Why scholars doubt the traditional authors of the gospels 2017 matthew wade ferguson. Volume i doctrine and scripture new testament gospels. Yet only onethe gospel of johnclaims to be an eyewitness account, the testimony of the unnamed disciple whom jesus loved. Instead of matthew, mark, luke, and john, they say, the real authors were anonymous christians who relied on hearsay and legend rather than eyewitness testimony. The level of detail and precision, writing style, the similar address to theophilus, as well as the connective clause in the first of acts connects the two works to the same author. These three reasons the unanimous testimony of the church, the unlikely authorship of these men, and the early identification of the document, all present a strong case for the traditional authorship of the gospels. There were some books, such as the gospels, that had been written anonymously, only later to be ascribed to certain authors who probably did. The fact of the matter is, nobody knows who wrote any of the four gospels, just like nobody knows who wrote the book of hebrews. Above all, thomas asks to see the wound in jesus side, and the beloved disciple was the only. The gospel according to matthew was composed in greek, probably.
I think its pretty commonly accepted that we dont really know who wrote the gospels. There is virtually no evidence to suggest that the new testament gospels ever circulated anonymously. The closest we get to a claim of authorship is at the very end of the book of john, where the author implies that the book was written by the disciple whom jesus loved john 21. The book of acts also provides us with a clue as to when the gospels were written. Matthew the evangelist, the author of the first gospel account, is symbolized by a winged man, or angel. The early church is unanimous in their acceptance of matthew as the writer of the first gospel. The apostles were the 12 disciples that accompanied jesus throughout his 3 year ministry and were sent apostle means one who is sent, as in an ambassador or an emissary plus paul, nee saul, who was originally hostile to jesus and persecuted.
The synoptic gospels were written before the book of john. Gospel or gospels is the standard term for the four new testament books carrying the names of matthew, mark, luke and john, each telling of the life and teachings of jesus of nazareth including his dealings with john the baptist, his trial and execution, the discovery of his empty tomb, and, at least for three of them, his appearances to. For example, suggested dates for the writing of the gospel of matthew range from as early as a. Papias, irenaeus, pantaenus, and origen all report matthew as the writer of the first gospel. The gospels are anonymousso how do we know who wrote them. Gospels not written by matthew, mark, luke or john the. While there is some discussion regarding the order in which these three books where written, there is evidence to suggest that they were written only 2030 years after the death of jesus, as outlined in. He is believed to have outlived the other apostles.
Jan 03, 2008 matthew, a tax collector also known as levi and one of the twelve disciples, wrote the first gospel in the new testament of matthew. The first four books of the new testament are called gospels because they contain. He tells the story of jesus as a sourcebook for his larger story of the early church. The book of acts gives a clue to the date of the gospels. A budding jerusalem church met in his mothers home. For justin, these books are simply known, collectively, as the memoires of the apostles. In attempting to determine the original text of the new testament books, some modern textual critics have identified sections as additions of material, centuries. Irenaeus, an early church father wrote that luke, the follower of paul, set down in a book the gospel preached by his teacher. This was an interesting perspective on who wrote the gospels. There, youll find the gospels according to matthew, mark, luke, and john leading the list. Sep 21, 2018 the gnostic gospels are ancient religious writings which falsely claim to be written by famous biblical figures such as peter, thomas, and mary. Traditionally, both books have been identified as coming from the same person, john the son. Not even mark is identified as the author in theory, mark could have simply related a series of events and stories to someone else who collected them, edited them, and set them down in the gospel. Mar 12, 2010 jesus and the hidden contradictions of the gospels the new testament contains multiple versions of the life and teachings of jesus.
The gospels tell of the life and teaching of jesus, but none of them is a biography in the classical sense of the word. Citing vatican iis dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, the catechism has a very succinct presentation on the formation of the gospels cf. Every source is unanimous that matthew wrote matthew, mark wrote mark, luke penned his gospel, and john wrote his. Did matthew, mark, luke, and john really write the gospels. He was, according to tradition, a physician and a friend of pauls, and he is.
Who wrote the book of revelation and the fourth gospel. The fact that all four gospels are written from the perspective that the city of jerusalem and the temple had not been destroyed gives evidence of an early date. How do we know who wrote the gospels in the new testament. Darrell bock did matthew, mark, luke, and john actually author the gospel accounts. The gospel according to matthew is the first book of the new testament and one of the three synoptic gospels.
Any liberalminded person, of any faith or none, will be impressed by the penetrating insight and occasional satire from one of the greatest teachers ever, whom christians see as the. Gospel originally meant the christian message itself, but in the 2nd century it came to be used for the books in which the message was set out. It was about a century after the gospels had been originally put in. Paul wrote many letters, john wrote a gospel, a letter and the book of revelation and luke wrote a gospel and the acts of the apostles.
