It comes as a surprise to many, but the New Testament gospels were originally anonymous. Later in the second century, the Church Fathers attributed them to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, on the speculative basis that these people fitted the profile of each of the gospels. So, because the first gospel was thought to have been written by an educated Jew, it was attributed to Matthew, a tax collector. The third gospel was written in by a moderately well educated person who seems to have known Paul, so this gospel as attributed, along with Acts of the Apostles, to Luke the physician. The fourth gospel was thought to have been written by an apostle, and it was believed that John the apostle could have been the 'beloved disciple' of this gospel and that the 'beloved disciple' was probably the author, so this gospel was attributed to John, a fisherman. Mark's Gospel is an enigma because superficially it appears to have been written by a gentile in rough, ungrammatical Greek, and eventually it was attributed to Mark.
Biblical scholars are in agreement that these attributions are unlikely to have been accurate, in particular a majority of scholars say that none of the gospels could have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed. Thus, we will never know who the authors were, and therefore we can not say what their occupations had been.
Copyright © 2026 eLLeNow.com All Rights Reserved.