Why Are There Four Gospels? (vIDEO)

Welcome to the home of Episode 203 of the Misquoting Jesus Podcast with Bart Ehrman. Below, you can watch the entire episode, read its description, and see links to related resources.

links mentioned in this episode:

New Insights into the New Testament (NINT)

episode description

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This episode explores one of the fundamental questions behind the New Testament: Why are there four Gospels, and why these four? Bart Ehrman explains that the New Testament canon was not established immediately after Jesus’ death. Although Christians treated written texts as authoritative remarkably early, the first surviving list of all 27 New Testament books comes from Athanasius in 367 CE—roughly three centuries after the texts began to be written.

Ehrman describes how the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John became especially important within the proto-Orthodox form of Christianity, which eventually became dominant. Other Gospels—including the Gospel of Peter and Gospel of Thomas—were also used by Christian communities and sometimes treated as authoritative. The Gospel of Peter is particularly striking because it actually narrates Jesus emerging from the tomb, accompanied by giant angels and a walking, talking cross.

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Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Actually Write the Gospels?

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Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Actually Write the Gospels?

The discussion also examines how theological disputes shaped the canon. Ehrman argues that the four canonical Gospels could be interpreted together to support orthodox understandings of Jesus as both human and divine, while competing texts or interpretations could be excluded as heretical. Most importantly, putting four different accounts between the same covers encouraged readers to harmonize them rather than interpret each Gospel independently.

The episode closes with questions about Paul’s education, the impact of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, Peter being called “Satan,” and Ehrman’s conclusion that the Turin Shroud is a medieval forgery.