Gospels Part 035
In our last lesson, we looked at how the best evidence and logic points to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke having most likely been written in the early to mid-60s A.D. But this is more than 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Why did they wait so long? Again, with some logical thinking and detective work, we can come to logical conclusions.
To arrive at an answer, we must consider several factors that would not be obvious to us today—but were very important at the time.
The first thing to consider is that they may have felt that they should not write the story down. It might sound quite odd at first but try putting yourself in their place. They had the Hebrew Scriptures (commonly known as the Old Testament, though they never heard of that term). This was their Bible. When they needed an authority to back up what they said, they quoted Moses or the prophets. Today if we need an authority, we quote Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But the New Testament didn’t exist yet to them!
For them, the idea that they would write something that would go alongside Moses or the prophets as Holy Scripture was probably unthinkable. They wouldn’t have even considered writing Scripture. That would be like us today sitting down and thinking we were going to write another book of the Bible. It simply didn’t cross their minds. If they did think of it, the idea was probably bordering on blasphemous and the height of presumptuousness.
Consider this question: What are the books of the New Testament that we have today? Apart from Revelation (see Revelation 1:1-3), none of the authors seem to have thought they were writing new books of the Bible. That’s why what we have in our New Testament books are mostly letters to individuals and church congregations, collections of instructions and the memoirs/biographies that are the Gospels.
Another consideration is that in those decades of the A.D. 30s, 40s and 50s there were plenty of witnesses alive who could testify to these things we read about in the Gospels, so why should they write them down? There were the 12 apostles. There were various other individuals we find mentioned in the Gospels. There were the 500 eyewitnesses who saw Jesus after He was resurrected, as well as many more individuals not named or mentioned. With all these witnesses walking around, why would they need to write the story down? The witnesses were alive and could easily be talked to directly about these events. Early on, the apostles simply didn’t see any need to write these things down.
But as time passed, conditions changed. The apostles were scattered to all parts of Asia, Greece and Italy. Over time they were killed, dying as martyrs. The other witnesses scattered too, and they began to die off or be killed. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were getting older and didn’t know how much time they might have left.
They concluded at some point, or more likely were inspired by God, that they needed to start writing these things down. And so, they did. These four men who would write the Gospels were scattered and living far apart in different places, so they weren’t able to sit down and collaborate on a combined work that was the collective memory of all of them. What we have is their individual recollections—four different sets of memories, witnesses, memoirs and testimonies of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.
Another factor in why they didn’t write down these things earlier is that initially they thought that Jesus Christ would return soon, within their lifetimes (Acts 1:6). We see from Paul’s writings that he clearly believed this when he wrote of Christ’s return and talked of those of us "who are alive and remain” at that time (1 Thessalonians 5:15, 17).
At some point it must have become evident to them that Jesus Christ’s return was in the future, and they might not live to see it. They concluded or were inspired to realize that they’d better start writing this down. They came to understand that they needed to record what they knew so that future generations would have it.
There was also the factor of increasing persecution. As they saw the apostles, other Church leaders and members being imprisoned and martyred, they realized that could happen to them also. They realized they should write it down before this priceless information was lost.
This leads us to the topic of our next Daily Dose lesson, which is, are there mistakes in the Gospels? Bible critics say there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of errors in the Gospels. What’s the truth of the matter? This is something you need to understand!
© Scott Ashley, 2025. All rights reserved.
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Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
