Of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, two were written by original disciples...Matthew was a tax collector and one of the original twelve disciples...Matthew wrote the Gospel According to Matthew...John was a fisherman (as was his brother James...Disciples Peter, and Peter's brother Andrew were also fishermen)...John, who wrote the Gospel According to John, was also one of the twelve disciples...John would also write three epistles, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John...John would also write the Revelations...Peter was a third original disciple, who knew Jesus personally, and wrote 1 Peter and 2 Peter...Some deny that the original disciples wrote their original gospels and their letters...However most believe that the things written in the gospels and epistles are the ideas and stories that Matthew and John believed in...And the four gospels are how the original disciples saw and perceived Jesus...And most historians believe these gospels were written while the disciples were still alive, so this gives credibility to them writing them or having input in how they were written, and what Jesus did in His life...So the four gospels were the stories of Jesus according authors that were close to Jesus...
So this is where we get the information we have on Jesus...The information from His earliest apostles...And this information is interpreted...It is interpreted information about Him, because Jesus wrote no articles or books that we know of...So what we do know about Him, is what others listened to Him say and hear Him say and they wrote what they heard...His earliest of apostles, the ones who followed Him originally had the most accurate information and closest information that we have about Him...They were eyewitnesses to Jesus...And this is where each of us must first learn about Him -from these early eyewitness apostles and then from the early apostles who were taught by these eyewitnesses of Jesus...These early apostles and the four gospels did view Jesus as our Messiah, our Savior, and our LORD...
John Mark wrote the Gospel According to Mark...John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas and a friend of Peter...John Mark was also a friend of Paul of Tarsus...Luke was a doctor...And besides being a doctor, Luke was a writer and author...Luke was a friend and confidant of Paul and writes about Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark...Luke also writes at length about Peter and Paul in the Acts of the Apostles...Luke does write a little about John (and other apostles) in the Acts of the Apostles, but the two main characters in the Acts are Peter and Paul...These early apostles knew each other and were organized around their belief in Jesus...They believed He was the Messiah...They had a mission to get the Word of Jesus out after His death, and the zeal they took in delivering His message to the world has been nothing short of a miracle...They knew the real Jesus and the four gospels, and including the Acts and the epistles and the Book of Revelations -they teach us much about Jesus...
The early disciples faith weakened at the time of Jesus' arrest...After His arrest, He was put on a cross...On His cross, His judge named Governor Pilate, would hang a sign that said King of the Jews...Then He would die...The disciples have been, in fact, described as somewhat weak and cowardly right after His death...The disciples did scatter from Him, after His arrest...They fled from Him the night of His arrest...After His arrest, He was crucified and then died...Three days later He would appear to the disciples...Jesus talked to them after His resurrection..Then He appeared to them again and it was over a period of forty days...This maybe the most important forty days (in our history), especially when it comes to the spreading the teachings of Jesus and Christianity...The disciples who were weak, somewhat cowardly, and lost at the time of His arrest were now greatly strengthened by His resurrection...His resurrection is the event that show the early apostles, and they now knew that He was more than a Prophet, much more...He is the Messiah, that the Old Testament authors had written about...After they see Jesus resurrected from His death, they were strengthened (by His appearances) and their faith greatly strengthened...These forty days were crucial for giving them convincing evidence and proofs that He was alive...This strengthened their faith...And as their faith strengthened, they started spreading the Word, the good news about Him...They knew now that in His death was now life...
These early times, were especially hard and difficult on all the earliest followers of Jesus...They were being persecuted and many put to death for their belief in Jesus...So preaching about Him was a dangerous endeavor...After Jesus ascended to heaven, Jesus' followers had to get together (if that is what each wanted, some may have wanted to go it alone to spread His Word) and find a way to spread His teachings...Early Christians were persecuted and killed...The original disciples would (have to) be strong followers of Jesus after the resurrection and many of the Eleven disciples died martyred deaths trying to spread Jesus' teachings...The Eleven were the key witnesses of Jesus' resurrection, but up to five hundred people saw Jesus after His death (1 Corinthians 15:6)...Many of the five hundred were still alive, when Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians...This gave great validity to the gospel, with this many people seeing Jesus after His death...Now one could not say that the life Jesus and His resurrection did not happen, because so many saw Him after His death...In the small region of Galilee and Nazareth, people could probably find someone in the five hundred that was still living (that Paul is talking about), who had seen Jesus after His death...So if someone desired to find someone who had seen Jesus after His death, they could go and talk to one of the five hundred who had seen Jesus after He died and resurrected back to the living and talk to them...
