Seth Freeman Supporter

The names of the books bear the authors who penned them.

June 10 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

John Appelt Supporter

The four writers of the gospels bearing their names are four diverse and fascinating men chosen by God to author them. 

MATTHEW was one of the twelve disciples, a tax collector. He left all to follow Jesus and gave the Lord a great feast, Luke 5:28-29. With his change of heart, he likely had a change of name from Levi to Matthew “the gift of the Lord.” The irony is that one with an unpatriotic occupation and despised by the Jews was the one to pen a gospel to the Jews about their king.

Matthew’s writings reflect his background as he “collected” material for his gospel and was quite detailed and highly organized. He used numbers frequently and referred to money more than the other gospel writers. 

Tax collectors wrote in a form of shorthand so that they could have recorded person’s words as they spoke. The lengthy discourses found in Matthew’s gospel may be actual transcripts.

MARK or John Mark, likely the young man of Mark 14:51-52, wrote the second gospel. He had both Jewish and Roman names so his father may have been a Roman. Many believe he wrote to a Roman audience.

He is remembered for both his failure and his faithfulness. He first served with Paul and Barnabas his cousin, Colossians 4:10, until he unexpectedly returned home, losing Paul’s confidence in him. Eventually, he assisted Peter, I Peter 5:13, and with Peter’s permission, he recorded the first-hand recollections of Peter. 

Finally, he became the trusted fellow worker of Paul, Colossians 4:10-11, Philemon 24, who specifically requested for him to come, II Timothy 4:11.

Mark’s background of service is reflected in this gospel as he portrays Jesus as the servant of God, Mark 10:45, and gives an action-packed narrative of the Lord’s ministry. 

LUKE, the author of the third gospel, was a Jew, an associate of Paul, probably writing his two-volume work, “Luke” and “Acts” for a defense for Paul who was under house arrest, Acts 28:30. Luke was an absolutely accurate historian. 

Luke was also a physician, who wrote about people in all their human traits and emotions. He noted the births of John and Jesus, and the one boyhood experience of Jesus. He noted human touches about the Lord, such as the Spirit acting upon Him and His agonizing in prayer. 

JOHN, the last of the gospel writers, was one of the twelve disciples, who modestly referred to himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” 

John was a fisherman with his father Zebedee’s fish business, Mark 1:20. When Jesus called John to follow Him, he and his brother James were mending nets, Matthew 4:21. This fact seems to be reflected in his writings of encouraging and repairing relationships. 

His distinctively unique gospel is the only one designated as an evangelistic gospel, John 20:30-31. And yet it delves into the riches of deeper spiritual truths of the Lord, such as His deity and His great love. 

These four men wrote these powerful, life-changing portraits of Christ.

September 16 2023 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Vincent Mercado Supporter Skeptic turned believer, Catholic, father of 3

The gospels that bear the names Matthew and John were written by the apostles Matthew and John, respectively. We are not sure whether they wrote them personally or dictated them to a scribe. 

As for the gospels according to Luke and Mark, these were written by the close disciples of Paul and Peter, respectively, named Luke and Mark.

June 10 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

kyle alfriend Supporter Business owner.

I think we need to distinguish between what we know from the Gospels themselves and what the early church later attributed to them.

None of the four Gospels actually identifies its author by name. They are formally anonymous. The names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were attached to them in the early Christian tradition, and that tradition is quite old. So I wouldn't dismiss the traditional authors entirely.

But saying "the names of the books bear the names of the men who wrote them" goes beyond what we can establish historically.

Matthew never says Matthew wrote it. Mark never says Mark wrote it. Luke never names himself, and neither does John. In fact, the Gospel of John refers to an unnamed "disciple whom Jesus loved" rather than simply saying, "I am John."

There is good early evidence for the traditional associations—especially Mark being connected with Peter and Luke with Paul—but that is different from having direct evidence that these individuals personally wrote the texts we have today.

I think the honest answer is:
Tradition says Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Gospels themselves don't tell us their names. History gives us varying degrees of evidence for those traditional attributions, but not certainty.

For me, acknowledging that uncertainty doesn't diminish the Gospels. It simply means we don't have to claim more certainty than the evidence gives us.

And perhaps that is important when we talk about biblical inspiration. We can believe these writings are deeply inspired and meaningful without pretending we know things about their authorship that we actually don't know.

6 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Daniel Veler Supporter

Your question: Who actually wrote the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?

The church settled on just four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—because they were the earliest and most widely accepted accounts of Jesus' life and teachings.

But what you may not know is how the names came about, since they were not given names until the 2nd century. They appeared as manuscripts without being named. 

The names were attributed later to provide a sense of credibility. This practice helped the early church in affirming the texts as authoritative and relevant for teaching and worship.

So we see they were given their names in the 2nd century, but before that they appeared without the writer's name.

The only Gospel written that we read that states he had perfect understanding is what came to be known as the gospel of Luke.

Understand this one thing: The writings of the gospels were written as they recalled the events and teachings of Christ. Why is this so important to understand? It’s because one gospel will speak of the events or teachings of Jesus while another will speak of the same thing but with more information. It's all about how they recall.

There was a book given to John by the Lord himself to write down the testimony of Jesus. He was shown what was. What was taking place during the time of the writing? And things that were to come. It’s called the book of Revelation. This was a direct account of the testimony of Jesus. 

Revelation 1:1: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."

In this book we can now understand what Jesus meant when he taught the children of the devil would intermix with the children of God. We see the damage they do. Which we read in the parables in the four gospels.

In the four gospels we see Jesus speak of the lost being among the saved, but it is in Revelation we understand the perverse doctrine they bring with them to deceive the children of God. 

Should we disregard the four gospels? Absolutely not! If you study them, you will see they speak of the same things as in Revelation. 

Revelation gives us the complete picture of God’s divine plan, from where Christ was with the Father before creation, how he came into this world, and was crucified and rose from the dead. We see what was happening among the churches and who were the ones who brought in strange doctrine. We also are shown things to come all the way to where we are taken to the new heaven and earth.

3 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report