The primary form of the Gospels is not the sermon or saying. The view of the Gospels that stood in the way of a literary approach to them for a very long time is that their original form was the sayings of Jesus and the preaching of the apostles. The point of origin for the content that eventually made up the Gospels is a matter of pure speculation. It is at least as likely that the facts of Jesus’ life and teachings first circulated as stories. But regardless of how the eventual Gospels originated,