What makes one Testament Old and the other New? A person. Jesus Christ. The four Gospels all show that in their beginnings while all presenting it in different ways. Mark’s first verse reads: ‘The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ Straight to the point! Matthew’s begins with ‘Roll of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham’ and goes on to list 42 generations finishing it with ‘and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.’ Luke’s first chapter gives us his explanation for writing and a description of the events leading to the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. The beginning of John’s Gospel is different again — the 18 verse prologue prepares us for what comes after but is in quite a different style of writing: ‘In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.’ Note how John develops from the Word to He. Jesus’ name is not mentioned until verse 17. (Note: The texts from the Bible are taken from The New Jerusalem Bible, Standard-Edition, 1985)