Early Fathers and the Gospels

[WaltLove]

Hello my brothers and sisters,

Do any of the early church fathers (by early I mean 1st century to early 2nd century) mention the four gospels in any of their writings? If they do could you please provide some evidence. Thanks as always and may the Lord bless and keep you.

Walt

 

[annem]

Do any of the early church fathers (by early I mean 1st century to early 2nd century) mention the four gospels in any of their writings? If they do could you please provide some evidence. Thanks as always and may the Lord bless and keep you. Walt

Sure, lots. In 1 Clement, written about 95 AD, there are citations from Matthew, John, and 1 Corinthians. I believe this was the first author to quote from the gospels. You have to understand, however, what is meant by “citation”. People never, or very rarely, quoted exactly from a text, and this holds true for all ancient authors. That’s because it was very, very hard to locate a single sentence from a papyrus. You would have to unroll it, for one thing, which would use up the papyrus. A written roll could be worth one man’s annual salary. They were valuable and worth treating gently.

However Clement clearly shows evidence of knowing the gospels, if not word for word, then nearly so. Try to imagine how many times he must have heard those words read aloud–the gospels would have been read aloud at every Mass–to get these citations. So, clearly, the gospels were in circulation by 95 AD.

There are other citations in Shepherd and the Dicache but the problem is proving when they were written. Some have argued that one or both of these were written in the late 1st century.

The next reliable citations are from the letters of Ignatius in 110 AD. I don’t recall how many times he cites Paul, but it was quite a few times.

After that, of course, there was a flood of citations.

Does this help?

God bless, Annem

 

[ziapueblo]

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians:
Chapter 14:
The tree is made manifest by its fruit; so those that profess themselves to be Christians shall be recognised by their conduct.
Matt 12:33
Either declare the tree good and its fruit is good, or declare the tree rotten and its fruit is rotten, for a tree is known by its fruit.

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians:
Chapter 9:
And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, having come, raised them from the dead.
Matt 27:52
…tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians:
Chapter 7:
as the Lord has said: “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:41
…The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mark 14:38
Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Much more here…
newadvent.org/fathers/

 

[Nita]

Hello my brothers and sisters,

Do any of the early church fathers (by early I mean 1st century to early 2nd century) mention the four gospels in any of their writings? If they do could you please provide some evidence. Thanks as always and may the Lord bless and keep you.

Walt

For the Gospel of Mark.
Papias’ writings dated 115 - 140 AD

From: newadvent.org/cathen/11457c.htm

The most important fragment of Papias is that in which he gives an account of St. Mark from the words of the Presbyter, obviously St. John. It is a defense of St. Mark, attesting the perfect accuracy with which he wrote down the teachings of St. Peter, but admitting that he did not give a correct order.

 

[Nita]

Clement of Alexandria: birth unknown, died about 215 AD

From newadvent.org/cathen/10057a.htm

*Clement of Alexandria (Strom., III, xiii) speaks of the four Gospels that have been transmitted, and quotes over three hundred passages from the Gospel of Matthew, which he introduces by the formula, en de to kata Maththaion euaggelio or by phesin ho kurios. *

Just go to www.newadvent.org and type in the gospel name/s.