Ryan HibbsTHEOL 201Prof. Murphy16 December 2015Christology - Final Exam1.The gospels of Matthew and Luke were written after Marks gospel, so they were able to use Marks work, Pauls letters, and Q (unknown common source) to capture a more illustrative story of Jesus life. Matthew and Luke start off their books radically different than Mark because they include an infancy narrative. The infancy narratives details how an Angel names Jesus and the Virgin Marys immaculate conception of Jesus. These infancy narratives provide us with the insight that Jesus is divine and had been sent from God to mankind. In Matthews gospel begins by detailing the genealogy of Jesus Christ, which proves he descends from Abraham and is part of the Davidic line. This helps to prove that he is divine and descended from those in the Old Testament that had a relationship with God. Matthews gospel continues to allude to Jesus relationship with God as Matthew provides the details that he fled to Egypt to escape persecution of being killed by Herrod. This alludes to the Old Testament and how Moses had to flee for safety of being killed as well. Matthew is signifying that Jesus is the savior and will provide the word of God to mankind. Matthew 2:15 continues to allude to the Old Testament as through a prophet God reveals Out of Egypt I called my son which is similar to Israel being called out of Egypt in the time of Exodus. This is another part of Matthews gospel that provides prove that his writings are aimed toward a Jewish audience. Matthew is detailing the significance of Jesus and his relationship with God, by providing a reference that would be well known to the Jewish people. Matthews writings have the most references to the Old Testament compared to other gospels. Matthew proves that he was writing to a Jewish audience in Matthew 2:2 Where is the newborn king of the Jews? Here Matthew is alluding to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, or savior of the Jewish people. All of the Jewish readers would know of the prophecy of how the King of Jews would lead them to freedom. This also alludes to Old Testament scripture, because Jesus is portrayed as Moses, someone to lead people to freedom. Matthew helps to prove that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testaments prophecy where a figure helps save the Jews, and that he is the Messiah. Jesus was sent here to deliver us from evil and connect us with God. Lukes gospel has a number of similarities to Matthews such as the infancy narrative and how that provides readers with insight on Jesuss Immaculate Conception, childhood, and early ministry. Lukes gospel makes references to Old Testament in order to help relay the importance of Jesus divinity and ancestry. Luke also decides to reference Jesus genealogy, which proves that he is in the Davidic line, related to prominent Old Testament figures. Luke 1:17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. Elijah was a prominent prophet who focused on reform. This provides a hint that Jesus will reform the world and focus on providing his ministry to all. This is another key focus of Lukes gospel, which Jesus is here to provide salvation to all that follow the word of God. Luke 2:30 for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples. Luke is revealing that the Messiah has come to provide the word of God and the opportunity for eternal life if the follow Gods plan. One of the other reasons that Lukes gospel helps to prove he is writing to a gentile audience is the fact that he had to highlight the Circumcision of Jesus in Luke 1:21. If he intended for Jews to be the audience it would be a commonality that Jesus was circumcised as its Jewish tradition. All of these help to prove that Luke was writing this scripture so anyone and all could read it and connect with Jesus. Lukes gospel helps illustrate that Jesus is providing to all of mankind, and that all have the power to follow in Jesus ministry and the word of God.

2.The Christological hymns are such an important part of the Christian faith, and how its followers believe in Jesus Christ. These hymns help to provide us with how Jesus was portrayed in the early church. The hymns represent the law of prayer is the law of belief which means that the hymns outline what past Christ followers believed about Jesus and his teachings. These hymns are a door into the past of the Christian church and allow us to examine the history of it. The three major hymns that help teach us these histories are Philippians 2, Colossians 1, and John 1. Each of these represents an important part of Jesus and how we came to worship him today. Philippians 2 is a hymn that can be split into 2 parts. The whole of Phil 2 is aimed at revealing the path of Jesus on Earth and his journey to heaven. The first part of the hymn focuses on his descension and how opened himself to be vulnerable on Earth. His vulnerability and humility helped to prove Jesus humanity. In order to descend Jesus had to empty himself and take on the form of a slave. He humbled himself to the point where he accepted his death on a cross with no question. The second part of the hymn helps to represent how Jesus ascended back to his place at Gods right hand. Jesuss exaltation is represented in the hymn by claiming that the entire world heaven and on earth and under the earth will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This last part helps to reveal that Jesus is the lord of the cosmos or all things. Jesus Christ is the lord of the entire universe; he has dominion over all things. The next hymn that helps us look at how the early church praised Jesus is Colossians 1. This hymn provides us with a different look at the divinity of Jesus Christ. The hymn focuses on Jesus Christ and how he was created in the image of God, presiding over all things. Wisdom is represented as having no boundaries, everywhere, Heaven or on Earth. This strengthens the argument that wisdom is the invisible God as God is everywhere and presides over all things. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell (Col 1:19), helps to show that Jesus was full of wisdom and helped deliver it to his community. Wisdom is the fulfillment of Jesus Christ and is all around us just as Christ is. The final hymn that helps reveal what the early church thought about Jesus is John 1. This hymn takes a different stance on the power of Jesus and what he represented. John is constantly using Word to describe the creative power of God. This is describing Jesus Christ and his relationship with wisdom. This hymn describes wisdom as providing life and revealing the light to mankind. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:3) Jesus is represented by wisdom by illustrating that wisdom provides the opportunity for life and prosperity and that no evil can overcome wisdom. The hymn ends with describing that the Word became flesh and we the glory of Gods only son, Jesus. This helps to illustrate that Jesus is represented as Word and his enfleshment provided proof of his divinity. In the New Testament, Jesus is wisdom and helps spread it to all that will hear it. This hymn helps us realize the power of Jesus and how wisdom represents his power and reach to all.

Works CitedSenior, Donald, John J. Collins, and Mary Ann Getty-Sullivan.The Catholic Study Bible: The New American Bible. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.