Mark has generally been considered a Petrine Gospel; orthodox Christians claiming that Peter dictated the Gospel to Mark. Discussing this claim, the author of “Supernatural Religion” says: “Throughout the Gospel there is the total absence of anything which is specially characteristic of Petrine influence and teaching” (Vol. I., p. 362). Volkmar and others declare it to be Pauline. One thing can be affirmed with certainty; it was not written by John Mark, neither was it dictated by Peter.
The last twelve verses of Mark, it is claimed, are an interpolation, because they are not to be found in the older manuscripts of the book. The Revision Committee which prepared the New Version of the New Testament pronounced them spurious. If these verses are not genuine, then it must be admitted that the second Gospel is either an unfinished or a mutilated work; for with these verses omitted, it ends abruptly with the visit of the women to the tomb, leaving the most important events at the close of Christ’s career, his appearance and ascension—the proofs of his resurrection—unrecorded.
The greater portion of Mark is to be found in Matthew and Luke, and much of it in the same or similar language. Judge Waite, in his review of the Gospel, says: “Mark has almost a complete parallel in Luke and Matthew taken together. There are but 24 verses which have no parallel in either of the other synoptics” (History of Christianity, p. 350).
Regarding the origin of Mark, Strauss says: “Our second Gospel cannot have originated from recollections of Peter’s instructions, i. e., from a source peculiar to itself, since it is evidently a compilation, whether made from memory or otherwise, from the first and third Gospels” (Life of Jesus, Vol. I., p. 51).
That neither Peter nor Mark had anything to do with the composition of this book is admitted by Davidson. Referring to it he says: “It has therefore no relation to the Apostle, and derives no sanction from his name. The author is unknown” (Introduction to New Testament, Vol. II, p. 84).
Luke.
In denying the authenticity of Mark and Luke, what I deny is that these books were written by the traditional Mark and Luke, the companions of Peter and Paul. I deny that they were written in the apostolic age and by apostolic authority. As stated by “Chambers’s Encyclopedia,” “the question as to their genuineness is in the main question as to the fact of their existence at this early period; the special authorship of each Gospel is a comparatively less important question.”
The book of Luke is anonymous; it does not claim to be written by Luke. And yet the Fathers may have been correct in ascribing its authorship to him. If so, who was this Luke? Where did he live? When did he write his book? “Chambers’s” says he “was born, according to the accounts of the Church Fathers, at Antioch, in Syria.” Smith’s “Bible Dictionary” says, “He was born at Antioch.” The Gospel is addressed to Theophilus. Who was Theophilus? The “Bible Dictionary” says: “From the honorable epithet applied to him in Luke i, 3, it has been argued with much probability that he was a person in high official position.” There is but one Theophilus known to history to whom the writer can possibly refer, and this is Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, who lived in the latter part of the second century. Luke and Theophilus, then, both belonged to Antioch, and it is undoubtedly to this Theophilus that Luke’s Gospel is addressed. This proves that it was written more than one hundred years after the date assigned for its composition. When Luke assumed the task of writing a Gospel, Matthew, it has been claimed, was the only Gospel extant. And yet Luke in his introduction declares that many had been written; all of which he admits were genuine. Jerome says that one of the Gospels which Luke refers to was the Gospel of Appelles: “The Evangelist, Luke, declares that there were many who wrote Gospels.... They were such as that according to the Egyptians, and Thomas, and Matthias, and Bartholomew, that of the Twelve Apostles, and Basilides, and Appelles, and others.” The Gospel of Appelles was written about 60 A.D. If Luke’s Gospel was written after the Gospel of Appelles, it was written after the middle of the second century.
Dr. Schleiermacher, one of the greatest of modern theologians, maintains that Luke is a compilation of thirty-three different manuscripts; as follows: Chapter i, 1–4; i, 5–80; ii, 1–20; ii, 21; ii, 22–40; ii, 41–52; iii, iv, 1–15; iv, 16–30; iv, 31–44; v, 1–11; v, 12–16; v, 17–26; v, 27–39, vi, 1–11; vi, 12–49; vii, 1–10; vii, 11–50; viii, 1–21; viii, 22–56; ix, 1–45; ix, 46–50; ix, 51–62; x, 1–24; x, 25–37; x, 38–42; xi, 1–13; xi, 14–54; xii, xiii, 1–9; xiii, 10–22; xiii, 23–35; xiv, 1–24; xiv, 25–35; xv, xvi, xvii, 1–19; xvii, 20–37; xviii, xix, xx; xxi; xxii, xxiii, 1–49; xxiii, 50–56; xxiv.