The Christian Scriptures (New Testament)

The Gospels in the official canon, and
some that didn't make it into the Bible

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Topics covered in this essay include both the 4 Gospels which form part of the New Testament canon, and a number of other gospels that which were widely accepted by the early Christian movement but which were never accepted into the the official canon of Christian Scriptures (New Testament).

Related essay on this web site:

* These gospels are found in the Bible. The five are listed above in their probable chronological order. The Gospel of Q does not appear intact in the Bible; Matthew and Luke both contain passages from Q.

Introduction:

These are books which describe the life of Jesus. The word "gospel" is a translation of the Greek word "euangelion" which means "good news." About 50 gospels were written in the first and second century CE; each was believed to be accurate by various groups within the early Christian movement. Four of them (Mark, Matthew, Luke and John) were accepted by the early Christian movement as inspired by God. They were approved for inclusion in the official canon during the 4th century CE, and are found today in every Bible. Why were there only four? St. Irenaeus explained: "There are four principle winds, four pillars that hold up the sky, and four corners of the universe; therefore, it is only right that there be four gospels."

The Gospel of Thomas is growing in acceptance among liberal theologians. It includes many sayings of Jesus that are not found in the four canonical gospels.

All of the original copies of the gospels have been lost. We must rely upon hand-written copies which are an unknown number of replications removed from the originals. The oldest known surviving part of a gospel dates from about 125 CE. It consists of a few passages from an unknown gospel. Another ancient manuscript, a portion of the Gospel of John, is also dated to about 125 CE. Remaining gospel manuscripts date to the third century CE or later.

A helpful text:

Robert W. Funk, et al., "The Five Gospels: : What Did Jesus Really Say? The Search for the AUTHENTIC Words of Jesus," HarperOne, (1996). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store. Amazon customer rating: 3.5. Ilene Cooper of The Booklist writes:

"Based on the work of the Jesus Seminar, which brought together a group of biblical scholars, this new translation of and commentary on the five Gospels offers an answer to the perennial question, What did Jesus really say? The group not only surveyed all the surviving ancient texts for words attributed to Jesus, but also examined the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. Then, juxtaposing the Synoptic Gospels against John and Thomas, the seminar scholars began a long and arduous process to see if they could discover which sayings are close to what Jesus said, which might have originated with Jesus, those that are not his (though the ideas may be), and those that were created by his followers or borrowed from folklore. The story of how the scholars put together this translation is fascinating in its own right, but even more so is the color-coded New Testament itself, bolstered by enlightening commentary that explains why and how category decisions were made. A strong addition to religion collections."

The "Synoptic Problem"

The similarities and differences among the first three gospels have given rise to much speculation: ₂

Since the books themselves are undated, the order in which they were written is not absolutely clear. John McVay lists some theories: ₁

The Augustinian Theory was accepted by the Christian church for most of its history. The Four Source Theory is supported by most mainline and liberal theologians today. One source estimates that over 90% of contemporary Gospel scholars  accept this theory and the existence of the Gospel of Q. ₄ The Synoptic Problem is not particularly important to most conservative theologians. Since they regard all of the gospels as inerrant  (free of error) and inspired by God, it matters little who wrote them, when they were written, and which author had access to which documents.

We will base the essays on this Web site on the assumption that the Four Source Theory is valid.

The Gospel of Q:

This is believed by many theologians to have been a very early "sayings" gospel, which included many the statements of Jesus, but little detail about his life. His birth, selection of 12 disciples, crucifixion, resurrection etc. are not mentioned. In a sense, it is a pre-Christian document. It represents those parts of Jesus' life that his followers remembered and recorded about 20 years after his death. "He is presented as "a charismatic teacher, a healer, a simple man filled with the spirit of God. Jesus is also a sage, the personification of Wisdom, cast in the tradition of King Solomon." ₄ Q appears to be divided into three parts:

Material from Q1 and Q2 was used by the author of the Gospel of Thomas, which is believed to have been written circa 92 CE, perhaps in northern Syria. The Gospel of Thomas is one of about 40 gospels that were widely accepted among early Christians, but which never made it into the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). The authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke appear to have copied many passages from Q1, Q2 and Q3.