The four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are biographies of the life of Jesus...Each author gives us his account and perspective of Him...Each author has a different background...Each gospel is according to that specific author...Each gospel is unique to the author in that respect...The gospel books are sometimes titled, the Gospel According to Matthew, the Gospel According to Mark, the Gospel According to Luke, and the Gospel According to John...We have and get four different views of Him, (from four different men) which gives us a better and clearer picture of His teachings, beliefs, and actions...Even the Acts (by Luke) and Paul's letters or books help us understand Him more, even though though the Acts and Paul's letters are not biographies of Him... These authors, with there different backgrounds, would bring a different view and another perspective on the Messiah...For instance, Matthew is a tax collector...Tax collectors were not a favorite group in Israel, since they collected taxes for Rome...Rome, the Roman Empire and the Romans politicians were not popular with most of the Jews living in Israel...One's first thought might be, who would read a book written by a tax collector...When Jesus was recruiting His Twelve disciples, He knew that people would read the book authored by a tax collector (in fact, people are still reading it)...Paul was an aggressive persecutor of the early followers of Christ, but that would change and change dramatically on the road to Damascus, when he was converted by meeting Jesus (there on the Damascus road)...These men (Matthew and Paul) changed...Jesus is the One who changed them...Their books show and reflect how much they changed after meeting and being Him and being influenced by Him...The early apostles were convinced that somehow the resurrection of Jesus happened...They were convinced that Jesus had come back from the dead after He had died on the cross...
Mark, who was also known as John Mark wrote the Gospel According to Mark...John Mark was a young cousin of Barnabas, and a friend of Peter and Paul...What a great group to learn from to write the books about Jesus...In Acts 12:12, we learn St. Peter first went to John Mark's house after he (Peter) miraculously escaped out of jail after Jesus' death and resurrection...Mark and his Mother Mary's house is possible one of the original First Christian Churches or Church of Christ (if not the first)...Some theologists say that Mary is Salome, and her full name is Mary Salome, a follower of Jesus...Mark probably wrote his Gospel with information provided by the experiences and being with St. Peter, St. Barnabas, and St. Paul (and possibly his mother), as well as the others who were in the house of his mother Mary's that day...I doubt that this was their first visit to his house...Mark’s father, Aristopolos, is said in tradition to be a cousin to the wife of St. Peter...Mark was related to Barnabas....Since Mark knew Barnabas (as well as Peter and Paul and the others at his house), then St. Mark would have very much a diverse and broader background on Jesus, than most people -knowing these different men were all eyewitnesses to Jesus...If all this is the case, Mark would have an excellent background for writing his Gospel According to Mark...
Barnabas was not only John Mark's uncle, he was a friend of Paul's... Paul's first contact with Jesus was on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:5 and 1 Corinthians 15:8)...Paul's first contact with Jesus was after He had died...Paul then would learn (from Jesus) he was the one who would minister to the Gentiles and Barnabas would help...As stated earlier, John Mark was Barnabas' cousin...Paul and Barnabas are friends in many of the Acts stories...But Paul has a disagreement with Barnabas about John Mark in the Acts 15:37...Paul tells how John Mark had left Barnabas and him in Pamphylia...Paul and Barnabas part company temporarily over this disagreement about John Mark...Barnabas takes and introduces Paul to some of the other disciples (Acts 9:27)...The Disciples of Jesus, at first were afraid of Saul (later to take on the Gentile name of Paul), because of his past, when he persecuted Jesus' followers...Paul was one of the persecutors of Stephen, the first Christian martyr...But Paul becomes an ardent follower of Jesus after he meets Him on the road to Damascus...And Paul will suffer repeatedly preaching the gospel and teachings of Jesus...
