The four gospels are the first, not just in the order of books within the New Testament, but also in their importance. The Gospels (which means “good news”) provide accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus, and are central to Christianity.

In this article, we will discuss the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

These four books are called the Gospels because they tell us about Jesus’ life and ministry. The word “gospel” means “good news.” These books tell us what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.

The four Gospels were written by different authors at different times. They were not written in chronological order, but rather in the order that they were written. Matthew was written first, followed by Mark, Luke, and then John.

Matthew was written first because it was primarily addressed to Jewish people who had questions about who Jesus was and how he fulfilled God’s promises made through the Jewish prophets (especially Isaiah). It is also likely that Matthew wrote his gospel to show how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah (the Christ).

Mark was probably written after Matthew’s gospel because it follows many of the same themes as Matthew’s gospel but does so more concisely than Matthew does. It is also possible that Mark wrote his gospel in order to help Christians remember what Jesus taught them during his earthly ministry.

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First 4 Books Of The New Testament

Matthew

You might be wondering why Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. It’s because he was a tax collector and one of Jesus’ disciples. Matthew wrote his gospel to the Jewish people, so it has a lot of references to things that happened in their history. He also used many parables as examples for how we should live our lives and treat others. The last sentence in his gospel reads: “This all took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth with parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundationof world.'”

He ended his story with Jesus’ resurrection because he wanted people to know that Jesus is alive today, even though they might not see him physically with their eyes anymore!

Mark

Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. He was written about 40 years after the resurrection of Jesus. Mark is the second book of the New Testament, and it tells how Jesus started his ministry and what he did during that time.

Luke

The gospel of Luke and the book of Acts were written by a Greek physician named Luke. He was a traveling companion of the apostle Paul, and he wrote to a person named Theophilus, who may have been a governor or official in Rome.

Luke was one of only two authors whose names are mentioned in their respective books: all eleven New Testament books were written anonymously, but “according to” Matthew or “to” Paul’s name tell us that they were probably written by those people (Matt and Paul).

John

John was the last gospel written, and therefore would be expected to include information that other Gospels did not have. It also has a more symbolic approach than the other gospels, describing Jesus as God’s Word (John 1:1), Son of God (John 1:14) and Lamb of God (John 1:29).

John tells us about the life of Jesus from before his birth until his death on the cross.

The first four books of the New Testament are called the gospels because each book tells about the life, ministry, work and teachings of Jesus Christ.

The first four books of the New Testament are called the gospels because each book tells about the life, ministry, work and teachings of Jesus Christ. In fact, these four books are often called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in order to distinguish them from other writings by these same authors.

The word “gospel” means good news. The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news because it tells us how we can be saved from sin’s penalty—death (spiritual separation from God) through faith in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf (John 3:16). It also tells us how we can have a personal relationship with God through His Son (John 14:6).

The gospel is not just something that happened 2000 years ago; it continues today through churches throughout the world—churches where people worship together as believers under the leadership of pastors who preach God’s Word (2 Timothy 4:1-5).

why are the first 4 books of the new testament called gospels

Gospel originally meant the Christian message (“the gospel”), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out.[1] In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus, culminating in his trial and death and concluding with various reports of his post-resurrection appearances.[2] Modern scholars are cautious of relying on the gospels uncritically, but nevertheless, they provide a good idea of the public career of Jesus, and critical study can attempt to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of the later authors.[3][4]

The four canonical gospels were probably written between AD 66 and 110.[5][6][7] All four were anonymous (with the modern names added in the 2nd century), almost certainly none were by eyewitnesses, and all are the end-products of long oral and written transmission.[8] Mark was the first to be written, using a variety of sources.[9][10] The authors of Matthew and Luke both independently used Mark for their narrative of Jesus’s career, supplementing it with a collection of sayings called the Q source and additional material unique to each.[11] There is near-consensus that John had its origins as the hypothetical Signs Gospel thought to have been circulated within a Johannine community.[12] The contradictions and discrepancies between the first three and John make it impossible to accept both traditions as equally reliable.[13]

Many non-canonical gospels were also written, all later than the four canonical gospels, and like them advocating the particular theological views of their various authors.[14][15] Important examples include the gospels of Thomas, Peter, Judas, and Mary; infancy gospels such as that of James (the first to introduce the perpetual virginity of Mary); and gospel harmonies such as the Diatessaron.

who wrote most of the books in the new testament

The questions “Who wrote most of the New Testament?” and “Who wrote most of the books of the New Testament?” are different questions with different answers. By number of books, Paul is at the top; by volume, Luke is the winner.

The apostle Paul wrote the most books of the New Testament—13 total out of 27:

• Romans
• 1 and 2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 1 and 2 Thessalonians
• 1 and 2 Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon

Paul clearly identifies himself as the author of each “book” that he wrote. Actually, all of his writings are epistles (letters) written to individuals or churches to instruct them in the faith.

1 Timothy 1:1–2 is a typical greeting:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

To Timothy my true son in the faith:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Modern critical scholarship has taken great pains to try to dispute certain letters as inauthentic because they contain teachings that do not fit their preconceived notions of what Paul would have said or because of slight differences in style or vocabulary within certain letters. (Modern critical scholarship only accepts Romans, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon as indisputably written by Paul.) However, none of these challenges are convincing, and a good New Testament Introduction like the one by Carson and Moo will address these issues in-depth and provide good evidence for Pauline authorship of all 13 letters attributed to him.

At one time, many felt that Paul had also written Hebrews. However, the author does not identify himself as Paul. Likewise, the author does not count himself as an eyewitness to Jesus as Paul did. In Hebrews 2:3, the author says, “This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.” The author of Hebrews received the gospel from someone else who had received it firsthand. Paul makes it clear that he received the gospel directly from Jesus: “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11–12). Someone other than Paul must have written Hebrews, but that person did not identify himself. The content is clearly consistent with the rest of New Testament teaching so, in this case, identifying the human author is not critical.

By volume, Luke is the writer who wrote the largest part of the New Testament. The Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are two of the longest books; together, they make up about 27.5 percent of the New Testament. Luke and Acts are really volumes 1 and 2 of the same work, which scholars often refer to as Luke-Acts. The introductions of each work explain that Luke is writing for a man named Theophilus who wants to know the factual basis of his faith. Luke carefully investigated the facts concerning Jesus’ life, consulting documents and interviewing eyewitnesses (see Luke 1:1–3).

Luke was also a traveling companion of Paul and an eyewitness himself to many of the events reported in Acts.

After Luke and Paul, John is the most prolific New Testament writer, having written the Gospel According to John, the epistles 1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation.

The rest of the books, with the exception of the anonymous Hebrews, are named for their authors:

• The Gospel According to Matthew — Matthew, the disciple of Jesus

• The Gospel According to Mark — Church tradition says that Mark served as a secretary for Peter and the Gospel of Mark is based on Peter’s preaching. Mark had also worked with Paul as a missionary.

• James — James, the brother of Jesus

• 1 and 2 Peter — Peter, the disciple and apostle

• Jude — Jude (Judas), the brother of Jesus

While the human author and provenance are important, more important is that the books of the New Testament were inspired by the Holy Spirit. We can speak of the human author, but we must remember that all of the books of the Bible have a single, divine Author.