This teaching examines the vital place the Gospel accounts should have in the lives of Christians today. While recognizing legitimate distinctions between biblical administrations and the importance of understanding to whom a passage was originally addressed, it challenges the tendency to let those distinctions diminish the value of the Gospels or the Hebrew Scriptures. All Scripture contributes to the larger story God is telling, and nowhere do we encounter the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ more fully than in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There we see how he lived, what he taught, what he valued, and how faithfully he carried out the will of his Father.
Rather than approaching the Bible merely as a collection of isolated verses or doctrinal categories, this teaching encourages us to read Scripture as one unfolding story. Themes introduced in Genesis continue through the prophets, the Gospels, the Church Epistles, and ultimately Revelation. Particular attention is given to the kingdom of God and to the striking continuity between Jesus’ teaching and Paul’s writings on loving others, blessing those who persecute us, refusing to repay evil for evil, rejecting hypocritical judgment, and trusting God rather than living in anxiety.
The Gospels and the Church Epistles are not competing bodies of truth but complementary parts of the same unfolding revelation. Although the Epistles speak directly to the Church and explain truths made possible through Christ’s death and resurrection and the gift of holy spirit at Pentecost, that does not make the Gospels lesser Scripture or of secondary importance to Christians. Recognizing that Jesus ministered before Pentecost and within a different biblical administration should help us interpret the Gospels accurately, not distance us from them. The Gospels bring us face-to-face with our Lord: his character, priorities, compassion, courage, obedience, and teaching. If Jesus is truly our Lord, we cannot allow an administrational distinction to become a reason for knowing Paul’s teaching better than we know the Lord Paul proclaimed. The Epistles help us understand what God accomplished through Christ; the Gospels help us know the Christ through whom He accomplished it. We need both if we are to understand God’s Word fully and faithfully represent Jesus Christ in the world.