The evangelists wrote the gospels!

Elementary Watson!

The New Testament has four books called “gospels”. Those are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These titles make us deduce that Matthew was written by Matthew, Mark by Mark, and so on. In this post, we are going to see that this deduction is correct and that there is historical evidence to support it.

The gospels don’t contain the name of the author in them.

Going forward and reading their content, the author’s name doesn’t appear among the verses of any of the four gospels. Therefore, the author’s name is in the title, not the text. According to sceptics, this means that the gospels were written anonymously. In this scenario the church falsely attributed the gospels to the traditional authors, deceiving believers for the following two thousand years of history.

This topic is divided into two parts.

To avoid overloading you with information, I decided to divide the topic into two parts. In this first one, we will show the historical evidence supporting the attribution of the gospels to their traditional authors. In the next post, we will show some arguments against the conspiracy theory idealized by sceptics.

The church fathers must attribute the authors to the gospels, but they cannot make up their minds. Then Papias has an idea: “Let’s go fishing! We will give an apostle name to every type of fish!”
The four make a list, go to the beach, and start fishing. Half an hour later…
Papias: “I caught a cod… it’s John!”
Iraeneus: “I caught a sole… it’s Matthew!”
But Clement and Tertullian fish out an old shoe and a tire.
Here’s why… Mark and Luke!

Who wrote the gospels?

As we are going to show, the church always knew who wrote the gospels. The attribution therefore comes from a two thousand years tradition. From it we know that Matthew and John were two of Jesus’ disciples; while Mark and Luke were two apostles’ collaborators. These four authors are also called “evangelists”.

Why are they attributed to these authors?

Jesus proclaimed the gospel and taught it to his disciples, whom he called “apostles”, that is, “messengers”. He gave them the task of preaching and spreading it. The apostles encountered the risen Jesus, who confirmed to them their ministry and mission. The apostles obeyed him, and began to preach the gospel and their testimony about the resurrection of Jesus. Some listeners converted, starting the early church. Later, the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote down these contents in an orderly form, creating the four gospels. They were not written immediately, but only a few decades after the resurrection. The goal was to preserve the testimony of the apostles. They handed their manuscripts to churches who preserved and copied them. These books were officially included in the New Testament, with the biblical canon. The church therefore knew the authors of the gospels from the beginning. They were not anonymous. Some gospels, as we will see, were even written at the request of the congregations.

A detective was investigating the church fathers and the gospel conspiracy. Then he saw Papias, Clement, Irenaeus and Tertullian returning from the beach with suspicious bags. As he approached them to ask questions, he realized that, just like their bags, their story… smelled fishy!

What evidence do we have supporting this attribution?

Is there evidence to confirm that the gospels were written by those authors?
We have evidence that comes from:

the New Testament:

• a) In the New Testament, the gospels bear the names of the four evangelists.
• b) There is evidence that the gospels were written in the first century, that is when the evangelists were still alive.
• c) Paul refers to a passage in Luke as part of the scriptures.

ancient manuscripts:

• a) The Muratorian fragment (170 AD) confirms the existence of four gospels, and Luke and John as the authors of the last two.
• b) The Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) contains the four gospels attributed to the evangelists.

The church fathers:

• a) Multiple ancient authors, called “church fathers” unanimously confirm the four authors.
• b) These authors lived historically very close to the evangelists.
• c) They wrote independently from different locations.
• d) They provide the same basic information with different details.
• e) They report that some gospels were written at the request of the church.
• f) There are no alternative attributions to different authors.

The church fathers cannot decide the authors of the gospels. So Irenaeus has a brilliant idea: “Let’s go into the woods and let… dangerous predators attack us!”.
Papias:” Brilliant! Let’s make a list: the wolf is John, the bear is Peter., and so on…”. So they make a list of twelve dangerous beasts.
Tertullian enters first and is bitten by a wolf. Bleeding, he exclaims: “The wolf is John!”.
Then Papias enters and is knocked down by a wild boar. Limping, he shouts, “The boar is Matthew!”
Clement and Irenaeus enter together, but they get chased by a chicken and a duck. So Papias perplexedly proposes: “Ducks and chickens?… Mark and Luke!”.

In the New Testament, the gospels are named after their authors: As we said, opening the New Testament, we observe that the gospels are titled with their author’s name.

The gospels were completed in the first century: We have already seen that there is evidence that The gospels were written in the first century. At this time, the four evangelists were still alive and part of the early church’s leadership.

Paul quotes the gospels as scripture: In 1 Timothy 5:18, Paul refers to the scriptures, and makes two quotations, one from Deuteronomy and the other from Luke (Luke 10:7). Paul’s epistles are confidently dated to the first century by historians. This means that in the first century, this gospel already existed and was considered part of the scriptures by the church. just like the Old Testament. We can deduce this because Paul quotes both passages knowing that the church was familiar with them.

