What Would the Bible be Missing Without the Gospel Accounts?
The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are essential to the Bible.
If the Bible contained all of the Old Testament books but was missing the life of Christ - what would we really be missing?
We would be missing the fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies about Christ
We would be left to wonder…
Was God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 about one who would crush the devil’s head kept?
What about Isaiah 7:14, and had it been fulfilled?
Who was Psalm 22 talking about? Has it been fulfilled?
It is interesting that Matthew often says, “this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet” (Matthew 1:22-23; 2:5-6, 15, 17-18, 23).
The Gospel accounts play a significant role in demonstrating the accuracy and reliability of the OT.
There would be a significant disconnect between the Old Testament and the New Testament
The OT ends with “Christ is coming,” and the book of Acts begins with “Christ has already come, gone back to the Father, and you should obey Him.”
Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:4-6)
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:1-3)
We would be missing how Jesus endured all the hardships of this life
Just a few things Jesus faced were…
Temptation (Mat. 4)
Grief (John 11)
Pain (Luke 23)
Rejection (John 6)
If Jesus did not become human and face all that we face, He would not be qualified to be our High Priest, and He would not be able to help us when we are tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18).
We would be missing the power that Jesus has
Jesus’ power was displayed constantly throughout the gospel accounts.
The healing of the sick (Luke 7)
Raising the dead (John 11; Luke 7)
Casting out demons (Luke 8)
Healing the deaf and mute (Mark 7)
Healing the blind (Mark 8)
Feeding large crowds (Mark 6 and 8)
Walking on water (Mark 6)
Why is His power so important?
Because if Jesus doesn’t have the power to say, “Arise, take up your bed and walk,” and have it happen as He said, then why would we think He can cleanse us of our sins? (Mark 2:9)
The miracles He did provide us with the evidence we need to believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:30-31)
We wouldn’t know what Jesus did and taught
The book of Acts is based upon the things that Jesus did and the things that Jesus taught (Acts 1:1-3). If we didn’t have what Jesus did and taught, the book of Acts would be like a house without foundation.
How could we follow, submit, and serve One we don’t know anything about?
This is why Bible study is so important (2 Peter 3:18). How can we follow Jesus if we know nothing about Him and are making no effort to come to know Him?
We would miss out on one of His primary purposes – To build His church
Jesus promised to build His church upon His identity as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:13-19).
If we were missing the gospel accounts, we might doubt who the church really belongs to and who really took charge of establishing the church.
If the church was built by mankind, why couldn’t mankind build another and another?
The life of Christ makes it clear that He built His church (Acts 2).
It would be impossible to obey the Gospel and become a Christian
Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost was founded upon what Jesus did (Acts 2:22), and the conclusion was that He is Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36)
How could someone obey the Gospel (Acts 2:38) without believing what Jesus did and believing that He is Lord and Christ?
These reasons remind us why the gospel accounts are so crucial to the whole of Scripture.
All Scripture is necessary because it all comes from God (2 Timothy 3:16). It is helpful for us as Bible students to understand some of the reasons why we have the books we do have.