Shouldn’t the Four Gospels Really Be Considered Old Testament Literature?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Grace in Focus

Episode: Shouldn’t the Four Gospels Really Be Considered Old Testament Literature?
Date: July 29, 2026
Hosts: Bob Wilkin and David Renfro (Grace Evangelical Society)
Duration: ~13 minutes

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Main Theme

The central question of this episode is whether the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—should be considered Old Testament literature, transitional works between the Old and New Testament, or as part of the New Testament proper, given that their narratives unfold before the crucifixion and the official beginning of the church age (Acts 2). The hosts discuss the implications of this question for biblical interpretation and the distinctiveness of the Gospels in relation to both Old and New Testament writings.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Context and Listener Question (02:14–03:38)

• Listener Query: Since the Gospels take place during Old Testament times—before the crucifixion and the start of the church—shouldn’t they be classified as Old Testament literature?
• Bob recalls seminary days where a professor argued Old Testament faculty should actually teach the Gospels because of their pre-church content.

Bob (03:02): “It's all writing about Old Testament experiences. In other words, if you think about it, the only difference between let's say Malachi and Matthew is that Malachi is written in Hebrew and Matthew is written in Greek.”

• Historical Context: John the Baptist called “the second to last Old Testament prophet” and Jesus called “the last Old Testament prophet.”

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2. Who Are the Gospels Written For? (03:42–05:26)

• Malachi and most of the Old Testament were written to Israel, while the Gospels, though descriptive of Old Testament experiences, are written for people in the church age.
• Different Audiences: Matthew, Mark, and Luke likely had specific audiences in mind; John may have addressed Hellenistic Jews.

Bob (04:16): “The question here is should we consider Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to be in some sense Old Testament literature?”

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3. Transitional or “Intertestamental” View (05:26–08:38)

• David's Key Insight: The Gospels are best viewed as transitional or “intertestamental” literature—a bridge between the Old and New Testaments.

David (05:26): “Could they be considered sort of a transitional literature between Old and New Testament?”

• Bob agrees, suggesting they might serve as “tweener books”—not exactly Old Testament, but distinct from the rest of the New Testament.

Bob (05:44): “They could almost be considered intertestamental. If the New Testament started in Acts, then Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John would be between the testaments.”

• Dating Issues: Different scholarly perspectives on when the Gospels were written—some say early (late 30s/40s), most commonly the 50s-60s, others much later.

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4. Old Testament Law & The New Covenant (08:38–09:49)

• Content: The Gospels’ characters are still under Old Testament law—keeping the Sabbath, etc. Jesus prophesies a New Covenant, but Gospels’ events occur before its inauguration.
• Covenant Theology: Bob distinguishes between the making possible of the New Covenant (by Jesus’ blood) and its actual inauguration, which he argues is for Israel and will happen in the Millennium.

Bob (09:03): “...the new covenant is made with Israel, it's not made with the church.”

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5. Literary Genre and Jewish Authorship (09:50–11:16)

• Biographical Genre: The Gospels are “holy biographies”—unlike anything else in the New Testament.
• Jewishness of the New Testament: With the possible exception of Luke, all New Testament authors were probably Jewish. Even Greek language doesn’t change that fact.

Bob (10:37): “The only New Testament author who might have been a Gentile, and even he quite probably was a Jew, would be Luke.”

• Terminology: Both Old and New Testaments could be called the “Hebrew Scriptures” due to their Jewish authorship.

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6. Genre Distinctions and Final Reflections (11:16–12:27)

• Transitional Genre: The Gospels are a unique genre—narrative, historical, biographical, and transitional.

Bob (11:47): “Transitional books.”

• The Birth of the Church: Acts 2 marks the start of the church; the Gospels anticipate and set up the need for the church by explaining its foundations.

David (12:15): “It's almost like the Gospels are set up to instruct people. Oh, we have this new thing called the Church. We don't have to follow the law anymore. But how did it get set up? Well, the four Gospels explain all that.”

