Statement About the Four Gospels

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Saturday May 18, 2024}

Father, it is believed by some that Jesus’ death and resurrection occurred in 29 or 30 AD. However, Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s gospels were not written until approximately thirty to forty years later, in the 55-70 AD timeframe. It is believed that the books of Galatians, James, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians had already been written before any of these gospels were. Paul’s first and second missionary journeys, and most of his third missionary journey, were in the history books before these three gospels were completed. Essentially the events of the first 19 chapters of Acts were complete before anyone read any of these gospels. I consider the following thoughts as I meditate on these dates:

1. A person who was 60 years old in 70 AD was approximately 20 years old at the time of Jesus crucifixion. Given that I am approaching the age of 60, my memories of the events of my life when I was 20 remain quite vivid.
   
   There was that incident when I was on the maintenance team at college when I accidentally cut off part of one of my fingers. To this day I can remember how a guy named Bill with black curly hair from San Diego, CA discovered my injury before I did, and he was frantic. I remember the surgeon, who I believe was from the Middle East, talking to me about how the procedure he was doing on my hand had been tested on monkeys. I also remember I was told by medical staff six to eight weeks later that the second surgery on my hand was delayed a few hours because of complications the surgeons were having with a liposuction patient.
   
   I also remember that I experienced my first serious relationship with a woman at that age. I remember I went on a weekend retreat with the five other Resident Assistants from my college dorm. We stayed in October at Rob’s cabin in New Hampshire on a lake. I remember Marti screaming when she saw a bat in the cabin. I also remember I ate something with the spaghetti that didn’t agree with me. I remember I was eager to get back to campus to see my new girlfriend, who had left me a note that she was at the pond on campus.
   
   What is my point? If I had witnessed the miracles and extraordinary events of the life of Jesus Christ when I was a 20-year-old, I could easily remember the details forty years later when I was writing about them. The same would be true if I had experienced these events when I was 30 and I was now 70. It is not at all inconceivable that the apostle Matthew could remember decades later the details of his life with Christ. If I can still remember forty years later a roommate telling me his girlfriend went to Wagner College in Staten Island in New York, Mark could certainly remember the details of Jesus’ life that were shared with him by the apostle Peter. It is also believable that the witnesses to the events of Jesus life who shared their experience with Luke remembered many of the details accurately.
   
   With regard to the apostle John, who wrote his gospel about 40 years after the events of Jesus’ ministry, he had a close relationship with Jesus. It is at least as conceivable that he could remember the details of his life with Jesus as any 60-to-70-year-old today could remember experiences with their best friends from childhood, such as when Dave and I had a childhood argument over a Lego gas station and fire station.
   


2. The church grew significantly during the 30 to 40 years between Jesus’ resurrection and the appearance of the first gospels. How could it grow without the gospels to serve as the foundation for the new faith? The answer is that those who witnessed the events of the life of Christ were excited to share their experience and their accounts were very compelling. Their accounts, filled with details, were convincingly believable, so much so that people came to faith in Jesus through the spoken words of those who shared their faith. In other words, the church thrived on the sharing of testimonies of how Jesus Christ had changed lives.