How did the Apostles know of the secret conversations the Jewish leaders had in the gospel?

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There are a few instances in the NT where there will be a secret conversation going on between Jewish leaders.

One example is the Jews meeting with Judas after the crucifixion and saying the pieces of silver should be buried.

Another one is when the Jews secretly conspired to tell everyone that the disciples carried Jesus out of the tomb.

Obviously, the Apostles we’re not there when those conversations were going on. Those conversations were very secretive.

Where did they get the knowledge of these conversations, since the Apostles are the ones who wrote the NT?
 
Conversions of Jewish leaders, perhaps?

Joseph of Arimathea was a Christian sympathiser and yet was a high-ranking Jew
 
God is the principle author of the Bible. The human authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Secrets were revealed to them.
 
Nicodemus, a secret follower of Christ, was a seemingly minor member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish rabbinical court. He would have been involved in the discussions of the Jewish leadership and would have relayed them to the Apostles and Disciples either during the ministry of Christ or after His Resurrection.

In Chapter 7 of the Gospel of John, we actually find Nicodemus trying to persuade the high priests of the Sanhedrin to investigate Christ’s identity as the Messiah rather than just condemn Him outright.
 
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A few possibilities:
  1. God may have revealed it to them in some way.
  2. One of the Jewish leaders may have converted and revealed the information to them.
  3. It was their guess of what happened given what was public knowledge. For instance, if the Jewish leaders were consistent in their assertions that Jesus’ body was stolen, then it would make sense that they met to establish that story.
 
Paul was in the inner circle of Jewish leaders in the earliest days of Christianity. He would certainly have been able to hear the stories from these leaders about the actions they took to have Jesus crucified and prevent his body being stolen. After his conversion, Paul was in the inner circle of Christian leaders and could have shared these stories with the writers of the gospels.
 
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Jewish leaders had wives. Women were more sympathetic and attracted to Christ.
 
Jesus rose from the dead, so some of it he could have told them directly.

Then, as has been stated, Nicodemus was a sympathiser of Jesus who was in or at least close to the Sanhedrin.
 
How did the Apostles know of the secret conversations the Jewish leaders had in the gospel?

They would know , @BenSinner , from those who were connected to the Jewish leaders and later became Christians .
 
Jesus and the Apostles had friends in the Sanhedrin and what Caiaphas said and did I am sure was reported to the Apostles. Judas hung himself before the crucifixion , the chief priests had gathered up the money that Judas threw back at them and used it to buy a potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners When the Jews told the guards to say that " His disciples came by night and stole His body while we were asleep"the guards agreed. Yes the Apostles were not there, yet when we read when Jesus started His ministry, He had made friends as well as enemies, and these friend who were in the Sanhedrin and the guards even those who served Pilate .I would be sure they has told and warned the Apostles of the goings on of their enemies .God bless you.
 
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I’m down with the Paul argument.

Paul was a persecutor of Christians and a Pharisee (like a Jewish Attorney).
 
You’ve never lived in a small town, I take it? 😛 There are no secrets! 🙂

I’ve also dealt with organizations that have closed meetings, where people are very interested in the results of those meetings. They can have a meeting and discuss their business— and before everyone has put their chairs away, half a dozen people already know what they talked about, how they decided to act on certain issues, and so on. No secrets there, either!

But actually, that’s kind of a good thing to point out. You run into something similar with the Road to Emmaus story, the Nativity narrative, and things like that. You’ll notice that Luke’s gospel carries very specific elements that aren’t mentioned in Matthew’s gospel, and Mark and John pretty much start with his baptism and ministry.

That sort of insight leads to the tradition that (a) Luke was the unnamed traveler walking with Cleopas on the Road to Emmaus, and that (b) he relied upon Mary’s eyewitness accounts while writing his gospel.

For a situation where they actively have converts (Paul, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea), or even where the Apostles were known to the high priest (like John)— yeah, that kind of information would be very likely to flow, especially since the gospels were written down about AD 66-70 (Mark), AD 85-90 (Matthew and Luke), and AD 90-110 (John). So while we wouldn’t rule out supernatural knowledge, it’s very feasible that the information would have been come by in a very natural way.
 
John 18
15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
Click to expand...
There’s thought that the “another disciple” is John, but regardless, some disciples had connections and family within the Jewish leadership, and there were some in the Jewish leadership who were partial to Jesus’ ministry.

That these conversations were shared with / became known to the apostles and Gospel writers, therefore, isn’t a stretch.
 
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One of the things people forget is:

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Granted, some things seem quite difficult to follow… but there are connections and then there are Revelations; so when there’s a lack of human connection we can ascertain that there’s Divine Revelation–the Writers are not mere chroniclers… and as it was mentioned previously, there were “secret” disciples of Christ even amongst the masters of the Law (don’t forget the Levi Priests who converted).

Maran atha!

Angel
 
…yeah, that’s also a possibility–St. John could have been trading in “secrets” as he was known to the chief priest’s household.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Remember that the Gospels were written many years after the events they recount. There was plenty of time to identify facts that were hidden at the time of the events.
 
There are widespread rumors that the authors had an Inside Source for much of what they wrote . . . even that they plagiarized this Source . . .

🤣

hawk
 
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