THE FOUR GOSPELS: DIFFERENT STORIES, BELIEFS, AND PERSPECTIVES

 THE FOUR GOSPELS: DIFFERENT STORIES, BELIEFS, AND PERSPECTIVES

Brett A. Todd

A common practice among Bible readers is to take the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and smash them together into one story, one belief, and one perspective.  The problem with conflating these readings into one story is you get a different story from what the authors intended you to read.  This is why it is so important to understand that each gospel story has a different story, belief, and perspective they want you to read and understand.

Let me give you an example.  Every clergy person knows: beware of the preacher who fails to mention in their Christmas Eve sermon the shepherds, sheep, camels, and donkey who looked gloriously on the baby lying in the manger.  Regularly, I have to remind people there is no donkey or sheep in the nativity stories of Matthew, Mark, or John.  Luke, who does mention the donkey and sheep, fails altogether to mention the wise men or the Bethlehem star.

One might ask, why would Matthew mention the wise men and the star in the sky, but not Luke? 

Though both Matthew and Luke were writing within 20 or 30 years of each other (Luke seems to be familiar with Matthew), they had different audiences, goals, and messages that were significantly different.  Matthew’s audience was the Jews and his message was that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah-King (Matthew 2:1-2).  Luke, on the other hand, was writing to the Gentiles with the message that because the Jews rejected Jesus, salvation was now theirs. This is what Luke said in the book of Acts 28:28, “Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

Luke’s message that God’s salvation was handed over to the Gentiles because the Jews rejected Jesus, and don’t forget the little jab, “...they [the Gentiles] will listen.” was not something Matthew would agree to.  Keep in mind that Matthew was seeking to evangelize the Jews and such a message that the Jews rejected Jesus and salvation was now handed over to the Gentiles would be counterproductive to Matthew’s goal.  This is why you never hear Matthew say or infer that God’s salvation now belonged to the Gentiles because the Jews rejected Jesus.

As you take a closer look at the Gospels, you begin to see a pattern appear where the authors believe their particular group of people is better than others (Jews versus Gentiles). This is the significant difference between Matthew and Luke that shouldn’t be disregarded.  This is no different than some churches today that believe their members have been “predestined” by God to go to heaven or their church is the only true church of God.  

To understand each of the Gospels as the author intended, you first have to understand they each have a different story to tell, different beliefs, and different perspectives.  As an honest Bible reader, you must allow each Gospel story to speak for itself, even when some of the Gospels add other sources to their stories. 

In our next lesson, we will look at the Gospel of Mark and the virgin birth.