The Bible’s text

Who wrote the Gospels?

We call them Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but open any of the four Gospels and read it through: none of them says who wrote it. This topic looks at what the texts say about their own authors, where the four names come from, how the Gospels relate to each other, and how they compare with the Injil of the Qur’an.

1The question

Who wrote the four Gospels, where do the names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John come from, and how close were the writers to Jesus?

2What Christians believe

Christians rely on church tradition from the second century. Papias, writing early in the second century and quoted by Eusebius, says Mark wrote down the memories of Peter and that Matthew gathered the sayings of Jesus. Irenaeus, around 180, names all four authors: the apostles Matthew and John, Mark the companion of Peter, and Luke the companion of Paul.

Christians also point out that every manuscript with a title gives the same four names, and no rival names were ever proposed. If the church had invented authors, they argue, it would have chosen more famous ones than Mark and Luke. Christians hold that the Gospels preserve the testimony of eyewitnesses, either directly or through those who knew them.

3What the texts say

Luke explains how he wrote

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.
Luke 1:1–4 · KJVRead in context →

Levi or Matthew?

And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
Mark 2:14 · KJVRead in context →
And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
Matthew 9:9 · KJVRead in context →

The unnamed disciple in John, and those who vouch for him

Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
John 21:20 · KJVRead in context →
This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
John 21:24 · KJVRead in context →

Peter and John as others saw them

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:13 · KJVRead in context →

4What scholars say

Richard Bauckham (Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 2006) argues that the Gospels rest closely on eyewitness testimony. Martin Hengel (The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ, 2000) argued that the titles were attached very early, once churches had more than one Gospel to tell apart.

Most critical scholars, as Bart D. Ehrman sets out in The New Testament: A Historical Introduction, hold that the Gospels were written anonymously between about 65 and 110, by Greek-speaking Christians who were not eyewitnesses, and that the names were added in the second century.

Scholars agree that the texts do not name their authors, and that the earliest copies with titles, such as the papyrus of John known as P66, date from around 200. Most also agree that Mark was written first and that Matthew and Luke used it, often word for word, which is why the first three are called the Synoptic Gospels; how Matthew uses Mark has its own topic.

5The Islamic perspective

The Qur’an speaks of the Gospel, the Injil, as a revelation God gave to Jesus himself, and warns against scripture written by human hands and then said to come from God:

And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, confirming that which was (revealed) before him in the Torah, and We bestowed on him the Gospel wherein is guidance and a light, confirming that which was (revealed) before it in the Torah - a guidance and an admonition unto those who ward off (evil).
Qur’an 5:46 · PickthallRead in context →
He hath revealed unto thee (Muhammad) the Scripture with truth, confirming that which was (revealed) before it, even as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel.
Qur’an 3:3 · PickthallRead in context →
Therefore woe be unto those who write the Scripture with their hands and then say, "This is from Allah," that they may purchase a small gain therewith. Woe unto them for that their hands have written, and woe unto them for that they earn thereby.
Qur’an 2:79 · PickthallRead in context →

Muslims respect the four Gospels as containing much that is true about Jesus. But books about Jesus, written decades later by authors the texts never name, are not the same as the Injil, the message God gave to Jesus to preach.

6Objections and responses

“Early church writers all agree on who wrote each Gospel, so the tradition is reliable.”

Response: Those names first appear generations after the Gospels were written, while the texts themselves stay silent. And Papias says Matthew arranged the sayings “in the Hebrew language”, while our Matthew is written in Greek and copies most of Mark’s Greek, so many scholars doubt he meant the book we have.

“Every manuscript gives the same four names.”

Response: The titles are consistent in the copies we have, but those copies date from around 200 or later, more than a century after the Gospels were written. Consistent titles show what the church believed by then, not who first wrote the books.

“Matthew was an apostle and eyewitness.”

Response: If so, it is hard to explain why he copied most of Mark, who was not an eyewitness, including the story of his own call, where Mark names the tax collector Levi (Mark 2:14) and Matthew changes only the name (Matthew 9:9).

7Conclusion

Both sides agree that the Gospels do not name their authors in the text and that the names come from church tradition. Christians trust that tradition as early and reliable, and see eyewitness testimony behind the books. Muslims see accounts written about Jesus by others, different from the revelation God gave to Jesus himself.

Read Luke 1:1–4 and John 21:20–25, then Mark 2:13–17 beside Matthew 9:9–13, and ask what each writer says about himself.

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