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UNDERSTANDING THE FOUR GOSPELS

The Gospel of God: The Apostolic Documentaries Contrasted and Compared
The
gospels
plays
an
important
part
in
our
lives
every day.
Understanding
the
differences
and
similarities
of
each
gospel
is
important.
The
Gospel
of
Matthew
Matthew’s
documentary
on
the
life
and
work
of
Jesus
of
Nazareth
can
perhaps
be
considered
the
most
“Mosaic”
of
the
four
gospels.
In
its
opening
sentence,
Matthew
immediately
identifies
Jesus
as
being
the
direct
descendant
of
David,
and
by
extension,
Abraham,
setting
the
Christological
landscape
of
hailing
from
a
line
of
Hebraic
prophets
and
kings.
Although
Moses
came
from
the
tribe
of
Levi
and
Christ
from
Judah,
various
similarities
are
promulgated
throughout
Matthew’s
writing,
beginning
with
Mary’s
flight
to
Egypt
and
the
Herodian
infanticide
which
eerily
evoke
the
narrative
associated
with
the
life
of
Moses,
who
was
born
into
an
instance
of
magisterially
implemented
infanticide
and
later
fled
to
the
lands
of
Egypt
(Matt.
2:13-18;
Ex.
1:22-2:25).
When
Jesus
withdrew
into
the
desert
to
“fast”
for
forty
days
and
forty
nights,
the
prototype
of
this
event
is
found
in
Moses’s
forty-day
fast
associated
with
his
recording
of
the
Law
(Matt.
4:2;
Exod.
34:28).
Whereas
Moses
the
highly
revered
as
Israel’s
greatest
prophetic
figure
and
the
lawgiver
from
God,
Christ
is
clearly
depicted
by
Matthew
in
this
same way,
surpassing
and
superseding
the
place
of
Moses
as
the
great
prophet
and
giver
of
the
new
law
of
God
(Matt.
5:17-19;
cf.
Heb.
3:1-6;
Jam.
4:12;
cf.
Ex.
34:32).
In addition
to
the
Gospel
of
Matthew
being
highly
Mosaic
in
its
typological
structure,
it
is
also
the
gospel
fascinated
with
the
eschatological
kingdom
of
heaven.
The
essence
of
Matthew’s
gospel
is
first
encountered
in
3:2,
in
which
John
the
Baptist
proclaims
to
both
Jews
and
Gentiles,
“Repent,
for
the
kingdom
of
heaven
is
at
hand!”
This
is
the
first
of
twenty-nine
instances
of
an
ongoing
theme
throughout
Matthew’s
gospel,
and
is
inarguably
a
reference
to
the
process
of
God
becoming
the
ruler
of
the
world
through
Christ,
the
incarnated
Son
of
God
and
Messiah
of
Israel.
None
of
the
other
gospels
implement
this
emphasis
on
the
“kingdom
of
heaven”
as
strongly
as
Matthew,
and
it
is
in
this
focus
of
his
gospel
that
one
discovers
what
the
message
of
Christ
essentially
is:
repenting
at
the
eve
of
the
ushering
of
God’s
kingship
into
the
world.
The
Gospel
of
Mark
Although
attributed
to
John
Mark
(or
“Mark
the
Evangelist”),
a
companion
of
the
apostles,
it
is
possible
that
his
source
for
the
historical
content
found
within
this
gospel
is
derived
from
the
Apostle
Peter,
and
perhaps
even
directly
dictated
by
Peter
himself.
Another
view,
often
coined
as
the
Augustinian
hypothesis,
asserts
that
Mark
used
Matthew’s
gospel
as
his
primary
source,
rendering
Mark,
as
Augustine
claimed,
“the
attendant
and
abbreviator
of
Matthew.”
Mark
begins
his
work
by
directly
introducing
it
with
the
Greek
term
for
“good news,”
euaggelion
(εὐαγγέλιον),
hich
ould
ventually
e
ransmitted
nto
he
nglish
erm
gospel,”
1:1).
e
hen
mploys
his
erm
otal
f even imes
eight
f
ne
ncludes
6:15),
hich
s
ore
han
ny
f
he
ther
ospel
riters.
ark’s
efinition
f
he
ospel
s
ound
n
:14,
here
esus
s
rofoundly
ivine
haracter
ho
reaches
the
ospel
f
od,”
sserting
hat
he
ource
f
his
ood ews
roceeds
rom
od
imself
nd
s
ot
he
roduct
f
uman
eason
r
peculation.
In addition
to
Mark’s
constant
reference
to
the
divinely
originated
gospel,
he
also
is
the
most
Christological
of
the
gospel
writers,
referring
to
Jesus Christ
as
the
“Son
of
God”
to
designate
how
one
ought
to
receive
His
teachings.
