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100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
12. No Early Contestation Regarding Gospel Authorship
Most liberal scholars are quick to point out that the names normally attributed to the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) do not appear in the actual Gospels themselves. This curious omission, they say, is proof positive that these documents were actually written by anonymous authors. Later, it is contended, the names of the apostles were attached to the Gospels by the church in order to give them credibility.
It's important to note that the earliest Christian writings would have existed in scroll form (the codex, or book, being a slightly later development). In this format, documents did not contain the authors' names in the main body of text as a matter of necessity. Scrolls did, however, contain a nametag attached to the outside of the scroll called a sittybos. It is little wonder then, that the Gospels do not contain the names of their authors. These names would have appeared in the tag on the outside of the scroll A.
It is universally acknowledged that Christianity had spread over a wide geographical area to multitudes of people in a very short time. Had the Gospels been the product of anonymous authors, their rapid circulation over vast distances would have surely sparked controversy regarding their true authorship. Historically, there is no hint that any such controversy ever existed B. This must be seen as evidence that the traditional names attached the Gospels reflect the authors' true identities.
12. No Early Contestation Regarding Gospel Authorship - Notes and References
A. "Martin Hengel of Tubingen University noticed that the following well-documented technique customary in the making of scrolls at the time ensured the very early preservation of authors' names: Scrolls with literary texts had tags glued to them…They fulfilled the same purpise as the spine of a modern book: One does not have to open a book in order to find out who wrote it and what its title is." Carsten Peter Thiede and Matthew D'Ancona, "Eyewitness to Jesus", Doubleday, 1996, p.15
B. "If, as is usually argued today, the earliest Gospels were anonymous or lacked titles, because of the pressing need to distinguish them in community libraries, a variation of titles would have inevitably arisen, whereas in the case of the canonical Gospels (in contrast to that of countless apocryphal writings) we can detect nothing of this." Martin Hengel, "Studies in the Gospel of Mark", London, 1985, pp. 81-82