Who Was First?

Q: How is it that after so many years of traditional teaching, some people are acknowledging Mark the Evangelist as author of the first Gospel instead of Matthew? I read something about “internal evidence.” Is there such doubt about authorship, or is “internal evidence” more convincing than early Church history?

A: This problem may arise from what people mean by “the first Gospel.” The attribution of the four Gospels to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John was reported by Papias, a bishop who died as a martyr around 125 A.D.

Most modern biblical scholars think that the Gospel of Mark was the first of the four Gospels to be completed (about 70 A.D.) and that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke borrow a good deal of material from Mark. The Gospel of John is usually considered the last of the four Gospels, having been completed around the year 95 A.D.

The Gospel of Matthew is the first Gospel in the sense that it has long been copied or printed first in collections of the four Gospels. That does not mean, however, that it was completed first.

Although the Book of Genesis is printed first in the Old Testament and without doubt describes its oldest events, the Book of Amos was probably completed 200 years earlier, in the eighth century before Christ’s birth.

If the Gospel of Matthew was not written first, then why is it printed first? The Gospel of Matthew is in some ways a more “churchy” Gospel than the other three—indeed, the only one to use the Greek word ekklesia (“Church”). The liturgy has used this Gospel more than those of Mark, Luke or John. Why? Jesus is most clearly a teacher in Matthew.