A detective is questioning Clement and Iraeneus about the deaths of Tertullian and Papias. Detective: “This story of being attacked by wild animals… who thought of it?”
Irenaeus: “The idea was mine…”
Detective: “And why would Papias and Tertullian… listen to you?”

The Muratorian Fragment confirms two of the authors: The Muratorian Fragment is an ancient manuscript dated to 170. It is the oldest list of books of the New Testament arrived to us. Since it is a fragment, some parts are missing. In it we find four gospels confirmed, and the gospels of Luke and John. While the gospels of Matthew and Mark are missing, due to fragmentation. Scholars think that this document is a translation of an even older one.

Codex Sinaiticus confirms the four authors: The Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest complete version of the New Testament that arrived in our days. It dates back to the fourth century. Here too the four gospels are attributed to traditional authors.

The church fathers unanimously confirm the authors: Papias, Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, and Eusebius, all confirm Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the authors of the gospels. There is no controversy on this topic.

The church fathers lived in an era close to that of the evangelists: These authors wrote within 60 to 140 years of the completion of the gospels. At that time living witnesses were still available such as many texts that today are lost. We can see an example of that, in the work of Eusebius, who quotes texts of which we only have fragments today.
The apostles appointed the presbyters John and Aristion, who passed the information to Papias. While Mark the evangelist founded the school of Alexandria and passed its management to Demetrius who entrusted it to Clement of Alexandria who was replacing his teacher Panthenos.

The church fathers do not know to whom to attribute the gospels.
So Clement has a brilliant idea: “Let’s go to the emergency room and see who comes in.”
Papias: “Formidable! Let’s make a list of accidents”
Irenaeus: “For fractures: John, for illnesses: James…”
They finish the list, go there, and start watching.
The first patient has a broken leg. The four exclaim: “A fracture…it’s John!”
The second one has a knife stuck in his foot. “A Laceration… it’s Matthew!”.
But then two more people arrive. It’s the electrician and the pizza delivery guy.
Papias: “And what do we do now?”.
Tertullian reflects on it: “At this point, I would say… Mark and Luke!”

The church fathers write from different locations: Authors Irenaeus, Papias, Clement, and Tertullian, in the second century, confirm the authors of the gospels. They were writing from different locations in the ancient world. They were completely independent sources. In fact, Irenaeus was born about 130, the same decade in which Papias died. Clement studied at the school of Alexandria, while Tertullian at Carthage.

The church fathers provide different details: These sources report the same basic information, but each adds different details. That confirms to us that they hadn’t agreed on a story.

The church fathers claim that two gospels were written at the request of the church: According to these sources, the gospels of Mark and John were written at the request of the students of Peter and John. This means that the churches knew the authors personally.

The church fathers agree on the authors, and there are no alternative attributions: There is no ancient text, or any other evidence, that proposes alternative authors for the four canonical gospels.

A detective is investigating strange deaths in the emergency room.
Detective: “Gentlemen, there is no point in denying. You were there and were seen by eyewitnesses, behaving, in their words: like madmen who had escaped from a mental asylum.”
Papias: “It wasn’t our fault, detective!”
Irenaeus: “We were just studying… statistics!”
Detective: “That patient suffering from a heart attack needed urgent care, and not to answer… your questions!”
Clement: “Unfortunately, sir, that guy didn’t make it to the hospital.”
Tertullian: “I really wanted him to make it. On our list the illness was… Peter!”
Detective: “What list?”

Quotes.

Following are the quotes from the church fathers to which we referred.

Papias of Hierapolis (60-130).

“And the elder used to say this, Mark became Peter’s interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered, not, indeed, in order, of the things said and done by the Lord. For he had not heard the Lord, nor had followed him, but later on, followed Peter, who used to give teaching as necessity demanded but not making, as it were, an arrangement of the Lord’s oracles, so that Mark did nothing wrong in thus writing down single points as he remembered them. For to one thing he gave attention, to leave out nothing of what he had heard and to make no false statements in them.” (Eusebius Church History 3.39.15)

But concerning Matthew he writes as follows: “So then Matthew wrote the oracles in the Hebrew language, and every one interpreted them as he was able.” (Eusebius Church History 3.39.16)

When the presbyters saw him from afar they tried to change direction. But it was already too late. No one escaped Papias’ questions. In Hierapolis they also knew him as… The reporter!

Irenaeus of Lion (130-202).

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 had leaned upon his breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.(Against Heresies 3.1.1-2)

Irenaeus studied in Turkey and then moved to France. There, he was also known for his famous… Kebab kiosk!

Clement of Alexandria (150-215).

“And so great a joy of light shone upon the minds of the hearers of Peter that they were not satisfied with merely a single hearing or with the unwritten teaching of the divine gospel, but with all sorts of entreaties they besought Mark, who was a follower of Peter and whose gospel is extant, to leave behind with them in writing a record of the teaching passed on to them orally; and they did not cease until they had prevailed upon the man and so became responsible for the Scripture for reading in the churches.” (Ecclesiastical History Book 2 Chapter 15).

