The Four Gospels. This Is Appendix 96 From The Companion Bible. We have already seen from the Structure on page
1304, (of the Comapanion Bible) and notes there, that each of the Four
Gospels has its own special character and design.
These are not to be determined by human ingenuity or
on modern lines, but to be gathered from the Structure.
This shows that they may be regarded as being the
completion of the Old Testament, rather than the beginning of the New. In
any case they have nothing whatever to do with the founding of "the
Church", or with the beginning of "Christianity" (see
Appendix 113,
notes on the Structure of the Acts as a whole, and Romans 15: They are the four distinct presentations of the
Messiah, and together form one perfect whole.
The twofold subject of the Lord's fourfold ministry
(Appendix 119)
shows this very clearly; and excludes all modern hypotheses.
This being so, only those events, miracles, and
discourses of our Lord are selected which are needed for the presentation
of our Lord and His ministry, and which bear upon, illustrate, and thus
emphasize the special object of each Gospel.
This is why certain words and works are peculiar to
one Gospel, and are omitted from another; and why certain utterances of
the Lord are repeated on other occasions, and with varying
words. Also why we have "the kingdom of heaven" only in
Matthew, and "the kingdom of God" in the other Gospels (see
Appendix 114).
It has been too generally assumed that events and
discourses which are similar are identical
also. But this is not the case, as may be seen from Appendix 116,
Appendix 152,
Appendix 153,
Appendix 155,
Appendix 156,
Appendix 157,
Appendix 158,
Appendix 163,
Appendix 164.
By failing to distinguish or to "try the
things that differ" (Philippians 1: The special object of each of the Four Gospels may be
seen from the Structure on page 1304 of the Companion Bible. |