Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Theocentric Studies-Part I February 2, 1996
The four Gospels are neither histories of the life of Christ nor biographies.
They are portraits of the person and work of the long promised Messiah, Israel's
King and the world's Savior. As portraits they present four different poses of
one unique personality. Matthew by the Holy Spirit presents Christ as King,
Mark as Servant, Luke as Man, and John as God. Although featuring Christ as King,
Matthew sketches His role as a King in closest connection with His character as
Servant, as Man, and as God (Matthew 13:53-19:30). Likewise, although featuring
Him as Servant, Mark depicts Christ's servant role in closest connection with
His character as King, Man and God (Mark 11:1-16:1-8). Similarly Luke focuses
the spotlight on Christ as Man and John as God, but like other evangelists they
do not separate Him from His full- orbed character (Luke 4:14-9:50, John 1:19-
2:50). The four Gospels narrate, largely, the same things, but with some
differences. Only Matthew and Luke tell of the Birth and childhood of Jesus
(Matthew 1:14-9:1, Luke 1:5-4:13). Matthew and Mark dwell on the Galilean
Ministry; Luke, the Perean; John, the Judean. John omits most of the Galilean
Ministry, and records visits to Jerusalem that the others omit (Luke 9:51-19:27).
The others omit the Judean Ministry, except the Last Week, which all four cover
rather extensively. The Last Week occupies one-third of Matthew, approximately
one-third of Mark, one-quarter of Luke, and one-half of John. John devotes
seven chapters, about one-third of his book, to Crucifixion Day, sunset to
sunset. Thus ...