Which gospel writer was not an eyewitness to the events he writes about in his gospel?

Answer 1

A:It would be great if at least one of the gospel writers was an eyewitness to the events portrayed in the gospels, because we could then have some confidence that these events really did happen as described. Unfortunately, the gospels were actually written anonymously and we now know that none of the evangelists was really an eyewitness to the life and mission of Jesus. The anonymous gospels were attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John by the Church Fathers in the second century purely on the basis that they seemed to have been written by people who must have known something about Jesus, and these were the sources they thought most likely to have written these gospels.

Even conservative theologians agree that the Gospels of Mark and Luke were not written by eyewitnesses, which just leave those of Matthew and John. These gospels can be demonstrated to have been derivative gospels, based on prior sources and not written by eyewitnesses relying on their own experiences.

When the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are laid side by side and read synoptically ('with the same eye') in the original Greek language, it can be seen that there is a literary dependency among the three gospels. The early Church Fathers assumed that Matthew was the first gospel and that the other two were based on it. Modern scholars agree that there is indeed a literary dependency, but have established that Mark is the original and that the other two were based on it. Matthew and Luke also used a further source for additional sayings material, now known as the 'Q' document. Thus, the author of Matthew was certainly not an eyewitness.

Until the early twentieth century, scholars largely accepted that John's Gospel was written independently of the synoptic gospels, which means it could have been written by an eyewitness. However, ongoing study and scholarship have found evidence of copying and inspiration, establishing that John was loosely based on Luke, but with some material taken direct from Mark. Much of the material unique to John can also be seen as having been inserted for theological reasons. The Gospel of John was therefore not written by an eyewitness to the events the author wrote about.

In summary, all four New Testament evangelists were not eyewitnesses to the events in the gospels.

Biblical Answer:

Biblical scholars writing the New King James Version (NKJV) of The Bible state that Matthew and John were Jesus' apostles and Mark was a scribe of the Apostle Peter. Only Luke, a physician and apparently an excellent historian, was not an eyewitness of the ministry of Jesus Christ - yet the harmony among the four gospel accounts - inspired or copied as you wish to believe.

Answer 2

Luke