PREFACE AND PURPOSE

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Throughout my I have harmonized passages from the four Gospels to support a point or theme. I often find putting these passages together as a narrative gives a fuller picture of what happened at the time. It also clears up some of the supposed conflicts between the four writers. As one of my New Year Resolutions for 2009, I decided to do my own narrative harmony and commentary of the New Testament.

You might ask, why? Harmonies of the Gospel exist, isn't this just reinventing the wheel?

I have two reasons. The first is dissatisfaction with harmonies I have. They take the four Gospels and put them in four columns on the page aligning the various texts in chronological order. This makes for choppy reading that is sometimes distracting. I found one harmony several years ago that integrated the Gospels into narrative form. It was called The Life of Christ in Stereo. My only problem is the text used isn't from the more popular translations, but a translation made by that particular author.

I had intended originally to use the New International Version of the Bible for my Scriptural texts; however, there are limitations to use of the NIV as it is under copyright, Therefore, I have chosen to use the King James Version, which is in the Public Domain. I have not altered the KJV from the original, except for minor changes from Old English convention to Modern English. For example, changing “thee” and “thou” to “you” or “thy” and “thine” to “your”. In very rare instances an archaic word may also have been altered to the modern equivalent, such as “privily” to “privately”.

My second reason is the more important to me. I feel if I put together my own harmonized narrative of the Gospels it will help me understand God's Word better. As I put the passages together, I look into the context of the times and the relationship of the narrative to other books of the Bible. This way I expect to learn a lot more than I currently know.

I pray for wisdom and insight, and that I don’t wander astray in my comments; however, I am not a Gospel writer and make no claim of infallibility. My commentary is my expressed opinion and I am certainly capable of error. Consider what I say, but follow it up with your own research and study before accepting it as fact. Many of the peripheral details of Jesus’ life, such as the date of his birth and death, what happened to Joseph, or exactly where was he baptized, are subject to conjecture and have been argued for centuries. I have incorporated my own viewpoint into my narrative, but such are strictly my opinion and do not claim to be definitive, correct or settle any long-running debate on such matters. These issues are not substantive to the fact of Christ Jesus’ existence, purpose, virgin birth, miracles, death, burial or resurrection; or to the purpose and will of God in His life or to the need and way to salvation for humankind. These side issues in no way alter, disprove or change the facts of Jesus’ ministry or the events of his life as presented by the Gospel writers. The issues discussed about exact dates and some other details in Jesus’ life are no different than those of any other ancient history, except scholars have often consented to an undeterminable fact about other characters of history and ignored conflicting evidences (See “Problems with Dates and Place”).

I expect it will take me some time to complete this study begun early in 2009 .As I write this preface it is nearly one quarter of a year into 2010. My narrative is 136 pages long containing 32,660 words and has only reached the very beginning of Christ’s first ministry. There is no rush. The purpose is to understand the life of Christ better, to be more able to tell other people about the Good News and to draw myself ever nearer to the Lord.

Putting this out as a Website (www.nitewrit.info) places my progress and resolve under other eyes. I do this making you, Gentle Reader, my conscience and my encourager.