The Narrow Path Ministries

I’m sure many of you have heard of the parallel drawn between the four gospels, the four faces of the beasts in Ezekiel 1:10; Rev 4:7. A similar parallel can be drawn between the gospels and the four “Branches” found in several scriptures in Isa, Jer, and Zech.

The basic idea is that each of the four gospels tends to emphasize different aspects of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Matthew emphasizes Christ as king, and gives a kingly lineage. This is associated with the image of a lion. Mark emphasizes Christ as servant (10:45), and is associated with the image of an ox. Mark provides no lineage, because, after all, no one cares about the lineage of a lowly servant. Luke, the physician, emphasizes Christ’s human attributes, provides a humanly lineage, and is associated with the image of a man. John, perhaps Christ’s most intimate disciple, emphasizes Christ’s divinity, is associated with the image of an eagle (a creature of the heavens), and preaches a theology of Christ’s “Godness” right from the opening verse.

Similarly Christ is associated with a “Branch” (Isa 11:1-6), and four different aspects of this branch can be found in various scriptures.

Here’s a summary of the scriptures:

Matthew King(Jer 23:5), Lion(Ezek 1:10, Rev 4:7) Geneology of a King
Mark Servant(Zech 3:8), Ox(Ezek 1:10, Rev 4:7) No Geneology
Luke Man(Zech 6:12), Man(Ezek 1:10, Rev 4:7) Geneology of a Man
John Lord(Isa 4:2), Eagle(Ezek 1:10, Rev 4:7) A God.

So, with that as backdrop, here is my question:
Is there anything to this? If so, what are we to glean from this other than, perhaps, a frame of mind while we’re reading each of the four gospels?

The comparison of the four "faces" with the four Gospels was made by very early Christian teachers. I had not heard the four "branch" passages identified this way before. I am skeptical about the association of the Gospels with the four "faces," and see even less reason to credit the theory that applies the four "branch" passages that way.

The four faces in Revelation were seen by John, in all likelihood, before there were four Gospels completed, or at least before they were recognized as a collection, so this theory would suggest that the four faces in Revelation anticipated, and thus canonized, the four Gospels. While I accept the canonicity of all four Gospels, I do not think of their authors having written them with the New Testament canon in mind. Of course, the suggestion would be that the Holy Spirit had these four in mind, which is possible, but the overall scheme seems uncompelling to me.

As for the connections with the four "Branch" passages, the suggestion seems too esoteric for my intuitions.

Thanks for the reply Steve. Your conclusion is not that different to what I was thinking. I mean, at first glance it seems like, "Wow, this is really an awesome parallel", but then, it's more like "Wait a minute..."

Which kind of leads to the question of... when you see something like this, which, on the face of it, is really tempting to indulge in... (kind of like dispensationalism) how do you hold yourself in check? These types of interpretations are extremely tempting. It's like you have to be completely dispassionate, to avoid them.

... or do you just trust the Spirit to lead you to correct interpretation?

I only appealed to "my intuitions," which are clearly not authoritative. They could be wrong, but on matters such as this, it hardly matters. I call such things "matters of curiosity merely." They are interesting, and I usually mention the theory of the four faces (when teaching Revelation) as just that—interesting suggestions.

These days, it is fairly easy for me to be dispassionate about matters which do not dictate any practical instruction for living the Christian life. That was not always the case, but growing older tends to give one a sense of perspective, I suppose. I am not entirely uninterested in matters of curiosity, but it is fairly easy for me to hold them at arm's length and look at them without feeling any particular urgency to figure them out.