But did this quartet of early christians actually have any connection with the books that bear their names. The four canonical gospels of matthew, mark, luke and john comprise the first four books of the new testament of the bible and were probably written between. Matthew and john were apostles, eyewitnesses and participants in jesus threeyear ministry and wrote the gospels accounts of the life, ministry, death, and. Would you be surprised to find that that such misattribution applies to the other three gospels as well. The gospels, the first four books of the new testament, tell the story of the life of jesus. John was one of the twelve special apostles who accompanied jesus during his public ministry. Who wrote the gospels, and how do we know for zondervan. Given the blasphemous book the da vinci code and its promotion of the gnostic gospels, why were the gospels of matthew, mark. The orthodox faith volume i doctrine and scripture new. Who wrote the gospels is a nice, short, as a professor, he was great at connecting with students, giving fascinating lectures, and connecting literature to the world. What clues do we have from the internal and external evidence, the date, and the location and audience.
It is written anonymously, although it identifies an unnamed disciple whom jesus loved as the source of its. Not surprisingly, the gospel of john never provides the name of its author. What everyone should know about the fourth gospel 061120 12. It is important to understand that the dating of the gospels and other new testament books is at best an educated guess and at worst foolish speculation. John, who wrote the gospel of john, wrote it exquisitely, for he was steeped in jewish tradition and heritage. The 52 texts discovered in nag hammadi, egypt include secret gospels poems and myths attributing to jesus sayings and beliefs which are very different from the new.
In his book, mark wrote down the observations and memories of peter, one of the original apostles. There is a lot to be said in support of the traditional authors. With so much talk lately about the gospels, i wonder, who wrote the gospels and. Which of the original 12 apostles wrote books that are in the. Ad 60 writes, matthew put together the oracles of the lord. Rabbi tovia singer explains why the author of the book of luke. Since then, hes been depicted as the epitome of treason and the worst friend a man can have. It follows that luke probably wrote his gospel and the acts of the apostles. Those accepted are attributed to four individuals known as matthew, mark. On the other hand, most scholars insist that matthew was originally written in greek because many parts of the gospel are extremely if not identically similar to marks, which was indubitably written in greek.
Marks book reflects peters interest in spreading the gospel. The authorship is credited to matthew, mark, luke, and john. There are three basic reasons why we believe the men bearing their names wrote the four gospels. For more than a millennium, the church has attributed this gospel to matthew, the tax collector turned disciple. Euangelion kata ioannen is the fourth of the canonical gospels. Galilee the home of matthew who wrote his gospel in c. Book of mark overview insight for living ministries. The synoptic gospels matthew, mark and luke were written anonymously, as was the gospel of john.
And luke, who was pauls doctor, wrote the book of luke and the acts of the apostles. One example would be the fact that two of the gospels are ascribed to such minor characters as mark and luke neither of whom, by any accounts, were themselves eyewitnesses. The gospel of mark is the second book in the christian new testament and is one of the four gospels. The attack on the gospels bart ehrman some books, such as the gospels, had been written anonymously, only later to be ascribed to certain authors who probably did not write them apostles and friends of the apostles. Its traditional author is man named john mark, a companion of simon peter, who wrote the gospel using peters eyewitness accounts. John mark, who was a friend of the disciple peter, wrote the book of mark. Which of the original 12 apostles wrote books that are in the bible. Over the centuries, numerous traditions have evolved around this somewhat shadowy evangelist. A study of the minds of the authors the names we associate with the gospel writers are all second century guesses. And so, what do gospel manuscripts and the words of secondcentury christians reveal about the origins of the new testament gospels. We have been engaged in a series of articles discussing the authorship of the books of the new testament.
It tells how israels messiah, rejected and executed in israel, pronounces judgement on israel and its leaders and becomes the salvation of the gentiles. Did matthew, mark, luke, and john actually author the gospel. The story of jesus of nazareth is told in the new testament by four different authors see fig. An introduction to the gospels written over the course of almost a century after jesus death, the four gospels of the new testament, though they tell the same story, reflect very different ideas. The text of the gospel according to mark does not specifically identify anyone as the author. Matthew mark luke john i hold that saint matthew likely wrote his gospel in aramaic in about ad 38 if not earlier in aramaic.
The 31 banned gospels form the bible was not written by the romans with the collaboration of josephus flavius which were all proroman and antijewish. It was only later in the second century that the new testament gospels were attributed to the. The author makes it very clear that there is no evidence that they were written by the men who bear their. There is another thesis as to who wrote the gospel of john. This fact alone does not prove that matthew, mark, luke, and john were the authors of the gospels. To answer this question we must first be clear on how the gospels were formed and what constitutes authorship. Luke writes his gospel with his second book always in mind. Jesus and the hidden contradictions of the gospels. Paul, luke and john all wrote a fair bit of the new testament. When other books were written hundreds of years later, it wasnt difficult for the church to spot them as forgeries. All four gospels were written by the romans themselves. Second, the author of the third gospel also authored the book of acts. His story with jesus even concludes the gospel assuming that chapter 20 originally ended the book and parallels the resurrection story of the apostles. The closest we get to a claim of authorship is at the very end of the book of john, where the author implies that the book was written by the.
John also wrote first, second, third john, and revelation. Introduction to the gospel of matthew study resources. Where most gospels are named after one of jesuss followers or disciples, this book is named after one of his antagonists. Someone recently asked me if the same author could have written both the book of revelation and the gospel of john.
