why these four gospels?
07 - 01/26 /17:44
20th century theologian F.F. Bruce explained, “Jesus wrote no book. What He said was treasured and repeated (and recited) by those who heard Him, and by their hearers in turn. To those who confessed Jesus as Lord, His words were at least as authoritative as the words of Moses and the Prophets.”
1st century theologian Ignatius is quoted to have said, “The best defense against false teaching is to pay heed to the prophets and especially to the Gospels, in which the passion has been revealed to us and the resurrection has been accomplished.”
1st century theologian Ignatius is quoted to have said, “The best defense against false teaching is to pay heed to the prophets and especially to the Gospels, in which the passion has been revealed to us and the resurrection has been accomplished.”
The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are called the Gospels because that is how Ignatius identified them. But why four Gospels? And, why these four books?
Ancient literature was written on scrolls, long rolls of material (papyrus, paper, animal skin) suitable as writing material. Scholars agree the original compositions by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written on scrolls; as were innumerable hand-made copies.
In the 2nd century Christians began a new method of distributing those books. Copies of the four Gospels were cut out of scrolls, these sections were then bound in a kind-of book style called codex. Many Christians soon possessed a codex containing portions from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Unlike modern New Testaments, each codex included only parts from the four Gospels, none have been found that contain the entirety of those four books.
Importantly, the many codexes that have been discovered include texts from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. No codex has been found that includes text from the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Philip. Occasionally a codex is discovered that includes texts beyond the four Gospels; most often some section from the book of Acts or from one of the apostle Paul’s letters. An occasional codex includes some text not found in the New Testament.
These ancient codexes demonstrate that early Christians venerated the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The surprising number of ancient codexes prove these four Gospels exclusively were considered sacred texts and widely circulated beginning in the 2nd century.
At the end of the 4th century the Council of Carthage (397ce) adopted a list of Sacred Scripture, affirming the four Gospels that Christians had been treasuring for two centuries. Those church leaders interpreted the broad adoption of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. ~
Blessed new year,
Dan Nygaard