The Four Gospels

The Four Gospels

Of The Bible

  

 What would life be without it?

I love the bible because it was what led me to know that there is a God. The bible gave me the knowledge that God sent His only begotten Son into the World to insure that we could have the opportunity to inherit life eternal because of the sacrifice that His Son provided for us. The bible tells us about the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of God’s Son and the promise that God made to us if we only believe the gospel that Jesus preached. 

Christians have nothing to fear from the truth. But since new ideas challenge tradition, they are often mocked or simply dismissed. However, unless man has discovered all of the truth in the Bible, then we should always be open to the possibility that God may, at times, have something new to reveal to us and if He does, it will not contradict established inspired scripture which was written according to the eyewitness testimony of credible witnesses.

 

  The New Testament begins with the four gospel accounts of the ministry of Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the World and the Messenger of the New Covenant of God that he has made with all of us.

These four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John join together to tell us about the birth of Jesus the Son of God, his ministry of healings among the people, the miracles that he performed and what he taught us about the Kingdom of God according to those eyewitnesses who were instrumental in having this story written.

For hundreds of years those who studied the bible have attempted to identify those who wrote the four gospels because their identities remained anonymous. Yes, they are presented to us as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but there is nothing contained within these books that help to verify their identities. Does it matter? Not really, because it is obvious that what was written was the result of the eyewitness testimony of those who were present with Jesus throughout his life here on Earth. No matter who these people who wrote the four gospels were, we owe them a debt of gratitude for what they wrote and passed on to us.

 Those men who are credited to have written the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John could very well be the ones who wrote the four gospels. There is nothing in their gospels that could possibly refute that they were the authors except for the one that bears the name of the Apostle John.

 The book of John contains an enormous amount of what Jesus taught the people that is not contained in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is obvious that the person who was instrumental in recording the teaching of Jesus in the book of John must have spent a lot of time listening intently while Jesus spoke, more so than those who wrote Matthew, Mark and Luke did. Where Matthew, Mark and Luke recorded in detail the travels, healings and miracles that Jesus performed, the author of the Book of John concentrated on what Jesus taught.

Unlike the first three gospels, the information contained in the book of John presents something that could lead to the identity of the person who wrote this book. Near the end of this book, the person identified himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. This could be a clue as to this author being someone other than the apostle John. (John 21:20-24)

For many years we have been taught that the apostle John was the beloved disciple that wrote the Gospel according to John. Why do they call him the beloved disciple? They call him that because the person who wrote that book said that it was written by “The Disciple whom Jesus loved” and everyone from years ago were made to believe that it was John, but was it?

Now who could this certain disciple be who would think that he was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” more than any other disciple? Well there are even more things that we should consider concerning this person. Let’s see what the scriptures say concerning the Apostle John.

The most credible and complete source of the details about the ministry of Jesus and the words that He spoke, would be the testimony of those disciples who were with him most of the time. It appears that there were three men, who were kind of an inner circle that spent more time with Jesus than anyone else. These men were Peter, James and John who (1) accompanied Jesus to the Mount where He was transfigured before them (Matthew 17:1-2)(Mark 9:2)(Luke 9:28), also (2) to the house of the ruler of the synagogue (Mark 5:37)(Luke 8:51) and (3) to a place in the Garden to pray apart from the others. (Mark 14:32-33)

None of these three events were mentioned in the book of John even though the other gospels reported John being there.

Then there was the commissioning of the twelve apostles by Jesus. John was one of the twelve that was named an apostle in Matthew 10:1-4, Mark 3:14-19 & Luke 6:13-16, but the writer of the fourth gospel didn’t mention this. Maybe the author of the fourth gospel was not one of the twelve.

And finally; The following are some of the discrepancies that appear between the fourth gospel that bears John’s name and the other three gospel accounts by Matthew, Mark and Luke:

 John 1:35-37 Said that two of John the Baptist’s disciples were the first to follow Jesus. The other gospel writers of Matthew, Mark and Luke refute that. Matt 4:18-22) ( Mark 1:16-20) ( Luke 5:1-11)

John 2:1-12 Said that Jesus turned the water into wine. The other three gospel writers never mentioned it even though more of Jesus’ disciples were present at the marriage.

John 3:1-21 Said a man by the name of Nicodemus visited Jesus at night to question Him. This was not mentioned by the other gospel writers. Could it be because Jesus' twelve disciples were already asleep and another disciple who wrote this was still awake? The author of the fourth gospel, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”.

John 4:1-26 Said that Jesus spoke to a woman at the well, but this was not mentioned in the other three gospels. Could it have been because Jesus' twelve disciples were not present, but the writer of the fourth gospel, “The Disciple whom Jesus loved” was and recorded this account?

John 11:37-44 Said that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Even though it states that other disciples were present, this was not mentioned in the other gospels. Were the twelve disciples not there, or were not paying attention? The only person who recorded the raising of Lazarus was “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, the person who wrote the fourth gospel.

John 13:1-20 Speaks of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples, but this was not mentioned happening in the other gospels.

Not mentioned in the gospel known by John’s name was when Jesus calmed the storm by speaking to it. The other Gospels all speak of this great event, but maybe the writer of the fourth gospel was not present at that time. Could this be because the writer of the fourth gospel, “the disciple whom Jesus loved, was not one of the twelve on the boat?

Not mentioned in the Gospel by John’s name is when Jesus sent out his 12 disciples to preach in the cities. Since John was one of the twelve and he was credited to be the author of the fourth gospel, why wasn't it mentioned in this gospel account? Could it be that the true writer of the fourth gospel “the disciple whom Jesus loved” was not one of the twelve?

