M a t t h e w.(*):
means 'gift of God'. Written in Judea in 38 A.D.
He was the son of Alphaeus and was a publican
or tax gatherer at Capernaum. Formerly the name by which he was known was
Levi.(Mark
2:14; Luke 5:27);
he now changed it, possibly in grateful memory of his call, to Matthew.
His name does not occur again in the Gospel history except in the lists
of the apostles:.Matthew
10:2-4. The last notice of him is in.Acts
1:13. The time and manner of his death are unknown.
Matthew was evidently written
before the destruction of Jerusalem.(Matthew
24), and some time after the events
it records. The probability is that it was written between the years A.D.
60-65.
The first New Testament
books to be written were actually some of Paul's
letters, which he wrote to churches he had founded on his missionary
journeys. Then Mark wrote his gospel,
followed by Luke, Matthew
and John. The book of Revelation
was the last book of the New Testament to be written. Some think that Matthew
was first. As to the relation of the
Gospels to each other, we must maintain that each writer of the synoptics.(the
first three).wrote
independently of the other two. This harmony
of the gospels puts it together for easier understanding for you.
***
M a r k.(*):.means
the evangelist;."John
whose surname was Mark":.Acts
12:12,25. Mark.(Marcus,
Colossians
4:10, etc.).was
his Roman name, which gradually came to supersede
his Jewish name John, not the John
who wrote the book of John. Written in Macedonia or Greece in 65 A.D.
The book of Mark is thought to be the first written of the four gospels
Matthew,
Mark, Luke,
John.
Mark was the son of Mary,
a woman apparently of some means and influence and was probably born in
Jerusalem where his mother resided:.Acts
12:12. Of his father we know nothing. He was cousin of Barnabas:.Colossians
4:10.
It was in his mother's house
that Peter found "many gathered together praying" when he was released
from prison and it is probable that it was here that Matthew was converted
by Peter, who calls him his "son":.1Peter
5:13. He went with Paul and Barnabas on their first journey about 47
A.D. but from some cause turned back when they reached Perga in Pamphylia:.Acts
12:25; 13:13.
Three years afterwards a
"sharp contention"
arose between Paul and Barnabas.(Acts
15:36-41), because Paul would not
take Mark with him. He, however, was evidently at length reconciled to
the apostle, for he was with him in his first imprisonment at Rome. At
a later period he was with Peter in Babylon.(1Peter
5:13), then and for some centuries
afterwards, one of the chief seats of Jewish learning and he was with Timothy
in Ephesus when Paul wrote him during his second imprisonment:.2Timothy
4:11. He then disappears from view.
Mark makes no mention of
the destruction of Jerusalem, hence it must have been written before that
event and probably about A.D. 63. The place where it was written was probably
Rome.
It was intended primarily
for Romans. This appears probable when it is considered that it makes no
reference to the Jewish law.
Out of a total of 662 verses,
Mark has 406 in common with Matthew and Luke, 145 with Matthew, 60 with
Luke and at most 51 peculiar to itself.