Luke is credited with writing not only his gospel but the new testament book of acts as well. The word gospel literally means good news or glad tidings. Gospels not written by matthew, mark, luke or john the christians believe that the gospels matthew, mark, luke and john were written by those whose names appear in the title of the books. In this article, we consider the third gospel, the gospel of luke. Speaking of the apocalypse from the previous post giving that odd video. Saint matthew, the first evangelist all the early church fathers and all the saints have held that the gospels were written in the order they are listed in the sacred scriptures. Among its 27 books are selected recollections of the life and acts and sayings of jesus in. It does, however, demonstrate that these names were attached to the gospels from the time that the texts first began to circulate.
Dec 26, 2016 but i think there is positive indication that the gospels were written by the persons to whom they were attributed by the early church matthew, mark, luke and john. Third, the level of greek used in both the third gospel and the book of acts is highly advanced. He had greeks in mind, as the gospel is evangelical in nature. But even if these names are not right, the gospels are still based on reliable. This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true john 21. But john, the last of all, seeing that what was corporeal was set forth in the gospels, on the entreaty of his intimate friends, and inspired by the spirit, composed a spiritual gospel. Higher criticism of the bible challenges the traditional attributions of matthew, mark, luke, and john. Bart ehrman, the author of jesus, interrupted, says they are at. Sep 08, 2016 critics of the new testament often claim that the names of the authors of the gospels were added after they had already been in circulation in the early church. The names we associate with the gospel writers are all secondcentury guesses. There is a lot more to understanding and interpreting one of the most influential collection of works in western history than the simple viewpoints we were taught as children. Nevertheless, we hold them as sacred, as inspired and as truly the word of god.
Top 10 gospels you wont find in the bible listverse. In the new testament gospels, judas is presented as the man who betrayed jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The traditional authors of the canonical gospelsmatthew the tax collector, mark the attendant of peter, luke the attendant of paul, and john the son of zebedeeare doubted among the majority of mainstream new testament scholars. The symbols of the four evangelists are here depicted in the book of kells. Others have also concluded that matthew wrote two gospels. What we do know is that the book of mark came first, matthew and luke use mark for source material, and john. A look at the thorny question of who wrote the gospels that are revered as the story of jesus. Open your bible to the table of contents and take a look at the list of books in the new testament. Paul spent time with peter, james and other eyewitnesses of jesus during his precrucifixion ministry. The gospel of mark is 16 chapters long, shorter than the other three gospels. If this comes as a surprise, welcome to the cutting edge of modern biblical scholarship. None of the gospels came with an about the author section. The beginners guide to the gnostic gospels overviewbible.
With so much talk lately about the gospels, i wonder, who wrote the gospels and how do we know. Of these, the first four books, the gospels good news, gave us our only accepted, ancient accounts of the ministry and miracles of jesus christ, chosen from dozens of contemporary gospels. Perhaps some mystery surrounds these texts and the identity of the authors. The names to the gospels were given roughly 100 years after the death of jesus. The four canonical gospels of matthew, mark, luke and john comprise the first four books of the new testament of the bible and were probably written between ad 66 and 110. Such identifications were not made in any of the other three biblical gospels either. The book went through two to three stages, or editions, before reaching its current form, at the latest, around ad 80100. To answer this question we must first be clear on how the gospels were formed. The first books of the new testament scriptures are the four gospels of saints matthew, mark, luke and john. First, the book itself identifies the author as the disciple whom jesus loved. Why scholars doubt the traditional authors of the gospels. Book of john overview insight for living ministries. These books are called matthew, mark, luke, and john because they were traditionally thought to have been written by matthew, a disciple who.
Even if his gospel were written in greek by another, even say an amanuensis, this would not negate matthews authorship. The first four books of the new testament are called gospels because they contain the good news about jesuss life, death and resurrection. The four winged creatures symbolize, clockwise from top left, matthew, mark, john, and luke. History of the bible who wrote the bible why its reliable. The bible records more information about mark than any of the other gospel writers aside from the apostle john. This is similar to the function of the spine on our modern books one does not have to open the book to find out who wrote it.
It is traditionally believed to have been written by john, one of jesuss close circle of twelve apostles, in c. Most of the gnostic gospels that have survived were found in a collection of books from the third and fourth century ad. All three synoptic gospels and the book of acts list matthew among the twelve disciples, but only the book of matthew explicitly says hes a tax collector. The four canonical gospels of matthew, mark, luke and john comprise the first four books of the new testament of the bible and were probably written. Catholic scholars rarely dispute that luke, another greek companion of pauls, authored both this gospel and the acts of the apostles. However, two significant factors point to the identification of john as the author. Matthew, a tax collector also known as levi and one of the twelve disciples, wrote the first gospel in the new testament of matthew. Very well written, in very accessible english, this book gives historical background to the christian gospels, and extracts from them the likely words of jesus. There is unanimous tradition as to the authorship of the gospels the four gospels are unanimously attributed to matthew, mark, luke and john there are no other candidates.