• Peter, not knowing how to write, asked Mark to be his secretary
• Before Mark left for Egypt, he asked some scribes to recopy his Gospel
• Peter went to Rome where he met Philo who recounts the story of Christianity in Egypt
• 10-15 years later, Matthew & Luke got a copy of Mark and start copying
• Later, sects emerged and John started to write his in response to them
• John train the first Church Fathers who wrote letters too
• Papias wrote a document, but later it was lost
• Luke was following Paul all the time, and stop writing when Paul was in prison
• Theophilus was asking Luke to write a report of the event, so Luke sent out 2 letters
• Matthew got additional sources from “M”
• Luke got additional sources from “L”
• Matthew & Luke got the same source from “Q”, which is either written things or oral tradition
• Since people were illiterate, they preach verbally
• To preserve Jesus’ life properly, 4 biographies were written down
• John, who got direct experience with Jesus, wrote from his personal perspective while meditating on the content that Jesus said
• Gnostics started to emerge but wasn’t enable to get popularized
• One author, who wanted to preserve the gnostic teaching, gather manuscripts

The New Testament

The New Testament isn’t a set of myths or legends, but a collection of early letters, grounded in history. The 4 Gospels are Greco-Roman biographies of Jesus Christ. Acts of the Apostle tells the adventure of Paul the Apostle. The Epistles of Paul are pastoral letters to address issues in church communities. Revelation tells the vision that God gave to John at the end of his life.

This version is a reconstruction story based on the New Testament, Church Fathers’ writings, and ancient history.

30-33 AD

Life of Jesus

Jesus chose Matthew (tax collector) & John (fisherman) to be amongst his 12 disciples for 3 years. 
After his death & resurrection, an oral tradition started to spread his story.

33 – 36 AD

The events on “Acts of the Apostles” start here.

Paul has his radical conversion from Judaism to Christianity.
A creed about the resurrection story has been circulated ¹.
Since the vast majority of the population were illiterate, and well-trained in oral tradition, the Apostles had no better choice than to spread the Good News by mouth-to-ear.

45 AD

Mark’s gospel

Peter (the lead Apostle) wanted a written biography of Jesus, so he asked Mark, a scribe, to be his secretary. ²
He wrote down whatever he (Peter) remember, not necessarily in chronological order. ³
After he finished his Gospel, they asked some scribes to copy the original one, so they could preserve it & distribute it all over the world.

According to tradition, in 49 AD, Mark left for Egypt to proclaim the Good News & to establish the Coptic church there.
Philo of Alexandria took notice of the activities of the Christians there, so he wrote a record, before meeting Peter in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius (41 – 54 AD). ⁴

50s AD

Paul’s Epistles

As Christianity was spread all over around, Paul decided to write his letters to the churches. The Epistles of Paul are born. Luke, a physician, follows Paul whenever he goes all the time, and record his life during the trips (which will later become the “Acts of the Apostles“).

Thallus (52 AD) writes about the darkness & earthquake surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion. His work is lost but is mentioned by Africanus.

Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. Luke & Paul meet with Aquila & Priscilla.

The dating is approximate.

60s AD

Matthew’s gospel

As the Gospel of Mark was circulated everywhere, Matthew finally got a copy, so he started to write down his, using his memory & experience from being a close Apostle of Jesus. He also relies on the “M” source. 

Luke’s gospel

Paul & Luke arrives in Rome to meet Peter. ^{5 6}

Luke, who was following Paul all along, also got a copy of the Gospel of Mark. He didn’t personally know Jesus, so he uses Mark’s Gospel as his main source, and then, interviewed many Christians around to get more information on what they know & hear about Jesus, including his “L” source, so he could write an accurate biography.

Both Matthew & Luke started their Gospel when Peter & Paul were preaching in Rome. ⁷ 

Matthew & Luke, who also have common “saying” of Jesus, rely upon the “Q” source, which demonstrates their similarities.

After Luke finishes his Gospel, he sent it out the letter to his excellence Theophilus, probably as a request ⁸.

The Synoptic Gospels are now completed.

Paul’s Epistles

62 AD

Acts of the Apostles

Paul is in prison in Rome. Luke finish his book of “Acts of the Apostles“, and sent out the manuscript to Theophilus as his 2nd letter. ⁹
By the end of the story, the death of Paul is mentioned nowhere, which we can presume, the letter was sent out before it happened ¹⁰, which occurs between 64-68 AD.

64-68 AD

Emperor Nero was responsible for the Great Fire of Rome (64 AD).¹¹
To avoid suspicions against him, he blames the Christians for setting the fire. Among them, was Peter & Paul.

Peter was crucified upside down.

Paul was decapitated outside of Rome.

Mark died as a martyr in Egypt in 68 AD, according to Coptic tradition.

70 AD

The Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed, which was prophesied by Jesus.

Mara Bar-Serapion, having heard of Jesus been crucified, wrote a letter to his son, mentioning that he was the wise king of the Jews.

90s AD

John’s gospel

As Christianity was spread around, several sects emerged, including the “gnostics”. In response to their belief, John, in his very old age, started to write his Gospel. He was an illiterate fisherman, and by the time he got old, perhaps, was able to learn to write, or to ask a scribe to write down for him. There are also some rumors that he asked Papias was his secretary. He also gathers new students, as we know today as the Apostolic Fathers (Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna).

Josephus, a Jewish historian, having heard about the story of Jesus of Nazareth, write down his famous “Antiquities of the Jews” in 93 AD, and mention his crucifixion.

The 4 Gospels are now completed.

Early 2nd century

Since the Gospels were in circulation, a vast portion of them was sent over to Egypt in order to: keep the papyrus intact & having competent scribes to copy over and make copies.

In 125 AD, a scribe who copied the Gospel of John preserved the document pretty well. With time, it gets fragmentary. Today, that fragment was found, and is considered the earliest evidence of the Gospel, known as “P52“.

As Jesus got more popular, many authors wrote about him, including, the gnostic gospels.

Tacitus writes about Jesus been crucified under Pontius Pilate.

Pliny the Younger wrote about the Christians celebrating Mass illegally.

Lucian of Samosata wrote a satyric text to ridicule the Christians.

Suetonius wrote about Christian persecutions.