Up front, I want to say that these thoughts are not deep and no where close to exhaustive. If you desire a better understanding of the complete aspects of the 4 Gospels look to a good commentary or New Testament introduction, like "An Introduction to the New Testament" by DA Carson and Douglas Moo. But in a previous post I talked about how the different gospel accounts fill in the holes of each other and the important parts of the story. The 4 gospels fit together like a mosaic.
I want to touch a little in this post on why some of the gospels have the same story or teaching by Jesus but have it in a different way or format. We can have confidence in that each Gospel account is true and without error and that there is no mistake in a certain set of verses in the different accounts, especially the passion stories to end each Gospel. I believe we can have this confidence for 3 simple yet important things to remember.
First, each Gospel account is from a different person's perspective or view of the story. Matthew was a disciple with Jesus, so He got to see many events and teachings first hand. Mark, is the view of the Apostle Peter, and he is unique in that like Matthew he was there first hand but Peter was also one of the inner 3 that got special privileges that some of the others, like Matthew would not have. Luke is a descriptive narrative in that he interview many people including Mary and Paul to get his account. John, like Peter, was an inner apostle and got many first hand and intimate times with Jesus but John also does not include a lot of what Mark, ala Peter, records.
The second thing to remember is that the 4 Gospels were written by each author to different people and places. We know who Luke was writing because he says it right away in the beginning of his writing. So Luke was writing to a Greek man who was probably connected a lot to Greek and Hellenistic Jews. Church tradition teaches us who the other 3 accounts were writing to, Matthew was writing to a Jewish church in Syria, Mark was writing for the Christians in the city of Rome, and John was writing in essence for the whole world about a particular issue.
This brings us to the third thing to remember when reading and comparing the 4 Gospel. Each author had a different topic or issue to write about. Each author wanted to show Jesus in a certain light or an important aspects about the Savior. Matthew was writing to the Jews to show that Jesus was a better Israel and the true King. Mark had a key in that he wanted to show Jesus as a servant who would suffer for those he loves and that to follow Him meant the follower might have to suffer. Luke wants to show the things that have been said about Jesus are true and that he was a man who lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. John make is really clear why he is writing when he states it in 20:31, Jesus is the Christ the Son of God.
So in bringing this long post to a close, I could not have imagine not having each of the 4 different, unique, and amazing Gospel accounts to read and learn more about each day like some of the early 1st century church's. So we to can take confidence in know that all of the Bible is unified and complete for our benefit and knowledge of God's Word.
C. In which book of the Bible do you find the following?
21. Peter visits Cornelius where he learns that God accepts Jews and Gentiles?-Acts
22. Paul asks a runaway slave to be welcomed back?-Philemon
23. Israel worships a golden calf made by Aaron?-Exodus
24. The story of Joseph and he brothers?-Genesis
25. Twelve men explore the land of Canaan, but only two trust God to give it to them?-Numbers
26. God’s judgment on Israel is pictured by a prophet as horde of locusts?-Joel
27. A description of the armor of God-Ephesians
28. The words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” in the Old Testament?-Psalms
29. A prophet marries a prostitute?-Hosea
30. The Magi visiting the Christ child?-Matthew
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