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Course 16 · Lesson 3.1

Dating the Gospels

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 16 outline

Module 1: How Historians Reason

  1. Sources and evidence: primary, secondary, early and late
  2. Criteria of authenticity and their limits
  3. What historical probability means
  4. Where history stops and theology begins

Module 2: Jesus in the Ancient World

  1. The three quests for the historical Jesus
  2. Josephus and the Jewish sources
  3. Tacitus, Pliny and Suetonius on the Christians
  4. What outside sources can and cannot prove

Module 3: The Gospels as Historical Sources

  1. Dating the Gospels
  2. Authorship, anonymity and church tradition
  3. The Synoptic problem and John
  4. Eyewitness testimony, memory and reliability
  5. The Gospels as ancient biography

Module 4: The Death of Jesus

  1. How the Romans practiced crucifixion
  2. The evidence that Jesus died on a cross
  3. Burial and the empty tomb accounts

Module 5: The Earliest Testimony

  1. What the first Christians actually claimed
  2. Paul and the tradition in 1 Corinthians 15
  3. The appearance accounts in the Gospels and Acts
  4. Jewish and Greco-Roman expectations about resurrection

Module 6: Martyrdom and Its Limits

  1. Early persecution and the martyrdom traditions
  2. Late legends and early evidence about the apostles
  3. What martyrdom shows about sincerity and what it does not show about truth

Module 7: Alternative Explanations

  1. Hallucination and visionary experience
  2. Legend and the development of belief
  3. Conspiracy, the swoon theory and the wrong tomb
  4. Comparing explanations by explanatory power

Module 8: Building and Testing a Case

  1. Assembling the evidence into a case
  2. Background beliefs and the question of miracles
  3. Stating the limits of the case honestly

All courses

Program / Course 16: Historical Defense / Lesson 3.1

What you will learn

  • State the commonly accepted date ranges for the four Gospels and Acts.
  • Explain the main arguments for earlier and later dates.
  • Describe the role of the fall of Jerusalem in the debate.
  • Explain why dating matters for the question of reliability, and why it does not settle it.

The big idea

No Gospel names its own date, so scholars infer it from internal clues and outside references. The majority view places Mark around AD 65 to 75, Matthew and Luke between about AD 70 and 100, and John around AD 90 to 100. These are all within about one lifetime of Jesus’ death in the early 30s. Some conservative scholars argue for earlier dates, and some skeptical scholars for later ones. A shorter gap makes it more plausible that living memory shaped the accounts, but a short gap does not guarantee accuracy.

Key terms

Terminus a quo and ad quem
The earliest and latest possible dates for a text. A text cannot be earlier than the events it describes, and not later than its first sure citation.
Synoptic Gospels
Matthew, Mark and Luke, which share much material and can be read side by side. The word comes from a Greek word meaning seeing together.
Fall of Jerusalem
The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in AD 70, during the Jewish revolt.
Papyrus 52 (P52)
A small fragment of the Gospel of John in Greek, held in Manchester, usually dated to the first half of the second century.
Papias
A bishop of Hierapolis, in the early second century, whose lost writings are quoted by later authors about the origin of the Gospels.
Prophecy after the event
The claim that a prediction was written after the thing predicted had happened. Some scholars apply this to Jesus’ sayings about the destruction of the Temple.

Background

Jesus was crucified, in the view of most historians, in AD 30 or 33. Paul’s letters, the earliest Christian writings that survive, date from roughly AD 50 to 60. The Gospels came later. Dating them matters because the shorter the time between an event and the first written account, the less time there was for stories to change and the more likely that people who saw the events were alive to be asked.

Dating is also uncertain, which a student should accept from the start. Scholars give ranges, not exact years. What follows describes the most common ranges and the reasons for them, and it marks the places where scholars disagree.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Mark

Most scholars hold that Mark is the earliest Gospel and that Matthew and Luke used it (Lesson 3.3). They date Mark to about AD 65 to 75. Evidence includes a tradition from Papias that Mark wrote down Peter’s teaching, a tradition linked to Rome, and the long discourse in Mark 13, which speaks of the destruction of the Temple. Whether that chapter reflects events just before, during or after the war of AD 66 to 70 is debated.

A few scholars argue for a date in the 50s or early 60s, and a few for a date after 70. The majority range is close to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Step 2: Matthew and Luke

Because Matthew and Luke seem to use Mark, they are later. Most scholars place them between AD 80 and 90, though ranges from 70 to 100 or more are found. Some find in Luke 21:20 and Matthew 22:7 language that looks shaped by the destruction of Jerusalem.

A well-known argument for an early date for Luke is that its sequel, Acts, ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome, about AD 62, without telling his fate or mentioning the fall of Jerusalem. If Acts was written after Paul’s death or the war, it is argued, one would expect some mention. Critics reply that the author may have ended his story where his purpose ended, and that Acts may have been written decades after the events it describes.

Step 3: John

John is usually dated to about AD 90 to 100, mainly because it appears to reflect a late stage of conflict between the church and the synagogue, and its theology is more developed. The papyrus fragment P52, with verses from John 18, is usually dated to the first half of the second century, which shows that John was circulating in Egypt by then. Some scholars would date the fragment later, within a wider range of dates, and papyrus dating is not exact.

A minority of scholars, including some who accept that the Gospel rests on the memories of an eyewitness, argue for a date before 70. The majority still prefer the 90s.

Step 4: The prophecy question

A central argument for later dates is that Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple, and so the Gospels containing the prediction must have been written afterward. The argument depends on the assumption that detailed prediction is impossible. A Christian who believes that Jesus could foresee the future will reject it. A Christian or historian who accepts that Jesus might simply have predicted a disaster based on the political situation can accept an early date without appealing to the miraculous.

