Guide to the Four Gospels

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Let’s get a high-level overview of these four books, what makes them different, and how they’re alike.

all 4 gospels focus on the story of jesus

the gospels are where we find all the famous biblical stories about jesus. because each gospel is about the same main character, they all share several elements.

You are reading: What are the gospel books

for example, each of the four gospels follows this general progression:

a declaration of the divine status of Jesus (mt 1:23; 3:13-17; mk 1:1, 9-11; lk 1:32-35; 3:21-22; jn 1: 1, 29-34)
the miracles and teachings of Jesus (mt 4-25; mk 1-13; lk 4-19,27; jn 2-17)
jesús’ betrayal, trial and death (mt 26-27; mk 14-15; lc 19,28-23,56; jn 18-19)
resurrection of jesus and encouragement to his followers (mt 28 : 1-15; mc 16, 1-8; lk 24, 1-12; jn 20, 1-10

why do we need four gospels?

many people (including me!) have asked, “do we really need four gospels in the bible? that seems redundant. shouldn’t one do the trick?”

perhaps that would be the case if jesus was a normal person doing normal things. but it isn’t, and it didn’t.

john says that the world itself could not contain all the books that could be written about the ministry of jesus (jn 21:25). I’m probably being hyperbolic, but if there is so much to say about Jesus, then it should come as no surprise that we have multiple accounts of him in our bible. If the world couldn’t contain his entire story, then surely a 16-chapter booklet like Mark’s couldn’t!

We have four gospels because during the early church period, four people found it necessary to tell the story of Jesus from four different perspectives. each gospel was written for a different (original) group of people, by a different author, who was trying to accomplish a different purpose.

let’s take a closer look at each one:

the gospel of matthew

Traditionally penned by the apostle of the same name, Matthew is the first gospel of the four. This gospel was written for people familiar with the Old Testament, both the Law of Moses and the prophets. Matthew makes more references to the Old Testament than any other gospel.

matthew takes great care to show how jesus fulfills the prophecies made about him earlier in the bible, especially focusing on jesus’ role as messiah. (The promised king was descended from David.)

today, matthew is the perfect book to bridge the gap between the old testament and the new. In the famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (mt 5:17).

you can read an overview of matthew here.

The Gospel of Mark

this is the shortest gospel. in fact, this gospel may have been written so that it could be easily memorized and told aloud, written to “go viral,” so to speak.

According to early church tradition, this Gospel was written by John Mark, the same man who recanted his missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:37-39). mark supposedly helped the apostle peter later in his life, and this gospel is an organized collection of peter’s memories of jesus.

mark was written for a wide audience. this gospel focuses on jesus’ role as the suffering servant and son of god. while the other gospels contain long speeches and sermons by jesus, mark is all about action. this is where we see jesus doing things, and then doing more things. it’s very action-oriented (the word “immediately” comes up frequently), and of the four gospels, mark reads more like a story.

You can read an overview of the Gospel of Mark here.

The Gospel of Luke

This is the longest of the four gospels; in fact, it is the longest book in the new testament. lucas is the historical and journalistic gospel: a complete account of the episodes of the life of jesus arranged in chronological order. this gospel was written to establish believers in the teachings of jesus (lk 1:1-4).

Ecclesiastical tradition recognizes the first-century physician Luke as the author and editor of this book, hence its name. luke may be one of the only non-hebrew authors of the bible according to some clues we pick up in the new testament. this gospel presents jesus as the savior of all the nations he seeks (lk 2, 30-32). It was and still is a rich history of Jesus’ life and ministry for both those who don’t know much about Jesus and those who are very familiar with the Old Testament.

You can read an overview of the Gospel of Luke here.

The Gospel of John

john is the persuasive gospel. It is written to show the miracles of Jesus, so that those who read his story believe in him and have eternal life (Jn 20: 30-31).

John’s account of Jesus’ teachings and miracles emphasizes the divine nature of Jesus Christ. For Juan, Jesus is the cosmic son of God, come to destroy the works of the devil. the entire book is arranged to present jesus in this way.

that means the gospel of john has a very different feel than the other three. the way the gospel begins is a good example. Mark begins with the baptism of Jesus. Luke begins with the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. matthew starts with abraham, and traces the generations back to jesus. But John takes us to the very first words of the Bible: “in the beginning” (Jn 1:1). John is telling the story of the divine being who became flesh, dwelt among us, and died so that we might have eternal life.

You can read an overview of the Gospel of John here.

how to read the gospels

the gospels, like the other books of the bible, were meant to be read in one sitting. That doesn’t mean that every time you read from John you need to read everything. but it does mean that if you want to get to know one of them better, you should set aside an hour or so to read the entire gospel in one sitting.

this gives you an idea of the general “flow” of the gospel narrative. you will notice different recurring motifs. you will see how the tone changes in different movements.

as you read the gospels, ask these questions:

what does jesus say about himself?
who is jesus speaking to? (this is vital. is he talking to his disciples, his enemies, a massive crowd?)
what does jesus say about god?
how does jesus react in different situations? that you like him? What bothers him?
what does Jesus tell people to do?

Why are there so many different gospel accounts? I’ll write a full post on why this is the case soon, but in the meantime you might want to check out dr. Bookmark Strauss’s video course on how these four different perspectives describe Jesus. (note: if you buy it, zondervan gives me a small bribe).

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Guide to the Four Gospels – OverviewBible

all 4 gospels focus on the story of jesus