Wendy Wilkinson
Synoptic Gospels
Feb. 15, 2000

A Critical Review of John Stott's Men With a Message. Revised by Steve Motyer. Grand Rapid, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1994.

John Stott wrote Men With a Message in 1954 as an introduction to the New Testament. This revised edition was published in 1994. The original idea behind the book was that the authors of the New Testament were men from diverse backgrounds and experiences but with one message, that of the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ. The authors understood the message for themselves and than communicated the message for diverse situations. The theme of the book, from the 1954 introduction, is "the Holy Spirit first prepared, and then used, their individuality of upbringing, experience, temperament and personality, in order to convey through each some distinctive and appropriate truth" (preface).

John Stott is an Anglican priest and was the Rector of All Souls Church, London for several years. He has written 34 books on Christianity. He is currently the President of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. Men With a Message gives a brief, but detailed introduction to the New Testament with pictures, maps and charts of the key points of each writer. The book contains a separate chapter for each of the Synoptic Gospels. John's gospel and letters are given together. Paul and his letters are summarized in just one chapter. John Stott includes the Letter to the Hebrews as well as Revelation, but ignores the Book of Jude. James and Peter are examined in light of their attributed writings. The chapters on Matthew, Mark and Luke explore how "they were all chosen by God, shaped by experience, and empowered by the Spirit, first to understand the revolutionary Good News of Jesus, and then to communicate and apply it in the various situations they faced" (10). While Stott stresses the variety of interpretations of the Gospel message, he also emphasizes the similarities of each writer's message. The unifying points that he points out in the book are: awareness of the world's need for God's grace, the belief in God's initiative to reconcile the world to Himself/Herself through Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Christ.

Each chapter begins with an examination of the writer and than addresses the key points of the individual's message. He uses biblical passages to identify and connect the authors of the various books of the New Testament. Connecting Mark with the "John, also called Mark" of Acts 12:12, gives the Gospel of Mark its emphasis on discipleship failure (14). John Mark deserted Paul in his mission to Cyprus and Pamphylia, recorded in Act 13:13. Mark is reconciled and traveling with Paul in the letters to the Colossians and Philemon. From personal experience, Mark's Gospel is written to emphasize how Jesus was willing to rely on fearful disciples to proclaim God's love. Mark's message, while stressing the disciples' weakness also points to the fact that "all things are possible with God" (10:27). Mark is encouraging the early disciples to not be discouraged by their personal failures in times of trial, but to accept God's grace and continue their ministry.

Mark does not stress the "Kingdom of God" as much as Matthew does, but for Mark the Kingdom is near (1:15) because Jesus has come (11:10). Mark and Matthew portray Jesus initially ministering to Israel. It is only after Israel's failure to accept Jesus that Gentiles are brought into the Kingdom (Mark 7: 24-30 and Matthew 22:10). Both evangelists emphasize the suffering and death of Jesus. In Mark, Jesus' death validates the claim that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of God" (27). In Matthew, Jesus' death "forges a whole new covenant between God and his people," based on Matt. 1:21; 26:28 (44). The theme of Jesus' sacrifice as the new covenant also appears in the Letter to the Hebrews. His death is the "eternal covenant" (13: 20) bringing "eternal salvation" (5:9). To reject God's saving grace given through Christ is to fall away from God.

Stott points out that Matthew is more concerned with explaining Jesus' teachings than Mark. Matthew uses Mark's material, shorting the stories by leaving out details, while he lengthens the teaching of the story. Matthew gives five sermons of Jesus that Mark alluded to, but did not flesh out. These teachings are found in Mark 1:21; 2:13; 4:1; 6:6; and 6:34 and are elaborated in Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus mission teachings to the twelve, the parables of the Kingdom, instructions on church life 18: 2-35 and teachings on judgment and salvation in 23:1-25; 46. (31)

Matthew is concerned with showing his fellow Jewish Christians that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecies. Where Mark reported healings, Matthew adds quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures to explain why Jesus is doing the healings, as illustrated in comparing Mark 1:32-34 and Matt. 8:16, where he quotes Isaiah. Stott illustrates, through his charts, that the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews also emphasized that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. One point of disagreement with Stott's presentation is that in his discussion of miracles and healings he states that, "miracles point to the power of the Kingdom, present in [Jesus]. . . they mark Jesus out as the one who fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah (8:17). . . and not necessarily something to be expected" today. (p. 41)

Both Matthew and Luke emphasize the universality of the Kingdom of God as well as using healings to point to the presence of God's Kingdom in Jesus. "If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matt. 12:28). Peter proclaims to Aeneas in Acts, "Aeneas, . . . Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat" (9:32-35).

Luke was more concerned with prayer than the other evangelists. Eleven times in his Gospel, Luke adds prayer to stories shared by Matthew and Mark. Jesus is constantly in prayer, inner communication with God, throughout Luke's Gospel. In Acts, prayer is one of the four pillars of the church's life (2:42) and the disciples' source of power when facing persecution (4:23-31) (p.56).

John's Gospel, unlike the synoptics, is concerned with a particular church to which John belonged. It is the history and experience of this community and their relationship with Christ that John addresses rather than a more historical approach to Jesus' life and mission. John includes Jesus healings, but uses them as signs so that "you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (20:30). (p.70). His message, like Matthew and Mark, is directed towards Jews. He emphasizes that Jesus fulfills and replaces the institutions of Judaism that were destroyed by the Romans. For John faith is a response to God's initiative. He uses human testimony and the image of the law-court throughout the Gospel.

John Stott attempts to summarize Paul's writings in only one chapter. Connecting Paul's theology with the evangelists, Stott writes that Paul "believed that there was now one way of salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike, . . . faith in Christ. (95) This was Paul's doctrine of justification by faith. Like the evangelists, Paul is addressing his writings to a specific congregation's problems and needs. One major flaw with Stott's book is that he assumes that Paul wrote all the letters attributed to him. He does mention that scholars dispute the authorship of the pastoral epistles (91).

Stott examines the Letter of James in light of Paul's justification by faith. He assumes that James is the brother of Jesus and the leader of the Jerusalem church. Stott refers to Acts in stating that James believed that followers of Christ needed to accept the Law and the Judaic traditions. By using Galatians 2:9, where Paul refers to James giving him the "right hand of fellowship," Stott states that James 2:14-26 was written between 45-50 C.E., before Paul's mission to the Gentiles. The passage would than not appear as critical of Paul's ministry. Paul was arguing to the legalists, that people are not justified by their own works but through faith in Christ. James was saying to the Jewish aristocrats that humanity is not justified by orthodoxy, but by works. In conjunction Paul states, in Galatians 5:6 and Ephesians 2:8-10, that faith produces good works, while James wrote that good works are a manifestation of faith (2:15). In either case faith without works is dead.

The revised edition of Men With a Message, while containing some contemporary exegetical flaws, is a concise, beautifully illustrated introduction to the New Testament. The charts and pictures make the book a useful addition to New Testament study.