After having been incorporated into at least three actively used gospels, Q appears to have become an obsolete document, and was discarded. No surviving copies exist. Theologians have had to reconstruct it by analyzing Matthew and Luke. More details on this Gospel are available.

The Gospel of Mark:

Author: Many Christian writers of the 2nd century CE identified the author as the John-Marcus who was mentioned in Acts 12:12. Mark was a helper who went with Paul and Barnabas on Paul's first missionary journey. Liberal theologians generally believe that the identity of the author is unknown. _6,7,10,19 Conservatives follow the church tradition that the author was Mark. _11,12,13,16 Fundamentalists within the Southern Baptist Convention felt quite strongly about this. When they obtained control of the denomination, they required their employees to subscribe to a loyalty oath in which they swore that they believe in Mark's authorship of this Gospel.

Date: Various sources estimate that this gospel was written sometime from 57 to 75 CE. Conservative theologians tend to estimate a much earlier date than do liberals:

Content: It is surprising that the gospel survived long enough to be included in the official canon. It is somewhat superfluous, as over 90% of its contents appear elsewhere in the New Testament. Only about 30 of its verses are not paralleled in Matthew or Luke. Also, it was recognized in the 2nd century that the author was not a disciple of Jesus. That weakened its importance.

The gospel lacks the polished literary style of other New Testament authors; it was written in the language of the common people. The gospel was apparently written during a time of great tension between the conservative Jewish Christians, centered in Jerusalem and the more liberal Gentile Christians, spread throughout the Roman Empire. "Since the 12 disciples of Jesus became the leaders of the conservatives, Mark shared Paul's coolness and reserve towards their authority, He makes it plain to the reader that the 12 never understood Jesus properly and therefore are not the best guides...[The author of] Mark is helping the reader to understand why the view of Jesus among the conservative Jewish Christian is so unsatisfactory to the gentile Christian church." ₁₅

Mark appears to have been quickly accepted by the Christian communities. Within a few years of its completion, the authors of both Matthew and Luke are generally believed to have used this gospel as a source of quotations for their own gospels.

The gospel "reflects the early Christian view that God was about to bring history to an end in an apocalyptic conflagration." ₁₈ This was in response to Jesus' statements that the Kingdom of God would arrive circa 30 CE, and Paul's writings during the 50's or 60's, that Jesus' return was imminent. As the decades passed and Jesus did not return, the Christian movements gave progressively less importance to the second coming.

Versions of Mark: There appears to have been three versions of Mark:

Ending of Mark: The most ancient manuscripts of Mark all end suddenly at Mark 16:8. They appear to end in mid-sentence with some of Jesus' female followers in a state of confusion and fear. A young man in a white robe has told the women to "...tell [Jesus] disciples and Peter. 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' " Missing are the descriptions, after Jesus' resurrection, of his:

Various reasons have been suggested for the sudden ending: ₁₅

Various forged endings were added them to the original text, by unknown authors pretending that they were Mark.

Demotion of Peter? The instructions to the women in Mark 16:7 is unexpected:

The vast majority of Bible translations imply that that Peter was no longer considered a disciple, or perhaps even a follower of Christ, by the young man who was inside the tomb. (Matthew upgrades the man to an angel; Luke describes two men; John mentions two angels). One interpretation is that Peter has been demoted to a status lower than the remaining disciples. This was perhaps related to Jesus' earlier reference to Peter as Satan (Mark 8:33) and/or because of Peter's threefold denial of Jesus (Mark 14:27 & 14:66) after his arrest.

The Gospel of Matthew:

An early church father, Papias (circa 130 CE), named Matthew as the author of this gospel. He is identified as a tax collector in a list of the twelve disciples in Matthew 10:3. He is probably the Levi, son of Alphaeus, referred to in Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27. Papias also believed that the gospel was originally written in Hebrew. This belief has little support today.

The Easton Illustrated Dictionary comments that: "The Gospel is full of allusions to those passages of the Old Testament in which Christ is predicted and foreshadowed. The one aim pervading the whole book is to show that Jesus is he 'of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write.' This Gospel contains no fewer than sixty-five references to the Old Testament, forty-three of these being direct verbal citations, thus greatly outnumbering those found in the other Gospels."