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7. Looking Back and Forward: The Gospels’ Double Focus (12:27–13:01)

• The Gospels both look back to the Old Testament (continuity with the Law and Prophets) and forward to New Testament and eschatological developments (Olivet Discourse, judgment, the church).

Bob (12:27): “The four Gospels not only look back to the Old Testament, but they look ahead. For example, the Olivet discourse tells us about the coming and the judgment of the sheep and the goats...”

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• David (05:26): “Could they be considered sort of a transitional literature between Old and New Testament?”
• Bob (05:44): “They could almost be considered intertestamental.”
• Bob (09:03): “…the new covenant is made with Israel, it's not made with the church.”
• Bob (10:37): “The only New Testament author who might have been a Gentile, and even he quite probably was a Jew, would be Luke.”
• David (12:15): “It's almost like the Gospels are set up to instruct people. Oh, we have this new thing called the Church. We don't have to follow the law anymore. But how did it get set up? Well, the four Gospels explain all that.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:14–03:38 – Framing the listener’s question and the Gospels’ Old Testament context
• 05:26–06:05 – David’s “transitional literature” argument
• 08:38–09:49 – Living under the Law and the promise of the New Covenant
• 10:36–11:16 – Who authored the Gospels and the “Hebrew Scriptures” concept
• 12:15–12:27 – The Gospels as the setup for the church and the future

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Conclusion (12:27–13:01)

The episode concludes with the hosts agreeing that the Gospels are best understood as transitional works: firmly rooted in the Old Testament era’s practices, law, and prophecy, but anticipating and instructing the birth of the church and looking forward to New Testament realities. Their unique positioning and biographical nature set them apart—neither wholly Old Testament nor entirely New, but pivotal to understanding the biblical story.

Bob (12:27): “The four Gospels not only look back to the Old Testament, but they look ahead…”

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Summary Table

| Segment | Timestamp | Main Point | |------------------------|------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | Framing the Issue | 02:14-03:38| Should the Gospels be considered Old Testament literature? | | Transitional Genre | 05:26-06:05| Gospels as intertestamental/transitional literature | | Law and New Covenant | 08:38-09:49| Gospels’ characters under the Law; New Covenant anticipated | | Authorship |10:36-11:16 | The likely Jewish identity of NT authors | | Genre Distinctiveness | 11:16-12:27| Gospels’ unique role in biblical canon | | Double Focus | 12:27-13:01| Gospels look back to OT, forward to Church/the future |

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For listeners seeking to better understand the place of the Gospels in the biblical storyline, this episode offers a thoughtful exploration of literary, historical, and theological dynamics—arguing for their unique role as the bridge between the Old and the New.

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. Since the historical accounts of the four Gospels happened in Old Testament times, that is before the crucifixion and before the beginning of the church age, shouldn't they be considered as Old Testament literature? Hello, friend. Thank you for joining us today here on Grace in Focus. This is the ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org there you can learn about and acquire a free subscription to our magazine, also called Grace in Focus. It is a full color, full content magazine and is published six times per year. And yes, it is free. Only if you live Outside of the 48 contiguous United States will you have to pay the postage. Otherwise no cost and we want you to have it. Sign up for it [e-mail] and now with today's discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and David Renfro.

[B]

Well, David, welcome back.

[C]

It's good to be back.

[B]

Well, what is that on your head?

[C]

Well, it's a celebration of the 250th 4th of July.

[B]

There have been more than 254th of July.

[C]

No, that's true.

[B]

It's just since the founding of our company.

[C]

Since the founding. Right. It's something I saw at the store to celebrate. I was buying some stuff for and

[B]

it's a headband that's got a blue band all the way around and above it it's got alternating and white fufu fluffy stuff that goes up about 4 inches. It kind of looks like fake hair. And I'm somehow wearing the same thing. How did you get me to wear one?

[C]

Well, I'm very persuasive.

[B]

You are. And you said, let's take a picture. So we have a picture of that.

[C]

We have pictures of this.

[B]

Shall I hold it up for the people in the audience?

[C]

Sure.

[B]

Don't think they can see it. Now starting next year, we're going to be doing one hour long video podcast and you will be able to see us and you'll be able to see our patriotic headbands and everything.

