Why are there four Gospel accounts in the New Testament?

[GerhardEbersoehn]

 

[GerhardEbersoehn]

 

[theefaith]

The New Testament is the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

 

[theefaith]

Acts 1:8 witnesses

 

[Matthias]

The New Testament is the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

What are you trying to say with this statement?

The New Testament is a collection of twenty-seven books. Books aren’t blood; blood is blood.

 

[Matthias]

Acts 1:8 witnesses

Reliable witnesses, say some. Unreliable witnesses, say others.

Reliable witnesses, say us Christians.

 

[theefaith]

What are you trying to say with this statement?

The New Testament is a collection of twenty-seven books. Books aren’t blood; blood is blood.

Matthew 26:28
For this is my blood of the newtestament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

 

[Matthias]

Matthew 26:28
For this is my blood of the newtestament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Thanks. KJV is so archaic. “Blood of the covenant” better conveys what Matthew wrote.

 

[Rockerduck]

Hello,
4 gospels were needed because it matches the old testament scriptures about Jesus.

Matthew depicts Jesus as a King, complete with genealogy that Kings need.
Mark depicts Jesus as a Servant, no genealogy, like a servant.
Luke depicts Jesus as a Man and Savior, genealogy through Mary, born of a woman
John depicts Jesus as deity, from a Godly perspective

Matthew shows Jesus as a Lion - king
Mark shows Jesus as an oxen - servant
Luke shows Jesus as a man.
John shows Jesus as an Eagle - deity

Ezekiel 1:10 - Lion, oxen, man, eagle
Revelation 4: 7- Lion, calf, man, eagle

 

[Tommy Cool]

When reading the gospels, the four writers are not recounting their experience. they are writing what they are told to write by revelation from Jesus Christ …. which brings up an important truth.

Synopsis of the gospels is designed to correlate or harmonize the 4 gospels which renders several accounts of the gospels inaccurate or lacking additional details … Gospel harmony eliminates scripture that should be included as scripture build-up ... as God designed, rather than trying to make it harmonize from a human perspective.

But that is not the point of this post

With one minor difference I totally concur with Rockerduck’s excellent post on the 4 gospels.

Hopefully my information will complement Rockerduck’s post.


Since the prophets of old foretold of four different aspects of Jesus Christ ministry in regard to the BRANCH (Jesus) in the OT. I have to believe that is why God placed them where he did.



Matthew - as King.

Mark - as Servant.

Luke – as Man.

John – as Son of God.


KING = Matthew

One quality of the coming BRANCH prophesied by Jeremiah would be that of a King descended from David.

In order for Jesus to be the Messiah He would have to be a descendant of David to inherit the right to the throne and come as King to Israel.

Jer 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous BRANCH, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

Jer 33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the BRANCH of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

Only in the book of Matthew do you find the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” and it’s used 32 times.

There are 10 parables unique to Matthew which relate to a King. Plus, the royal genealogy chap 1, and the phrase "son of David" occurs more in Matthew than any other gospel.



SERVANT =Mark

As the promised BRANCH one of the aspects of Jesus Christ ministry would be the role of a Servant.

Zec 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.

The gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus as a Servant. There is no genealogy as a position .. gained by descendant. The word “lord” or “sir” Greek ( kurios) is used only 3 times of Jesus in Mark….. whereas it is used 73 times in the other three gospels.

There is a great emphasis in Mark on Jesus’s actions and responsibility in serving and helping others.



MAN =Luke

Another characteristic of the promised BRANCH is Jesus’s humanity …in other words, the Branch would be a Man.

Zec 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:

Luke clearly emphasizes Jesus Christ as a man. Luk 3:23-38 is the genealogy tracing Jesus’ legal ancestry …through Joseph (who adopted him) back to Adam the first man.

There are 11 parables particular to Luke which emphasize the human aspect of his walk. The entire gospel emphasizes His relationship with common man, including publicans and sinners…..It shows Jesus to be a full of human tenderness and compassion as the perfect man.



SON OF GOD = John

Isa 4:2 In that day shall the BRANCH of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

Jesus Christ was the Branch …the offspring of the Lord God. The gospel which clearly depicts and emphasizes Jesus as the Son of God is John …. which is seen in the following verses.

Jhn 1:14, 18 & 34, Jhn 3:16 & Jhn 20:31

1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

While every gospel encompasses all of these characteristics of Jesus Christ, each gospel specifically emphasizes one of them.

 

[farouk]

Seeing events from the different perspectives of various, Spirit-led writers can be very edifying. Sometimes Bible studies look at Gospel harmonies to see how the different writers deal - or not, as the case may be - with particular events.

 

[quietthinker]

Seeing events from the different perspectives of various, Spirit-led writers can be very edifying. Sometimes Bible studies look at Gospel harmonies to see how the different writers deal - or not, as the case may be - with particular events.

farouk....will you please say something without making words and saying nothing!

 

[Rockerduck]

Hello Tommy Cool,
Thank you for expanding on the old testament link to the 4 Gospels. I always try to keep posts short to see significance at a glance.

It should also be noted that Matthew, Mark, and Luke Gospels are synoptic (Common view)

The Gospel of John is unique in itself. John writes about an already risen Christ. It was written about the same time as the book of Revelation. It is considered a prophetic Gospel too. The Gospel of John reads like a book and contains no parables.

 

[Brakelite]

Hello Tommy Cool,
Thank you for expanding on the old testament link to the 4 Gospels. I always try to keep posts short to see significance at a glance.

It should also be noted that Matthew, Mark, and Luke Gospels are synoptic (Common view)

The Gospel of John is unique in itself. John writes about an already risen Christ. It was written about the same time as the book of Revelation. It is considered a prophetic Gospel too. The Gospel of John reads like a book and contains no parables.