Paul's next missions (after being with Barnabas for his first missions) would be with Silas...Silas is also a friend of Peter...Peter talks of Silas being a faithful brother in 1 Peter 5:12...In the next verse of 1st Peter, Peter mentions (John) Mark...Paul later writes and gives greetings to John Mark at the end of Colossians 4, and in his forgiveness letter to Philemon (talks about John Mark), verse 24...I mention this, because sometimes we do disagree with our friends and we still love them as Paul did with (John) Mark and Barnabas...Paul and Peter know all about the importance of forgiveness...Forgiveness is one of the things Jesus taught...And this epistle, by Paul, to Philemon is all about forgiveness...Peter's influence (as well as Paul's) would have provided John Mark much information, knowledge, and history to write the Gospel According to Mark...What great mentors St. Mark had to write his gospel!!!...This gospel would no doubt have many of the experiences Peter shared with our LORD and also some of Paul's ministry to the Gentiles...Also, being related to Barnabas would provide further faith and information for him to write his gospel...
In Galatians, chapters one and two, Paul gives us a quick synopsis of two of his visits to Jerusalem to learn more about Jesus...In Galatians 1:18 Paul says three years later, I went to Jerusalem, to get acquainted with Peter...Paul meets with Peter and Jesus' half brother James...He stays with Peter for fifteen days (Galatians 1:18)...He may have looked up many, if not all of these early apostles on his trips back to Jerusalem...Paul then says fourteen years later, again he went to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas and Titus (Galatians 2:1) ...So Paul had been teaching quite a while about Jesus as we read his letter to the Galatians...
Paul also mentions, at this time, he opposes Peter in Galatians 2:11...Paul does not like the way Peter was acting in front of the Gentiles and then (Peter) changes when the Jewish Christians come and he (Peter) is meeting with them...Some of this disagreement with Peter is about how and what Gentiles should eat and prepare food...Eating with Gentiles would make one unclean under Mosaic law...Peter had a vision in Acts 10:9-16 and knows that God has spoken to him about eating and what is clean and unclean in reference to Mosaic Law (about eating)...The Jewish Christians still followed these laws at the time of this opposition...But they (Paul and Peter) know the power of forgiveness and move on with Peter ministering to the Jewish Christians (and some Gentiles) and Paul to the Gentiles, mostly outside of Israel...The two knowing the power of forgiveness, helped the Christian movement -move quickly as it did...They could forgive, and move on as Jesus has taught...
Peter writes his letter, 1st Peter, to the Gentiles of Pontus, Galatia, Cappodocia, Asia, and Bithynia with the help of Silas...This region is which is today's modern Turkey...This letter would have been addressed and probably meant, because of this location, was for the Gentiles there...Whereas, Peter's second letter seems to be addressed to all Christians everywhere...So both Peter and Paul were teaching Jesus' good news to everyone and to different nations...But Paul, it seems, was more focused on the Gentile listener than Peter was...At least we read much about Paul teaching to the Gentiles in his letters in the New Testament...
Many of the early disciples know each other and are linked as are the New Testament Books as you read them, especially the opening and closing greetings...All were working to expand the word and work, of the teachings of Jesus...The early apostles met at the Council at Jerusalem...This was an early meeting of the early apostles and disciples...There was some disagreements on how the Gentiles who were converting to Christianity should view, interpret, and follow the Law of Moses...James, the brother of Jesus, and Peter (it seems) led the meeting...Others in the meeting were Paul, Barnabas, Judas (called Barsabbas), and Silas are also mentioned being there (Acts 15:1-35)...In this meeting James recommendations are put formally in a letter to the Gentile churches and believers...No doubt other early Christian leaders were in this meeting, but are not mentioned by Luke...
