They believe that there was a 'written source' of the...

They believe that there was a 'written source' of the gospels of Luke and Matthew which is called 'Q' in the Christian writings. Rev. W.K.L Clarke writes in his Concise Bible Commentary: "That Mark is the earliest gospel is agreed by scholars who are not bound by the authority to maintain the priority of Matthew.

Only so can the close resemblances be explained.." "The arguments which convince us that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source, point also to a writer source to the sections common to the two gospels but not derived from Mark. This is called 'Q' (German Quelle = source)…How much narrative 'Q' contained is unknown… Again, had 'Q' a Passion-story? If so, does it lie behind Luke's or John's Passion-story?

If not, what kind of Gospel was it that said nothing about the cross?" Now, a document which can be regarded as a 'source of revelation' cannot be denied a place in the list of revealed books itself. This source was extant in the first century; and we may presume that it was possibly the original 'Injil' brought by Prophet 'Issa' (a.s.). Also, there are various references to 'gospel' (Injil) in the letters of St. Peter and St.

Paul which, undoubtedly were written before these four so-called Gospels came into being. Which 'Gospel' or 'Injil' do those letters refer to, it not to the written book of Prophet 'Issa' (a.s.)? Now that Injil is lost. It will be of interest to note that these four so-called 'Gospels' were not given this title upto the end of the second century CE. Who Wrote The 'Gospels'?

Coming to the present four 'gospels' the first thing which must be mentioned is that it is not certain who wrote the first and the fourth books. The first is the 'gospel' attributed to St. Matthew, who was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. But this 'gospel' is based mostly on the 'gospel' of Mark who was not a disciple of Jesus and had no first hand knowledge of the events of the ministry of Jesus.

Westminister Dictionary of Bible (under 'Matthew') mentions that according to many scholars it is difficult to accept that Matthew was the author of that gospel. "Matthew reproduces about 90 per cent of the subject matter of Mark in language very largely identical with that of Mark. Now it is highly improbable that an apostle would have used as a major source the word of one who in all likelihood had not been an eye witness of the ministry of Jesus".