Note on the Four Themes of the Four Gospels

The early church leaders (meaning in the period up to the year 400) recognized that the four Gospels presented four different and necessary understandings of Jesus. One attempt to unite the four Gospels into one Gospel was made (It was called the Diatessaron and was compiled in the mid- to late-100s by Tatian.). But the early church leaders thought that was unnecessary, and the four Gospels were used instead since they gave a complete picture of Jesus:

• Matthew: Jesus is a Spiritual Messiah
• Mark: Jesus is a Servant and Redeemer
• Luke: Jesus has Compassion and is open to common people
• John: Jesus is God

Details about the Gospel of John

Two example of Jewish aspects found in John:

1. John includes 7 "I am" statements by Jesus. This means that Jesus made 7 statements that began with the phrase "I am":
1. The 7 "I am" statements:
1. 6:35: "I am the bread of life."
2. 8:12: "I am the light of the world."
3. 10:9: "I am the gate."
4. 10:11: "I am the good shepherd"
5. 11:25: "I am the resurrection and the life."
6. 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
7. 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches."
2. This was significant to the Jews of Jesus' day for two reasons.
• Seven was a significant number among the Jews (for example, Genesis says that God created everything in 6 days and then rested on the 7th day).
• Concerning the phrase “I am.” In the Old Testament (in the book of Exodus), Moses asked God what God wanted to be called. God said, "Yahweh," which, in Hebrew, means "I am." Now this may sound a bit odd: why would someone want to be called “I am”? The answer is significant: Think about it this way: try to make an action sentence without using the verb “to be.” It is hard if not impossible: for example, “they are walking,” “he is working,” “she is writing.” So the verb “to be” is basic to language. In giving his title as “I am,” (“Yahweh” in Hebrew), God in the OT was saying that he was the basis or foundation to existence. God is not something among a lot of somethings, but God is the basis of everything. This was the understanding that the Jews had of God during the time of Jesus.
3. Therefore, for Jesus to use the phrase “I am” to refer to himself, and for John to use this seven times in his Gospel, would have been a clear clue to Jews that John was presenting Jesus as God.
2. Not only does John include 7 “I am” statements, but he also describes 7 miracles that Jesus performed during his ministry. Since a miracle is something Jews believed that only God could perform, this would highlight the theme of John that Jesus was God. (John does include one additional miracle in the last chapter of his Gospel, but this occurs after Jesus’ death and during the last meeting between Jesus and his Apostles.)

An example of a Gentile aspect found in John.

• For many Gentiles, the Greek idea “logos” described a something that was not a god but a force that held the universe together. (Optional: For more information go here.) Therefore, John used this Greek word at the beginning of his Gospel (John 1:1) to describe Jesus.
• John 1:1: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” In the original Greek, "logos" means word. John shows Greeks that this force they called "Logos" is really Jesus. Therefore, in this first sentence in the Gospel of John, John describes Jesus as living as far back as the “beginning,” that Jesus was with God, and was also God. Gentiles who were religious would understand this connection between “logos” and Jesus.
• Basically he was saying: “You believe in this force, and I will tell you who this force is: Jesus.”

John 3:16: The most quoted verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.”

This verse is actually complex and can lead to misunderstandings.

• “His only son.”
• Previously the lesson discussed the Christian idea of the Trinity, in which the “son” is one part of God, but now the idea will be discussed in more detail. This language is meant as a metaphor or imagery or poetry and is not to be taken as a literal son that God had, like a man would have a son on earth. Think about it this way: God did not have a son who, after Jesus died, God would not see him anymore. That is the way of humans on earth: if a couple has a son who dies, than the parents no longer sees the son on earth. But that is not the way of the Trinity. After Jesus died on the cross, he ascended to heaven where he rejoined God the Father.
• This is one way to look at the Trinity: God is one, but has different roles or responsibilities or parts. Some theologians use the word “persons”: “God is one in three persons." Some people like to use water as an example of the Trinity: water can be in the form of steam, a liquid, or ice. Other people like to use an egg as an example of the Trinity: an egg consists of three parts, the shell, the yoke, and the yellow.
• The New Testament also uses the terms “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The Father can be understood as the part of God that makes decisions. The Son can be understood as the part of God that does the action. A bad example, but one that is OK, is that the Father is the brains of God and Jesus, the Son, is the body. Just like your brain makes a decision and your body does what it is told, the Father makes decisions and Jesus, the Son, does the action. To help prove this: Jesus frequently said he was doing the will of the Father or trying to please the Father. The Holy Spirit can be understood as the part of God that interacts with humans after Jesus had ascended to heaven. Therefore, God the Father decided that God needed to come to earth in human form, and God the Son did that, which we call Jesus. They are still one God, but one part of God told another part what to do, just like you are one person, but your mind can make a decision to run and your body will follow that instruction and run.
• If a Christian talks about pleasing God, they really mean the Father (whether they know it or not!). If a Christian talks about something that God did, such as come to earth, that is Jesus, the Son. If a Christian talks about learning something about God, that is called the Holy Spirit. The different "parts" of God had different "jobs" or "responsiblities." For example, we would never say that the Father or the Holy Spirit died on the cross.
• “Not perish but have eternal life.” This phrase implies that some people will not live forever after death. That is a misunderstanding, because the NT teaches that everyone lives forever after death. The idea is that some people live with God and some people go to hell (apart from God). In NT language, to live apart from God is like death, and so that idea is used in this verse. A person will live forever, but apart from God, which is like a type of death.
• A potential problem in the idea of the Trinity.
• I have heard this asked in many classes and conversations: “If Jesus was God, then why did he pray to God?” I discuss this in all Bible classes I teach and so I will share it here:
• Let me use this example: Think back to when you woke up this morning. What did you really want to do? Probably stay in bed. But you said to yourself, “You have to get up and get ready for work/help the kids/etc.” You wanted to stay in bed but you had this conversation in your head in which you convinced yourself to get up. And we do this all day long: "I want to eat that/no, I shouldn’t eat that, etc."
• I see the same thing happening with Jesus. From the biblical idea of the Trinity, we have discussed that God is one but is also called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son (Jesus) was on the earth and needed to talk with the Father, just like we talk to ourselves. So Jesus prayed to God, or another way of looking at it was that God the Son was talking to God the Father, or that God was talking with Himself, just like we talk to ourselves.
• Let me mention one specific case: Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that he was to be arrested. He knew he was going to be arrested and that he would end up being crucified. That was going to be very painful, and so God on earth (Jesus) had a conversation with God the Father: “I don’t want to go through this. If there is anyway that this can be avoided, I will do that.” Just like we say to ourselves in the mornings when we are in bed. But, just like we get up, Jesus decided to follow through and be arrested and crucified.
• So, yes, Jesus did pray to God, but another way to look at it was that God was talking with himself. (God the Son talking with God the Father.) Actually, I believe this is the most intimate story about God, becausee we are allowed to see God discussing with an idea within Himself (Father <=>Son).

Comparing the amount of chapters by the 4 Gospels on the last week of Jesus’ life:

• Matthew: 7 out of 28 chapters = 25%
• Mark: 5 out of 16 chapters = 31%
• Luke: 5 out of 24 chapters = 21%
• John: 8 out of 21 chapters = 38%

The Gospels dedicate from 1/5 (Luke) to more than 1/3 (John) of their writings to the last week of Jesus’ life. In Christianity, this signifies the importance that the crucifixion has in understanding why Jesus came.