Luke wrote the Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...He wrote both books (the Gospel of Luke and the Acts) to a fellow called Theophilus...Theophilus was probably either a friend of Luke's, or his boss, or maybe a government official...Theophilus means lover of God...Luke was a medical doctor... Many say Luke was a great historical writer, because of the carefully placing of names and different places in his books...One can check on his work and the places he talks about, as he writes...The names and their placement in Luke can give us historical dates, especially for the earlier readers...In the Acts, Luke also says Antioch is the first use of the name Christians...Because Luke uses popular names, and places, the early readers of the Gospel According to Luke and the Book of Acts would be able to check much of Luke's writings out after they were first written...The reader and listener of these books could relate very much to these books, the people, and the places he mentions...
Paul would write thirteen books of the New Testament...Paul had much knowledge and wisdom...Some give him credit for writing Hebrews, which would be a fourteenth book, written by him...There are twenty seven books in the New Testament, so Paul wrote almost half of them...Paul was taught by Gamaliel the Elder...Gamaliel is in Acts 5:34...Paul's wisdom is mentioned in by Governor Festus (Acts 26:24), who tells Paul his great learning has drove him (Paul) insane, when he tells the Governor that Jesus is the first to rise from the dead...Peter also talks about Paul in 2 Peter 3:15 saying "just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him when he writes to his Christian brothers"...Peter in 2 Peter 3:16 even calls Paul's letters Scriptures...This letter probably went out to the area, (as stated earlier) which is present day Turkey...Paul had visited this area and sent at least one letter to the people that Peter is addressing...In one of Peter letters he mentions Paul, and how some of his (Paul's) letters are hard to understand...St. Paul is one of history's finest communicators, as well as a great author...No one else has authored thirteen books in the Bible...
Paul was at the stoning of Stephen, Acts 8:1...This would have been and have a dramatic impact on him...Paul, a staunch Pharisee, armed with wisdom, sees or hears Jesus on the road to Damascus...Paul, a man of reason, is converted by (the resurrected) Jesus on the road to Damascus...It would have taken much study and/or a miracle for Paul to convert to a follower of Christ...Jesus blinds Paul for a short time and through Ananias, Paul is told that he must carry Jesus' name before the Gentiles...Jesus through Ananias, even tells Paul how much he must suffer for His name...When Paul reaches Ananias, and when he touched Paul, scales fall from Paul's eyes and he is filled with the Holy Spirit...This time of Paul's being blinded till he is healed and the scales fell from his eyes would have had a huge impact on him...He was blind for three days...He did not eat or drink anything for those three days...This time gave Paul time to think about many things (probably his past Pharisee ways and teachings, the stoning of Stephen, and Jesus (what He had told Paul on the road to Damascus and what he had heard about Him))...Paul would have realized that the stoning of Stephen, a Christian, was not the love that Jesus teaches...No doubt Paul would want to learn everything he could about Jesus and His teachings...Jesus, with a miracle, has converted Paul on the road to Damascus...Paul, now a believer in Christ, is ready to begin his ministry to the Gentiles...He quickly begins to preach in Damascus that Jesus is the Son of God...Those who knew him wondered how a few days and weeks ago he was against Jesus and His followers, and now he was saying Jesus, is the Son of God...Paul grew in power and proved that Jesus was the true Messiah (Acts 9:22)...Paul went back to Jerusalem to meet the Twelve Disciples, but they would not meet with him, because they were afraid of him, after Stephen was stoned...Only later after Barnabas finds Paul, does Paul get to know the original disciples...