In early Christianity, most theologians believed that this gospel was originally written in the Hebrew, or perhaps Aramaic, language. It was later believed to have been translated into Greek, either by the original author or by some anonymous person. A near consensus of modern theologians disagree. They believe that the gospel was written in Greek, as were the remaining gospels, epistles and other writings in the Christian Scriptures.

The Easton Illustrated Dictionary also notes that "Matthew uses the expression 'kingdom of heaven' (thirty-two times), while Luke uses the expression 'kingdom of God' (thirty-three times)." The author of Matthew was apparently writing to a Jewish audience; he seems to have avoided referring directly to God, in order to avoid offending his audience.

Some theologians believe that Matthew did not originally include a nativity story. They suggest that the first two chapters of Matthew were written later by a forger, and joined as a prefix to the autograph copy of Matthew, or an early copy, which contained only chapters 3 to 28. ₂₁

Matthew, along with the other synoptic gospels, stresses the humanity of Jesus. It the only gospel that contains the word "church" (Matthew 16:18 and 18:17). Judgment, Hell are major themes. The author wrote from a Jewish perspective, with about 50 quotations and over 75 references to Old Testament passages. It incorporates many passages from the gospel of Mark and the gospel of Q.

The Gospel of Luke:

"Luke" was motivated to write the gospel and its sequel, the book of Acts, because he felt that previous gospels written by eyewitnesses to Jesus' ministry lacked accuracy. Most of the gospel was copied from Mark and Q; about one third of the passages came from another source unique to Luke, often called "L". This special material includes some of the most important passages: the  parables of the Good Samaritan, of the Prodigal Son, and of Lazarus, as well as  the story of Martha and Mary. Luke is also the only synoptic gospel to present Jesus as a savior (Luke 2:11). The gospel is aimed at an international audience of Greco-Roman readers. Luke is commonly believed to have been a physician. But recent analysis of his writings indicates that his knowledge of medicine was no greater than that of a typical educated person at the time. One interesting feature of the gospel is the use of duplicate parables: one involving a man and another a woman. This, the emphasis on Mary in the first two chapters of the gospel, and other internal evidence, has led one theologian to suggest that the author of Luke was a woman.

Estimates of the date of writing range from the late 50's to the 90's. A date closer to 90 CE is likely, because the author comments on the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, and because of its dependence on Mark. Most conservative Christians believe that Luke was a doctor who accompanied Paul on his missionary journeys. _11,12,13,16 Most liberal Christians believe that Luke was an educated person whose identity is unknown. _6,7,10,19

The purpose of Luke appears to be the promotion of Pauline Christianity among the Gentiles.

The Gospel of John:

The early church father, Irenaeus, recorded the church tradition that this gospel was written by John, son of Zebedee. Others claimed that the author was an Elder John from Ephesus. Still others, attributed it to John, the "beloved disciple." Throughout most of the history of the church, the Gospel of John was believed to have been written by Jesus' disciple. Most liberal scholars today believe that it was written by a group of authors. _6,7,10,19 There is speculation that much of the gospel was written by a single, unknown writer, and that a second, later individual reworked the text in order to make it conform to contemporary church teaching. "John" contains a great deal of anti-Jewish sentiment. It holds the Jews and their descendants responsible for the execution of Jesus. It has largely responsible for inspiring Christians to violent anti-Semitic acts in the centuries since it was written.

Because of its theological principles and the emphasis on Jesus as the Son of God, it rapidly became the favorite gospel. It has remained the favorite today, particularly among conservative Christians. It was probably written between 85 and 100 CE, after believers in Jesus were expelled from Jewish synagogues. Chapter 20 appears to be the original ending of the gospel. Chapter 21 describes the miraculous catch of fish, and the reinstatement of Peter, appears to be a later addition.

The Gospel of Thomas:

Whereas John and the synoptic gospels include both the sayings of Jesus and a description of his birth, baptism, activities, followers, crucifixion, resurrection, etc., the Gospel of Thomas is basically a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus, including "wisdom sayings, parables, proverbs and prophecies." ₁₈ Some theologians believe that it was first written about 60 CE and later expanded.  It was written in Greek. Three Greek fragments from the Gospel were found about 1900 CE. But a full Coptic (Native Egyptian)  translation was unearthed in 1945 as part of the Nag Hammadi Library discovery. "The Gospel of Thomas has core elements as old as the synoptic gospels....in its later layer, Thomas is the record of a Christian community creatively accommodating influences from Gnosticism." ₉ It was probably because of this Gnostic content that the main Christian movement suppressed it and did not accept it into the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). It represents an independent tradition from the gospel of John and the synoptic gospels.

