What Are the Synoptic Gospels? What About John?

Design idea: Venn diagram

Synoptics

• Historical retelling of the life of Christ
• Lengthy sermons and public conversations with Jesus
• Jesus asks who people say He is
• Emphasis on having faith
• Having eternal life
• The kingdom of God theme
• Includes many miracles, including deliverance from demon possession

Both

• About the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
• All show Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God
• All demonstrate that Jesus is both divine and human
• All have miracle stories and cover the feeding of the 5,000

Characteristics of John

• Reflective eyewitness account with the most theological themes
• Long and private dialogues with Jesus
• No parables, but uses strong metaphors
• Demonstrates the faith of Jesus
• Shows that eternal life comes from a personal relationship with God
• Has only a few miracles with no accounts of demon possession
• Seven “I Am” statements

• How they portrayed Jesus
• The general outline of the plot
• Content (what the writers recorded)

Let’s start by looking at how they wrote about Jesus.

Overall picture of Jesus

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All three Synoptic Gospels depict Jesus as the Messiah (Christ), who didn’t meet people’s expectations because so many misunderstood His mission. His work baffled many because it went against the popular beliefs of His time.

Jesus lived in a region under Roman authority. The Jewish nation resented this, and their desire for independence led to political and social tension. As a result, people developed an “us vs. them” mentality.

It also affected their interpretation of the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. They believed the Messiah would establish a kingdom on earth and overthrow the Roman government.³

So you can imagine their shock when Jesus entered the scene and taught about a spiritual kingdom where love is the rule of life!

As Mark L. Strauss, Ph.D, put it, “His messiahship is revealed through self-sacrificial love and service, not conquest.”⁴

All three Synoptic Gospels also call Jesus the Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David, Lord, Master, Teacher, and King.

They portray Him as an unstoppable force who can overcome any obstacle His opponents put in His way.

And they show Him as a suffering servant willing to give up everything—even His own life—to save His people and the world. This surprised His audience, and many of His own people turned against Him because He didn’t match their image.

Each writer gave us insights into what Jesus was like based on their audience.

Matthew wrote for a primarily Jewish audience, emphasizing Jesus’s fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Mark likely wrote for Christians suffering persecution, so he highlighted Jesus’s role as a suffering servant-king to encourage his readers.

And Luke wrote for a Gentile (non-Jewish) official, and he focused on Jesus being the Savior for all people.

Their unique takes on the life of Jesus create a multifaceted picture of who He is and what His mission is about. When compared together, the Synoptic Gospels give us a consistent yet multifaceted portrayal of Jesus and His story.

General outline of the plot

Matthew, Mark, and Luke follow the same general outline of Jesus’s life:

• His ministry begins after His baptism and temptation in the wilderness.
• He teaches and heals throughout Galilee and other regions.
• He enters Jerusalem and clears the temple.
• He’s betrayed, arrested, put on trial, crucified, and buried.
• He resurrects, commissions His disciples, and goes back up into heaven.

And in the plot, we see similar content.

Content

The content in the Synoptics shares many similarities. We see retellings of parables and events, including:

• The parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15).
• Jesus casting out a legion of demons (Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39).
• John the Baptist’s death (Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9).
• Jesus’s message about end-time events (Matthew 24; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36).
• The Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20).

But you may be thinking, “Aren’t there four Gospels in the Bible? Why are only three called Synoptic?”

Which Gospel is not Synoptic?

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The Gospel according to John is not synoptic because of its stark differences in content. While it documents the same story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, it has a noticeably different outline, doesn’t share many of the stories found in the synoptics, and has unique material. It was written for the second generation of Christians who would have to learn to live out their faith without the original apostles.

Its general outline has a different structure from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It also leaves out many discourses, events, and dialogues that the Synoptic Gospels share, such as Jesus’s baptism and temptation and the end-time discourse on the Mount of Olives.

On the other hand, it has stories and events that the Synoptic Gospels don’t record, such as Jesus’ encounters with Nicodemus and the woman at the well, His “I am” statements, and His conversations with His disciples in John 14-17.

It also has a perspective of Jesus and themes that the other accounts don’t explore as much.

How does John compare with the Synoptics?

Matthew, Mark, and Luke take a journalistic approach to the Gospel (the who, what, when, where, etc.) while the Gospel according to John is more like a feature story from someone who shared in the experience. John was one of Jesus’ closest disciples and often referred to himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:7, ESV).

His account complements the others by adding clarity and context to the Gospel account as well as by emphasizing the personal experience of faith in Christ.

Like the Synoptic Gospels, John presents a narrative about the life and ministry of Jesus, arguing that He is the Son of God and the Messiah. He also wrote his account so others would believe in the Lord and have a saving relationship with Him:

“But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31, ESV).

