Gospels Written Anonymously

In 30 A.D., Jesus died on the cross and arose from the dead. The first gospel came four decades later. Mark was written circa 70 A.D., Matthew and Luke around 80 A.D., and John about 95 A.D. Since the four gospels were written anonymously, the early church fathers were forced to reference these gospels as “Memoirs of the Apostles.” Around 180 A.D., the titles you see in your modern Bibles were added.

The first gospel was called Matthew because Jesus chose a tax collector by that name as one of His disciples (Matt 9: 9). Additionally, first century apostolic father, Papias, wrote that Matthew had compiled a collection of Jesus’ teachings. Mark’s gospel was ascribed to John Mark who was a companion of Paul on his first missionary journey (Acts 12: 12; 15: 37). The Gospel of Luke was attributed to a physician named Luke, a companion of the Apostle Paul (Col. 4: 14; II Tim 4: 11). Tradition infers that John’s gospel was written by the disciple John; however, many scholars suggest the author was the “Elder John,” who recorded the disciple John’s teachings. Most New Testament scholars agree that the Gospels do not contain eyewitness accounts; but that they present the theologies of their communities.

It is unlikely that Jesus’ disciples wrote the gospels since ‘average’ life expectancy in the first century was around 40 years. Palestine in Jesus’ time was primarily an oral society; consequently, it is doubtful the gospels were written by eye witnesses. The gospels also were written in Greek whereas Jesus and His disciples spoke Aramaic. In ancient Palestine’s “orally dominated culture,” most people could not read or write. Thus, information had to be remembered and passed on by word-of-mouth. Because none of the gospel writers signed their work, the Church Fathers in the 2nd century assigned these names to the four gospels, i.e., Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Today, our Bibles list Matthew first. It was in the 19th century before textual scholars determined the Mark (not Matthew) was the first gospel written. It also was found that at least 50 percent of Mark’s gospel appears in both Matthew and Luke–albeit the respective passages are recast differently. John is vastly different from the synoptics. It states that Jesus is “God in the flesh” (Jn. 1: 14), whereas the three synoptic gospels refer to Jesus as the “Son of God.”

To recap, the four gospels are the only records we have of Jesus’ life, ministry, passion and resurrection. Matthew, Luke and John are called synoptic gospels because they are similar in structure, content, and wording. In contrast, 90 percent of John’s content is not found in the other three gospels. The gospel of John contains dissertations by Jesus on His relationship with God the Father.

Let us not forget that the Bible has been canonized as the veritable word of God. In fact, II Timothy 3: 16 declares: “All scripture is inspired by God.”

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