Just Where Do The Gospels Belong?
Jack Critchfield

"Jesus didn't teach anything new, He just expounded on the Law of Moses." "The gospels really only cover the last 30 years of the old law, therefore they belong in the Old Testament." These statements are nothing new. Those who try to prove this theory or that theory about the gospels have repeated them for years (possibly centuries). Those who make these statements usually cite Deuteronomy 18:18-19, "I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him." Then they will cite Matthew 15:24, "But He answered and said, 'I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'" Then they somehow couple these passages together in an attempt to prove Jesus' mission was only to the Jews. They tell us that the words He spoke while on earth were not intended for the Gentiles.

Usually when someone makes a statement such as these, it is a prelude to their trying to justify something that Jesus condemned in the gospels. What particular teaching or why they are trying to get around it is not the point that we want to consider in this article, because the reasons are usually related to one passage in particular. We can deal with it at a later date.

So, just where do the gospels belong? The place, I suppose, to start would be with the gospels. It is in them that we will find the truth of where they belong, one way or the other. Jesus, in His teaching tells us that the gospels belong to the New Testament. In Luke 16:16, He made this statement, "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it." There is also a similar statement found in Matt. 11:12-13. The New American Standard Version puts it just a little different. It says, "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it," (Luke 16:16 NNAS).

Just how, might one ask, were the law and the prophets until John the Baptist? It certainly isn't in the sense that they were done away with when John came, because the Bible plainly teaches they were abolished when Jesus went to the cross (Col. 2:14; Eph. 2:15). The key to understanding this is not in when they were abolished, but when the kingdom of heaven began to be preached. For 1500 years, the law and the prophets had been preached. Until John the Baptist came. But from the time of John the Baptist the kingdom of God has been preached. "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!'" (Mat 3:1-2 NKJV). Thus, Jesus did not mean that the law ended when John the Baptist came. Neither did He mean that the kingdom came when John the Baptist came. But what we do find is a change in emphasis.

Up until the time of John the Baptist, the law of Moses was preached. This is where the emphasis was placed. But from that time on, the emphasis was no longer placed on the law of Moses, but rather on the kingdom of God. The gospel of Christ had been preached to Abraham, but only in promise (Gal. 3:8). The prophets had prophesied of the Christ and His kingdom, "But as it is written: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God," (1 Cor. 2:9-10). "Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you," (1 Pet 1:10). It is true that the law was in force until the cross (Col. 2:14), and that Jesus taught the people to keep the law (Matt. 23:2-3), and the teaching of Jesus, which was no part of the law, did not go into force until after Christ died (Heb. 9:16-17). Nevertheless, the preaching of John the Baptist and of Jesus was primarily the kingdom of God, or the church of our Lord.

When we look at the very first statement in the gospel of Mark, we find this statement. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." (Mark 1:1 NKJV). The very nest verse tells of the coming of John the Baptist and his work. Mark then tells of Christ coming to John to be baptized (Mk. 1:9-11). Notice the next statement, "Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God," (Mk. 1:14 NKJV). Was Jesus teaching the law of Moses when He preached the kingdom of God? Jesus said in Lk. 4:43, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."

The preaching of Jesus and John the Baptist (before Christ's death) differed from the apostles teaching (after the day of Pentecost) only in that while Jesus and John preached the kingdom was at hand (Mk. 1:15), Peter, Paul and the other apostles preached that it was already here. Jesus sent 12 to preach the kingdom of God was at hand, before the cross. He sent 12 to preach the kingdom came on Pentecost, after the cross (Acts 2). Jesus, John the Baptist and the twelve apostles preached the same gospel, the kingdom of God. They preached the same on how to become a member of that kingdom (the Lord's church). See John 3:3-5; Matt. 7:21, 5:20; 1 Cor. 12:12, Acts 2:38, 8:12, 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21; Mk. 16:15-16, etc. They preached the same gospel about how to worship (Jn. 4:23-24; Matt. 15:7-9; Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 14:15-16; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16-17). We could continue with this line of writing, but this is sufficient to show that the only thing they preached different about the kingdom of God before the cross and after the cross is: before the cross the kingdom of God was AT HAND, and after the cross the kingdom of God was IN EXISTENCE.

Just where do the Gospels belong? Right where they are. If we are to teach the gospel of Christ, we must teach it in its entirety.