Thru the Bible - Questions & Answers

Guest (Male): The Gospel of Matthew was written for the religious man, and Mark was written for the strong man. But to whom did Luke and John write? Who were they trying to reach? Stay with us and find out.

You're listening to the Thru the Bible Question and Answer program, a ministry of the Thru the Bible Radio Network, with our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

During the last three programs, Dr. McGee has been dealing with the question "Why four Gospels?" Today, he'll finish this four-part series. But before we do that, let's hear from a listener in Conroe, Texas. He writes: "There is a notation to Mark chapter 16 verses 9 through 20 which says that the most reliable early manuscripts omit this passage. If this is true, why is it in the Bible? And should we accept it as canon of scripture?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The question is then how did these verses get into the canon of scripture? That is really the question that I've wrestled with, and I've come to the conclusion in my own thinking, as I've read about the evidence pro and con of whether they should be in the scripture.

First of all, let me say that some of the older manuscripts that have been found since the King James was translated have now been discovered to be inferior to the ones that were used in the King James, the Textus Receptus. As a result, that would mean that many of these questionable scriptures belong in the canon of scripture. I personally take the position that they do, although I always call attention when I get to them. That's just to let anyone listening in who knows about the fact they are questionable to understand that I'm aware of the fact, but that I do treat them as scripture.

I do believe that we ought not to build any great doctrine or system of theology on questionable passages of scripture. I think that it would be better to not do that. In fact, I feel that we ought not to base any great doctrine or system on just one verse of scripture. That's what many of the cults have done, and other systems of theology have done that. That is not a sound hermeneutical approach to the Word of God.

The way that I think that they got into the canon of scripture is that they probably were there in the beginning. Some scribe, in making a later manuscript, had a reason for taking them out. Now, I feel like the last part of this 16th chapter of Mark was specifically given to the apostles and that it had direct reference to them. A scribe later on that made a manuscript felt justified in just leaving this out because he says this has already been fulfilled as far as the apostles are concerned. So, I take that position relative to this particular passage.

I feel like, for instance, in the 8th of John, the woman taken in adultery is another example. I think that was in there from the beginning and should be treated that way. I think some scribe felt this might teach looseness of morals, and for that reason, he felt justified in leaving it out. So, it was left out of certain manuscripts and put in others.

That would be my explanation of why they were left out. But my question is how did they get in the canon of scripture? I believe they got in because they were there originally, and that's been my position for a long, long time. I trust that gives you maybe not a satisfactory answer for you, but for me, it's very satisfactory.

Guest (Male): Here now is Dr. McGee with his final segment in his series, "Why Four Gospels?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: All right, we have already looked at why Matthew wrote his Gospel. It was written for the religious man, and the religious man in that day was Israel. So, the Gospel is slanted in his direction. We have already seen the Gospel of Mark, and it does not contain a genealogy. Why? Because it's written for the strong man. The strong man in that day was the Roman, and it's the Gospel of action. So, it does not include the birth of Jesus.

When you come to the Gospel of Luke, where we are coming today, that's written for the thinking man, the Greek. It contains the longest genealogy, and we need to look at that. The virgin birth is clearly delineated in the Gospel of Luke. Dr. Luke wrote his Gospel of the person of Christ for a twofold reason. First of all, his purpose was a historical purpose. He wrote the most complete historical narrative in the Bible of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He definitely had a literary aim. He had more wide-reaching references to institutions, customs, geography, and history of those times than does any other Gospel writer. For instance, notice how he dated the birth of Christ in Luke 2:1-2. It was in the days of Caesar Augustus, and he even pinpoints it down to the time that Cyrenius was governor of Syria.

Luke was a poet. He records the songs of Christmas. If you've never read them, you ought to go and take the first two chapters of his Gospel and read them. They're songs. The song of Elizabeth, the song of Mary, and the songs are recorded for us. Luke was an artist. We saw that Mark majored in the miracles of Christ, presenting the Lord to the Romans as the man of action.

But here in the Gospel of Luke, Christ gives his marvelous, matchless parables. Luke alone records the parables of the prodigal son, the Good Samaritan, and the rich fool. Dr. Luke was probably equal to Paul in scholarship. Luke and Paul wrote the best Greek that we have in the New Testament. You find in that very first sentence, it is a marvelous periodic sentence.

"Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus." The word that he uses here for eyewitnesses is the Greek word *autoptē*. What he says is he made an autopsy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was an eyewitness. The word here for ministers is another interesting word. It's not the word from which we get our word deacon. Rather, it's the Greek word *hypēretēs*. That means an under-rower in a boat. In a hospital, an under-rower is called an intern, and that's what he says that he was in writing this Gospel that tells about the Lord Jesus. He put a spiritual stethoscope down upon that baby at Bethlehem, and he is the one to declare that he's virgin-born.

Read Dr. Luke's account of how he goes into detail concerning the virgin birth and how it came to pass. Believe me, he's the man that is in a position to make the right kind of a statement. Luke had another purpose in view when he wrote his Gospel. He presents the perfect, divine Son of God. In the Gospel of Matthew, he's the Messiah who fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament.

He's the King. As you go through the Gospel of Matthew, you think of the words that King Lear uttered according to Shakespeare: "A king, every inch a king." He's a king in Matthew. In the Gospel of Mark, he's the mighty conqueror. He's the virile ruler of this universe. He is the one with power. But here in the Gospel of Luke, he's our great high priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

Today, he can extend help and mercy and love to any other human being because he went through it all down here over 1,900 years ago. I want to tell you, friends, the record that we have of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ given in Dr. Luke's account, very candidly, I have more confidence in him than I do in a great many of the theologians today that pretend to know so much about a virgin birth, but actually, I don't think they know anything about it.

It's Dr. Luke who presents it. Dr. Luke says he's the savior for all men. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord." He was born of a woman. Paul wrote that, and Dr. Luke shows how it came to pass. He shows even that Mary had some doubts at the beginning. She says, "How can these things be, seeing I know not a man?" The angel explained how it was to take place.

It's Dr. Luke, therefore, that gives us the virgin birth. The Greek was looking for a perfect man. That's the reason their art and their literature, their philosophy, their architecture is always moving toward perfection. They were attempting to attain it, but they never did. Even their gods were quarreling. You have in the Greek world an idea that there was perfection out there. Luke writes for the thinking man, and he says, "Here he is. Here is a savior, and if you're a thinking man, you need a savior."

Dr. Luke's Gospel has the longest account of the virgin birth, and it was written by a doctor. Therefore, it's very important because he's presenting him as the perfect man. How could he be a perfect man and be born of a sinner? He was not. His father was not a sinner, and that is something that we need to keep in mind in these days in which we live. Dr. Luke comes near explaining the virgin birth more than anyone else.

Now, I must get to the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John. It's generally assumed that the Gospel of John is easy to understand. Often you hear the cliché, "the Gospel of John is the simple Gospel." The simplicity of the language has deceived a great many folk. It's written in monosyllabic and dissyllabic words. Let me lift out a couple of verses to illustrate. Notice how simple these words are: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name."

We have no problem with the words themselves, but actually, we're dealing there with the most profound Gospel. Take an expression like this, found in John 14:20: "Ye in me, and I in you." Seven words, one conjunction, two prepositions, and four pronouns. You put these words together, "ye in me and I in you." Neither the most profound theologian nor the greatest philosopher has ever been able to probe the depths of their meaning.

"Ye in me," we know means salvation. "And I in you," that means sanctification. But beyond that, none of us can go very far. We think sometimes because we know the meaning of words that we know what is being said. The words are simple, but the meaning is deep. Let me assure you that. Jerome said of John's Gospel, "John excels in the depths of divine mysteries," and no truer statement was ever made. Dr. A.T. Pierson put it like this: "It touches the heart of Christ."

Though it's assumed that John is the simple Gospel, it's not always assumed that the apostle John is the author of it. The Baur-Tubingen school in Germany years ago began an attack upon the Gospel of John, and this has been a place where the liberal has really had a field day. This began way back in the days when I was a student in seminary. I had a course on the authorship of the Gospel of John. We studied it in Greek, and we studied it in English.

The professor finally concluded the course by saying he thought John was the author. We had a fellow in the class who was quite a wag. He shuffled his feet when he was ready to make a remark, and we knew something was coming when we'd finish and the professor had made that remark. He says, "I believe John wrote it before I started this course, and I believe it now. So, I've just wasted a semester." In one sense he had, but we at least found out that there were some very good arguments for the authorship of the Gospel of John.

