The Story of Its Writing

The four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) present diverse accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The Acts of the Apostles presents a detailed account of the experiences of some of Jesus' disciples as they spread the news of Jesus from Jerusalem to other parts of the Roman Empire.

The word "gospel" comes from the Greek "euangelion" (Mark 1:1) which means "good news". The gospels were written between 30-60 years after Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus himself left no writings. Therefore, the gospels are records of stories and reports from eyewitnesses that were passed on orally over the years. In the beginning, the followers of Jesus were so passionate about sharing the good news that they did not think of writing down what Jesus had said or done. However, after the first disciples and eyewitnesses grew old and died, having a written record of Jesus' works and teachings, his death and resurrection, became very important.

Although there were also other "gospels" about Jesus that were written and widely circulated, the gospels accepted by the entire church are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Exactly who wrote these four books is not clear, as the names of the authors are not mentioned in the books themselves. It seems that the gospels were written by followers of Christ who heard the testimony of Jesus from one or more of the first disciples of Jesus.

A wide variety of sources were used for the writing of the gospels. These sources include the various collections of Jesus' words and parables that the gospel writers had. For example, Matthew and Luke contain a number of similar sayings of Jesus so it can be inferred that the two gospels probably used the same source. The outline of both gospels seems to follow Mark. However, Matthew and Luke also use different sources to describe the stories surrounding Jesus' birth, as Mark does not talk about Jesus' childhood. Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain many similar stories and have a parallel flow so these three gospels are called the "Synoptic Gospels" (from the Greek "synopsis", meaning "seen together").

While the three Synoptic Gospels are almost identical to each other, this is not the case with the Gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus on the teachings and miracles Jesus performed in Galilee, while John speaks of the beginning of Jesus' work in Judea. John also contains some of Jesus' words that are not found in the other gospels, such as words that begin with the word "I am", such as "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35) and "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). The order of events in John is not the same as the Synoptic Gospels. In addition, John does not include some of the parables of Jesus that the other three Gospels contain.

Although the identity of the author of Acts is unknown, scholars agree that Acts was written by the same person who wrote Luke. Both books are attributed to a man named Theophilus (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1), and both are written in a more formal Greek than the Greek used in the other gospels or books of the New Testament. A number of similarities in themes and ideas also suggest that the two books were written by the same person.

Source: Study Bible