Its time to stop perpetuating lies about the Bible. Lets examine the men God inspired to write the Four Gospels in the New Testament... Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Heres proof: MATTHEW The early church unanimously held that the gospel of Matthew was the first written gospel and was penned by the apostle of the same name (Matt. 10:2-4). Lately, the priority of Matthew as the first written gospel has come under suspicion with Mark being considered by many to be the first written gospel. The debate is far from over. The historian Papias mentions that the gospel of Matthew was originally in Aramaic or Hebrew and attributes the gospel to Matthew the apostle.5 Irenaeus (ca. a.d. 180) continued Papias’s views about Matthew and Mark and added his belief that Luke, the follower of Paul, put down in a book the gospel preached by that apostle, and that John, the Beloved Disciple, published his Gospel while residing in Asia. By the time of Irenaeus, Acts was also linked with Luke, the companion of Paul.6 This would mean that if Matthew did write in Aramaic originally, that he may have used Mark as a map--adding and clarifying certain events as he remembered them. But, this is not known for sure. The earliest quotation of Matthew is found in Ignatius who died around A.D. 115. Therefore, Matthew was in circulation well before Ignatius came on the scene. The various dates most widely held as possible writing dates of the Gospel are between A.D. 40-140. But Ignatius died around A.D. 115, and he quoted Matthew. Therefore Matthew had to be written before he died. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that Matthew was written before A.D. 70 and as early as A.D. 50. MARK Mark was not an eyewitness to the events of Jesus life. He was a disciple of Peter, and undoubtedly it was Peter who informed Mark of the life of Christ and guided him in writing the Gospel known by his name. Papias claimed that Mark, the Evangelist, who had never heard Christ, was the interpreter of Peter, and that he carefully gave an account of everything he remembered from the preaching of Peter.7 Generally, Mark is said to be the earliest gospel with an authorship of between A.D. 55 to A.D. 70. LUKE Luke was not an eyewitness of the life of Christ. He was a companion of Paul who also was not an eyewitness of Christs life. But, both had ample opportunity to meet the disciples who knew Christ and learn the facts not only from them but also from others in the area. Some might consider this damaging to the validity of the gospel but quite the contrary. Luke was a gentile convert to Christianity who was interested in the facts. He obviously had interviewed the eyewitnesses and written the Gospel account as well as Acts. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3 To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God, (Acts 1:1-3). Notice how Luke speaks of them--of those who had personal encounters with Christ. Luke is simply recounting the events from the disciples. Since Luke agrees with Matthew, Mark, and John and since there is no contradictory information coming from any of the disciples stating that Luke was inaccurate and since Luke has proven to be a very accurate historian, we can conclude that Lukes account is very accurate. As far as dating the gospel goes, Luke was written before the book of Acts; and Acts does not mention Neros persecution of the Christians in A.D. 64 or the deaths of James (A.D. 62), Paul (A.D. 64), and Peter (A.D. 65).8 Therefore, we can conclude that Luke was written before A.D. 62. Lukes Gospel comes (Acts 1:1) before the Acts. The date of Acts is still in dispute, but the early date (about A.D. 63) is gaining support constantly.9 JOHN The writer of the gospel of John was obviously an eyewitness of the events of Christs life since he speaks from a perspective of having been there during many of the events of Jesus ministry and displays a good knowledge of Israeli geography and customs. The John Rylands papyrus fragment 52 of Johns gospel dated in the year 125-135 contains portions of John 18, verses 31-33, 37-38. This fragment was found in Egypt. It is the last of the gospels and appears to have been written in the 80s to 90s. Most scholars say it was written in the early 90s. This means that the time span between the original writing of John and its earliest copy (fragment) is approximately 35-45 years. John does not mention the destruction of the Jewish temple in A.D. 70. Some say this is because John was not focusing on historical events. Instead, John focused on the theological aspect of the person of Christ and listed His miracles and words that affirmed Christs deity. This is a possibility; but like the reasoning used regarding Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the lack of significant historical markers is also evidence that it was written early on.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 11:31:10 +0000
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