In my Bible class for beginners I start out by asking them how many Gospels there are.  There are those who are quick to answer with four, some who think that there might be four but not sure and those who have no idea.  Without going to your Bible here is your chance to guess the answer.  If you guessed four also, are you able to name them?  There tends to be a look of puzzlement on the faces of those who were quick to answer four when I ask the second question.  Are you sure?  At least one or two in the class will then identify them as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and they would be correct, they are the authors.

I then let them know that I am being a little facetious but there is a good reason for my being so.  It connects to our “owning our faith” rather than just accepting what we think we know, or what we might have heard or understood from the past.  In the case of this question, what would be your reaction if I told you that there was only one Gospel?  I know, you would begin to question my theology or at best you might think that I am starting a new heresy.

Let’s begin by examining the word itself.  What does the word gospel mean?  It means “good news.”  So that prompts another question.  How many good news are there?  What is the “good news?”  Jesus tells us himself in Luke 4:43, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.”  The good news about the Kingdom of God is that with the incarnation of Jesus Christ into our human world the Kingdom of God is here with us in the present with the person of Jesus Christ.  We no longer have to wait into the future to connect with God’s Kingdom.

So, if you now go to your Bible and go to the beginning of Matthew or Mark or Luke or John, how does the heading read?  Does it say “The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John?”  No, it says “The Gospel According To Matthew, According to Mark, According to Luke, According to John.”  the “good news” according to and not of.

You might be thinking right now that this is a little picky and I am not sure that I would argue against you.  For all of you who said that there are four Gospels you would be correct.  However, it is important to understand what is happening here and why it is important to know that it is according to and not of.  There are not four different “good news” stories but one “good news” story told by four different Evangelists.  Knowing the difference helps us to understand a little bit better what we should be focusing on as we begin to read each of the Gospel (good news) narratives of the four evangelists of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  With each narrative we get a bigger picture of what the Good News is and how that Good News is manifested in the person of Jesus Christ.