Paul would meet with Peter (and also later in the meeting with the Jerusalem Council) to find out more about Jesus, since Peter had been an eyewitness to the Messiah (Galatians 1:18)...Paul thought that Jewish tradition and Judaism rites were not as important as other Jews when one wanted to become a Christian...And they discussed this in the Jerusalem Council...In Galatians 2:9 we are told Paul and Barnabas work with James, Peter, and John in the gospel ministry...What a job Paul would do, with the help of the Holy Spirit teaching the Gentiles...Paul visited city after city throughout the Roman Empire, teaching about Jesus, and wrote at least thirteen books of the Bible...Paul would wait those three years before meeting with Peter and James...Paul knew and writes much about the resurrection of Jesus in as much detail as any of the other authors (1 Corinthians chapter 15)...Also, Paul writes a section in 1 Corinthians 13 about the Lord's Supper...Paul was very familiar with the Last Supper, even though he was not there...Paul, even though many times persecuted, helps bring the Word and Jesus to the world outside of Israel...Only Jesus and His Disciples were at His Last Supper...Paul could have learned only about the LORD's Supper, the Last Supper, from Peter or one of the disciples that were there and eyewitnesses to His Last Supper...
In all of his (Paul's) writings, he constantly mentions Timothy in his letters...In fact, he (sooner or) later writes 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy...Timothy surely was a great Christian and very close to Paul...Also, Paul was with Silas...In Acts 16 Luke writes about Timothy joining Paul and Silas...Paul and Silas are in prison together (Acts 16) and would have a bond over these years...Paul also writes a letter to Titus...We know that Paul took Barnabas and Titus to Jerusalem with him (Galatians 2:1)...
One time while Paul was in in prison, he meets with King Agrippa...In Acts 26:26, Paul tells him (King Agrippa) that none of what Jesus did has escaped his notice, because it (Jesus, His teachings, His life and His resurrection) was not done in a corner...The Roman leaders kept an eye on religious teachers as popular as Jesus...Jesus was controversial, disruptive, and taught so differently that the other Teachers and Rabbis...So officials would have been aware of Him...Paul is telling everyone in the audience that day that Jesus did not go around hiding his life and teachings...Jesus was in the public eye...Many people knew about Him, including King Agrippa...We must realize the importance of this and Paul's other meetings with Peter and James...Jesus taught throughout Galilee and the surrounding areas and region...Paul, who never met Jesus, until after Jesus' death (on the road to Damascus) researched Jesus and His teachings and life for us to show us He was a historical figure who did exist...He was seen by five hundred people, after His death, as stated earlier...As also stated earlier, St. Paul would write thirteen letters to the Gentiles about Jesus, His resurrection, His Last Supper, and His teachings...Paul would write much about Jesus' resurrection...
In 1st Peter, Silas is mentioned by Peter in the writing of this first letter of his...In Peter's final greetings, he mentions, with the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written you... So Silas knew both of Paul's writings and Peter's writings...As a side note Peter also mentions Mark in this final greeting...Silas travels with Paul and being regarded as a faithful brother to Peter may have had an influence in Peter's writing of 1st and 2nd Peter...St. Paul in First Thessalonians opens with a greeting to the Thessalonians mentioning himself, Silas, and Timothy...So Silas, Peter, and Paul were well acquainted...
This small group, with Jesus and His teachings their focus in life, knew one another or were at least acquaintances of one another...Peter was an original eyewitness and one of the Twelve disciples of Jesus...Paul met with Peter for fifteen days to learn about Jesus, Galatians 1:18...Paul also sees James, while visiting with Peter...James, Jesus' brother would write the Book of James...Peter, Paul, and James all had seen Jesus after His death...In first Corinthians 15:7 St. Paul writes that then He (Jesus) appears to James (after His resurrection)...Jude, who writes the Book of Jude, is half brother of Jesus and full brother of James...James and Jude brothers of Jesus would have been long time witnesses of Jesus, their brother, and seen many things He would have done...Paul, also in Galatians 2:8, says "For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also, at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles...James, Peter, and John (the disciple), those reputed to be pillars (of the early Christian Church), gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me"...Jesus tells the Twelve in Acts 1:8 that they would be the ones who would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth...Jesus talks to Paul on the road to Damascus and then when Peter meets with Paul has made this more likely to happen of getting His word to the ends of the earth...