Elaine Pagels, "Beyond Belief: The secret gospel of Thomas," Vintage, (2004). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store Amazon customer rating: 3.5. The Amazon.com review reads, in part:

"At the center of Beyond Belief is what Pagels identifies as a textual battle between The Gospel of Thomas (rediscovered in Egypt in 1945) and The Gospel of John. While these gospels have many superficial similarities, Pagels demonstrates that John, unlike Thomas, declares that Jesus is equivalent to "God the Father" as identified in the Old Testament. Thomas, in contrast, shares with other supposed secret teachings a belief that Jesus is not God but, rather, is a teacher who seeks to uncover the divine light in all human beings. Pagels then shows how the Gospel of John was used by Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon and others to define orthodoxy during the second and third centuries. The secret teachings were literally driven underground, disappearing until the Twentieth Century. As Pagels argues this process 'not only impoverished the churches that remained but also impoverished those [who Irenaeus] expelled'."

David F. Capps, "The Gospel of Thomas: A blueprint for spiritual growth," The Gnostic Wisdom Foundation, (2005). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store Amazon customer rating: 4.0.  The Amazon.com review reads:

"The historical Jesus taught a system of spiritual transformation which is preserved in the Gospel of Thomas. The understanding of the sayings is embedded in the mystical nature of the mystery school system in place during the time of Jesus. The author of this book renders these sayings into simple, understandable explanations, providing profound insights into the transformative process that leads to spiritual mastery. The simplicity of the exercises at the end of the book belies the true transformational power contained within them. Ultimately, as this book demonstrates, the journey back into the full presence of God and the Kingdom of Heaven must be simple if it is to be available to all."

The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene):

This is a gospel that was written by a member of a Gnostic Christian group. It contains many Gnostic ideas, including the concept that evil powers in the world were attempting to keep people ignorant of their true spiritual nature. It describes a conflict in which  Peter and Andrew argue with Levi and Mary Magdalene over some of Jesus' teachings.

About 10 pages, half of the total gospel, have been lost. What remains are portions of the original text - some in the original Greek and the other in Coptic. The gospel demonstrates the leadership that women gave during the early decades of the Christian movement. The earlier Greek version indicates that the teachings of Mary were rejected, but that her leadership was not. The later Coptic version indicates that the text has been changed. Mary's leadership was being challenged because she is a woman. It is highly critical of Peter's inability to accept "the leadership of spiritually advanced women." The differences between the two translations may well indicate how women were accepted as equals during the very early years of the Christian movement, but that they started to be excluded from leadership roles later.

The date when the Gospel of Mary was written is unknown, but is suspected to be late in the first century or early in the second century CE. Its author is unknown.

The Gospel of Judas:

This Gospel was also revered by Gnostic Christians, one of the three main movements within early Christianity. A partial copy was discovered in the Egyptian desert near El Minya during the 1970s. It contains an alternate explanation of the role of Judas among Jesus' closest followers. New Testament scholar, Bart Ehrman, said that Judas is: "...the good guy. He's the only apostle who understands Jesus. In this gospel it turn out that Judas does turn Jesus over to the authorities, but according to this gospel, this is what Jesus wanted." Some of the early Gnostic faith groups taught that Jusdas was the most enlightened of all of Jesus' followers. More information.

