Four Gospels

This is a chart I made for a class I was helping with, I prepared it to go along with a short (10 minute) presentation… as such I could only take things so far… I stopped short of going into the Symbolism & how it relates to the Standards of the tribes as they moved through the wilderness, or how it relates to the faces on the cherubim… I didn't mention 1st miracles, or many many other comparisons… I'm publishing this in hopes that it will spur you on to learn & discover even more.  Blessings!!

The Four Gospels

Gospel = Good Tidings (a.k.a. Good News)

* Synoptic = “seeing together”, these are very parallel in content & order.

Matthew*	Mark*	Luke*	John
Author: Jew, former Tax Collector / Customs Official, Disciple (one of the 12), Levite.  Able stenographer (of sorts) due to his former occupation.	Jew, a younger man & understudy of Peter, believed to be a disciple of Jesus (but not one of the 12). Also worked alongside Luke & Paul.	Greek, Medical Doctor by profession, traveling companion of Paul, Historian. Wrote Acts which is a follow-on companion book to Luke.	Jew, former Fisherman, Disciple (12), Inner Circle (3), the “Beloved”, cousin of Jesus,  died of natural causes. Wrote the book of Revelation.
Date written: AD 50s-70s	AD 50s-70s	AD 50s-70s	AD 85 or later, 50s-70s
Audience: Jews: religious, spiritual, meditative, knowledge of Scriptures / Prophecies.	Romans: action-oriented, conquest, politics, business, reigning world power.	Greeks: philosophy, intellect, education, culture, poetry, music, idealistic re: truth.	Church, World, all who would come to know Jesus as Lord, the Masses.
Supreme (ruler/king/messiah): genealogy is of the Royal Line, chapters 5-7 (Sermon on the Mount) are a type of Manifesto for His Kingdom.	Servant: no genealogy - who cares about genealogy of a servant, records more miracles than other Gospels, emphasizes Jesus actions.	Son of Man (perfect humanity): genealogy is traced to Adam, frequently pictured in prayer or with Angels ministering, songs (poems) are recorded.	Son of God (deity): points to Jesus divine relationship, there is a genealogy of sorts “In the beginning...” which is that of the pre-existent eternal one.
Promised One	Powerful One	Perfect One	Personal One
What Jesus Said: Recorded Jesus discourses verbatim (stenographer).	What Jesus Did: Like the script of an action movie, a reflection of Peter as a man of action.	What Jesus Felt: His humanity, how He wept, how He trembled with compassion, etc.	Who Jesus Was: He was God, the pre-existent One, the Creator, the “I Am”.
Closes With: Jesus the King commissioning His disciples. Resurrection	Jesus the Servant laboring with His disciples. Ascension	Jesus the Perfect Man carried up to Heaven in Glory. Promised Holy Spirit	If all Jesus did could be written the whole world couldn’t contain it. Promised Return
Symbolism: Lion	Ox	Man	Eagle

Final Thoughts: Don’t get hung up with differences in order of events between the Gospels, in the days these were written accounts weren’t necessarily given in a chronological order.  These are the accounts of Witnesses to very specific events, not all events are recorded but only a tiny fraction.  If Witnesses today give identical accounts in a court of law they are suspected of being in collusion, with this in mind we shouldn’t expect authentic written accounts of different witnesses to be identical.  There’s so much more…