He
applies
this
title
to
Christ
eight times
(1:1,
11;
3:11;
5:7;
9:7;
13:32;
14:61;
15:39),
emphasizing
the
divine
nature
of
the
Messiah
and
that
He
is
not
a
mere
prophet
or
deliverer,
but
rather
that
He
is
the
source
of
all
previous
prophets
and
delivers:
the
eternal
and
uncreated
Son
of
God
Himself.
Jesus Christ
as
the
Son
of
God
is
perhaps
the
most
significant
point
which
Mark
sought
to
convey
to
his
readers.
The
Gospel
of
Luke
A
companion
of
Paul
by
the
name
of
Luke
is
one
of
the
most
interesting
characters
in
the
New Testament.
He
was
a
Greek
physician
from
the
city
of
Antioch,
and
the
Apostle
Paul
mentions
him
in
the
closing
of
his
epistle
to
Philemon
as
his
fellow
worker
for
Christ.
He
was
clearly
an
educated
man,
and
claimed
to
have
consulted
various
eyewitnesses
of
Christ’s
life
and
work
to
compile
“an
account
of
the
things
that
have been
fulfilled
among
us,
just as
they
were
handed
down
to
us,”
(1:2).
Luke’s
gospel
is
the
longest
of
the
four
and
can
be
considered
the
most
detailed,
as
he
himself
claimed
to
have
“investigated
everything
carefully
from
the
beginning…
so
that
you
may
know
the
exact
truth
about
the
things
you
have been
taught,”
(vv.3-4).
Due to
this
self-admitted
length
and
intricacy
in
recording
the
life
and
teachings
of
Christ,
Luke’s
record
contains
various
unique
passages
which
are
omitted
from
the
other
gospel
accounts,
including
the
Good
Samaritan,
the
Prodigal
Son,
the
Rich Man
and
Lazarus,
and
the
Publican
and
the
Sinner
(10:29-37;
15:11-32;
16:19-21;
18:9-14).
In addition
to
these
unique
narratives,
Luke’s
gospel
is
the
only
apostolic
record
of
Jesus
standing
before
Herod
(23:6-16).
Luke
is
alone
in
writing
a
historical
record
of
the
Church
after
Christ’s
ascension,
found
in
the
Book
of
Acts,
and
it
is
because
of
his
writing
that
modern
scholars
can
understand
the
development
and
growth
of
Christianity
in
the
1st century.
As
a
historian,
Luke’s
writing—both
in
respect
to
his
gospel
and
Acts—
is
richly
theocentric
in
that
it
seeks
to
convey
God’s
faithfulness
of
Israel,
and
through
Israel,
all
peoples
and
nations.
Luke’s
gospel
narrative
paints
a
portrait
of
the
historical
Jesus
as
testified
by
eyewitnesses
and
acknowledges
that
Jesus Christ
was
an
actual
historical
person
who
lived,
died,
and
resurrected
to
institute
the
Church
which
would
thrive
for
over
two
millennia.
The
Gospel
of
John
Apostle
John
is
unique
in
writing
his
gospel,
seeking
to
convey
an
intense
cosmological
and
spiritual
reality
present
in
the
Incarnation
of
Christ.
Whereas
the
former
three
gospels
are
typically
referred
to
as
the
Synoptic
Gospels
due to
their
many
similarities
and
instances
of
drawing
from
each other
to
produce
a
single
harmonious
narrative,
the
Gospel
of
John
is
completely
unique
and
boasts
a
surprising
independence
from
the
other
apostolic
accounts.
The
immediate
opening
to
his
work
is
the
identification
of
Christ
with
the
“logos”
(Gk.
λόγος)
of
God,
which
according
to
John
was
pre-existent.
This
logos,
or
Word,
of
God
is
referred
to
as
the
creative
agent
of
God,
identified
as
co-existent
with
the
eternality
of
the
Godhead.
John’s
high
Christology
continues
in
referring
to
the
Word
as
the
life
and
light
of
all
men,
significantly
elevating
Christ
to
a
position
of
honor
and
divinity,
unparalleled
by
any
previous
prophet
or
deliverer
of
Israel.
In
his
opening
sentence,
“In
the
beginning
was
the
Word
(logos),”
John
is
evoking
the
beginning
of
Genesis
1:
“In
the
beginning
God
created
the
heavens
and
the
earth,”
bringing
cosmological
significance
to
the
gospel
account.
In
this
evocation
of
the
creation
narrative,
John
is
portraying
a
New
Creation
in
the
Incarnation
of
the
Word
as
the
person
of
Jesus Christ
and
continues to
contrast
the light
of
Christ
with
the
darkness
of
the
world
throughout
the
entirety
of
his
writing
(1:4;
3:19;
8:12;
11:9;
12:35).