So Peter and John, were with Jesus as His disciples throughout His ministry...And after Jesus' ascension to heaven, Peter and John are together and work together in the early part of the Book the Acts of the Apostles...Luke (the author of the Acts of the Apostles) writes a lot about the acts of Peter, John, Mark, Matthew, Barnabas, Silas and Paul (as well as others)...Paul, a friend of Luke writes quite a bit about Timothy and Titus, in his epistles...In fact, Paul writes letters to both of them, which are in the New Testament...This small group of early disciples and teachers are tied together throughout the New Testament Books...
Another common person in the early apostles circle was John the Baptist...In the four gospels and the Acts, there is mention of John the Baptist...John is the forerunner to Jesus...John is the voice in the desert announcing, the Messiah is coming...All four gospel writers tell us that John the Baptist personally said that he is not worthy to untie or take off the sandals of our LORD...John would be killed by King Herod...In the Acts (19:4) St. Paul tells us that John' the Baptist's baptism was a baptism of repentance...St. Paul would probably have never met John the Baptist before his death...But Paul knew about John the Baptist...And we are to believe in the One that came after John the Baptist, that is, in Jesus...
So Luke, Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Titus, Mark and Peter all knew each other, some traveled together and were starting the early Christian movement (whether they knew it or not)...Paul meets with Peter later and James (in Galatians), and John as stated above... Jude is James brother, both brothers of Jesus...The two brothers of Jesus would have given the gospel movement some credibility...His brothers would have known Him for all His early life...This group knew each other and worked with each other...This group would have definitely been the leaders of the early Christian Church...So from James and Jude to the Twelve Disciples and Paul someone in this group had knowledge of Jesus most of His entire life...From the time of a young brother to Him being a carpenter to His ministry, His death, His resurrection, and His finally His ascension...
This relatively small group of eight (Matthew, John Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, James, Jude) write ALL the New Testament Books, if you believe Paul wrote The Book of Hebrews, which many do...(And in the closing of Hebrews, Timothy is mentioned as being released)...Luke writes of Matthew in the early Acts (albeit just briefly), when the eleven choose Matthias to replace Judas so the disciples would be the Twelve again...But Luke, Paul, Peter, and Mark (a.k.a. John Mark) seem to be together quite a bit throughout the period after Jesus' resurrection...It is no wonder that many of the four gospels contain similar stories, because of the smallness of the group...And throughout Paul's letters he gives greetings to Mark, Barnabas, Luke and others (for instance in Colossians 4:10-15) at the beginning and end (as well as in between) in his writings...St. Paul would have shared ideas with this group on his ideas about Jesus and the resurrection, and his views of the Messiah from the Old Testament scriptures...
Timothy is also mentioned in Acts 16:1...Paul speaks of Timothy in many of his letters and writes two letters to Timothy (in the New Testament)...Timothy was also a major character in the early growth of Christianity...The author of Hebrews (as stated above) ends his letter to the Hebrews, telling us that Timothy has been released and will soon arrive (Hebrews 13:23)...Paul would also write one letter to Titus...After Timothy and Titus, Barnabas and Silas traveled with Paul and helped start the new early Christian churches...
Twelve is a significant number, and of course Jesus knew this (as Peter tells Him, Lord you know all things)...The Patriarch Jacob would have twelve sons...The were originally tribes of Israel, which were mostly ten of the sons of Jacob, as well as Ephraim and Manasseh...These were Jacob's grandsons and the sons of his son Joseph...The Patriarch Jacob would later be named Israel...So Jesus picks the Twelve Disciples knowing twelve is a sacred number...Judas, an original disciple, would betray Jesus...The Eleven Disciples would choose Matthias to replace Judas, so there number could remain at Twelve...This group (and the other apostles) are the ones who spread Christianity throughout the world after Jesus ascends to heaven...The Twelve are focused on Israel and spreading the gospel of Jesus to them (the Jewish population)...Paul, Timothy, Barnabas, Titus, and Silas would work on the rest of the world, and the Gentiles...
