Who was the author of the first gospel in the New Testament?

Answer 1

It is generally accepted that the Gospel According to St Mark was the first gospel to be written. It was originally an anonymous document, but during the second century the Church Fathers attributed this gospel to St Mark.

Answer 2

A:

The Bible is traditionally published with Matthew as the first gospel, followed by Mark, Luke and then John. Chronologically, Mark was the first gospel written, as it has been established that this was the major source for the other gospels, either directly (Matthew, Luke) or indirectly (John).

All the gospels were originally anonymous, so we will never really know who wrote them. Matthew's Gospel was speculatively attributed to the apostle Matthew in the second century, largely because this gospel has more references to Matthew than any other gospel. However, scholars say it could not have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed. Similarly, there is no good reason to believe that Mark's Gospel was written by Mark. All we can say is that Mark was written by a particularly accomplished writer, skilled in Greek rhetorical techniques.

Answer 3

A:

The apostle John is traditionally credited with having written the gsopel that now bears his name, although New Testament scholars say it is unlikely to have been written by John.

The tradition of authorship by John came about because the second-century Church Fathers sought to establish who wrote each of the, previously anonymous, New Testament gospels, and decided that there were clues in the gospel that pointed to John as the author. They noticed that this gospel did not mention the apostle John, but alone of all the gospels mentioned a disciple "whom Jesus loved." They decided that this disciple was John and that he was also the author of the fourth gospel, too modest to use his own name. On such a speculative claim, John has ever since been credited with having written one of the gospels, which came to be known as John's Gospel.

Modern scholars say that this gospel could not have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed, which thus means that John was certainly not the author. Although tradition continues to credit John with authorship of the fourth gospel, we do not really know who wrote it.

Answer 4

A:The first New Testament gospel to be written was attributed to Mark by the Church Father Papias in the second century, as it had been anonymous until that time. However, modern New Testament scholars say there is no good reason to accept that attribution. We do not know who really wrote the first New Testament gospel.

The gospel now known as 'Q' was probably written before Mark, at least in its initial form, and the Gospel of Thomas may also have been similarly early. Once again, we do not know the authors of these gospels.

A:

Tradition has it that Mark's Gospel was written first.

Answer 5

A:The earliest gospel attributed to one of the twelve disciples is the Gospel of Thomas, although this was never included in the New Testament. It was followed a few years later by the Gospel of Matthew, also attributed to one of the disciples. However, scholars now say that neither gospel could have been written by an eyewitness to the life and mission of Jesus.

The fourth New Testament gospel is also attributed to one of the disciples, John and, until the early twentieth century, most scholars accepted that John was indeed the author. They now say that none of the gospels was written by a disciple of Jesus.

The explanation is that the New Testament gospels were originally anonymous and it was not until later in the second century that the Church Fathers thought to attribute authors, by which time any evidence as to who the authors were was long lost. The tradition that Matthew was the author of the gospel that now bears his name arose around 130 CE, when Papias supposed that he was probably the author. Studies of this gospel have demonstrated that it was copied in large part from Mark's Gospel and contains some 600 of the 666 verses in Mark, often in exactly the same words in the Greek language. It also shares with Luke's Gospel a second source for sayings material attributed to Jesus, now known as the hypothetical 'Q' document. Similar studies have shown that John was inspired by Luke's Gospel, with some material taken direct from Mark.

Answer 6

A:The first New Testament gospel to be written is the one now known as Mark's Gospel, but it was originally anonymous and the attribution to Mark was only made in the second century. The other New Testament gospels were also anonymous, so we do not really know the authors although they were attributed by the second-century Church Fathers to Matthew, Luke and John. Modern scholars say there is no good reason to accept any of these attributions, especially as none of the gospels could have been written by an eyewitness to the events described.

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The first New Testament gospel written is known as Mark's gospel. There is no internal proof done not by himself but through Peter's teachings. Mark accurately kept an account inside the Bible to what the name of the author of this book is. One of my Bibles is a New International Version (NIV) study Bible. In the introduction to the Gospel of Mark, it states that the author is unknown but the most important evidence comes from a man named Papias (140 A.D.) quoting an earlier source that told him that Mark and Peter were very close even before they met Jesus. Mark received what the Lord said and of Peter's teachings. The conclusion is that the gospel of Mark largely contains the preachings of Peter that were written and arranged by Mark. But remember there is no proof of who did indeed wrote the gospel of Mark. The authors of the gospels as stated above are unknown.

Matthew also depended on Peter for his early writings but these two gospels sometimes are written about different subjects. Not wrong, just different subjects or topics at times.

The gospel of Luke is a close associate of the book of Acts and is believed to be written by the same author because of language (Greek) and structure. Luke does seem like the best candidate for authorship but again it is still unknown.

John is the disciple that Jesus loved (13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7,20,24) This gospel has many verses that have an eye witness point of view. It shows a good knowledge of the area of that time including Cana which was never mentioned before this but yet John had passed through that general area. John also knew Jewish customs, etc. Many men at that time could have fit this description. Certain early writers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian said that John wrote this and all the other evidence does agree. Remember again that John's name is not mentioned in this Gospel. And there is no certain proof.