A reminder for
today
Little children,
let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is
righteous. (1 John 3:7)
It has become more important in today’s time that we as
Christians arm ourselves to the constant attacks on our faith and the
reliability of our scriptures. Last week an atheist attacked me with the
assumption that the gospels were not written by the authors that is assigned to
them and he continued to add that this makes our gospels and the proof of who
Jesus was totally non-authentic and probably made up. I do not know about you
but this nonsense made me very upset, because how many young Christians are fed
this type of nonsense and pushed away from Christianity.
Now from external and internal investigation we can find
many facts that makes these gospels fact and authentic. Actually, there is some
compelling evidence (both external and internal) that Mark penned the
eyewitness accounts of Peter. For example, Justin Martyr, writing around A.D.
150, spoke of Mark’s Gospel as “the memoirs of Peter.” He suggested that Mark
wrote down his material when he was in Italy (which concurs with other early
tradition which indicates that the gospel of Mark was penned in Rome for the
benefit of the Christians there. Iraeneus (writing approx. A.D. 185) referred
to Mark as “the disciple and interpreter of Peter.” Most famously, Papias, the
bishop of Hieropolis (writing approx. A.D. 140) wrote,
“And the presbyter [the Apostle John] said this: Mark,
having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he
remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or
deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But
afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions
to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a regular
narrative of the Lord’s sayings. Wherfore Mark made no mistake in thus writing
some sayings as he remembered them. For one thing he took especial care, not to
omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the
statements.”
The Gospel’s authorship, as is the case for all four
gospels, goes unchallenged in the early church. In his Ecclesiastical History,
the church historian Eusebius (A.D. 265-339) quotes Origen (A.D. 185-254),
stating,
“Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable
ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the
first was written by Matthew, who was once a publician, but afterwards an
apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism.”
To conclude, there is no good reason to doubt the traditional
authorship of the four gospels, and there are various internal and external
indicators to suggest that the traditional authorship is correct. I could
continue in the same vein, listing such evidences, for some time. For a fuller
discussion of the topic, I refer readers to Timothy McGrew’s lecture here, and Richard
Bauckham’s book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness
Testimony.
Do not let the lies of satan confuse you, because it is his
job to create doubt and to hurt your faith. The fact is God exists and nobody
can proof the alternative. Jesus was who He claimed to be and we have more than
54 extrabiblical accounts of Jesus. So, that which you believe is fact and
reality and satan cannot disprove that so he will fabricate lies. Be strong and courageous.
Lord, I pray that you will strengthen our faith and keep us
alert to the lies the enemy fabricates against you. In Jesus name.
Have an awesome day, dear friend of Jesus.
Cheers