The better question: Why did the gospel authors create such different Jesus-Script?
The general consensus of non-evangelical New Testament scholars is that the gospels were written many decades after the death of Jesus: all of them were created after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E. We don’t know who the gospel authors were—the traditional names we’re so used to were attached to them later. Nor do we know where they got their information; the witnesses to Jesus would surely have passed from the scene by that time. But it’s a major error to assume that the gospel authors were trying to write history. Each in his own way was trying to promote the Jesus sect/cult. They fully qualify as propagandists.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but readers today must be aware that this was their goal, their game.
We have to give first prize for propaganda to the author of John’s gospel, who was sensationally addicted to the Jesus sect. He claimed that the Galilean peasant preacher had actually been present at creation; these are the opening five verses of his gospel:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”
The author of this gospel doesn’t mention Jesus being baptized—since Jesus had been present at creation, baptism wasn’t required—especially since Mark describes it as “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:4) The author of John would have none of that. In John 1:29-30, John the Baptist is given this script:
“Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’” (John 1:29-31) Lamb of God refers to ancient custom of sacrificing lambs to atone for sin.
Nor does John’s gospel mention a virgin birth; again, because Jesus had been present at creation, virgin birth offered nothing to enhance his divine status. But John’s author promoted the gimmicks that proved to be so attractive to members of the cult. To this day, one of the favorite Bible quotes is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Just what is involved in “believing in him”? The author returns to this gimmick in his story of Doubting Thomas in John 20:24-29. Thomas finally accepts that Jesus was raised from the dead when he sees (and touches) the resurrected Jesus standing in front of him. Jesus scolds him for not believing what the other disciples had told him. That is, you’re loyal to the cult if you just believe without requesting/expecting evidence.
A few chapters later, the author of the gospel shifts the gimmick, endorsing magic potions. In John 6:52-58, Jesus-script claims that eternal life awaits those who eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood. Why/how in the world do contemporary Catholics accept this goofy magic, disguised at transubstantiation? One reason must be that Catholicism excels at ceremony—putting on a big show! —with sets, costumes, music, all very impressive to convince those attending mass that their magic works, that is, changing wafers and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. For some reason—this is totally baffling—John omits the eucharist from his account of the Last Supper; instead Jesus washes the feet of the disciples.
The agenda of Mark’s gospel is to announce/proclaim that the kingdom of his god will soon arrive on earth. Hence the absence of ethical teaching in Mark; the author wanted his readers to know that history was about to change dramatically. In Mark 13 we find a description of the horrors to come when this kingdom descends from heaven to earth:
“Siblings will betray sibling to death and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:12-13)
“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” (Mark 13:24-25)
Tom Dykstra has argued in his 2012 book, Mark: Canonizer of Paul, that Mark’s author was influenced by Paul’s confidence that Jesus would descend from heaven in the near future. Of course, both Mark and Paul were dead wrong.
The author of Matthew’s gospel, while copying most of Mark’s gospel, seems to have been troubled that there was so little ethical teaching in Mark, hence he added the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7). But Richard Carrier argues convincingly that this text cannot be traced to Jesus (see pp. 465-466, On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt). The author of Luke’s gospel included this sermon in an abbreviated form, broke it up, and changed the wording; he even said that it was preached on level ground, not on a mount! The author of John’s gospel did not include it in his gospel.
While the Sermon on the Mount is commonly considered a supreme example of ethical teaching, if the devout took the trouble to read it carefully, critically, they’d find quite a few things they would decline to follow and obey.
Evidence of the varying cult agendas of the gospel writers is also found in other word changes. In Matthew 10:37-38, we find this Jesus-script:
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
That’s a shocking thing to read, but Luke didn’t think it was blunt enough, so he made alarming changes, Luke14:26:
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
The creation of Jesus-script was a dangerous practice. I suspect that most devout Christians are not aware of this text—and are stunned, appalled when/ if they ever come across it. When I once mentioned it to a devout Catholic woman, she flew into a rage that I could tell such a lie.
When we read John, chapters 14-17, we can see how its author got carried away. This long Jesus monologue is found nowhere else—how in the world could the other gospel writers have missed it? Because John was following his agenda when he created it. Here he gives Jesus a colossal ego, which would have appealed to cult followers who wanted their holy hero to be far superior to any other such hero.
John’s author also created the so-called “beloved disciple” who had cuddled up to Jesus during the last supper (see John 13:23-25), and at the very end of John’s gospel we find this Jesus-script:
“This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.” (John 21:24)
Even today many readers may be fooled by this claim. This is not how genuine history is written, that is, trusting that someone will tell the truth. Authentic history is written based on materials found in archives and libraries, such as letters, diaries, and newspaper accounts. We need reliable, verifiable, objective sources of information. The gospels fail by these standards.
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
• Guessing About God (2023)
• Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available.
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.
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