Why Are There Four Gospels?

Links Mentioned in this Episode:
- https://www.bartehrman.com/NINT - our fourth annual New Insights into the New Testament (NINT) is coming up September 26th and 27th. This year’s theme is Apocrypha and Canon: Lost Scriptures and the Making of the New Testament.

*Episode Outline:*
0:00 Why are there only four Gospels in the New Testament when many others existed?
2:30 What “canon” means and how Christians came to define authoritative scripture
5:30 When was the New Testament canon actually formed?
6:59 How Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John became the four accepted Gospels
10:42 Why the proto-Orthodox Christians preferred these four Gospels
12:28 The many other Gospels that circulated in early Christianity
17:57 The Gospel of Peter, its giant Jesus, and the walking, talking cross
20:50 Why the Gospel of Peter was eventually rejected as heretical
22:25 Why some Christian groups used only one Gospel instead of all four
24:14 How combining Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John helped shape orthodox Christianity
28:06 How Christianity would look different if another group had won the canon debate
30:47 Why the formation of the New Testament canon was a long and contested process
32:30 Listener Q&A: Could the Apostle Paul have once been a slave?
34:52 How the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple changed Christianity
38:36 Bart’s view of the Shroud of Turin: authentic relic or medieval forgery?

*Episode Description*

Why are there four Gospels in the New Testament, and why only four? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not accepted as a fixed collection from the beginning. In this episode, Dr. Bart Ehrman explores the long and contested process that determined which accounts of Jesus became authoritative.

The discussion begins with the idea of the “canon,” from the Greek *kanon*, meaning a measuring stick or standard. Early Christianity placed unusual importance on written texts, but the exact New Testament canon took centuries to develop.

Dr. Ehrman explains that the first known list containing the same 27 New Testament books used today appears in 367 CE, in a letter from Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. This was more than three centuries after the earliest Christian writings, showing how long debate and disagreement continued.

During those centuries, Christians read and circulated many different gospels. Around 185 CE, Irenaeus became one of the strongest advocates for exactly four: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He represented the group scholars call the “Proto-Orthodox,” whose theology eventually became dominant Christianity.

The choice of books was shaped heavily by theology. Dr. Ehrman examines the Gospel of Peter, which contains a dramatic resurrection account with giant angels, an enormous Jesus, and even a speaking cross. Bishop Serapion later rejected it because he believed it supported Docetism, the idea that Jesus only appeared to be fully human.

Yet even canonical Gospels could be interpreted in competing ways. Irenaeus complained that groups he considered heretical used Matthew, Mark, or Luke to support their own views of Jesus.

The episode shows that the four-Gospel canon was not predetermined. It emerged through centuries of theological debate, competing Christian communities, and decisions about which texts best represented the beliefs that eventually became orthodox Christianity.


*Three Key Takeaways:*

1. *The Canon Was a Centuries-Long Process, Not a Single Event:* The New Testament developed gradually through centuries of debate. The first complete list of the 27 books used today appears in 367 CE.

2. *Theology, Not Just History, Determined Inclusion:* Books were judged partly by whether they matched emerging orthodox beliefs. Texts like the Gospel of Peter were rejected because some of their theology was considered heretical.

3. *The Four-Gospel Canon Shapes Interpretation:* Reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John together encouraged a harmonized view of Jesus. Together, they helped support the doctrine that he was both fully human and fully divine.

*Related Podcast Episodes*

How Wild Can it Get? The Diversity of Early Christianity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0acFfFMnXGs

The Gospel Truth: What Are the Gospels of the New Testament?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp3Wq-5u8Rg

A Giant Jesus and a Walking-Talking Cross: The Fascinating Gospel of Peter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhblw9Fg-0s


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