Gospels Part 029
In the last four lessons we’ve looked at the backgrounds of the four Gospels, covering who the writers were, their backgrounds, who their audience was and the major points and emphases of the four Gospels. Today we’ll continue with some other aspects of the background of the Gospels that we need to understand before getting into the Gospels themselves.
What exactly are the Gospels? There are known as Gospels, a word that means “good news” or “good message.” And certainly they contain good news about the coming, the ministry, and the death and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
But those titles are somewhat misleading. What we’re really looking at is the testimony or witness of these men to the events that took place during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. These four books of the Bible bear witness to those events. They weren’t the only witnesses, because there were 12 who were chosen specifically to be witnesses.
Let’s notice Acts 1:22, where the apostles were choosing someone to replace Judas, who had committed suicide after betraying Jesus. And Peter says here but they must choose someone to “become a witness with us of his resurrection.” And then Matthias was chosen to replace Judas. The point here is that one of the responsibilities of the apostles was to be witnesses. And indeed they were—they were teaching about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Acts 4:33 tells us, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” The apostles Peter and John said they were witnesses of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5:1; 1 John 1:2).
It was important that there be not one, not two, not four, but 12 men designated as witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. These men were the official witnesses, because in fact there were others who saw Jesus alive after He had died—in one case 500 people saw Him at once (1 Corinthians 15:6). It was important that there be abundant testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. After all, people would not easily believe that a man had been dead for three days and three nights and then came back to life. So it was necessary that there be multiple eyewitnesses to that fact.
As we know, the idea of witnesses was central to the biblical legal system. As stated in Numbers 35:30 and Deuteronomy 19:15, the law God gave the Israelites required that there be two or three witnesses to an event. One witness was not enough to establish truth. So, with the Gospels, God actually gives us double the legally required number of witnesses, and recorded that witness in writing that has been preserved for us today.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus did not write His own gospel? Why did He leave it to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to write this down? Jesus himself says it in John 5:31—“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.”
He’s not saying that He’s lying—His point is that it’s not legally valid, which is the way some other translations put it. Jesus was saying that a person can stand up and make any claim that he wants, but that doesn’t establish whether it’s true. You have to have independent witnesses. There had to be independent witnesses of what Jesus said and did, especially of His death and resurrection. Again, there were 500 people who saw Him after His resurrection on one occasion, so there were plenty of witnesses.
So this, in a nutshell, is why we have four Gospels. God is consistent. Two would’ve been legally required, and we have twice that number in written form—the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Two were personal eyewitnesses of the events of Jesus’ ministry. The other two recorded what other eyewitnesses told them of these events.
In four previous lessons we covered the topic of “Did Jesus Christ Really Exist?” In those lessons, proof was provided from secular historians confirming that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person who lived exactly when and where we find Him recorded in the pages of the Bible. And in three lessons we covered “Was Jesus Christ Really Resurrected From the Dead?” (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), showing that is the only logical conclusion we can draw from the evidence available to us.
And God inspired and preserved these written records so, as the apostle John wrote in John 20:31, “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”
No one in all of human history has been more important than Jesus Christ. He is at the heart of the Bible from beginning to end. May He be at the heart and core of your life also!
© Scott Ashley, 2025. All rights reserved.
Course Content
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
