The gospels were designed to show the four different aspects of Jesus Christ ministry ….as the prophets of old foretold them in regards to the BRANCH in the OT.
Matthew - as King.
Mark - as Servant.
Luke – as Man.
John – as Son of God.
Below gives the Scripture reference and more details. ….it's a bit lengthy.
KING
One quality of the coming BRANCH (tsemach) prophesied by Jeremiah would be that of a King descended from David.
In order for Jesus to be the Messiah He would have to be a descendant of David inherit the right to the throne and come as King to Israel.
Jeremiah
23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
Only in the book of Matthew do you find the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” and it’s used 32 times.
There are 10 parables unique to Matthew which relate to a King. Plus the royal genealogy chap 1, and the phrase son of David occurs more in Matthew than any other gospel.
SERVANT
As the promised BRANCH one of the aspects of Jesus Christ ministry would be the role of a Servant.
Zachariah 3:8
3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH (tsemach).
The gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus as a Servant. There is no genealogy as a position gained by descendant. The word “lord” or “sir” Greek ( kurios) is used only 3 times of Jesus in Mark….. whereas it is used 73 times in the other three gospels.
There is a great emphasis in Mark on Jesus’s actions and responsibility in serving and helping others.
MAN
Another characteristic of the promised BRANCH is Jesus’s humanity …in other words, the Branch would be a man.
Zechariah 6:12
6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH (tsemach); and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
Luke clearly emphasizes Jesus Christ as a man. Luke 3:23-38 is the genealogy tracing Jesus’ legal ancestry …through Joseph (who adopted him) back to Adam the first man.
There are 11 parables particular to Luke which emphasize the human aspect of his walk. The entire gospel emphasizes His relationship with common man, including publicans and sinners…..It shows Jesus to be a full of human tenderness and compassion as the perfect man.
SON OF GOD
Isaiah 4:2
4:2 In that day shall the BRANCH (tsemach) of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
Jesus Christ was the Branch …the offspring of the Lord God. The gospel which clearly depicts and emphasizes Jesus as the son of God is John as seen in the following verses.
John 1:14, 18 & 34 - 3:16 & 20:31
1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
1:34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
While every gospel encompasses all of these characteristics of Jesus Christ, each gospel specifically emphasizes one of them.
For is by the mouth of two or three witnesses that everything is established in righteousness.
And if you actually read those four Gospels you'll find out why there's only four Gospels.
Only four of the apostles survived long enough to complete a written record.
It was the apostle Paul that took the notes from those four men and carried them all the way through a Roman trial all the way to his death and got every last piece of evidence Court recorded.
The Bible that you have today is a court recorded document. But in order to have something recorded by the court you have to be alive.
Dead people that have been executed don't get their works Court recorded.
There are four because by the time the early church was settling on a recognized canon of Christian scripture--a list of the most important sources explaining Christian teaching--that's how many biographical accounts of Jesus were recognized as fitting into that particular category.
There are many more that aren't canonical. Many were written to promote the Gnostic adaptation of Christianity, which had by then been recognized as an attempt to co-opt Christianity in service of a contrary belief system (a "heresy," as it was labeled). The Gnostics cranked out fake writings attributed to most of the Christian apostles. They tried to co-opt Judaism as well.
Some others were just amusing fictions (the Gospel of the Infancy of Christ) or attempts to claim apostolic authority for additional beliefs (the Shepherd of Hermas). Some represented more complicated sidetracks in belief, such as the material attributed to Thomas. And it's clear that the four canonical gospels had earlier written sources which were lost, superseded by the versions the Church preserved and circulated.
In the fourth century, there had been a few conflicts within the Church concerning its core beliefs, and the notion of settling the issues by picking a textual canon had first been proposed by Marcion in the second century--now regarded as a leader of one of the heretical branches. Of course, he loaded his proposed canon in favor of his own views.
Thanks to a later controversy, and a Roman Emperor (Constantine) stepping in to sort it out, by the fourth century the Church was able to assemble a Council of all its leaders and choose the New Testament canon. There were some controversial choices, but the four gospels they chose were pretty generally accepted, as others were not.
Gospels was written about 40 years after the event took place. The earliest dating is really the letters made by Paul which dates somewhere between 45 and 55 AD i think. While Gospel of Mark is in 70 AD.
God in His wisdom gave us different angles on the same story. Matthew wrote for the Jews. Mark wrote for the Romans. Luke wrote for the Greeks. John wrote for everyone in the world.
Only Matthew and John were of the original 12 disciples.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
The gospels were designed to show the four different aspects of Jesus Christ ministry ….as the prophets of old foretold them in regards to the BRANCH in the OT.
Matthew - as King.
Mark - as Servant.
Luke – as Man.
John – as Son of God.
Below gives the Scripture reference and more details. ….it's a bit lengthy.
