81. Beginner Bible Course: Who were Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?

Episode 81  The simple Bible overview of…WHO WERE MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN?

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Open the four gospel books of the new Testament. But before we do, let's talk a little bit about their authors, Matthew Mark, Luke, and John, just a couple of commonalities, all four, right in common Greek, the language of the marketplace and everyday conversation. One would expect that to be classical, formal hoity, toity, Greek. That's what theology was written in, but that wasn't the purpose of these four gospels. It should be newspaper, language heralding, good news to come and folks like you and I, the second thing deals with when these four gospel writers wrote the best scholars can determine from the language and what's in their gospels is that all four wrote between the mid fifties and the early nineties.

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And that's significant for two reasons. First, these accounts come between 25 and about 50 years of the events, enough time hadn't passed for these events to become fuzzy in the minds of the writers. And also in the minds of other eyewitnesses who could immediately and vigorously object. If they read these accounts and said, wait a minute, I was there and it didn't happen that way at all. If my students came back for a 20th reunion, and I mentioned about the day in class, when I dressed up like Superman and threw one of the students across the room, if that didn't really happen, they would roll their eyes and correct the story. If not right there at the reunion, certainly on social media immediately thereafter.

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Now let's look at our four writers. First, Matthew Matthew was a Jew. Actually three of the four of our gospel writers are Jews. Matthew is also a disciple or apprentice of Jesus. He followed him around for the better part of three years daily. What Matthew shares in his gospel is not second hand. As for vocation. Matthew was a tax collector, a tax collector for Rome. Think about that to Jews. Matthew would have been viewed as a trader and given a very, very cold shoulder. What few friends he did have would likely be people in his profession, other tax collectors.

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And riff-raff not only did they collect taxes for Rome, but they also added their own little commission. We see the Matthew had a large house. That'll give you a little idea. What kind of commissions he charged and how much he was hated. Jesus comes to Matthew and invites him to follow him and be as apprentice we're told Matthew immediately closed up shop and followed Jesus, presumably leaving his accounting ledger and his money bags behind. He throws a big party at his house for his friends tax collectors and other sinners Matthew's theme is Jesus is the promise King that's irony in itself.

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Why would God choose Jewish tax collector? One who is seen as a trader by most Jews to write a good news account, seeking to prove Jesus was the promised King, but it might've had something to do with Matthews wiring. He's an accountant accountants keep books. They tend to be detail oriented. And as you read Matthew, you'll see how detail oriented he is. You'll also see how he writes his gospel. He seeks to prove Jesus as the King by ordering his gospel topically it's as if he makes a big ledger, puts headings at the top and then looks for information to demonstrate Jesus fulfills. The old Testament promises that he's King.

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He discusses a section like preparation. Does Jesus have the right stuff to be the King then moves to his preaching? What would it be like to live in his kingdom? Then he moves to the power column. Does he have the power to demonstrate he's the King and have victory over the King of this world. As Matthew moves from section to section in his column journal, he often uses the transition phrase that it might be fulfilled. What was predicted by the prophets. Not surprisingly. Matthew has moral Testament quotes than the other gospels combined 130 direct quotes or illusions to the old Testament.

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Here's how Matthew starts as gospel in the first verse. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, why David and Abraham, God promised Abraham one day, all nations would be blessed through someone coming from him about a millennium later. God promised the descendant of Abraham David that had descendant would come from him, who would sit on the throne and rule it forever. Matthew, the tax collector accountant wants his Jewish audience and us to know that the bottom line is Jesus. Is that one. Our next gospel is Mark though. He's second on the list.

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He's actually the earlier gospel Mark wrote his gospel in the late fifties. Mark was also a Jew. Mark is unique in that we believe he was an elementary school or a young teenager at the time of Jesus' ministry. He was cousin to Barnabas were coming to him. He was led to faith in Christ, probably by Peter and Peter became his mentor. Peter calls him my son in the faith. He travels with Paul and is one of the last people Paul calls for before being martyred by Nero. That's quite a resume mentored by Peter travels in ministers with Paul. And that's why Mark was considered appropriate to put in that the new Testament books, he was near someone who is near Jesus.

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We're not told about Mark's vocation. He probably was pretty much a lifelong missionary. We know his mother had a large home in Jerusalem, so it's quite possible. Mark could have had some eyewitness exposure to Jesus, his teachings, and even his death and resurrection Barnabas Mark's cousin takes him along with Paul on the first missionary journey. We'll be studying that down the road, Mark bails out and runs back to Jerusalem. He left them at the worst possible time. He bailed and failed later on an acts. Barnabas wants to take Mark along and give them a second try. But Paul will have none of it because of Mark Paul and Barnabas, this great missionary team split up in the letter to collagen's and five Lehman.