What makes John’s account of the Gospel stand out from the others is its perspective on eternal life, salvation, and faith. Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus on eternal life as more of a future promise. But John reveals we can start living like we’re part of the kingdom of heaven now! It begins with putting our faith in Jesus and getting to know God the Father through Him (John 17:3).

The Synoptic Gospels focus on the kingdom of God (or “heaven” in Matthew). They teach that salvation comes from accepting the rule of God in one’s life (Matt. 12:28; Mark 10:15; Luke 11:20; 17:20, 21).⁵ But John focuses on the faith aspect of God’s rule—what it really means to believe in Jesus:

“Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’” (John 6:27-29, NKJV)

John’s account also highlights the close relationship between God the Father and the Son, which is the kind of connection Jesus wants with His followers (John 15:9-11). The Synoptics record Jesus teaching the importance of having faith, and John demonstrates how Jesus lived out faith through His relationship with His Father.

So that’s how the four Gospels compare. Let’s do a quick review.

We understand that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called Synoptic Gospels because readers can put them together and see their similarities. But they still have features that make them each distinctive. And while John’s Gospel is accepted as true, it still stands out from the others as not being synoptic.

But there’s a question that begs to be answered: Why should we care about the similarities and differences of the Gospels? How does it benefit us as Christians?

What difference does it make to know?

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While knowing about the four accounts of the Gospel doesn’t give us bonus points, it can deepen our understanding of Jesus, help us apply the lessons from each account, and help us make sense of the differences that appear to contradict each other.

Knowing about the different accounts of the Gospels expands our perception of Jesus. While we see He is Lord, the Son of God, the Savior, and the Messiah, we also see how the writers emphasize different traits. The Gospels help us see Jesus in multiple ways, like a diamond.

• Matthew’s portrait of Jesus confirms that God keeps His promises to save His people.
• Mark’s portrait shows Jesus overpowers evil through self-sacrifice.
• Luke’s portrait shows Jesus cares more about our salvation than our background.
• John’s portrait shows Jesus is God in the flesh who wants to be with us.

Knowing who Jesus was would have strengthened the faith of the writers’ intended audiences. We live in a different time with different challenges, but the Gospels are no less relevant today.

They all call us to put our faith in Jesus and live out that faith. They all remind us that God’s kingdom functions differently from the world. They prepare us for hardships. They all give us lessons about prayer. They call for us to live a life of selfless love.

But each account gives us distinct applications:

• The Gospel of Matthew shows we can trust God’s promises because they’re fulfilled in Jesus.
• The Gospel of Mark reminds us that God is greater than any force in this world. We don’t have to live in worry.
• The Gospel of Luke encourages us to guard ourselves against bias and prejudice.
• The Gospel of John reminds us that our faith journey is personal and doesn’t require a spiritual role model other than Jesus to thrive.

But what about the differences that might seem contradictory?

You may have noticed that the Synoptics will cover similar events but record them differently. And that has led some to raise questions about the accuracy of these narratives.

But Thomas Shepherd uses a courtroom illustration to explain why their differences prove the validity of the Gospel accounts. If multiple witnesses of an event report the exact same story, they would appear suspicious, like they had planned their stories ahead of time.⁶ The minor differences make each witness’s account genuine.

It’s also like the classic story about the blind men feeling different parts of an elephant and coming to different conclusions. Getting a feel of the entire animal would have given them the whole picture.

So the distinctions in the four Gospels don’t invalidate their authenticity but give us more insights and perspectives.

There was so much to Jesus’s life that it took four tellings of His story. The Gospels are valuable for Bible study because of the lessons and applications of truth that are packed into them. They also give us a deeper understanding of who God is.

If you’re interested in further study, we have a page offering Bible study methods. We also have a page dedicated to Jesus’s life and mission. Click on either of the links to get you started on the next step of your journey.

1. Thomas Shepherd, Ph.D. “Faithful to the Scriptures, Episode 17: the Gospels (Part 1)”, Adventist Theological Academy, May 29, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38JjGqa7Yek&t=829s [↵]
2. Ibid. [↵]
3. Nichol, F.D. “Matthew,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Revised version), Vol. 5, p. 6. https://archive.org/details/SdaBibleCommentary1980/SdaBc-5%20%2840%29%20Matthew/page/n5/mode/1up [↵]
4. Strauss, p. 239 [↵]
5. Andrews Study Bible, p. 1376 [↵]
6. Thomas Shepherd, Ph.D. “Faithful to the Scriptures, Episode 17: The Gospels (Part 1)” [↵]

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