Why Are There Four Gospel Accounts?
Question:
Why are there four accounts written about Jesus’ life?
Answer:
Dear Carolina,
There are several good reasons for the four different accounts of Jesus’ life. First, they are written for (and to) different groups of people. Matthew was written for a Jewish audience. Mark was written more for the Romans. Luke’s primary target was Greeks and other gentiles. John was written broadly for everyone. Of course, all people can learn from any of the books, but they answer specific questions that each of these groups might have had. Second, the books emphasize different aspects of Jesus’ life. The book of John is written to show that Jesus is God and existed eternally before He was born on Earth. Luke stresses the humanity of Jesus. Matthew shows Jesus was from the Jewish line of David. Mark stresses Jesus’ suffering and servanthood. Third, the four different accounts add credibility to the historic facts of Jesus’ life. The books are different enough to show they were written by different authors, but they are similar enough to show that the events they document were real events. John explained to his readers that he wrote what he did so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31).
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