THE FOURTH GOSPEL: WHO’S COUNTING?

The New Testament contains four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, always printed in that order. Writers and commentators often refer to what is formally known as the Gospel according to St John as “the Fourth Gospel.” Why is this done? Mark’s Gospel is never called the second Gospel or Luke the third.
The order of the Gospels in the New Testament arises from an ancient tradition that this is the order in which they were written. However, hardly anyone would now believe that to be true. The widely held opinion is that Mark’s Gospel was the first to be written and that Matthew and Luke used it as a basis for their expanded versions. This then leaves John’s Gospel as the last onto the scene.
John’s Gospel is different in style and content from Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Synoptic Gospels. For many people and for a long time that has reinforced the idea that John’s gospel was written after the Synoptics and its differences are a consequence of developments in theology about Jesus Christ. The title, “The Fourth Gospel,” underlines that distinction and I would suggest in a somewhat subliminal way strengthens that belief.
John Robinson who was famous as the Bishop of Woolwich and author of “Honest to God,” argued a contrary view. In “The Priority of John” published in 1985, he put forward the view that it was a very early document and in no way inferior to the Synoptics in historical accuracy or doctrine. His views have not been widely accepted.
I think there is merit in his opinion and that if one takes a common sense approach without the preconceived notion that the Gospel is late, the fourth to be written, then it is perfectly plausible to consider it as old as any writing in the New Testament and from a source close to the original events. I have expanded these views in my book, “Written for Faith.”

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I think that, as the Gospel itself says, it is a true witness.

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