Many scholars point out that the Gospel predictions are general: the Temple would be torn down. Historians also note that Jeremiah had made a similar prediction centuries before. So the prophecy is not decisive in either direction.

Step 5: What the dates do and do not show

Even on the later dates, the Gospels were written within about forty to seventy years of the events. Paul’s letters and the creed he quotes (1 Corinthians 15) are earlier still. This is a short interval compared with many ancient biographies. It is a reason to take seriously the claim that the Gospels reflect early tradition.

It is not proof of accuracy. Memories can change within a few years, and a short gap is compatible with significant shaping of the story by the author’s aims. The date sets the conditions under which the reliability of the Gospels is discussed. It does not answer that question.

  1. What internal clue is used to date this text, and could it be read another way?
  2. Does the argument depend on a belief about prophecy?
  3. Which early external witness cites this Gospel, and when?
  4. How would the interval change if the earliest or the latest date were true?
  5. What do the scholars who disagree actually dispute?
  6. What does a short interval prove, and what does it not prove?

Examples

The silence of Acts

Acts ends with Paul preaching in Rome under guard. It does not report the outcome of his trial, the death of James (which Josephus dates to about AD 62), Paul’s death, or the fall of Jerusalem. Some conclude that Acts was written before these events. Others conclude that the author chose not to carry on.

A fragment of John

P52 is smaller than a credit card. It contains a few verses on each side from John 18. It is usually dated to roughly AD 125, within a range, and shows that John existed and was copied in Egypt by then. It cannot show when the Gospel was first written, except that it was before the copy.

Reading Mark 13

A scholar who thinks that Jesus could not foresee events reads Mark 13 as written during or after the war. A scholar who thinks that Jesus could have predicted the Temple’s fall, or that the chapter does not describe the actual siege, can date Mark earlier. The same text is read in two ways.

Different perspectives

Majority critical scholarship

Most scholars date Mark to about 70, Matthew and Luke to the 80s and John to the 90s. They see the Gospels as written one to two generations after Jesus, drawing on earlier oral and written traditions.

Conservative Protestant and some Catholic scholars

Some argue for earlier dates, with Mark in the 50s or 60s and Luke before 62, and appeal to the silence of Acts and to church tradition. They claim that the later dates rest in part on skepticism about prophecy. A minority of the field adopts these dates.

Skeptical scholars

Some argue for later dates in the second century for parts of the Gospel tradition, and emphasize how much could change in several decades. They hold that the Gospels’ dates leave room for legendary growth.

Catholic and Orthodox teaching

Both traditions teach that the Gospels came from the apostolic age and the first Christian generation. The Second Vatican Council’s Dei Verbum states that the Gospels were written from what was handed down by the apostles. Neither tradition requires a particular date within that period.

Historians of the early church

Many note that the evidence of the earliest church writers, such as Papias and Justin, shows the Gospels in use in the early second century, which sets a latest date. Within the range before that, the precise date is uncertain.

Why it matters

The date of the Gospels is a common point in popular arguments, with claims that they were written decades after the events by unknown authors, or that they were written within a few years. Neither claim is accurate as it stands. Understanding the real range, and why scholars hold it, allows a student to use the date as one factor and not as a slogan.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The Gospels were written hundreds of years after Jesus.

Correction: Almost all scholars date them to within roughly 40 to 70 years of his death, well within the first century.

Misunderstanding: A date before AD 70 proves the Gospels are accurate.

Correction: A shorter gap makes accuracy more plausible, but it does not guarantee it. Accuracy must be judged by examining the contents and the sources.

Misunderstanding: Scholars who date the Gospels late do so because they are hostile to Christianity.

Correction: Many believing scholars accept the majority dates. The dating arguments rest on internal and external evidence, though assumptions about prophecy play a role.

Misunderstanding: P52 shows that John was written by an eyewitness.

Correction: P52 shows only that John was circulating by the early second century. The authorship of John is a separate question.

Knowledge check

What are the commonly accepted date ranges for the four Gospels?

Mark is usually dated to about AD 65 to 75, Matthew and Luke to roughly 70 to 100 with many preferring the 80s, and John to about 90 to 100. These are approximations, and conservative scholars argue for earlier dates while some skeptical scholars argue for later ones.

How does the fall of Jerusalem figure in the debate?

Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple in the Gospels. Scholars who doubt that he could foresee it date those Gospels after AD 70. Others argue that the prediction is general, that it could be prophecy or political judgment, and that the silence of Acts about the fall suggests an earlier date.

What does the argument from the ending of Acts claim?

It claims that since Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome about AD 62, without his death or the fall of Jerusalem, Luke-Acts was written before these events. Critics respond that the author may have ended his story at the point he intended, and that Acts could have been written later.

Why does a short gap between the events and the Gospels not settle the question of reliability?

Memory and storytelling can change an account within years, and an author writes with a purpose. A short gap makes eyewitness influence more plausible and lessens the room for long legendary growth, but reliability must be judged by examining the Gospels themselves.

Think it through

  1. How much weight do you give to the date compared to other factors?
  2. Does the belief that Jesus could foresee events affect how you date texts? Should it?
  3. What can happen to a story in forty years? In ten?
  4. What would persuade you to change your view of the dates?

Independent assignment

A dating chart

In your own notebook, make a chart with a row for each Gospel and Acts. Give the majority date range, the main evidence, one argument for an earlier date and one for a later date. Add 200 words on what you conclude and how sure you are. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study