The New Testament Books were all written in Greek...Generally speaking, the New Testament is written about Jesus and His three year ministry and His teachings...The New Testament is a history and a historical view of Jesus and His works...The Book of Revelation, written by John, are more about what will happen (in the future) more than what did happen with Jesus in His three year ministry...The New Testament Books give us multiple stories and sources about Jesus, and they were written over a period of more than ten years...To me, this gives the books more credibility...Some say Paul's epistles were written over a ten year period...So Paul could have interacted with Peter, James, Luke, and the other Early Apostles over these years, and would have learned more about Jesus as time went on, as Paul wrote his different letters to the new churches and people learning more and more about Jesus...
There were no written Gospels or New Testament Books until twenty or more years later after Jesus' death...The stories of Jesus would have been carried along orally, for twenty some years until the The Good News would be put down in writing...As stated earlier, St Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:6 does write that Jesus appeared to more than five hundred people and many of them are still living...So it would have been difficult, even in these early writings to pull the wool over the eyes of the readers of these early writings about Jesus...Had these stories been fake these followers would not have believed, or courageously spread the Word...If they were lies I doubt if the early Christians would have went to their deaths for Him, it the writings were thought to be lies...The listening public would not have believed...Most of these oral stories would have been told by people who knew and met Jesus...So these early apostles and disciples, now turned authors, would be spreading the good news in early hand print text (the printing press would not come until hundreds of years later)...We have our written gospels and New Testament today in book form...Earlier they would have been on parchments and scrolls...
After the four gospels, the epistles to the believers are the next books of the New Testament...The final statements in many of the letters make mention of many of the early apostles, especially the epistles of St. Paul...Those mentioned in these letters are the foundation of the spreading of Christianity, around their own regions, and around the total world today...
Around two thousand years ago, St. Peter wrote 1 Peter 1:24-25:
24 For, "All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord stands forever."
St. Peter was with Jesus during His three year ministry...He denied Jesus right after His arrest...Then St. Peter saw Jesus after He had died...Jesus had came back from the dead...What could St. Peter, believe in now, except this Gospel Truth of His resurrection?...St. Peter knew now with complete certainty that God's Word and God's Will-will live, last, and stand forever...He had seen Jesus and His Teacher is immortal...
After Jesus was crucified, He resurrected...Then He ascended to heaven...He taught His Disciples for forty more days and gave them many convincing proofs that He was still alive...Their thoughts on death would be changed forever...The resurrection was very important to the early Christians...Paul writes about the importance of the resurrection to his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15)...
After He ascended to heaven, His teachings and His spoken words (the gospel) were then transmitted by these Early Apostles...These Early Apostles really did not have one church or a particular church that they ministered to...But even though they did not have one church, the message was all about Jesus and how He lived and what He taught, how He died, how He resurrected, and how He ascended into heaven...Each of these Early Apostles embraced the teachings of Jesus and dedicated their lives to carrying His gospel and His teachings to others...
The early apostles were here on earth from approximately 0 a.d. to 100 a.d....During this time the Roman Empire dominated the world...The Roman Empire was over Israel at that time...Jesus was born around 3 a.d. and died around 33 a.d....Most think that St. Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans around 55 a.d. ...So approximately twenty five years after Jesus' death, the early apostles had spread His Word and His teachings to the ever important Rome, which was the center of the world and the Roman Empire...None of Jesus earliest or even later apostles did not come back to have an afterlife on earth...But the early apostles taught others about Jesus and His resurrection and the Jesus gospel and teachings continued after His very first apostles died...The story was one of Passion and how Jesus died on the cross for mankind...A story that from start to finish is one that is not an easy one to believe, yet is believable when one realizes that Jesus is the Old Testament Messiah...But still this story is one that many of the older Jewish religious leaders and followers would have a difficult time believing...
