21 - New Testament - The Gospel Writers
Who Were the Gospel Writers?
So who were the writers of the Gospels, and do we have any evidence that these were the actual writers?
Matthew and John were both part of the original 12 disciples. John was actually part of Jesus' inner circle, in addition to Peter and James.
So Matthew and John were actually eyewitnesses of these events.
Mark, the writer of what is thought to be the earliest gospel, traveled with Saint Paul for extended periods of time, but probably received most of his gospel account from Saint Peter.
The oldest, and probably most significant testimony affirming the writers of the gospels comes from Papias, writing in AD125.
He specifically affirms that Mark "carefully and accurately records Peter's eyewitness observations".
In fact, he said Mark made no mistake, and did not include any false statement. And Papias said that Matthew preserved the teachings of Jesus as well.
What about Luke?
Well, Irenaeus (pictured on icon below), writing in about AD180, in Adversus Haereses 3.3.4, confirms the traditional authorship of Luke.
He also affirms Matthew, Mark and John as well.
On at least one occasion, Luke is known to have met James, the brother of Jesus. And there is reason to believe that he received much of his information from Philip and his family in Caesarea, as it is recorded in Acts 21:8 that he stays with him.
After Paul's 2-year detention in Caesarea, Luke went with him to Rome, where we find him in the company, along with Mark, in about the year AD60. This is recorded in Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 1:24.
In this next section, we will talk about manuscripts, what they are, and why they give power to our assertion that the New Testament is reliable.
