"What's The Purpose?"

Someone wrote and asked me the purpose of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. To the reader, they look like many of the same things restated but to those who want to grasp a deeper meaning, they aren't just repeating the same incidences over and over.

Matthew, an apostle and tax collector (Mark calls his name Levi - Mark 2:14, His Jewish name), is a book that is completely Jewish in nature. There is one purpose for the book and that is to show the Jewish Christian that Jesus is the Messiah. The Jews were the first to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ! One can quickly pick up on it in the genealogy of the first seventeen verses. Genealogy was major to the Jewish culture. Matthew often records the Old Testament prophets to show the fulfillment of the Messiah, the anointed of God.

Mark is also Jewish in nature. It is probably the first of the four gospel accounts that was written, around 50 AD. The purpose of Mark was to stress the action and works of Christ to prove He was the Son of God. It focuses heavily on the miracles in His life.

Luke is the only Gentile writer in the Bible and written to the Gentile (what most of us are). He addresses Theophilus, which we know little about. One thing for certain, Luke made certain each and every detail was accurate (Luke 1:3-4). Luke does not rely heavily on the Old Testament Scriptures as Matthew and Mark because a Gentile would not be as familiar with them. Luke stresses Jesus as the Son of man. Luke focuses more heavily on the prayers of Jesus as the Son of man than Matthew or Mark.

John the apostle wrote this book. John spells out his purpose in John 20:30-31 to produce and keep producing faith of those who are in Christ. In other words, his book was written mainly to the church. John stresses three things in particular: (1) "Believe (2) "Life" (3) "Truth".

Read them, study them. Keep in mind their purposes. Read with a heart to understand and look at Jesus. Therein you will find answers to life and His purpose.