Multi-Faceted: How the Four Gospels Can Shape Our Unity in Christ

When you open the New Testament, the first thing you encounter is not just one account of Jesus’ life, but four: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They each tell the same story of the good news of the kingdom of God, but from different angles.

Four Perspectives, One Gospel

At first, some may wonder, why four accounts? Surely one carefully written gospel account would have been better? Yet God, in His wisdom and foreknowledge, chose to give us these four different voices, each with its own emphases, style, and audience.

Matthew, writing with a heart for the Jewish people, presents Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah - the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. Mark, with his hurried and urgent tone, shows Jesus as the servant who came not to be served but to serve. Luke, the careful historian, highlights Jesus’ compassion for the poor, the outcast, and the broken. And John, with almost poetic language, unveils Jesus as the eternal Word who became flesh and made His dwelling among us.

Together, they weave a fuller picture of who Jesus is. Not contradictory, but complementary - not competing, but completing.

God Still Works This Way

In the same way, God continues to use different voices in His Church today; different denominations, different traditions, different people - all with their unique strengths and perspectives, each with something to teach the other, and each with something to share with the world too.

One group might worship with spontaneous joy with hands lifted high; another with the cadence of ancient liturgy and the scent of incense. One might embrace screens and bass guitars; another holds fast to centuries-old hymns and the steady sound of the organ. Some churches have a fiery zeal for proclamation evangelism; others pour their hearts into speaking up for the voiceless and standing against injustice (the truth is, we need both, and each group reflects something precious about God’s heart that could help the other).

The thing is: if you only saw one group, you might miss some of the richness of Christ’s kingdom. But together - like the four gospels - they help us see a fuller picture of Jesus: alive, compassionate, and at work in countless ways through His people.

The apostle Paul reminds us: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). This is one of the reasons why, over the last few years, I’ve made a more deliberate effort to truly get to know leaders and believers from traditions well beyond my own. Many of these brothers and sisters have since become dear friends. We don’t always see eye to eye on theological matters - our worship styles differ, our emphases vary, our vocabulary for faith sometimes sounds foreign to one another - but through our conversations and shared prayers, I have been deeply enriched. Their perspectives have stretched my assumptions, challenged me, and caused me to rethink a few things. I’ve also had to repent for some of my preconceptions. But through these ecumenical relationships, I’ve come to freshly appreciate that the beauty of Christ’s body lies not in uniformity, but in unity - the kind that holds together through humility, love, and a shared devotion to Jesus. And I am, without question, the richer for it.

The fact is: we - the believers who make up the Church - need each other, and the world also needs our united witness. Just as we need all four gospels, we need the diverse voices of God’s people to sharpen, balance, inform, and enrich us.

An Important Caution

Of course, unity doesn’t mean we simply embrace any teaching or practice without theological discernment. The four gospels are different in style, but they are united in truth. Likewise, any genuine Christian expression must remain faithful to the authority of God’s Word.

Paul warned Timothy: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2). Therefore, while we celebrate diversity in the family of God, we should also measure everything against Scripture. Our unity is not in vague agreement, but in the truth of Christ crucified and risen - and in the boundaries of God’s truth as revealed in the Bible. Differences in theology or emphasis should never compromise the core truths of the faith, but instead help us see Christ and His work from a fuller, richer perspective.

Seeing Difference as Design

It’s easy to become frustrated with Christians who see things or do things differently to us. But what if, instead of automatically treating those differences as a threat and simply avoiding one another, we tried - at least at first - to see them as God’s design to give us a wider lens. Differences don’t need to weaken the Church - in fact they can enrich it. As Rupertus Meldenius wisely said, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity”.

So, what if we thanked God for the Matthew-like voices in our lives - those who ground us in Scripture? What if we welcomed the Mark-like voices - those who spur us into action? What if we listened to the Luke-like voices - those who remind us to care for the broken? And what if we cherished the John-like voices - those who lift our eyes to the glory of Christ?

The Church is not uniform, but it must be united in Christ. Four gospels - one Saviour; many denominations - one Lord! May we embrace the diversity God has allowed - not to divide us, but to deepen our understanding of the gospel - always holding fast to truth, and always pointing to Jesus!