[C]

We are going to keep this for the next July 4th.

[B]

Yeah, that's good. That's good. All right, David. Now today we have a question about the four gospels. It reminds me when I was at Dallas Seminary, one of my Bible profs had said something about Isaiah 7:14, a virgin will be with child and will give birth. And I thought what the Bible Prof. Was saying was inaccurate. And I remember talking to Alan Ross. I told him about that. And the Bible prophet was somebody with a doctorate in New Testament. And he said he thought that the people that should be teaching Matthew, Mark and Luke, John were the Old Testament professors.

[C]

Interesting.

[B]

Yeah. And you know why he said that?

[C]

Well, it was technically before the church was, you know, Acts chapter two.

[B]

Right. So it's all writing about Old Testament experiences. In other words, if you think about it, the only difference between let's say Malachi and Matthew is that Malachi is written in Hebrew and Matthew is written in Greek.

[C]

And then we're talking a 400 year gap between.

[B]

And there's a big gap. But John the Baptist was the second to last Old Testament prophet and Jesus was the last Old Testament prophet.

[C]

I think there's something to be said for that.

[B]

So I mean, in a sense, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, although they are writing to church age people, that's another difference. I guess that's a pretty big difference. They're written to church age people. Whereas Malachi and the rest of the. Well, much of the Old Testament was written to Israel. Some. We don't know who Job was writing to exactly. Right. I mean, it depends when Job was written. But if Job was around the time of Abraham, then it was writing to people before the nation of Israel.

[C]

Right.

[B]

But in any regard, okay, there's a different audience. I get that. And of course the New Testament books, lots of them have different audiences. Right. Some are written to individual churches, some are more written to. They're called the general epistles, they're more general in nature. Matthew, Mark, Luke. Well, Matthew, Mark and Luke were written to specific audiences that the authors had in mind. But John was. We know it was written to unbelievers and some have suggested it was written to people that John knew, Jewish people that John knew who were not living in Palestine. Hence the explanations in John's Gospel of a number of expression, Hebrew expressions that wouldn't be necessary if your readers were typical Jews, Hellenistic Jews, I.e. jews who spoke Greek and very little Hebrew, if any. They needed some help there. Anyway, the audience may be different, but the question here is should we consider Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to be in some sense Old Testament literature?

[C]

I'll probably be very radical here. What I think is the Gospels I think could be considered. Could be. I'm not being dogmatic on this by any stretch, but could they be considered sort of a transitional literature between Old and New Testament?

[B]

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I like that. They could almost be considered intertestamental. If the New Testament started in Acts, then Matthew, Mark, Luke, John would be between the testaments. The two testaments which is what, a

[C]

400 year period thereabouts.

[B]

Well, yeah. When was Malachi? Around 430 or thereabouts? I don't know if there were any books written after about 430, but maybe 400. They call it the 400 silent years, but it's a little more than 400 because depending on when you think Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written. John Niemla was suggesting that John was probably written, I think late 30s or around 40. Wow. And it was early. Yeah. And it was the first gospel written. Now most people think that mark was the first gospel written. Other people think Matthew was the first gospel written. But regardless, the four gospels, most people would say were written in the 50s or the 60s. And they might say that John was written significantly later.

[C]

A lot of scholars think that it was written late in John's life, like 80s or 90s.

[B]

Well, they would say like first, second and third. John was written in around 90, let's say, and revelation around that. Some people argue that. I think the entire New Testament was written before 70 AD and the destruction of the temple because if that did occur, it would be recorded. And on top of that, it seems to me the Lord would have ensured that the entire New Testament was completed within one generation. Like liberals say, some of the New Testament was written in the second century, you know, and it wasn't written by the people that say wrote it. You know, they're pseudepigraphic. That is written by second. Peter wasn't written by Peter, it was written by somebody else using Peter's name, that kind of thing.

[A]

We will return to today's topic, but to inform you about GES online seminary, it is now Grace Evangelical theological [e-mail] Seminary apply through August. Registration closes Aug. 16. For the fall semester and semester begins Sept. 16. You can earn an MDiv degree and full scholarships are available with good academic standing through our generous donors. Come study with us. Grace Evangelical theological [e-mail] seminary I like your point.

