ESV · free iPhone quiz
Gospels Bible Trivia Questions and Answers
Questions on the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the four Gospels. The app has 160 questions in this set. 32 more quote the ESV at length, and those stay in the app rather than on this page. 12 are printed here.
Questions and answers
Easy New Testament — The Gospels
On which day after his crucifixion did Jesus rise from the dead?
- AThe third day.Correct
- BThe second day.
- CThe seventh day.
- DThe first day.
Answer: The third day.
Matthew 16:21 · ESV
Jesus set this out in advance, three times in Matthew, each time joining the suffering and the killing to the raising on that day. Paul later calls it part of the received gospel and says it happened according to the Scriptures. Jesus himself points to Jonah for the pattern, and the Jewish way of reckoning counted any part of a day as a day, so Friday evening, the Sabbath and Sunday morning make three.
Matthew 16:21; Matthew 12:40; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4.
Why not this one. The resurrection did happen on the first day of the week, which is why the church gathers on Sunday, and Matthew 28:1 says so plainly. But counted from the crucifixion rather than from the week's start, it was the third day.
Medium New Testament — The Gospels
How many days did Jesus fast in the wilderness before being tempted by the devil?
- AForty days.Correct
- BTwenty days.
- CThirty days.
- DFifty days.
Answer: Forty days.
Matthew 4:2 · ESV
Forty is not a round number chosen at random. Israel wandered forty years and failed; Moses was on Sinai forty days without bread (Exodus 34:28) and Elijah traveled forty days to Horeb (1 Kings 19:8). Jesus goes into the same wilderness, hungry, and holds where the nation collapsed. Matthew and Luke place the fast before the three temptations; Mark 1:13 compresses the whole episode into two verses and adds that he was with the wild animals.
Matthew 4:2; Luke 4:2; Mark 1:12–13.
Why not this one. Thirty attaches itself to this stretch of the story because Luke 3:23 says Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his ministry, and the baptism sits immediately before the wilderness. The number belongs to his age, not to the fast.
Hard New Testament — The Gospels
How many Beatitudes are there in Matthew 5?
- AEight (some count nine).Correct
- BSeven (some count eight).
- CTen (some count eleven).
- DTwelve (some count thirteen).
Answer: Eight (some count nine).
Matthew 5:3–11 · ESV
Verses 3 through 10 give eight blessings, all in the third person, and they are bracketed by the same promise about the kingdom of heaven at the beginning and at the end. Verse 11 then adds a ninth of a different sort, shifting into direct address about being persecuted for Jesus' sake, which is why the counts differ.
Matthew 5:3–12
Why not this one. Seven feels right because so much in Scripture arrives in sevens, and readers often merge the meek with the mourners or drop the persecution line. But the third-person blessings run to eight, closing where they opened.
Easy New Testament — The Gospels
Which Gospel writer also wrote the Acts of the Apostles?
- ALukeCorrect
- BMatthew
- CMark
- DJohn
Answer: Luke
Acts 1:1–2 · ESV
Luke wrote a two-volume work. Acts opens by referring back to a first book about all that Jesus began to do and teach, and both volumes are addressed to Theophilus. The we-passages in the later chapters of Acts fit a traveling companion of Paul, which is the traditional understanding of Luke.
Compare Luke 1:1–4 with Acts 1:1–2; the same author, the same reader, one continuous account. Colossians 4:14 names Luke among Paul's fellow workers as the beloved physician.
Why not this one. John wrote a Gospel, three letters, and Revelation, but not Acts; Acts is addressed to the same Theophilus as the third Gospel.
Medium New Testament — The Gospels
In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus says that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over how many righteous persons who need no repentance?
- ASeventy
- BA hundred
- CNinety-nineCorrect
- DFifty
Answer: Ninety-nine
Luke 15:7 · ESV
The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the one until he finds it, then carries it home on his shoulders and calls the neighbors together. The comparison is aimed at the grumbling of Luke 15:2, and the phrase about persons who need no repentance is pointed at men who thought that described them. Matthew 18:12–14 tells the same story to a different end, about not despising one little one who strays.
Luke 15:1–7; compare Matthew 18:12–14.
Why not this one. A hundred is the size of the flock at the start, which is why the number is on the tip of the tongue. Once one has wandered off, the ones left behind number ninety-nine, and that is the figure the joy is measured against.
Hard New Testament — The Gospels
Luke's genealogy runs from David to Jesus through which son of David?
- ASolomon
- BNathanCorrect
- CAbsalom
- DAdonijah
Answer: Nathan
Luke 3:31 · ESV
Luke traces the line through Nathan, while Matthew traces the royal, legal succession through Solomon and the kings of Judah. The two genealogies converge on Jesus by different branches of David's house. Luke also runs his list backward from Jesus to Adam rather than forward from Abraham.
Luke 3:31 against Matthew 1:6–7; Nathan is listed among David's sons born in Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 5:14.
