The Bible underneath it

Who Wrote the Gospels

Anonymous, decades later, copying each other.

The point in one sentence

The four gospels are anonymous documents written decades after Jesus died, by authors who were almost certainly not eyewitnesses and who copied from each other.

The gap between the events and the accounts

Mainstream scholarly dating. Jesus died around 30 AD.

Mark, the earliest gospel~40 years later

Matthew~50 to 60 years later

Luke~50 to 60 years later

John~60 to 80 years later

Source: mainstream scholarly consensus; see Bart Ehrman on gospel dating

The evidence

All four gospels are formally anonymous. None names its author anywhere in the text. Open any gospel and look. Source
The names were first attached in the second century, by Papias and then Irenaeus around 180 AD.
Matthew and Luke copy Mark, often word for word. The majority position is Marcan priority. Source
The authors show no signs of knowing Aramaic or the geography of Israel and wrote in polished literary Greek, while Acts 4:13 describes Peter and John as "unschooled, ordinary men."

"New Testament scholars are virtually unified in thinking that the Gospels of the New Testament began to appear after 70 CE," and on eyewitness authorship, "I think it's completely implausible."

Bart Ehrman. Source

When they say

"Early church tradition preserves a reliable chain back to the apostles." That is a real scholarly debate. But notice what it concedes: whoever wrote these books chose not to sign them.

"Copying Mark shows respect for a good source." The problem is who is copying whom. If Matthew was an apostle who walked with Jesus for three years, why is he reproducing the verbatim wording of Mark, who by tradition was not even a disciple?

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