I like the four different ministerial aspects of Christ you noted within the gospels. I would like to add a little to that. We know that the four gospels are a part of the testimony. This raises a number of questions. Who's testifying, and what are they testifying of? First off, those testifying are witnesses. This brings in a suggestion of a court proceedings, which if so, must harmonize with law. In the OT the law stipulated that 2 or more witnesses were necessary to establish a case. But what case could we be possibly talking about? Who is on trial here? Us? No, not us, for we have been acquitted. Whose character throughout the OT was in doubt? What character was constantly being challenged, questioned, even before creation? God's character. The character of God was brought into question the moment Lucifer suggested through his rebellion that his form of government could do better. For 6000 years this planet has been the scene of the trial. Lucifer, aka Satan, has been given the opportunity to exercise his government approach to prove to the universe whether his ways are worthy of attention, or not.
Each of the 4 gospels as you pointed out, exposed Satan, and proved his challenges as false. The 4 witnesses revealed that God is good. God is merciful. God is gracious. God's own declaration to Moses on the mount when Moses asked to see His glory, was a declaration of character when God told Moses His name.
KJV Exodus 34:6-7
6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

And Calvary proved the above to be true. Sadly, there are still many throughout the world that are yet to be convinced. And that's the principle reason we are to preach the gospel to all nations... Revealing the true character of God before an incredulous and unbelieving world: a world that at the moment for the most part not only believes God unworthy and unreliable and untrustworthy, but even in doubt as to His very existence. Prophecy however informs us that this will change. In the end, circumstances, conviction, and demonstration will finally reveal the Truth, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus is Lord. We are living witnesses to that very exciting but tumultuous and perilous time. May God grant each one off us His Spirit that we may prove and demonstrate by our lives that God is indeed good... Is gracious, merciful, long-suffering, and trustworthy.

 

[Jim B]

Hello,
4 gospels were needed because it matches the old testament scriptures about Jesus.

Matthew depicts Jesus as a King, complete with genealogy that Kings need.
Mark depicts Jesus as a Servant, no genealogy, like a servant.
Luke depicts Jesus as a Man and Savior, genealogy through Mary, born of a woman
John depicts Jesus as deity, from a Godly perspective

Matthew shows Jesus as a Lion - king
Mark shows Jesus as an oxen - servant
Luke shows Jesus as a man.
John shows Jesus as an Eagle - deity

Ezekiel 1:10 - Lion, oxen, man, eagle
Revelation 4: 7- Lion, calf, man, eagle

This is just formulaic. There is no actual basis for saying that the above is the reason four gospels were needed. There are other gospels, but these four were the only ones included when the canon of Scripture was decided in the late 4th Century.

 

[Rockerduck]

Hello Jim B.
Why would consider something of God's word in the OT that comes to pass in the 4 Gospels as formula. I studied all the known gospels outside the Bible and they were not complete or fake or lacked inspiration. Do you think when the canon was put together they said "we got to have four gospels, because we see four animals in Ezekiel"? That didn't happen, it came together supernaturally, God had His hand on this Book we call the Holy Bible. You can read His word and if you want to go deeper in His word you can, then you can go even deeper. Read Leviticus, your mouth will open in awe at the detail of God's word that has come to pass.

 

[Tommy Cool]

Hello Tommy Cool,
Thank you for expanding on the old testament link to the 4 Gospels. I always try to keep posts short to see significance at a glance.

It should also be noted that Matthew, Mark, and Luke Gospels are synoptic (Common view)

The Gospel of John is unique in itself. John writes about an already risen Christ. It was written about the same time as the book of Revelation. It is considered a prophetic Gospel too. The Gospel of John reads like a book and contains no parables.

I am glad you made note of that … You are correct.
Originally, I had thought about putting 3…. but for two reasons I didn’t

First reason was I figured someone would say…”hey bone head, there are 4 gospels” … but in most cases when putting together the events surrounding Christ crucifixion (that harmony has messed up) … the events noted in John are critical for clarification.

 

[Robupo]

Can I contact admin??
It is important.
Thank.

 

[Wrangler]

This is just formulaic. There is no actual basis for saying that the above is the reason four gospels were needed. There are other gospels, but these four were the only ones included when the canon of Scripture was decided in the late 4th Century.

My thoughts exactly.

The question of this thread could be expanded to the whole NT and indeed, the whole Bible; why were the books selected and why put in the non-chronological order that they are in? I believe it would've been fascinating to hear the arguments.

Although I have not read the apocrypha, a cursory examinations shows important writings contemporary with the books of the Bible contained similar sentiments. Another poster commented about the possibility of looking too deeply into meaning that is not there.

If we were the deciders of what books constitute the OT, the Gospels and rest of the NT, we might respect the fact that there is a wealth of godly writings to select from. For instance, some prophets write about other prophets who do not have a book named after them. It does not necessarily mean their writing do not exist. It might be obvious to even us in the 21st century that the selected books were a better quality than the other options.

There are other gospel writers. My Pastor pointed out that there is only one gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, according to X, Y & Z author. There's the gospels of Mary and Thomas and I believe others as well. Again, the quality of these testimonies are not as high as the final 4 chosen. Praise God!

 

[Rockerduck]

Hello Wrangler,
I have no idea what "X,Y,and Z" author is , and I can't find a gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ. let me add Q documents are only speculative and don't exist. The gospel of Mary(Magdalene) is a fake. The gospel of Thomas is a fragment and not complete. The Scholars who put the canon together spoke 3 languages and had every letter and book known at that time and excluded any that didn't measure up.