Why did Matthew Mark Luke and John acquire the titles of evangelist?

Answer 1

The Greek word euangelistes, from which the word evangelist derives in English, means literally 'a messenger of good.' In New Testament usage it came to refer to one who was specifically a preacher of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Since the four authors of the Gospels were giving four accounts of the life, teachings and particularly the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they were all worthy of the title 'Evangelist.' The four Gospel writers thus deserve the title in a primary sense because they have preserved the essential elements of the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The addition of the titles kata Matthew, kata Mark etc refers to the fact that each Gospel was a unique rendering of the Gospel message attributed to a particular named and known person. The title kata, which in English may be rendered 'according to' is much the same as we today attach a title to a newspaper report about a particular event by a particular reporter. Although there are a great many similarities among the four Gospels, each author truly deserves the title of Evangelist, as they wrote for different audiences, with different styles, and at different times, the one message of good news in Jesus Christ. The four Evangelists were real people, who were known in person to the early church, as the titles suggest.

Answer 2

In general, evangelism is preaching of the gospel. As a particular case, the authors of the four New Testament gospels are known as evangelists. Because some scholars believe that the authors of the gospels were not really the disciples to whom the gospels were later attributed, it is convenient to refer to the anonymous author of Mark's Gospel as "Mark the evangelist", and so on. This allows scholars to conveniently avoid confusion with the original disciples of the same names.