[B]

These are tweener books. They're not exactly in the Old Testament. They are in the New Testament in the sense that like the other books in the New Testament, they're written by the apostles, but they're before the birth of the church, so that separates them from the rest of the New Testament.

[C]

Well, it's obvious from the narratives in the gospels that they're still conforming themselves to the Old Testament law, keeping the Sabbath and the other laws. And Jesus made it very clear that there's going to be a New covenant. And so therefore, the people in the Gospels lived under the law, but a new covenant was coming, and it turned out not to be that far away.

[B]

Well, now you're getting into other things we've talked about before, and there's the whole question of is the new covenant in effect today? And I would say no. But Jesus did, by his blood, make the new covenant possible. So that like in Second Corinthians 3 and 4, Paul says, we're ministers of the new covenant. And I think that means ministers in light of the coming new covenant. Because in Jeremiah 31, 31:34, the new covenant is made with Israel, it's not made with the church. So therefore a lot of people would say the new covenant has already been made possible by the shed blood of Christ, but it will be inaugurated in. In the millennium.

[C]

That makes sense.

[B]

But in any regard, I would say one thing that separates the Gospels as well is their holy biographies. And we don't have any biographies in the rest of the New Testament, by the way. Another thing, you know how the Old Testament, by rabbis and Jewish people call it the Tanakh because of the three divisions, Torah for the T and for the Nevi' im or the prophets, and K for the Ketevim for the writings. Correct. It's also called oftentimes the Hebrew Scriptures. I think we could call the New Testament the Hebrew Scriptures too, because the only New Testament author who might have been a Gentile, and even he quite probably was a Jew, would be Luke.

[C]

Luke, right.

[B]

But everybody else, Matthew, Mark, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, they're all Jewish people. And the fact that writing in Greek instead of Hebrew doesn't lessen the fact that they're Jews. Also, the fact that they're writing after the cross of Christ doesn't in any way change that these are Hebrew Scriptures. A good case can be made that Luke himself, the beloved physician, was probably Jewish, but I don't know that for sure.

[C]

We don't know. The history just doesn't give us any details about Luke's background, does it?

[B]

One of the key points here is that we shouldn't think of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as exactly the same as the rest of the New Testament. It's different. And of course, everybody says it's a different genre. You know, genre is a type of literature. Like there's apocalyptic literature, biographical literature, there's historical literature, there's epistolary literature, and the Gospels are a unique kind of literature. But I think. Let's think of them as a kind of.

[C]

Would you Use the word transitional.

[B]

Transitional books.

[C]

Yeah, maybe the New Covenant is not in effect, and I tend to agree. But what did happen in Acts was the church was created.

[B]

The church was created in Acts, chapter two.

[C]

That's right.

[B]

And the church will end. We know from scripture, when the Rapture occurs.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

1 Thessalonians 4. Then we'll go into the tribulation when the church won't be here. And then the millennium will come back and we'll be back on earth during the millennium.

[C]

It's almost like the Gospels are set up to instruct people. Oh, we have this new thing called the Church. We don't have to follow the law anymore. But how did it get set up? Well, the four Gospels explain all that.

[B]

That's a good point. And the four Gospels not only look back to the Old Testament, but they look ahead. For example, the Olivet discourse tells us about the coming and the judgment of the sheep and the goats. And the judgment seat of Christ is in there as well. So we have lots of things that are taught in the Gospels that look both backwards and forwards. Well, thanks David and thank you all. And remember, let's keep grace in focus.

[A]

Be sure to check out our daily [e-mail] they are short and full of great teaching just like what you've heard today. Find [e-mail] resources blog. We would like to thank all of our financial partners who help us keep this show going. All gifts are tax deductible and very much appreciated. If you'd like to find out how you can be a financial partner, Visit [e-mail] on our next episode. The New Testament phrase adoption as sons. What did this phrase mean? Please join us again and until then, let's keep grace in focus. The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.