What was the process by which the Gospel accounts were written? Because of the belief in revelation, Latter-day Saints might suppose that each Gospel writer received an extended revelation concerning the ministry of Jesus Christ, which he then simply wrote down from beginning to end. He taught, “From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of man, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled.” This chapter will examine the evidence for traditional authorship of the Gospels in light of latter-day scripture and modern revelation. The Prophet Joseph Smith, however, understood that the process of writing, transcribing, and compiling the books of the Bible was quite complex. Įven though skepticism of traditional authorship has persisted to the present, this particular issue has been more of an academic exercise than a pivotal issue for many Latter-day Saints and other Christians, who have often accepted traditional authorship without question. In the late seventeenth century, the French priest Richard Simon asserted that the titles of the four Gospels were not placed there by the Gospel writers themselves but were added much later. Debates concerning the authorship of various books of the Bible continued through the centuries. As early as the third century AD, the Christian theologian Origen of Alexandria expressed his doubts concerning the Pauline authorship of Hebrews, while his student Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, challenged the Johannine authorship of the book of Revelation.
But the issue of authorship is not that simple.
There are those who would say that all one has to do is look at the title of the book. For some, the question of who wrote the books of the New Testament is really no question at all.
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