Why Four Gospels

                                                                                                   

Aloha Dearest Family,

                  In many Bibles, at the start of each of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John),  many have words like "The Gospel according to Matthew" or "The Gospel according to John." This leads people to assume that what is written is the writer's own opinion on what happened. For example, if you have many witnesses to the same event, you may have different views of the same account. Is this how the Gospels were written?

In II Peter 1:20 the Word states,

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

If no prophecy of the scripture is of any" private interpretation", then I do not have the right to interject my own opinions into the scriptures. God told the writers exactly what He wanted them to write. Then what is the reason for having four Gospels?

We can find the answer to this question if we look at some of the prophecies, in the Old Testament, about their coming redeemer. It was foretold that the Messiah would come out of the tribe of Judah. Later, God narrowed this down by telling us that the Messiah would come from the bloodline of King David. There are certain scriptures in the Old Testament that speak of "the branch" or offspring of David. Let us consider the following examples.

Behold, the days come, said 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. (Jeremiah 23:5)

Hear now, 0 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. (Zechariah 3:8)

 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaks 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: (Zechariah 6:12)

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. (Isaiah 4:2) Here the "Branch of the Lord" could also be rendered as "offspring" of God.

These four scriptures give us a better understanding of who "the branch" was supposed to be. The Branch was to be 1) a king, 2) a servant, 3) a man, 4) the son of God. These prophecies could only be fulfilled by one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. By studying each of the Gospels we can see that the book Matthew portrays Jesus Christ as a King, Mark portrays Jesus as a servant, Luke portrays him as a man, and John portrays him as the son of God.

Jesus Christ is the fulcrum of all human history. Not only by what he was prophesied to do, but also by the results of the choices that he made. The life of this one man was so dynamic that his life could not be contained in just one Gospel.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.  (John 21:25)

What is written is written so that anyone could see and recognize that Jesus Christ was the son of God,

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 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. (John 20:30)

One cannot get the complete story of Jesus Christ by just reading one of the Gospels. Each of the Gospels tells a little bit more of his story but does not contradict one another.

Let us also look at what the beginning of the Gospel of Luke says,

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me (Luke) also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first (anothen), to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou might know the certainty of those things, wherein thou host been instructed."

The Greek word translated "from the very first", anothen, is also translated "from above" in other places in the Bible. Luke says that he received this perfect understanding of the Gospel from above, from God. What Luke wrote down about the life of Jesus Christ was not his own view of what had happened, but God himself instructed him what He wanted written down. This is true about all of the other Gospels as well. If the life of Jesus Christ was that monumental, why would God rely on the memories of men to tell the tale.

Contrary to many people's opinions, the Gospels do not contradict one another. Each one fits together perfectly to tell the complete story of the greatest man who has ever lived. Each Gospel tells just a piece of the whole story. Why is this important? It is the difference between truth and error. II Timothy 2:15 says,

Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

We all long to stand approved before God and in order to do so we need to study and rightly divide God's Word. God wants you to know the truth for this truth will truly make you free.

                                          Love Always, Ray