The Four Gospel Accounts are notes on the earthly life of Jesus in His Incarnation. They are the records of men who saw Jesus, heard Him and wrote down all they heard and saw.
1 John 1:1-4 (NKJV)
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
2 Peter 1:16 (NKJV)
16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were EYEWITNESSES of His majesty.
Luke 1:1 -4 (NKJV)
1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order A NARRATIVE of THOSE THINGS which have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were EYEWITNESSES and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to WRITE to you AN ORDERLY ACCOUNT, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may KNOW the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
The Prophets of the Old spoke of the Coming Messiah, the Seed of the woman, who would deliver and save. The authors of the Four Gospel Accounts saw the Scriptures come to pass in the Life of Jesus. He is the fulfilment of the Old Testament Scriptures, in word and deed. Thus, that which they saw and heard, they wrote down. Their accounts are theological biographies. They are not a mere account of how Jesus lived, but how in living, He fulfilled ALL the Scriptures had prophesied ahead of time.
The word “Gospel” is translated from the Greek word “euaggelion” (εὐαγγέλιον) which means “good news” or “glad tidings.” This is quite interesting because the Gospel accounts seem to be merely biographies of Jesus. But upon more detailed study, you would find out that those biographies were biased. The writers of the Gospel accounts were MORE FOCUSED on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection as they wrote. For instance, out of Mark’s 16 chapters, 6 chapters were dedicated to explain the death of Jesus. So, the writers of the Gospel accounts were not mere biographers or historians, they were actually evangelists.
Using the history of Jesus to teach salvation, they selected those portions of Jesus’ life which proved that He was the Messiah, then they wrote them down. Thus, the Gospel accounts are theological.
The authors saw what they penned down, this is why the Four Gospel Accounts are fondly called EYEWITNESS accounts. The first three Gospel Accounts (Matthew, Mark and Luke) are called “synoptic,” from the Greek word “synopsis” which means “to see everything together, from the same point of view.” This is because their Gospel Accounts are quite similar/identical, although there are a few differences.
Then we have John’s Gospel Account which stands on its own. It is not categorised as “synoptic” because it is very different from the other three (in what it records). John only records about 10% of what is found in Matthew, Mark & Luke (the Synoptics).
© Josh Banks Ministries. 2021.