One of the reasons it was felt that John might not be the author was because Papias was thought to have never mentioned the authorship of John. But Professor Tischendorf, the German who found the Codex Sinaiticus, which is probably our best manuscript of the Old Testament—by the way, that was found down at Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinaitic Peninsula—he was working in the Vatican library when he came upon an old manuscript that has a quotation from Papias in which it was clear that John was the author of this Gospel.

I personally wouldn't want any better authority than that. But there are other authorities. Clement of Alexandria, who lived about A.D. 200, makes the statement that John was persuaded by friends and also moved by the Spirit of God to write a spiritual Gospel. I believe that the Gospel of John is that spiritual Gospel. There's not a shadow of doubt in my mind that John wrote it. I believe that John wrote it around 100 A.D. It probably could have been one of the last books of the Bible that was written.

What is the purpose of the Gospel of John? When we come to the Gospel of John, we find that he does not take us to Bethlehem because he wants you and me to grow as believers. So many people at Christmas time spend time singing Christmas carols, and some of them actually are not Christmas carols. "Joy to the World" refers to the second coming of Christ, but we all sing it at Christmas time year after year, and we never grow.

John wants us to grow. Why didn't he give us an account of the virgin birth? I have news for you. He did give us an account of the virgin birth. John won't take us to Bethlehem because he wants you and me to grow and become mature believers. John takes us down the silent corridors of eternity through the vast emptiness of space to a beginning that's not a beginning at all. Listen to this, John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word."

Some say that the world came into being three billion years ago. I think they're pikers. It could have come into being billions and trillions and squillions of years ago. But no matter how far back in eternity you go, "in the beginning was the Word." In other words, he was past tense, and that's imperfect, and that in Greek means continued action. It means you can go back trillions of years, squillions of years in the past, and Jesus will come out of eternity to meet you.

At that time, he's already the Ancient of Days. So you can't go back of him. "From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." That's who we're talking about here. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Notice something else: "All things were made by him." Whenever that took place, whether it's billions of years ago or whether it was just a few thousand years ago, I don't know. "All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made."

John, in the 14th verse, says this: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." The Greek philosophers and the Greek mind for which Luke wrote would stop right there and say, "We're through with you. We can't follow you." But John was not writing for them, and he goes even farther than that. He says, "No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The word declare means to exegesis.

He led him out in the open for men to see. What is it he's saying here? "The Word was made flesh." I'm going to change that for accuracy's sake. "And the Word was born flesh and pitched his tent," that is, this tabernacle of flesh, "pitched his tabernacle here among us." He was tempted in all points like as we are, sin apart, and came down here among us. When he walked through Samaria, that woman at the well said to him, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, a woman of Samaria?"

He was a human being that walked on this earth. How did he come to this earth? He was born flesh. That's the virgin birth, my friend, and John gives you it in exalted terms here. Then he goes on to say that when the Word was made flesh, he walked among us, and "no man," he says, "hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." In other words, he's led him out in the open, and if you are to know God, my friend, you'll have to know the Lord Jesus Christ because he is God manifest in the flesh.

The Gospel of John, therefore, is for those who already believe. When you come to Chapters 13 through 17, you can write a sign over it: "For believers only." You could put under that: "All others stay out." I don't think that section was ever meant for an unbeliever. Jesus took his own into the upper room, and he revealed to them things that enable them to grow. No other Gospel writer gives us that because they are the evangelists who are presenting Christ as the savior of the world.

John is writing primarily for the growth of believers. Now, will you notice something out yonder in that mysterious Orient? There were multitudes of people. The Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the uncounted millions in India and in China, even to this good day, we know so little about that area of the world. What about Tibet? Mongolia? It's still the mysterious East. We do know that there is fabulous wealth there and there is abject poverty, and there is a cry.

The wretched man. The Gospel of John is written to meet the need of those folks. That's the reason we have four Gospels to reach out and touch every area of the world. Not just races, but every type of thinking of mankind. The religious man, the intellectual man, the man that is after power, then those multitudes out there today in the Orient. The Lord Jesus is reaching out for them. Friends, that's the reason that we have four Gospels. Three of them give us the virgin birth, and one of them didn't need to give us the virgin birth. I hope you believe in the virgin birth today. If you're a Christian, you couldn't deny it.

Guest (Male): We hope you've enjoyed this four-part series on "Why Four Gospels?" An expanded version of this issue is available in a booklet by the same title. Or consider getting Dr. McGee's complete study on this subject, which is available on a single MP3 disc.

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