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A Christian tradition says that Matthew, Luke, Mark and John were the authors of the gospels that bear their names. Certainly the gospels were written by real, historical people, but they were originally anonymous works. It was only later in the second century that the Church Fathers attributed each of the New Testament gospels to the apostle they thought most likely to have written the book. The existence of the gospels is therefore not proof that people known as Matthew, Luke, Mark and John were historical people.

As to whether the apostles of those names were historical people, there is no extra-biblical evidence. It is possible to believe in their likely existence on the basis of biblical testimony, but it is not possible to prove that they really were historical people.

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