There is some controversy over the dating of the New Testament Books...The books were not dated when they were written...Different things might have made the dating controversy possible...First, it seems, authors did not date their books two thousand years ago...Also, it is most likely that not many people of these times, could not read a book or a gospel...So for the masses, I am not sure how important it would be (for them) to quickly see and have Jesus teachings and words go into a book (since many could not read)...Those who could read probably only had one or a few manuscripts to read from...Most likely as people came to read more and more, more manuscripts would have been copied by scribes to the exact word and the best they could to preserve the original texts and original manuscripts...Since none of the New Testament Books are dated, with the original dates, all the books have to be estimated when they were wrote by the information that is written in them...In fact, probably all the original manuscripts written, are and were worn out, after all the readings and passing around among believers and followers of our Messiah...They did not have printing presses, and the original copies would be tattered greatly, worn and torn after all the reading and use...All the originals would have to be hand written as the old original manuscripts wearing and wore out...They may or may not have kept an original if it was all worn out, but I would like to think they would have kept the original manuscripts (somewhere), because of the sacredness of the first writing...The original manuscripts about Jesus, I believe, would be sacred and holy...Mark, who was a friend of Peter, was also a disciple of Peter...The Gospel According to Mark is thought to be the earliest gospel...But some think the Gospel According to Matthew was the first gospel written...Some think John's Gospel was written last around 90 a.d. ...Also, if you were a disciple of a teacher, it was not uncommon to sign another one's name to another one's book, in their times...But all the gospels were probably written before 100 a.d., and written by either the authors as stated in our Bibles or a very close disciple and under the original author's and eyewitness's direction...It maybe some of the followers who had much knowledge about Jesus' teachings and also an eyewitness could not write or could not write very well...So he would ask for and would have gotten help in writing an epistle or gospel...One thing that makes one believe all the Gospels were written before 70 a.d., is that 70 a.d is the year the Romans destroyed important city of Jerusalem...One might have thought, the four authors would have included that in their stories, especially (the historian-writer like) Luke, seeing he put in many names of people and events that his readers would have known or would have heard of...Also, during all the turmoil of the Romans destroying Jerusalem, that would have been a year many would have expected Jesus to return for His Second Advent...So one might expect that some writing would have mentioned the city of Jerusalem being destroyed...So maybe most, if not all, of the original gospels and manuscripts were written prior to 70 a.d...Maybe the scribes who copied the texts later did not feel compelled to change any of the text and their original texts were not amended to include this Jewish-Roman War of 70 a.d....After all the four gospels are about Jesus and not about the Roman and Jewish political relationships and wars of the time...
Many of the early Christians and followers reading the first, second, and third writings of the gospels, and epistles were persecuted, just as Jesus had predicted...Christians would be persecuted for two hundred to two hundred and fifty years...But finally in the year 313 a.d. the Edict of Milan was issued by the Roman Emperor Constantine...This edict made it illegal to persecute those of and in the Christian religion...The early followers of Jesus were persecuted not only as He said they would be, but many were persecuted to their deaths, before this edict was finally issued...
These wise early apostles stayed together despite their persecution, for their beliefs and love for their Master and Teacher...Jesus took Twelve ordinary men of fishermen and tax collector backgrounds, and one educated man that He converted on the road to Damascus, to teach all of the world His Word...He kept this group together throughout their lives, even though they would have disagreements along the way...He took this small Council at Jerusalem and over time had the entire Roman Empire converted to Christianity...This small group of early apostles would teach others about Jesus...Then another generation of apostles who had learned from the next group of apostles about Jesus -and they would continue His Word...And this passing on of the teachings of Jesus continued every generation since His death...And while there have been many saints and notable ones to teach about Jesus, not one has come near the power and glory of Jesus...Not one of Jesus' followers has had an after death experience that we have read about...It makes one think of what Paul told the Athenians after Jesus death, God has has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed...He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31)...This unique resurrection of Jesus alone, has been focused on Him...This two thousand year old group of followers are unique in keeping His message and Christianity alive...One day He and His word will have reached the ends of the earth, if not already...Luke said that His disciples were to be Jesus' witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth...His Great Commission to His eleven disciples were to go and make disciples out of all nations (Matthew 28:19)...His disciples and these early apostles and the next generations are close in having done just that...
This early small group of committed people following Jesus and His teachings have changed the world...This relative small group would have a great influence on the world as time passed...This relative small group help change the world...This small group felt the Living Jesus and Holy Spirit and these things kept their Teacher's ideas fresh and alive...