Laura J. Davis

Do the Gospels have contradictory messages? No! 

Okay, I could just leave it at that but I won't. The Gospels were written by four very different men (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) who were writing to specific people and for specific reasons.

For example - the Gospel of Matthew was written  for a Jewish audience and quotes from the Old Testament 99 times! He quoted from the Psalms, the Law and the Prophets because he knew his Jewish audience would recognize Jesus through Scripture. Matthew starts his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus and concentrated on the facts concerning the person and work of Jesus, which he then followed with Jesus' teaching. Matthew knew Jesus personally and had witnessed His miracles,  yet he relied on Old Testament Scriptures to point the Jews to their Messiah.

The Gospel of Mark was for the whole world and begins after Jesus' birth and childhood, starting with John the Baptist. While Matthew clearly showed that Jesus was born to be King of the Jews, Mark writes of Jesus' works, power and authority. Mark never met Jesus, but was converted after his resurrection.

Where the Gospels of Matthew and Mark are written by Jews, the Gospel of Luke is written by a Gentile (non-Jewish) and he was also a Doctor.  Where Matthew presents Jesus as the King of the Jews and Mark presents Him as the Servant who came to give His life as a ransom for many, in Luke we see the careful writing of an historian. Doctors are very thorough and Luke carefully takes us consecutively through the days of Jesus and more importantly, he  gives us a history of Mary and her family.  It is believed that Luke interviewed Mary to compose his gospel. Luke also wrote this account to a person by the name of Theophilus. It is believed that Theophilus was someone of importance and position, because Luke calls him "Most excellent Theophilus." (Luke 1:3). Luke was converted by the Apostle Paul and was Paul's companion on many dangerous missions. Luke also wrote the Book of Acts.

The Gospel of John was written  by Jesus' cousin, as his mother Salome was Mary's sister. Salome was married to Zebedee and  their two sons were known as The Sons of Thunder - James & John. John gets right down to it and plainly states that Jesus was not only the Son of God, but was God! He writes down everything he can remember about the years he spent with Jesus. Interestingly, he does not talk about Jesus' childhood. He is concerned with who Jesus is and his relationship to God. He wants the reader to know that God loved us so much, that He gave his only begotten Son, so that we could have eternal life (John 3:16).

With all of these accounts it is important to remember that each man wrote what they felt was important. For instance, there are tons of things that I could write about here, but you would hate that and probably get bored and click off the page (if you haven't already!). The point is, what is missing in one Gospel, doesn't mean it contradicts another gospel. They just had different things they were writing about. Remember, writers can write about the same subject, but they won't all do it the same way!

It's up to us to thoroughly search the scriptures to put the pieces together.