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Why aren’t the accounts in the Gospels identical to each other?
The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Historians confirm that the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John are direct eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection written by those closet to Him, His disciples. Luke was not an eyewitness of Jesus. Luke meticulously recorded thousands of eyewitness accounts and compiled them into his gospel. Therefore, the gospel of Luke is based solely on direct eyewitness accounts from those who knew, heard, and closely witnessed Jesus.
Because the Gospels were separate accounts of what Jesus said and did, they were written from the perspectives and based on the recollections of their authors. Peter recounted the things Jesus as Mark wrote them down. Peter did not speak about Jesus’ birth and childhood. Matthew chose to recount the things Jesus said because he wished to give the Jewish people evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. Luke gives the most complete account of the life of Jesus because he gathered thousands of accounts from eyewitnesses to write his gospel. John is believed to have been the disciple who was closest to Jesus, the “beloved disciple”. His gospel gives the most complete chronological eyewitness account of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection. John recorded many things that were not recorded in the other three gospels.
Did the disciples write the Gospels collectively?
The disciples of Jesus did not get together and write the Gospels. Historians have confirmed that the Gospel accounts were written independently of each other. Immediately after the disciples became apostles they separated and traveled throughout the known world teaching about Jesus.
Why did the disciples decide to write the Gospels?
Very soon after Jesus’ death, the murder and imprisonment of his followers began. Many of the disciples who had become apostles traveling throughout the world to tell people about Jesus were being executed. Historians believe that this prompted the disciples to write down their eyewitness accounts before they were killed, so that what they had seen and experienced through living with and knowing Jesus could be recorded and passed down accurately to future generations. Sadly, the predictions the apostles made about their deaths turned out to be true. All of the apostles of Jesus were tortured and brutally executed with the exception of John who was tortured and imprisoned but survived execution and died of old age. To find out more about the martyrdom of the apostles, explore the resources listed below.
Accounts of the Martyrdom of the Apostles
Ancient Historical Document: Eusebius’ History – 325 A.D.
External Website: The Martyrdom of the Apostles
Who created the New Testament of the Bible?
The writers of the Gospel accounts did not put their writings together and create the New Testament. Historical evidence
shows that after the gospel accounts had been translated, memorized, and circulated throughout the known world for over 100 years, they were collected, ordered, titled, and placed in a book (The New Testament) along with the letters of Peter and Paul and accounts of the experiences of the apostles (Acts). This was called the Muratorian Canon and was compiled in 170 A.D. In 363 A.D. the book of Hebrews was added to the New Testament and the Old and New Testaments were placed together to create the Bible we know today.
You can see pages from the oldest recovered manuscript of the Bible (The Codex Sinaiticus) written in Greek during the 4th century at the link below.