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Bible Question:
I'd
like to know if the Gospels were written only by Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John. And if so, where did they gain their knowledge?
I hear that Luke wrote his gospel some 40 years after Christ.
Bible Answer:
This
is an issue for non-Christians and some Christians. The answer
to your question has three parts. Here is the first.
Ancient Testimony.
The early church fathers are the best witnesses to tell us who
wrote the gospels. Not until modern times have the authorship
of these books been questioned. It is unreasonable to conclude
that 2,000 years later we have better insight. Listen to Origen
(A.D. 185-254) about the gospels and Matthew in particular,
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Among
the four gospels, which are the only indisputable ones
in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by
tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who
was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus
Christ . . . Origen, Ecclesiastical History, 6:25). |
Here is Papias (A.D. 140) on Mark,
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Mark
who wrote the Gospel . . . having become the interpreter
of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered.
It
was not, however, in exact order that he related
the sayings or deeds of Christ . . . one thing he took
especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and
not to put anything fictitious into the statements (Papias,
EXPOSITION OF THE ORACLES OF THE LORD, 6). |
The gospel of Luke is not only included in Origen's quote above
but his gospel is quoted (Luke 10:7) by the apostle Paul in
1 Timothy 5:18 as being scripture.
Maybe the best and most
direct summary is given by Irenaeus
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Matthew
also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their
own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at
Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After
their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter
of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had
been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of
Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him.
Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also
had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel
during his residence at Ephesus in Asia. (Irenaeus,
IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES, 3.1.). |
Some of Their Information. Luke tells us how
he wrote his gospel. It is safe to assume the other writers
did somewhat the same as we read above. So how did Luke obtain
the material to write his gospel? Luke, the medical doctor,
tells us how he wrote the gospel of Luke,
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