Four Gospels Written Anonymously

Since Jesus wrote no books and left behind no literary documentation, the four gospels are the only sources we have of His life, ministry, death, and resurrection. During the early years of the Christian church, the gospels were written anonymously since the authors failed to identify themselves — unlike the Pauline epistles wherein Paul assigns authorship to himself. The traditional names of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were not given until the end of the second century.

Matthew was a tax collector who was called to discipleship by Jesus. According to Bishop Papias (circa 60-130), Matthew made a collection of the sayings of Jesus in Hebrew. 

Mark was a young man during Jesus’ ministry (Acts 12:12). He became an associate of the Apostle Paul and later the Apostle Peter. Luke, an “eyewitness and servant of the word” (Luke 1:2), was called the “beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). Luke was with Paul during the apostle’s imprisonment in Rome. By the year 170, Luke was acknowledged as the author of the third gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. John was a disciple of Jesus and the son of Zebedee and Salome. John is assumed to be the “beloved disciple” mentioned in John 21:20, 24. However, modern scholars do not consider that this John wrote Chapter 21, since the gospel effectively ends at Chapter 20, verse 31. So the “disciple whom Jesus loved” may well have been the elder John, not the disciple John. 

All the gospels tell a different story. If there were four witnesses to an automobile accident at an intersection, all would provide differing details yet would say basically the same thing. None of the gospels contradict each other. In fact, they support one another. Mark is considered the first gospel written, probably after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 A.D. Matthew and Luke followed around 80 A.D. and John between 90 and 100 A.D.

Matthew used 80 percent of Mark’s gospel while Luke incorporated 65 percent, yet each writer paraphrased Mark’s verses, retaining their substance and generally maintaining the sequence of events. John took a different approach, concentrating on Jesus’ Galilean ministry and writing long discourses by Jesus. Since the native tongue of Jesus was Aramaic, modern scholars consider it doubtful that uneducated disciples (Acts 4: 13) could have mastered the Greek language in which the gospels were written. 

During the 40 years after Jesus’ resurrection, His followers collected and recorded His words (Sermon on the Mount, etc.) and deeds (healing miracles, etc.) in documentary form. This information (called oral tradition) was used by the respective gospel writers to varying degrees. Matthew, Mark, and Luke depicted Jesus as the Son of God, while John wrote that Jesus was God incarnate.

HHJ News