Why did the early christians write the gospel?

Answer 1

To help people be good. To help them .To inspire them, let them know what happened.

After the Ascension, the Apostles were expecting Jesus to return at any time. Until a couple of years had gone by, it did not occur to them that His Return could be a long term delayed event. In their evangelism, it became apparent that a written account would be needed from eyewitnesses to prove their claims.

As the years went by, larger audiences were being reached, and a written account was needed by eyewitnesses to have a basis in law for this new "cult". Since there were a limited number of eyewitnesses, the Gospels were written as an evangelizing tool, a history of Jesus, and a legal document for court proceedings.

Current theology places the writing of the Gospels to within five years of the Ascension, with the latest most probably being John's. Most likely, John's Gospel was written about ten years after the other three, although opinions vary.

This is very, very simple: John actually told us why he wrote his Gospel:-

John 20

31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

They tell those who were not eyewitnesses what it was all about.

Answer 2

In simple terms they wanted to tell others about Jesus Christ, both who He was and what was His message.

They also wanted to leave a written record since those who knew Jesus personally were starting to die out.

Answer 3

The extraordinary events and teachings of Christ needed to be recorded by those whom had witnessed these events. This is indeed what happened when the Gospels were written, as they were either written by those whom had been eyewitnesses or who were recording them for other eyewitnesses. Because Christ's message was one for all men in all times, it needed to be recorded in written form in addition to oral form. Thus, we still today have the historical details and the teachings themselves in a form which is practically identical to what was written within the lifetime of those who saw and heard Jesus and witnessed His Resurrection.

The Gospel message needed to reach all people, and the recording of the historical events enables present day man to be as aware of the need for salvation from their sins as were those who heard Jesus or his apostles teach. Jesus commandment to reach all nations with the good news is still being carried out today as Christians follow the instructions recorded in the Gospels back then. Written history enables us to know what is needed for salvation far better than oral history, which can be more easily corrupted.

Answer 4

A:Scholars say that the first gospel to be written was the Gospel of Mark, written appoximately 70 CE. The precedence of Mark is provable because scholars have demonstrated that the other gospels were based, directly or indirectly, on this gospel.

We may never know exactly why the Gospel was written. A common Christian belief is that the gospels began to be written so that the story of Jesus could be written down before the eyewitnesses had all died. If this had really been the reason, we could expect the gospel to have been written much sooner, since almost all eyewitnesses would already have been dead when Mark was written. We could reasonably rule this out as the reason Mark's Gospel was written, and certainly as the reason the other three New Testament gospels were written.

The coincidence of the time of authorship of Mark with the end of the First Roman-Jewish War in 70 CE, could very well provide the reason for Mark's anonymous author writing the Gospel. For example:

• At a time when Jews were facing retribution for their part in the war, it might have been seen as important to demonstrate to the Roman authorities that the new sect posed no threat to the Roman peace.
• At the very time of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, it might have seemed opportune to portray Christianity as the natural successor to the old order of Judaism.

Answer 5

A:The question poses the issue of why, if the gospels were not written in the early years after the death of Jesus, they came to be written several decades later. The conservative answer is that as the disciples grew older, they saw the need to record the events and teachings of Jesus while they were still alive. Yet, if they were faced with constant danger of persecution and martyrdom, it seems strange that they would wait very long at all before writing their stories, if they felt they needed to be recorded. Mark's Gospel was the first to be written and, since Mark was not even a disciple, this is inconsistent with the notion of the original disciples being concerned to write down the gospel story first-hand.

The four New Testament gospels were originally anonymous until attributed by the second-century Church Fathers to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, with Matthew and John being two of the original disciples. However, modern New Testament scholars say that none of the gospels could have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed. We now know that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were largely based on Mark's Gospel, with John loosely inspired by Luke, so we should first seek to find why Mark was written.

That Mark's authorship coincides with the end of the Roman-Jewish War strongly suggests that whatever reason there was for writing this Gospel, it relates to the devastation that occurred. It must have appeared to many that the world was coming to an end. In fact, Mark (unlike the gospels that were to follow) tells us that the end of the world would occur within the lifetimes of those who had witnessed the life of Jesus. It may also be that the author saw a need to explain Christian beliefs to non-Christians - Romans and the Jewish religious authorities - in order to avoid reprisals against the Christians. With the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the loss of power by the Sadducees and Pharisees, the author might have seen the opportunity for Christianity to become the successor to Second Temple Judaism, pre-empting the rise of rabbinical Judaism.

