Did Peter write a Gospel about Christ?

Answer 1

Opinion

From early times, Mark was accepted as the author of the Gospel that bears his name. He was a disciple of Peter and it is thought that the two conversed about the events in Jesus' life. Further to this, Mark and his family were associated with Jesus and his disciple in Jerusalem and would have had direct information and tesimonies of his own to rely on.

Answer 2

No, Peter did not write a Gospel about Christ. The Gospels of the New Testament are traditionally attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Peter is known more for his role as one of the twelve apostles and a prominent figure in the early Christian church.

Answer 3

AnswerThere is a Gospel of Peter that deals exclusively with death and resurrection of Jesus but, like all the Gospels, it was not really written by the disciple to whom it was attributed. It is thought to date from the second century CE.

Answer 4

The tradition that Mark was the author of the Gospel that now bears his name arose around 130 CE, when Papias supposed that he was probably the author. Mark is mentioned in the pseudonymous epistle, 1 Peter (5:13) as Peter's son, and Papias said that he was also the 'interpreter' for Peter.

However, the author of Mark's Gospel clearly did not rely on direct eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus. Moreover, 1 Peter is a second century epistle that could not really have been written by the disciple Peter.

So, Peter did not help in the writing of Mark's Gospel.

Answer 5

Yes. Mark's gospel was written when the destruction of the Temple had already taken place, or just before the event, when it was clear that the Romans intended to destroy the Temple.
For scholars, this is evidenced by an apparent prophecy of the destruction of the Temple in Mark 13:2, 'And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou those great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.' Jesus went on later to tell the disciples that they would personally experience social turmoil and persecution, there would be earthquakes and 'But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.' He concluded by saying, 'Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.' An oblique reference to the Book of Daniel implies that the predicted end of times would occur within about four years of the destruction of the Temple.

So, we have two related 'prophecies' in one short passage. Either Jesus prophesied both events, or he prophesied neither. But, we now know that the end of the world, with the Son of man returning in the clouds with great power and glory, did not occur within the lifetimes of his listeners. To attribute this prophecy to Jesus is to attribute to him the inability to make accurate predictions. The alternative is that the author of Mark's Gospel put these words in the mouth of Jesus, because he knew at the time of writing that the Temple and the great buildings really had been destroyed. This is the scholarly consensus.

Answer 6

Another answer from our community:

No. Mark was written before, between 50AD and 68AD. The destruction of the Temple in 70AD is prophesied.