What I would like to present to you now is that the “disciple whom Jesus loved”, the author of the fourth gospel that bears John’s name was a disciple of Jesus, but was not one of the twelve.

  

In order to present to you the possibility of another disciple of Jesus, it is necessary to start at the foot of the cross just after Jesus was crucified and see who was there.

 1. The gospel of Matthew describes the witnesses of the crucifixion as being many women who had followed him during his ministry( Matt 27:55-56). Nothing is said about his apostles who were hiding behind closed doors for fear of the Jews (John 20:19)

 2. The gospel of Mark describes the witnesses as being many women who followed and ministered to him from Galilee. ( Mark 15:40-41) Again there was no mention of any of the Lord’s apostles being present.

 3. The gospel of Luke describes the witnesses as many women being present watching. (Luke 23:48-49)

 4. The gospel of John also spoke of certain women being present watching. (John 19:25)

 Take note here that Jesus spoke to the disciple who wrote the gospel of John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and made provision for his mother’s future well being. ( John 19:26-27)

 Since there were only women present, as was described in all four gospels, it appears to indicate that the “disciple whom Jesus loved” and the writer of the fourth gospel was one of the women who was there.

 Now allow me to make a case as to who it could have been in order to identify “the disciple whom Jesus loved”.

 On one of his ministry journeys, Jesus traveled to a place known as Magdala (Matt 15:39) on the Sea of Galilee. This is where he met a woman who was living in the area by the name of Mary, who became known as Mary Magdalene. Jesus healed this woman of her infirmities by casting out of her seven devils. (Luke 8:2) (Mark 16:9)

 This Mary Magdalene began to follow Jesus during his ministry travels as one of his disciples (Matt 27:55). No, I’m not saying that she was one of the twelve disciples that Jesus personally called to join him in his ministry. Any person who follows the teaching of another person for learning is a disciple or the same as a pupil. Jesus had many disciples during his earthly ministry and still does today. Take for instance one named Joseph of Arimathaea who the scripture calls a disciple (Matt 27:57)(John 19:38).

 We find out later in the scriptures that this Mary Magdalene was the Daughter of one Simon the leper, a Pharisee who Jesus also healed (Matt 8:2-3) & (Mark 1:40-41). Mary also had a Sister named Martha and a brother named Lazarus who lived in Bethany with their Father (Mark 14:3) (Luke 10:38-42)(John 11:1). It was in the house of Simon where Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus with precious ointment while sitting by him listening to him talk while she washed Jesus feet, wiped them with her hair and kissed his feet (Luke 10:39)(John 12:3-4) (Luke 7:37-47)

 After the trial of Jesus, when they took him to the place where he was to be crucified, many of the women followed them to the place. Among these women were Mary the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. (Matt 27:56) (Mark 15:40-41)

 While standing at the cross where Jesus was crucified, Jesus spoke to his mother and said: “Woman, behold your Son”. Then Jesus spoke to the disciple “who he loved” and said: “Behold your Mother”. (John 19:6-27) Then this disciple “who Jesus loved” took his mother to live with them.

           A note needs to be made here at this point that all of Jesus’ apostles were shut up in a place for safety because they feared that the Jews would come after them. (John 20:19) In none of the gospel accounts was it said that any of Jesus’ male disciples were present at the cross. Only the women who followed Jesus, the female disciples were there. When Jesus spoke to the disciple that was identified as “the disciple who Jesus loved” it must have been one of the female disciples, it must have been the faithful Mary Magdalene who took the Mother of Jesus into her house.

 When Jesus’ body was taken to the tomb, who was it that followed them there? For one, it was Mary Magdalene (Matt 27:61) (Mark 15:47) & (Luke 23:55).

 On the first day of the week, who went to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body? Again it was Mary Magdalene (Matt 28:1) (Mark 16:1) (Luke 24:1-10) (John 20:1)

 After the resurrection of Jesus, who did he appear to first? None other than Mary Magdalene. ( Matt 28:9) (Mark 16:9) (John 20:18)

 Who was it that went and told Jesus’ disciples about his being risen? Again it was Mary Magdalene. (Matt 28:1-8)

 Could it be possible that Mary Magdalene was “the disciple that Jesus loved” more than any of the other disciples? Here was Mary Magdalene who was healed by Jesus of much infirmity and freed from being possessed by many demons. Here is a woman that could be very grateful of Jesus changing her life so dramatically. Even her own Father, the Pharisee Simon the leper questioned that if Jesus was a prophet he would have prevented  such a woman that was a sinner to touch him (Luke 7:39). What did Jesus have to say to Simon about that? Jesus said that this woman has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. He said this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since I arrived in your house. This woman has anointed my feet with ointment constantly. Jesus said that she has loved him much and much has been forgiven of her. (Luke 7:44-47) All of this would show the love that Mary Magdalene had for Jesus, so wouldn’t he love her very much for the honor and love she has expressed to him?

 If you can believe the account of the last supper in John’s gospel about a disciple leaning on Jesus’ breast, it could have been Mary Magdalene. (John 13:23) Of course this was not recorded in the other three gospels, especially so if the one in question was a woman. There was recorded in scripture that the twelve apostles sat down with Jesus for the last supper, but it doesn’t specifically say that only the twelve were there. How about all the others that followed Jesus during his travels? Do you think they would have been left outside while the supper was in progress?

 Well there it is. Just a possibility. Not one that I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, but neither can anyone prove that the Apostle John was the author of the fourth gospel. I can venture a guess though that back in the second or third century someone recognized the value of this gospel, but knew that a woman author would not have been accepted in the male dominated society that it was, so they attached the apostle John’s name to it in order to make it acceptable to the church.

 

  Just a possibility as I have said.

 How does it sound as Matthew, Mark, Luke and Mary?

 

 

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