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It is perhaps significant that the word ‘ church ’ occurs in the gospels only twice , here and in Mt. 18:17 , a passage where the words of Jesus as given by Matthew do not ring true . The number of the Gospels then received , the names of the evangelists , and their proper descriptions , are exhibited by this writer in one short sentence : - - " Among the apostles John and Matthew teach us the faith ; among apostolical men , Luke and Mark refresh it . Tacitus obviously thought Pilate was doing the right thing , and , the gospels not withstanding , Pilate probably thought so too . From that little island the light of the Gospel afterwards spread , not only over Scotland , but far towards the south of England , and many monasteries , both in Scotland and in Ireland , were under the rule of its abbot . Von Soden introduced another notation , which essentially consists in the distribution of all the manuscripts into three groups designated respectively by the three Greek letters d ( i.e. diatheke , the manuscripts containing the Gospels and something else as well ) , e ( i.e. euaggelia , the manuscripts containing the Gospels only ) , a ( i.e. apostolos , the manuscripts containing the Acts and the Epistles .