Catholic Beliefs on the Gospel

Even though each Gospel was written by a different man, the same Holy Spirit is believed to have inspired each man. Inspiration is a gift of the Holy Spirit granted to the sacred authors (the physical writers of the Bible) so they would only write the exact words that God wished to be recorded.

Both the Holy Spirit and the inspired author would write to a specific audience. This concept is clear in the Gospel According to Matthew. Matthew, a Jew himself, was addressing potential converts from Judaism and wished to assure them that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. To accomplish this, he made subtle comparisons between Christ and Moses. Matthew compared Jesus's deliverance of mankind from the slavery of sin to Moses's deliverance of the Chosen People from their slavery in Egypt. Both also delivered their people into a "Promised Land." In Moses's case, it was the nation of Israel, while in Christ's case, it was the Promised Land of Heaven.

Although each writer had a separate audience, each of the four Gospels still have relevance in today's world because the all four were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Church believes that inspired texts have several meanings, transcend time and space, and (unlike most historical documents) do not apply to one particular culture at one particular time. This is why the Catholic Church goes to the trouble of incorporating all four Gospels at the Sunday Mass over a three-year period.

Interestingly enough, the Book of Revelation (written by an inspired John) contains an image of four creatures that the Church has interpreted to be a metaphor for the four Gospels. According to St. Ambrose (who lived late in the 4th Century), the man with wings symbolizes Matthew, since he begins his Gospel with an account of the human origins of Jesus. Mark begins his Gospel with the regal power of Christ, so he is symbolized by a lion- held in high esteem by his Roman audience. Luke begins his version with an account of the father of John the Baptist, Zachary the priest, and is symbolized as an ox with wings. This is because priests of the temple sacrificed oxen on an altar. Finally, John is shown as an eagle, because he soars into heaven with his introduction to the Gospel of the pre-existence of Jesus as the Word.