If we work under the premise that the early church was not hesitant in publishing Gospels as the need arose, then what should we speculate concerning Luke, which appears to have been written for a more sophisticated Greco-Roman audience than either Matthew or Mark? In this article, we survey a…
Here is the abstract for the paper that I’ll be presenting at the Annual ISCA Conference in Wichita on 11–12 September 2026 (https://isca-apologetics.org/): Inerrancy, Patterns of Behavior, and the Implications on Early Gospel Publication The New Testament portrays the earliest Christians as being reliant on Scripture—as recognizing that God spoke…
The Gospel of Mark offers Greek translations for a variety of Aramaic words. What does this tell us about Mark's intended audience? Many scholars claim that Mark's translations demonstrate that his audience was not familiar with Aramaic. However, if we look closely at how both Mark and Matthew handle the…
In this article, we explore yet another instance where assumptions concerning the publication dates of the Gospels impact one's understanding of the meaning of the Gospels. Here, the parable of the wicked tenants is said by several scholars to be properly understood as teaching that the "others" who would assume…
This article challenges the assertion by some scholars that Mark’s use of transliterated Latin words helps to demonstrate a Greco-Roman audience.
The most popular modern hypothesis for explaining the publication order of the Synoptic Gospel is that Mark was published first, followed by Matthew and Luke, each having used Mark and other sources without having consulted each other. Variations exist on this hypothesis; but consistently, Mark is claimed to have been…
In Vital Issues in the Inerrancy Debate, Phil Fernandes challenged evangelical scholars and apologists to consider the following question: “How early could the four Gospels have been written?” In A Trustworthy Gospel and on this website, I have aspired to address this question with respect to Matthew and Mark. In…
In a prior article it was observed that Oliver Buswell acknowledged that his interpretation of the Olivet Discourse was impacted by his assumptions regarding the date of Matthew’s Gospel. I suggest that publication assumptions can likewise impact one’s interpretation and application of the Sermon on the Mount. Specifically, I suggest…
How do assumptions regarding the publication date of Matthew’s Gospel and Matthean priority affect our interpretation of the book? Previously, we looked at how J. Oliver Buswell’s belief that Matthew was published after Paul’s writings impacted his identification of the elect in the Olivet Discourse. Today, we consider the identity…
How do the Gospels compare with other contemporary biographies, relative to size? Plutarch was the most prolific biographer of the era, writing in Greek around the end of the first century. The following chart compares the word count of the four Gospels with fifty biographies written by Plutarch. Although Matthew’s…