One of the strongest proofs to me that our Holy Bible is indeed God’s Word is the fact that there is a fourfold gospel consisting of the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Keep in mind that back in the first century there were no books available to people and writings of any kind were scarce. Very few people could read or write. Instead, the culture at that time consisted of an oral tradition of telling stories and spreading news by word of mouth. The ancient Jewish belief that was set forth in the Old Testament and later corroborated in the New Testament was that the truth of any matter must be established by two or three eyewitnesses. No Jew would accept anything as true unless they saw or heard it themselves or there were sufficient witnesses to overcome the potential bias of any one witness.
Deuteronomy 17:6 – Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
Deuteronomy 19:15 – One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
Matthew 18:16 – But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
John 8:17 – It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.
2 Corinthians 13:1 – By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.
There was no way God was going to violate his law and allow the “good news” of the life of Jesus, his beloved Son, to be brought before a sinful mankind in need of salvation without the requisite number of witnesses to establish the truth. Only two witnesses were required but three was much better. That’s why we have the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke which chronicle the life, ministry and death of Jesus Christ. These three witnesses validate the truth of Jesus to the Jewish mind. All three gospels were written around the same time and sometime between 50-70 AD.
In the early days of the church there were no Bibles or written materials to preach from. Services consisted of the oral telling of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ along with prayer and singing. This was made possible because there were many in the church who had first or second hand knowledge of the miracles and teachings of Christ. When the gospels were written they simply put into writing what had been taught in the churches for over 20 years. If the written gospels had strayed from what was being taught in the churches they would have been rejected out of hand. The gospels were consistent with what the churches had been teaching and the gospels became the written texts for church services going forward. By their universal acceptance by the church membership the gospels were, in fact, eyewitness testimony from the thousands of Jews living in Palestine who experienced the life of Jesus firsthand. These people saw Jesus’ miracles and heard his teachings and had their lives changed by his message.
The final gospel of John was written 20-40 years after the first three gospels. That allowed the early church time to grow and spread to the point where further instruction on church doctrine and clarification of Scripture was necessary to stamp out heresies and illuminate more spiritual truths. The first three gospels were consistent with God’s law requiring three witnesses to establish the truth of any matter. The fact that there is a fourth gospel well after the first three I find wholly consistent with a God waiting to share spiritual truths with his creation when they were ready to receive it. All the disciples of Jesus were martyred for the glory of God except John. It’s obvious God kept the Apostle John alive into old age so he could write his gospel. Jesus told all his disciples they would all drink from his cup (suffer martyrdom) while alluding to the fact that John would not die until he saw Jesus in all his glory and this occurred on the Isle of Patmos some time around 95 AD when Jesus appeared to John and instructed him to write the book of Revelation. When I see the four gospels I see the mighty hand of God.
Witnessing for Christ