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Paul says he came around to Mark later in life market become useful in a profitable missionary. Mark's gospel is the shortest gospel by far. It's also the first one. As I mentioned, the earliest scholars are almost positive. Both Luke and Matthew had a copy of Mark in front of them when they wrote their gospels. If you turn to the last chapter of Mark verses nine through 20 in my Bible are marked in a bracket and then told him the notes. This ending is not included in the earliest manuscripts. I don't know how that got in there, but Mark, didn't write it. When you read Mark and you read that ending. You'll know that's not how this guy writes.

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Some people think Mark's ending was lost. Not me. I think Mark ended at verse eight to end like that with a cliffhanger is just so Mark. That's how it ends, but here's how Mark's gospel begins with eight simple words in Greek, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Next we come to Luke. Luke is unique in that he is the only Gentile writer in the new Testament. And perhaps in the entire Bible, you won't find Luke's name in the list of the disciples. Luke comes in later. Luke becomes the traveling companion of the apostle Paul. He was his personal physician.

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And when you hear Paul's story, you'll know why Paul needed his own traveling. Doctor. Luke is also noted even by non-religious people as a very good historian. He's a very educated man with a great grasp of the Greek language though. He writes in common Greek. It's so wordsmith and beautiful. It sounds almost classical as a physician, you'd expect him to be a man of compassion and you'd expect him to be fascinated about physiology. You'd expect him to be fascinated by the human things of the Jesus story. Things like his conception, the pregnancy of his mother, his birth, the emotions he experienced, the pain and suffering.

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Maybe it was because he was kind of the odd man out that Luke likes to include all the little people in his gospel. People pass by by Matthew, Mark and John, but maybe the most unique thing about Luke is to whom he wrote it in the introduction I said to Gentiles, but he may have actually written it to just one Gentile Theopolis to most excellent. Theopolis some scholars think this is code. Since Christians were being persecuted, he writes it to Theopolis, which means God friend, to all Gentiles who are God's friends. But I got the feeling he's actually writing this to an official, a Gentile, one named Theopolis.

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And if he is, he must deeply want this man to know about the story of Jesus, because the gospel he writes is a long account. And even more than that, the gospel of Luke is only the first volume of a two volume set. The book of acts. If that's true, this Gentile writer writes two of the longest books in the new Testament to one person to convince him, Jesus is the son of man, the Messiah. And to explain to that man in the book of acts, how the good news about him spread throughout the whole world. Here's how Luke's gospel starts. Listen to the language in as much as others have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eye witnesses and servants of the word handed down to us.

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It seemed fitting for me to do as well. Having investigated everything carefully from the beginning to write it out for you in consecutive order most excellent Theopolis so that you might know the exact things about that, which you have been taught. Then we get to our last gospel writer. John John was the latest gospel written probably in the late eighties, a D by this time John's an old man and he's had about 50 years to reflect on the events in his gospel. He was an apprentice or a disciple Jesus called to be in his 12 disciples. And beyond that to be one of his three in his inner core, along with Peter and his brother, James, John was a fishermen in partnership with his brother, James based out of Capernum on the sea of Galilee.

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Jesus called John and James thunderbolts or sons of thunder. It sounds like they were hell raisers, like modern day. Dockworkers maybe hardworking, hard drinking hell raisers. This idea is encouraged by an incident. Luke chapter nine, Jesus was going to Jerusalem and traveled through Samarria. Apparently he sent James and John ahead to a Samaritan town to get them ready for him, but they rejected James and John and Jesus. So James and John, go back to Jesus and say, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and burn them up Newcomb. But something happened to John the hell raiser. When he spent these three years with Jesus.

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By the time John writes his gospel, he dubs himself. The one whom Jesus loved. He tells us in his account, he was the one at the last supper who was reclining next to Jesus with his head against his chest. He became known by other Christians as the apostle of love though, we don't have a biblical account of how most of Jesus' 12 disciples died. John May be the only one who died of natural causes. It's not like they didn't try to kill him. Tradition says John was boiled in oil is an extreme torture by the Romans, but somehow survived. He was banished to an Island, Patmos, John like Luke has other books in the new Testament.

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First, second and third, John and then is used as a secretary, as Jesus dictates to him. The final book revelation, John starts his gospel going back before Jesus' birth before Jesus' conception, going back before creation for here's, how John starts Jesus' story in his gospel in the beginning, we'll start our journey through the gospel account of the life of Jesus starting in the beginning in our next word picture.