Why did God give us four Gospels?

Now, has it ever struck you that one reason why we have in the New Testament Scriptures four different accounts of our Lord Jesus Christ is this that different excellences and perfections in the Christ of God might be set forth? I am not speaking of the subjects of the gospels, which, of course, are plainly to be seen. I speak of the striking manner in which, for faith, the glory of Christ stands out in this fact that each historian, as has been said, "produces different parts in this rare and sweet compound." See Exodus 30. And therefore you have God in His good pleasure employing four men — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — who were specially raised up and qualified by Him to present, by the Holy Ghost, the person of Christ in the various aspects in which we find Him revealed; and the one we have before us this evening is Luke.

The Gospels are four, because He in whom this glory shines is come to put Himself into the hands of His creatures, — to be seen, gazed on, handled by their hands; to submit Himself to every species of trial, — in order that in all this His glory may be fully recognized. Thus each of these Gospels has its different story to tell, both of Person and work, — its different aspect to give to the beholder, — that we may be able more to take in and appreciate as He would have us the Christ of God.

If we had been writing a life of Jesus, we would have done exactly what hundreds of devout students of Scripture have since done. Look at the catalogues of books which give us the life of Jesus, and what do you find? Four lives? No; you find that these four Gospels have been, as it were, pushed together and made into one life. And for what reason? As though men would say, It was rather an error to have four gospels, four lives; we want one life. I do not say this is the thought of all who have written lives of Christ — surely not — but they have failed to emphasize the feature of which I speak.

Now we know there is divine wisdom in giving us the four distinct and separate lives. Had God wanted to give us one simple perfect life of His Son, He could have done it, but He had an object in view, and that was that we should see not one side of His blessed Son, but all four sides. And so He has given it to us in four lives, written in the most natural way. All four Gospels present to us the same Person. It is the same Jesus in Matthew that you find in John, you recognize Him at once. No two persons there, but how different the presentation of that Person!

Instead, therefore, of regarding the four gospels as the writings merely of four biographers however true, and trying, as people say, to study "the harmonies of the gospel," we find that each writer had a distinct and definite line of truth to convey, in no wise contradictory of each other, but each gospel written with a definite object. This, when seen, enhances each of the four gospels immensely, and our interest in them becomes largely intensified. It is intelligible enough that four architects might give us the plans of a square building, each taking a separate side; and although they were all of them different in some particulars, so that no one could understand them till he knew that each represented a different side of the same building, yet then, and not till then, would he get the true idea of what the building really was. So with the Gospels. Matthew clearly sets forth the Messiah in relation to God's ancient people, the Jews; Mark, the Son of God as a perfect Servant; Luke, Son of God born of Mary, yet Son of Man; and John, the Son who came forth from the Father, came into the world, and went back to the Father.

Now let us try to point out the divine perfection of these books: St. Matthew's Gospel, containing the genealogy of Christ from Abraham and David, treats of the Messiah, the relation of Christ to the Jews, the fulfilment of prophecy in Him, and also of His rejection as Messiah with the beginning of a new dispensation. St. Mark's Gospel tells us of Christ as the Servant made in the likeness of man, and as a prophet on the earth. St. Luke's tells us of the great grace brought by the "Second. man," and the great moral principles connected with it. Hence in this Gospel we have a moral and not a chronological order of events, even in the history of the temptation: we have also the genealogy to Adam. St. John's Gospel treats of the person of the Saviour, the Son of God. Thus the four Gospels show us the four aspects of Christ — the Son of David, the Servant, the Son of man, the Son of God, giving us a complete picture of Christ. And each Gospel is adapted to the purpose for which it was writ ten, e.g., in John we read of nothing of the agony in Gethsemane, or of the forsaking at the cross, because it is not the Holy Spirit's purpose to show us this in connection with Christ as the Son of God.

It is the same with the four gospels. Why not one? We have graciously given by God a full fourfold view of, and witness to, the Christ, the Son of God, in whom He is fully and finally made known. The true Messiah, in His divine right the diligent Servant, in His divine faithfulness the perfect Man, in His divine grace; the eternal Word, who was God, in His personal glory; such is the order and witness of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in their testimony to Him, “in whom all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell”; to Him who brought grace and truth here; to Him who called and forgave sinners; to Him who blessed the bairns; to Him who healed the sick and raised the dead; to Him who having wrought redemption, and glorified God on the cross, is now Himself glorified on the throne. It is to Him we sing: “Thou wast the Image, in man’s lowly guise, Of the Invisible to mortal eyes Son of His bosom, come from heaven above, We see in Thee incarnate, ‘God is love’.”

The importance of the subject. This is suggested by the four narratives. No ordinary reader could, when he came to the Gospels and read through the first, and then in the second found again a fresh narrative of the same life, and passing to the third, found the same blessed subject, which also is repeated again in the fourth Gospel — we say, no ordinary reader could fail to get the impression that here was the most important central fact in all the word of God, to which his attention was called in a special way.

Its richness and fulness. He would also, if thoughtful, have the conviction that there must be a richness and fulness in connection with this wondrous Person which could be most adequately set forth in four separate narratives.

That there should be found in the New Testament four coincident testimonies to our Lord Jesus Christ, distinct in character and purpose, is not surprising to that faith which receives the Scriptures as the very Word of God, testifying of Him of whom it is rightly said, that "our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man." That which, therefore, marks these blessed gospel histories for faith, is fulness and variety.

The four gospels present to us four distinct aspects of the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh, and each writer was inspired by the Holy Ghost to deal with a special line of truth concerning Him.

Matthew presents Him to us as the Messiah; in Mark we have Him as the perfect servant; in Luke He is peculiarly dwelt on as the Son of man; and John most blessedly unfolds Him as the Son of God.

It is at once interesting and instructive to mark the varied lines of truth presented in the New Testament, all finding their common centre in that blessed One who is the truth. We see this, both in the Gospels and in the Epistles. Each of the four Evangelists, under the direct guidance and power of the Holy Ghost, gives us a distinct view of Christ. Matthew presents Him in His Jewish relations — as the Messiah, the Son of David, Son of Abraham — heir of the promises made to the fathers. Mark presents Him as the earnest workman, the diligent servant, the laborious minister, the incessant preacher and teacher. Luke gives us "The Man Christ Jesus," in His human relations, Son of man, Son of Adam. John is occupied with the Son of God, Son of the Father, the heavenly Man, in His heavenly relationships.

Thus each one has his own specific line. No two are alike, but all agree. There is lovely variety, but the most perfect harmony; there is diversity and unity. Matthew does not interfere with Mark; nor Mark with Luke; nor Luke with John. There is no collision, because each moves in his own proper orbit, and all revolve round the one grand centre.