“As Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome, and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark, who had followed him for a long time and remembered his sayings, should write them out.  And having composed the Gospel he gave it to those who had requested it.  When Peter learned of this, he neither directly forbade nor encouraged it.  But, last of all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the Gospel, being urged by his friends, and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel. (Ecclesiastical History Book 6 Chapter 14).

Did you pay attention to the post? Who was Clement’s teacher? It is said that Clement tried everything against dandruff, but then discovered… Pantaenus!

Tertullian (155-220).

“The same authority of the apostolic churches will afford evidence to the other Gospels also, which we possess equally through their means, and according to their usage. I mean the Gospels of John and Matthew whilst that which Mark published may be affirmed to be Peter’s whose interpreter Mark was. For even Luke’s form of the Gospel men usually ascribe to Paul. And it may well seem that the works which disciples publish belong to their masters.” (Against Marcion 4.5).

“We lay it down as our first position, that the evangelical Testament has apostles for its authors, to whom was assigned by the Lord Himself this office of publishing the gospel… Of the apostles, therefore, John and Matthew first instill faith into us; while of apostolic men, Luke and Mark renew it afterwards. These all start with the same principles of the faith, so far as relates to the one only God the Creator and His Christ, how that He was born of the Virgin, and came to fulfill the law and the prophets. (Against Marcion 4.2).

To pay for his studies in Italy, Tertullian worked as a chef in a restaurant in Rome. Everyone called him… Tortellini!

Origen (185-253)

“In his first book on Matthew’s Gospel, maintaining the Canon of the Church, he testifies that he knows only four Gospels, writing as follows: 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, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism, and published in the Hebrew language. The second is by Mark, who composed it according to the instructions of Peter, who in his Catholic epistle acknowledges him as a son, saying, ‘The church that is at Babylon elected together with you, salutes you, and so does Marcus, my son.’ 1 Peter 5:13 And the third by Luke, the Gospel commended by Paul, and composed for Gentile converts. Last of all that by John. (Commentary on Matthew 1). (Ecclesiastical History Book 6 Chapter 25).

To understand the history of the church we must go back…. At the Origen!

The Muratorian Fragment (170)

…The third book of the Gospel, that according to Luke, the well-known physician Luke wrote in his own name in order after the ascension of Christ, and when Paul had associated him with himself as one studious of right. Nor did he himself see the Lord in the flesh; and he, according as he was able to accomplish it, began his narrative with the nativity of John.

The fourth Gospel is that of John, one of the disciples. When his fellow-disciples and bishops entreated him, he said, “Fast ye now with me for the space of three days, and let us recount to each other whatever may be revealed to each of us.” On the same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the apostles, that John should narrate all things in his own name as they called them to mind.

And hence, although different points are taught us in the several books of the Gospels, there is no difference as regards the faith of believers, inasmuch as in all of them all things are related under one imperial Spirit, which concern the Lord’s nativity, His passion, His resurrection, His conversation with His disciples, and His twofold advent, the first in the humiliation of rejection, which is now past, and the second in the glory of royal power, which is yet in the future.

What marvel is it, then, that John brings forward these several things so constantly in his epistles also, saying in his own person, “What we have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears, and our hands have handled, that have we written.” For thus he professes himself to be not only the eye-witness, but also the hearer; and besides that, the historian of all the wondrous facts concerning the Lord in their order.” (The Muratorian Fragment: 2 -6).

The museum’s PC had a problem. As soon as he saw it, the technician said that it needed a… Muratorian defragmentation.

Justin Martyr (100-165).

“For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them…” (there follows the institution of the Lord’s Supper) (1st Apology 66).

“On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.” (1st Apology 67)

Justin studied philosophy. One day his classroom was empty. It was just… Justin!

Texts.

• Eusebius: Ecclesiastical history.
• Justin: First Apology.
• Irenaeus: Against heresies.
• The Muratorian Fragment.

Conclusion of the first part.

We know that the gospels were written in the first century. All ancient sources confirm that it was the four evangelists who did it. In some cases, it was the church itself that solicited some of these authors to write them. The idea that anonymous works had been attributed to the evangelists by the church fathers is unfounded. In fact, these authors are from the generation after the apostles and write from different locations, confirming the same basic information, but adding different details. In the next post, we’ll see further arguments that make this conspiracy theory even more absurd.

The detective called them all into the library and locked the doors. Then, he asked them, “Who are you?”
Papias answered: “Don’t you know us? We are the church fathers!”
Detective: “You see Mr. Papias… you were born in 60 AD; while Irenaeus was born in 130. Clement and Tertullian were born around 150. So, if the youngest were 20, you would be at least 100. Can you tell me what year we are in and how old are each of you?”
The four realized the truth and dematerialized. Case solved! The time paradox was why their conspiracy was so… paradoxical!

Thanks for your attention, and see you in the next post!