Why not this one. Solomon is the right answer for Matthew's genealogy, not Luke's — which is precisely the point at which the two accounts part company after David.
Easy New Testament — The Gospels
How many disciples did Jesus have?
- ATwelve.Correct
- BSeven.
- CSeventy.
- DEleven.
Answer: Twelve.
Matthew 10:1 · ESV
The number is chosen rather than incidental: twelve apostles answering to the twelve tribes, and Jesus tells them they will sit on twelve thrones judging Israel. Matthew 10 lists them by name as he sends them out with authority over unclean spirits. After Judas there were eleven, and Acts 1 records the deliberate work of restoring the count.
Matthew 10:1–4; 19:28; Acts 1:15–26
Why not this one. Luke 10 does record a sending of seventy-two, given in some manuscripts as seventy, but they were a wider body of disciples sent ahead in pairs. The circle Jesus appointed and named was twelve.
Medium New Testament — The Gospels
Through whom does Matthew’s genealogy trace the legal lineage of Jesus?
- AJoseph, the husband of Mary.Correct
- BMary, the mother of Jesus.
- CZechariah, the father of John the Baptist.
- DSimeon, the priest at the temple.
Answer: Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Matthew 1:16 · ESV
Matthew's list runs down to Joseph and then changes its verb, saying not that Joseph fathered Jesus but that he was Mary's husband, and that Jesus was born of her. The care is deliberate. The virgin conception is stated in the next paragraph, and legal descent from David ran through Joseph, who names the child and so receives him into the royal line.
Matthew 1:16, 18–25
Why not this one. Many readers take Luke 3 as Mary's line, and Mary is the one through whom Jesus is physically descended. But Matthew's genealogy names men at every step down to the last, and its interest is the legal claim to David's throne.
Hard New Testament — The Gospels
The three parables of Luke 15 — the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son — answer what complaint against Jesus?
- AThat he receives sinners and eats with themCorrect
- BThat his disciples do not fast
- CThat his disciples break the tradition of the elders
- DThat he heals on the Sabbath
Answer: That he receives sinners and eats with them
Luke 15:1–2 · ESV
Tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes grumbled at his table fellowship. All three parables answer that grumbling, and the elder brother at the end is aimed straight at it. The joy of heaven over one sinner who repents is the refrain that ties the three parables together.
Luke 15:1–2 sets the occasion for the chapter; the elder brother's protest comes at 15:25–32.
Why not this one. That complaint is real but belongs to an earlier scene, answered with the sayings about the bridegroom, new wine, and old wineskins in Luke 5:33–39.
Easy New Testament — The Gospels
In what town was Jesus born?
- ABethlehem.Correct
- BNazareth.
- CJerusalem.
- DCapernaum.
Answer: Bethlehem.
Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4 · ESV
Bethlehem was David's town, and Micah 5:2 had named it as the place the ruler would come from. Matthew has the chief priests quote that very verse to Herod, which is how the killing of the infants follows: Herod is told exactly where to look. Luke gets Mary and Joseph there by an entirely different route, a census that sent Joseph to register in his ancestral town.
Matthew 2:1–6; Luke 2:1–7
Why not this one. Nazareth is where the family settled afterward and where Jesus grew up, which is why he is called a Nazarene. It sits in Galilee, and its obscurity is precisely what made people doubt him.
Medium New Testament — The Gospels
According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, whom did the soldiers seize and compel to carry Jesus' cross?
- ASimon of CyreneCorrect
- BSimon Peter
- CJoseph of Arimathea
- DNicodemus
Answer: Simon of Cyrene
Luke 23:26 · ESV
Simon, a man from Cyrene coming in from the country, was pressed into service to carry the cross behind Jesus. John reports that Jesus went out bearing his own cross; the two are moments of one walk to Golgotha. Luke adds that they laid the cross on him to carry it behind Jesus, which makes him an unwilling picture of discipleship.
Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, and Luke 23:26 name Simon; Mark adds that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus.
Why not this one. Joseph appears later that day, asking Pilate for the body and laying it in his own new tomb; he is not said to have carried the cross.
Hard New Testament — The Gospels
During the Transfiguration, which two figures from the Old Testament appeared and spoke with Jesus?
- AMoses and Elijah.Correct
- BAbraham and Elijah.
- CMoses and Isaiah.
- DElijah and Elisha.
Answer: Moses and Elijah.
Matthew 17:3 · ESV
The two who appear are the man who received the law at Sinai and the prophet who was taken up without dying, the law and the prophets standing together with the one they point to. Luke 9:31 adds what they were discussing, his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Peter's offer of three tents is cut off by the cloud and the voice, and when the disciples look up the two are gone and only Jesus remains.
Matthew 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36.
Why not this one. Half of it is right, and Isaiah is the prophet Matthew quotes more than any other, so the pairing sounds like something Matthew would arrange. But the prophet on the mountain is Elijah, whose return was expected before the day of the LORD, a point the disciples raise on the way down.