4 Gospels

I was reading recently, how the early church was having discussions about and problems over the 4 different gospel accounts. One church in a city might only agree with say the writings of Mathew, while the church 20 miles away might only agree with Luke's account of Jesus. Even more of a problems was that certain church's might only have 1 or 2 writings and not have the other 2 gospel records. That had to be frustrating and challenging to not have all the letters and writings as the church's around them. This reading got me thinking about 2 important things I believe we as a church and as disciples take for granted.

First, what if we only had 1 or 2 of the gospel records? What if the church we went to only had, say the books of Mark and John but not Matthew and Luke? What would that look like? Second, I got to thinking what ultimately is the purpose for having 4 different accounts of Jesus in the Bible and why do they have similar stories as each other in just a different way.

Up front, I want to say I believe all 4 Gospels from the Bible are the words of God and are important for Christians today. The Bible would not be complete without them. But I believe they as a whole give us a complete picture of who Jesus is and what His mission was about and then why that is important for us today. Imagine if Matthew was not in the Bible. We would not have the sermon on the mount or the story of the 3 wise dudes. Image if Mark was not in the Bible, we would not know that Jesus was a crazy, immediately, busy guy or that He was a suffering servant. If Luke was missing we would have not to much knowledge about Mary or any of the deep human heart wrenching moments of Jesus, like when He wept. If John was missing, well would not have any of the "I AM" statements and the famous description of Jesus in the upper room with His disciples when He comforts them with the Holy Spirit prophecy. 

So what we would be missing without each of the 4 books of the Bible we call Gospels, would leave major holes in the story. The Gospels fill the gaps of each other, tells parts of the story that another author left out, or give a deeper fuller discourse or saying from Jesus. Each Gospel is like a piece that fills a hole that somewhere was left out. If we did not have all 4 there would be holes, some big to fill and some smaller, but holes all the same. And I know that I am glad I do not have any holes in the gospel because then it gives me complete confidence in the Words of God.

I believe that the 4 Gospels are like a mosaic in that each of them gives us a piece of the picture but only together do they give us a full, wonderful, and amazing picture of who Christ is and what He is doing. I thank God each day that I live when I do so that I would not have to struggle with which book I ONLY has and which book or writing could I trust.