mark
6:48-51) and withering of the fig tree (11:12-14).
Therefore, readers will face many problems regarding to trace the source of these powers
of Jesus and His deep spiritual background (Bultmann: 20). The similarities lie in the fact that all
these Gospels have focused on depicting Jesus Christ as the supreme creator and supreme
powerful being. On the other hand, differences lie in the fact that Gospels of Luke and Matthew
have discussed about the childhood of Jesus Christ in various ways. There are no such
discussions regarding Jesus’ childhood. So, it can be stated that these two Gospels are more
credible in tracing the growth of Jesus as a human being and how He possessed all the supreme

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powers transferred to Him by God. These accounts of the Gospels should be treated as relevant
sources indeed.
On a concluding note, it must be said that the importance of knowing about the birth and
childhood of Jesus Christ is immense. It is of supreme importance to the early Christians. The
three gospels that have been used in this paper to discuss are the Gospels of Mark, Luke and
Matthew. All these gospels are rendered as significant ones since they have shed their light on
different phases of the life of Jesus Christ. The gospels of Matthew and Luke have discussed
about the childhood stories of Jesus Christ. But, the gospels of Mark has discussed about Jesus
Christ being the Messiah to humanity. It is always better to trace the life of a person from the
childhood through the stages of him growing up.

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References and Bibliography
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2014.
Brooks, E. Bruce. "The Resurrection of Jesus in Mark." Alpha (1): Studies in Early
Christianity (2017): 81.
Bultmann, Rudolf. The Gospel of John: a commentary. Vol. 1. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2014.
Davis, Stephen J. Christ Child: cultural memories of a young Jesus. Yale University Press, 2014.
Edwards, James R. The Gospel according to Luke. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2015.
Funk, Robert W., and Arthur J. Dewey. "The Gospel of Jesus." (2015).
Ironside, Henry Allan. Expository Notes on the Gospel of Matthew. Solid Christian Books, 2015.
Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. The God of Jesus Christ: meditations on the triune God. Ignatius
Press, 2018.
Strelan, Rick. Luke the priest: the authority of the author of the third Gospel. Routledge, 2016.
Wilkins, Michael. Discipleship in the ancient world and Matthew's Gospel. Wipf and Stock
Publishers, 2015.