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas:

This is one of a number of gospels which were written about the life of Jesus as a child. They attempt to fill in the gap between the birth stories of Luke and Matthew, and the visit of Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 (Luke 2:41-50). A church father, Irenaeus rejected the gospel as heretic about 185 CE. Other early Christian leaders condemned the gospel as well, during the late 2nd and early 3rd century. Jesus is portrayed as a human child with super-human abilities. It survives in at least 4 versions in various languages. The oldest copy dates to the 6th century. The text indicates that the gospel was written by "Thomas the Philosopher". But the actual authorship and date of writing is unknown. Some of the events described by the gospel are:

The Infancy Gospel of James:

This describes the birth of Mary, her childhood and adulthood. Her parents, Joachim and Anna, are rich, but childless. They pray to God for a child and Anna becomes pregnant. They are so grateful that they promise the child to the Lord. At the age of 3, she is sent to the temple in Jerusalem to live. When she reached the age of 12, the priests became concerned that she might soon reach puberty and pollute the temple with her menstrual flow. So they conducted a lottery among all of the men in Judea to determine who would take her. A dove flew out of Joseph's staff and landed on his head. This miracle was interpreted as a sign that Joseph was to take Mary to his home and enter into a celibate relationship with her, as guardian and ward. Mary and Joseph were separately visited by angels, who informed them of the future pregnancy. After Mary's pregnancy is noticed, they are hauled before the priests who accuse them of having sex. Both pass "the drink test" and a trial in the wilderness. They travel to Bethlehem to take part in the census. Mary gives birth in a cave. A local midwife, Salome, appears and performs a gynecological exam to verify that Mary is still a virgin. She loses her hand during the examination but later has it healed by an angel. This scene became a popular theme for later Christian artists. Later, astrologers from the east visited Mary and Jesus in the cave. Herod commanded that all infants in Bethlehem be killed. Jesus survived because Mary hid him in a feeding trough used by cattle. Elizabeth hid John in a mountain with the help of an angel. Herod's agents kill John's father, Zechariah.

James, a brother of Jesus, claims to be the author, and to have written the gospel shortly after the death of Herod in 4 BC. But this does not hold water. The story of the birth and subsequent events shows a knowledge of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. Thus, this infancy gospel must have been written after the canonical gospels, late in the first century or perhaps as late as the mid-2nd century CE.

References:

1. B.H. Throckmorton, Jr., "Gospel Parallels: A Synopsis of the First Three Gospels," Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN, (1979).
2. John McVay, "The Synoptic Problem," http://www.puc.edu/Faculty/John_McVay/Synoptic.htm
3. Matthew Sachse: "The Synoptic Problem," http://forums.nj.com/forums/get/faith2/60/5.html
4. Marcus Borg, Consulting Editor, "The Lost Gospel Q: The Original Sayings of Jesus",Ulysses Press, Berkeley CA (1996) , P. 15 & 28
5. Burton L. Mack, "The Lost Gospel of Q: The Book of Christian Origins", Harper, San Francisco, (1993)
6. Burton L. Mack, "Who Wrote the New Testament?", Harper Collins, San Francisco, (1995)
7. Robert J. Miller, Ed., "The Complete Gospels", Polebridge Press, Sonoma CA, (1992), P. 249-300.
8. R.J. Miller, op cit., P. 402-405
9. Robert J. Miller, op cit., P. 4
10. F.V. Filson, "The Literary Relations among the Gospels," essay in C.M. Laymon: "The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary on the Bible," Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN, (1991)
11. Rev. C.I. Schofield, "The Schofield Reference Bible," Oxford University Press, New York, NY
12. H.H. Halley, "Halley's Bible Handbook," Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, (1965)
13. H.L. Wilmington, "Wilmington's Bible Handbook," Tyndale, Wheaton, IL, (1997)
14. J.D. Douglas, Gen. Ed., "New Commentary on the Whole Bible," Tyndale, Wheaton, IL, (1990)
15. L.P. Pherigo, "The Gospel According to Mark," essay in C.M. Laymon: "The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary on the Bible," Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN, (1991), P. 644
16. P.N. Benware, "Survey of the New Testament," Moody Press, Chicago, IL, (1990)
17. R. Shorto, "Gospel Truth," Riverhead Books, New York, NY, (1997)
18. R.W. Funk, et al., "The Parables of Jesus," Polebridge Press (1988) Page xvii.
19. "The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary on the Bible," Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN, (1991)
20. D.M. Smith, "John." Essay in J.L. Mays, Ed., "Harper's Bible Commentary," Harper & Row, (1988), Page 1044.
21. "Matthew," Updated Bible Version, at: http://www.updated.org/

Copyright © 1996 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-APR-03
Author: B.A. Robinson