KING
One quality of the coming BRANCH (tsemach) prophesied by Jeremiah would be that of a King descended from David.
In order for Jesus to be the Messiah He would have to be a descendant of David inherit the right to the throne and come as King to Israel.
Jeremiah
23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
Only in the book of Matthew do you find the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” and it’s used 32 times.
There are 10 parables unique to Matthew which relate to a King. Plus the royal genealogy chap 1, and the phrase son of David occurs more in Matthew than any other gospel.
SERVANT
As the promised BRANCH one of the aspects of Jesus Christ ministry would be the role of a Servant.
Zachariah 3:8
3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH (tsemach).
The gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus as a Servant. There is no genealogy as a position gained by descendant. The word “lord” or “sir” Greek ( kurios) is used only 3 times of Jesus in Mark….. whereas it is used 73 times in the other three gospels.
There is a great emphasis in Mark on Jesus’s actions and responsibility in serving and helping others.
MAN
Another characteristic of the promised BRANCH is Jesus’s humanity …in other words, the Branch would be a man.
Zechariah 6:12
6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH (tsemach); and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
Luke clearly emphasizes Jesus Christ as a man. Luke 3:23-38 is the genealogy tracing Jesus’ legal ancestry …through Joseph (who adopted him) back to Adam the first man.
There are 11 parables particular to Luke which emphasize the human aspect of his walk. The entire gospel emphasizes His relationship with common man, including publicans and sinners…..It shows Jesus to be a full of human tenderness and compassion as the perfect man.
SON OF GOD
Isaiah 4:2
4:2 In that day shall the BRANCH (tsemach) of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
Jesus Christ was the Branch …the offspring of the Lord God. The gospel which clearly depicts and emphasizes Jesus as the son of God is John as seen in the following verses.
John 1:14, 18 & 34 - 3:16 & 20:31
1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
1:34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
While every gospel encompasses all of these characteristics of Jesus Christ, each gospel specifically emphasizes one of them.
Different audiences is the reason for the four gospel accounts.
Because those are the texts the Holy Spirit guided the bishops of the Catholic Church to choose, when they compiled the Bible in the 4'th Century.
For is by the mouth of two or three witnesses that everything is established in righteousness.
And if you actually read those four Gospels you'll find out why there's only four Gospels.
Only four of the apostles survived long enough to complete a written record.
It was the apostle Paul that took the notes from those four men and carried them all the way through a Roman trial all the way to his death and got every last piece of evidence Court recorded.
The Bible that you have today is a court recorded document. But in order to have something recorded by the court you have to be alive.
Dead people that have been executed don't get their works Court recorded.
Numerology. One of the early leaders of the church said there should be four gospels because there were four corners of the earth.
There are four because by the time the early church was settling on a recognized canon of Christian scripture--a list of the most important sources explaining Christian teaching--that's how many biographical accounts of Jesus were recognized as fitting into that particular category.
There are many more that aren't canonical. Many were written to promote the Gnostic adaptation of Christianity, which had by then been recognized as an attempt to co-opt Christianity in service of a contrary belief system (a "heresy," as it was labeled). The Gnostics cranked out fake writings attributed to most of the Christian apostles. They tried to co-opt Judaism as well.
Some others were just amusing fictions (the Gospel of the Infancy of Christ) or attempts to claim apostolic authority for additional beliefs (the Shepherd of Hermas). Some represented more complicated sidetracks in belief, such as the material attributed to Thomas. And it's clear that the four canonical gospels had earlier written sources which were lost, superseded by the versions the Church preserved and circulated.
In the fourth century, there had been a few conflicts within the Church concerning its core beliefs, and the notion of settling the issues by picking a textual canon had first been proposed by Marcion in the second century--now regarded as a leader of one of the heretical branches. Of course, he loaded his proposed canon in favor of his own views.
Thanks to a later controversy, and a Roman Emperor (Constantine) stepping in to sort it out, by the fourth century the Church was able to assemble a Council of all its leaders and choose the New Testament canon. There were some controversial choices, but the four gospels they chose were pretty generally accepted, as others were not.
Gospels was written about 40 years after the event took place. The earliest dating is really the letters made by Paul which dates somewhere between 45 and 55 AD i think. While Gospel of Mark is in 70 AD.
There are lots of other Gospels.
But a bunch of Bishops got together and decided that the 4 were Gospel, and all the others were heresy.
Basically based on what they wanted the Bible to say.
God in His wisdom gave us different angles on the same story. Matthew wrote for the Jews. Mark wrote for the Romans. Luke wrote for the Greeks. John wrote for everyone in the world.
Only Matthew and John were of the original 12 disciples.
Each of the gospel writers had a different target audience. Besides, would you have believed only one single witness? I doubt it.
The others might not have been inspired to write a testimony of Jesus Christ. Maybe they were content to preach, teach, expound, and exhort.