We can make no unarguable statement as to why the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were written, but the authors did choose to write new gospels rather than simply making more copies of the Gospel they already had - Mark. The author of Matthew sought to place the origins of Christianity more firmly in the Old Testament, perhaps emphasising that Christianity rather than the emerging rabbinical Judaism was the successor to Second Temple Judaism. By the time Luke was written, at the end of the first century, rabbinical Judaism had firmly established itself among the Jews and Christianity was no longer a threat to it. The author of Luke sought to defend Christianity by placing it more firmly in a historical context. Both authors portrayed Jesus as the son of God from his very conception and both authors described the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection, although they gave very different accounts of the nativity and resurrection.

As with its predecessors, John's Gospel was written anonymously and attributed to John by the Church Fathers later in the second century. This Gospel was inspired by Luke's Gospel, although some material was taken direct from Mark. The author was reacting to issues that had arisen in the Christian community early in the second century.

Answer 6

To start with, The Bible is God's Book to mankind. God wants people to know that He is real and alive. After God's Son came to earth as Jesus and paid the penalty for man's sin by dying on the cross and being resurrected on the third day, God wanted this story written so people would know how to come to God so He had four men write the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These four different accounts of Jesus' ministry make a complete story and are intended to lead people to God through Jesus Christ. Other gospels were written but were rejected as they contained untruths. The rest of the New Testament tell us how we are to live the life God has given us.

Answer 7

There were several reasons. By using four Gospels in the canon of scripture four views are given to make a complete story. Each writer put down what the Holy Spirit had them to write and four views were expressed, but worked in conjunction with each other to form a complete story.

Also each writer of the Gospels had a particular audience that they wanted to reach with the story of the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance Matthew wrote his Gospel to a Jewish audience and used things in his Gospel that the Jews would understand.

Mark on the other hand wrote to a Roman audience. Luke wrote more to a Gentile audience. John's Gospel was to a Jewish audience more or less, but He stressed the Spiritual side of the Gospel more that the other writers.

There were actually more Gospels written, but when the canon of books were to be submitted these other gospels did not meet the standards fit to be placed in the canon of Scripture. Once you are familiar with the gospels in the bible you can see why the others were not accepted.

Answer 8

It is certainly interesting that no-one felt the need to write about the life and mission of Jesus during the nearly forty years until Mark's Gospel was written, around 70 CE. It is because of this problem that conservative Christians used to date the gospels much earlier than most scholars now do. The hypothetical 'Q' document may possibly predate Mark's Gospel, but it was only a book of sayings attributed to Jesus and does not mention the crucifixion or resurrection of Jesus.

As the first gospel was written approximately 70 CE and therefore about the time of the First Jewish War and the civil war in Jerusalem, then the destruction of the great buildings mentioned in Mark's Gospel, this may provide a clue as to why, after apparently forty years, it became important to write the gospel. The author of Mark might have genuinely believed that the end of the world really was about to occur (Mark chapter 13) and that others needed to be warned before it was too late. Or, he might have believed that by writing a gospel to show that Christians merely followed a holy man who had lived and died in the Jewish milieu, he could protect his fellow Christians from retributions that followed the end of those wars.

Answer 9

It is now recognised that Mark's Gospel was written first, around 70 CE. That its authorship coincides with the end of the Roman-Jewish War strongly suggests that whatever reason there was for writing this Gospel, it relates to the devastation that occurred. It must have appeared to many that the world was coming to an end. In fact, Mark (unlike the gospels that were to follow) tells us that the end of the world would occur within the lifetimes of those who had witnessed the life of Jesus. It may also be that the author saw a need to explain Christian beliefs to non-Christians - Romans and the Jewish religious authorities - in order to avoid reprisals against the Christians. There is no reason to believe that it was written by Paul's companion, Mark, since this attribution was only made later in the second century CE. There is therefore no reason to believe that Mark's Gospel was written by an eyewitness or a contemporary who knew an eyewitness.

There is sound evidence that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were based on Mark's Gospel. This view is not only held by biblical scholars but is aknowledged by many theologians. Of course, this militates against them being written by eyewitnesses keen to record the events they had experienced but again, these gospels were not attributed to the apostles whose names they now bear until later in the second century. We can make no unarguable statement as to why these gospels were written, but the authors did choose to write new gospels rather than simply making more copies of the Gospel they already had - Mark. They clearly saw reasons to improve it, but we can only speculate as to those reasons.

As with its predecessors, John's Gospel was written anonymously and attributed to John by the Church Fathers later in the second century. This Gospel was inspired by Luke's Gospel, although some material was taken direct from Mark. The author was reacting to issues that had arisen in the Christian community early in the second century.

Answer 10

The reason the gospel was written, was so that people like us could learn and read the bible as well.