The Most Threatening Gospel

Which Gospel is the most threatening one? Which one has the most admonitions to be prepared for the second coming of our Lord? Are the two one and the same?

To answer those questions, I settled on some arbitrary definitions. A statement was considered threatening if it was made by one of the main characters of the four Gospels, particularly Jesus, and contained very direct words like "Hell," "Gehenna," "outer darkness," or "eternal fire." A word or phrase was taken to be about the need to be prepared for the second coming if it lacked those very direct words but in context stressed the importance of living one's life in immediate anticipation of the Judgement.

This study was begun as I was preparing to teach a series on the Gospel of Luke. I went into this review of all four Gospels thinking that Luke would be the most threatening Gospel and unsure of which book would emphasize preparation the most. The table below illustrates what was actually found:

Count of threatening and preparatory words
	Threats	Admonitions fo Prepare
Matthew	26 occasions--@ 3:12, 5:20, 5:21, 22; 5:25; 5:29, 30; 6:15; 7: 13,14: 7:21; 7:23; 8:11-12; 10: 28; 10:32, 33; 12: 31-32; 12: 36-37; 13: 40-43; 13:49-50; 16:24-28; 18:5-6; 18: 7-9; 18:35; 22: 11-14; 25: 29-30; 25: 45-46.	Matt. 6: 19-21; 7: 24-27; 13: 1-23; 13:44; 13:45; 13:47-50; 19:16-22; 22: 1-14; 24: 36-44; 24:44-51; 25: 1-13; 25: 14-30. Twelve admonitions by Jesus to be prepared for His second coming.
Mark	Four threatening passages--Mark 3: 28-30; 8:34-38; 9: 42-51; 16: 16.	Two passages urging people to prepare for the second coming--Mark 10: 28-31; 13: 32-37.
Luke	Nineteen threatening passages-- Luke 3: 15-17; 6:46-49; 9: 25-27; 11: 29-32; 12: 4-6; 12: 8-12; 12: 20; 13: 3; 13: 5; 13: 23-30; 14: 14; 14: 25-33; 16: 10-13; 16:19-31; 17: 22-37; 18: 1-8; 18:9-14; 18: 26-30; 19: 11-27.	Twenty-four passages admonishing followers to be ready for Christ's next coming--Luke 8:9-15; 9: 23-24; 9:62; 12: 13-21; 12: 32-34; 12: 35: 40; 12: 41-48; 12: 54-56; 13: 6-9; 14: 12-13; 14: 15-24; 14: 25-33; 15: 3-7; 15: 8-10; 15: 11-32; 16: 1-9; 17: 7-10; 18: 18-25; 19: 1-10; 20: 9-18; 21: 10-19; 21: 25-28; 21: 29-33; 21: 34-36.
John	Four direct threats--John 3: 36; 5: 25-30; 8: 24; 12: 48	One admonition to prepare--John 15:1-11.

The first reaction to the data in the above table is that my hypothesis about Luke being the most threatening Gospel was wrong--Matthew "wins." But the second reflection upon those data acknowledges the huge number of threats that Jesus made about the possibility of one losing his soul. Even even one warning that my soul could be lost in Hell over something I had done or had left undone is a real threat. How many times does any member of the Godhead have to say something before it is true? Only once. Here we have documented over 50 threats of eternal damnation. Whether there are more threats located in one place or the other pales to the level of trivial discussion.

The Gospel of Luke wins the contest on having the most admonitions about being spiritually prepared for the judgement. Readers of these passages might argue that a few of the ones that I classified as "preparatory" should be classified as threats, or the other way around. But the bigger picture is that of responsibility on mankind to do their small part. In relation to what God has done for man, it will be a small part. But the small part is also necessary. "Work out your salvation in fear and trembling" was how Paul put it in Philippians 2:12.