I. THE GOSPELS AS A WHOLE.

3.  The word gospel (Anglo-Saxon, god, good, and spell, history or tidings) answers to the Greek word euangelion, good-tidings, whence comes the Latin evangelium, with the derived words in use among us, as evangelist, evangelical, etc.  It properly signifies the good message itself, and it is only by a secondary usage that it is applied to the written histories of the Saviour’s life, as being the embodiment of this message.  The titles prefixed to these gospels from the beginning; “The Gospel according to Matthew”, “The Gospel according to Mark,” etc., indicate that the written record is not itself the gospel, but rather an account of the gospel according to these different writers.  Christ himself is the author of the gospel.  It existed and was received by many thousands before a line of it was put upon record on the written page.

4.  The genuineness, uncorrupt preservation, and authenticity of the four canonical gospels have already been shown at some length.  Chaps. 2, 3, 4.  In connection with the argument for their genuineness, their natural division into two parts—­the first three, commonly called the synoptical gospels, and the gospel according to John; the remarkable agreements and differences of the three synoptical gospels among themselves; and the remarkable contrast which the fourth gospel presents to all three of the synoptical gospels, have also been considered simply as existing facts.  Chap. 2, Nos. 14 and 15.  But when we seek an explanation of these remarkable phenomena, we enter upon a very difficult problem, one on which the ingenuity of Biblical scholars has exhausted itself for several successive generations without reaching thus far a result that can be regarded as perfectly satisfactory.  Almost all conceivable theories and combinations of theories have been proposed, some of which, however, are now generally abandoned as untenable, and need not be considered at large.

5.  Looking at the three synoptical gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we find a remarkable agreement not only in their general plan, but in many of their details also.  With the exception of our Lord’s last journey to Jerusalem and the history of his passion there, they are mainly occupied with his ministry in Galilee.  The selection of incidents is also to a great extent the same.  “The most remarkable differences lie in the presence of a long series of events connected with the Galilean ministry, which are peculiar to St. Matthew and St. Mark (Matt. 14:22-16:12; Mark 6:45-8:26), and a second series of events connected with the journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-18:14), which is peculiar to St. Luke.”  Westcott, Introduct. to the Study of the Gospels, chap. 3.  The coincidences of language, as well as incident, are also remarkable; and here the general law prevails that these coincidences are more common, as has been shown by Norton and others, in the recital of the words of others than in the narrative parts of the gospels, and most common when our Lord’s own words are recited.