S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

Here are some reasons why God gave four Gospels instead of just one:1) To give a more complete picture of Christ. While the entire Bible is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16), He used human authors w...

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July 01 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Kathy Brundidge Supporter church of Christ

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John do not, I repeat, do not add up to four gospels. These four writers wrote four different personal accounts of the life of Jesus Christ. Matthew wrote to the Jews, Mark wrote to the Romans, Luke wrote to the Greeks, and John wrote to everyone else, a universal audience. There is only one gospel of Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection. It is found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, written by the apostle Paul. There is no other gospel found in the Bible.

November 03 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Billy P Eldred Supporter

I wrote a short story once upon a time. (Don't know what happened to it) that I believe does a good job of answering your question. 

The Four Characters in the story were named Matt, Marcus, Lucas and Johnathon. They each came into Bill's (yes that's me) office at different times one day. When the Matt came in, he told me about seeing a flying horse over by the football field going into great detail about how the horse had great wings, etc. My character basically laughed him out of the office. A little while later, Marcus came in and was all excited because he said that he was driving over by the football field and a flying horse almost flew into his car. I noticed that his description of the flying horse was a lot like Matt's, so, figuring they were in cahoots, I asked him if he knew Matt. He said that he did but hadn't seen him in a while. Convinced they were trying to "pull my leg", I remained unconvinced. 

Sure enough, my next customer was named Lucas and though I didn't make the connection he too had a big story of this amazing sight he had witnessed that morning. And yes it was over by the football field. 

Finally Johnathon came in and said he had just seen the mythical Pegasus. All four guys had admitted to knowing each other but each one have a very believable account of their witnessing the miraculous events. After the first witness account, I laughed him away. After the second, I figured it was a "in cahoots" prank. After the third, I started to believe and after the fourth I left for the football field fully believing and fully expected to see this miracle for myself!

July 28 2018 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Meluleki Maphosa Supporter Amateur Bible Student

In my view there is only one Gospel, but God inspired several people to write according to how they understood the message. They wrote it in their personal styles complete with their imperfect understanding of other issues. I am sure there were many more writers, although for one reason or the other they were not included in the 66 books of the bible. 


It needs to be appreciated as well that God did not sit and dictate what the authors wrote, but He inspired their intellect and they wrote as they understood the message. Most probably Matthew was an accountant and he was meticulous in accounting for the life of Jesus and the miracles including the genealogy. Luke targeted a gentile audience and his style had to be appealing to such. The apostle John also took an approach which wanted to prove that Jesus was God and Messiah. 


Unfortunately other fake "gospels" have emerged from archaeology. These have so far been easy to dismiss because they contradict what we already know about Jesus. One principle of the bible is that it all comes together and does not contradict its self. Whether you are reading a book in the Old Testament, they all come together in God's great love for fallen humanity and the fact that God will go to any righteous length to save mankind.

December 28 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jeffrey Johnson Supporter

Why did God give us four Gospels?

God provided four distinct Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—to offer a comprehensive, multi-faceted portrait of Jesus Christ, ensuring a complete picture of his life, ministry, and purpose from different perspectives. Each Gospel addresses a unique audience, serving both theological and historical purposes, highlighting different roles of Jesus as Messiah, Servant, Saviour, and God. 

Targeted Audiences: Each Gospel was written with a specific, original audience in mind, enabling the message of Jesus to resonate with people from diverse backgrounds.

Matthew aimed at a Jewish audience.

Mark catered to a Roman/Gentile audience.

Luke targeted a broader Gentile audience.

John addressed a more mature, diverse, and Hellenized group of believers.

By having four accounts, the narrative of Jesus is reinforced, providing a fuller, more reliable, and richer testimony to his life and teachings than a single account could provide. 

In ancient law (and even in modern courts), the testimony of one person is often considered insufficient. Biblical law required two or three witnesses to establish a matter as accurate (Deuteronomy 19:15). Having four independent accounts that agree on the core message while varying in minor details suggests they are authentic reports rather than a "scripted" conspiracy. 

While the four are parallel and often cover the same incidents, they are by no means mere copies of one another. The first three Gospels are usually called the synoptic Gospels, meaning "like view," because they present a similar account of Jesus' life on earth. But each one of the four writers​—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—​tells his own story of Christ. Each one has its own particular theme and objective, reflects its own personality, and keeps its immediate readers in mind. The more we search their writings, the more we appreciate the distinctive features of each and that these four inspired Bible books form independent, complementary, and harmonious accounts of the life of Jesus Christ.

There are benefits to having these separate accounts of what Jesus said and did. To illustrate, imagine that four men are standing near a famous teacher. The man standing in front of the teacher is from the tax office. The one on the right is a physician. The man on the left is a fisherman and the teacher's very close friend. And the fourth man, at the back, is an observer younger than the others. All four are honest men, and each has a distinct interest or focus. If each writes an account of the teacher's sayings and activities, the four records would likely feature different details or events. By considering all four accounts, bearing in mind the varying perspectives or objectives, we could get a complete picture of what the teacher said and did. This illustrates how we can benefit from having four separate accounts of the life of the Great Teacher, Jesus.

Many students of God's Word have compared and harmonised the events and facts found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. About 170 C.E., the Syrian writer Tatian endeavoured to do so. He recognised these four books as accurate and inspired, and he compiled the Diatessaron, a harmonised account of Jesus' life and ministry.

2 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Bryan Myers Supporter Minister of the Body of Christ

The Scriptures contain the four gospel records to show four different views of the life of Jesus. Matthew's gospel shows Jesus as the King of the Jews; Mark's shows Jesus as a servant; Luke's shows the Lord as the Son of Man; John's shows Jesus as the Son of GOD. Taking these four views and adding Hebrews which shows Jesus as the High Priest of the New Covenant, we have a better picture of who Jesus is. Each aspect is true, but it takes the entire scope to gain a more full understanding.

August 05 2018 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Daniel Veler Supporter

There were many gospels written. Some have said around 77. The early church leaders who compiled the New Testament only chose four. The titles of these gospels doesn’t indicate the writer was Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. These were names assigned to the Gospels. But before we had the Bible compiled, what the early Christian’s had readily available were the Old Testament scriptures and the Revelation. The Revelation is the Testimony of Jesus Christ.

If you believe Matthew was written to the Jews and Luke to the Gentiles, compare the two and see their similarities. If you study Revelation you will see the seven letters are also explained in the four Gospels.

March 21 2024 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report