Who was the oldest gospel writer in the New Testament?

Answer 1

Oldest when he wrote: John the disciple on the isle of Patmos recorded the Revelation of Jesus Christ that he had there. We know nothing of the ages of the Gospel writers. However, it is possible to deduce some ideas of from the facts about each of them. Mark was a young man (possibly a teenager) at the time of Jesus' ministry as, traditionally, it was at his mother's house that the Last Supper was believed to have been eaten. She, as an active woman was probably no more than 35-40 as life expectancy was no more than 50 or so in those days. This places Mark at around 18 or so at the time of Jesus' ministry - around AD 30. mark was believed to have written his Gospel in the 50s AD meaning that he was probably no more than 40 at the time of writing. Matthewand Luke were already working adults - Matthew as a tax collector having undergone extensive training by the Romans, and Luke was a doctor - again having undergone lengthy training. This means that, at the time of writing their gospels in the 50s or 60s AD they would have been older than Mark - possibly in their 50s - quite old men for those days. John, however, was almost certainly a teenager at the time of Jesus' ministry possibly no more than 15 or 16 as his father Zebedee was still an active fisherman at John's calling to follow Jesus, so he would probably have been only in his 30s or early 40s. He and his brother James were called the 'Sons of Thunder' - in other words they were typical beligerent teenagers! It is agreed by Bible scholars that his gospel was written around 80 - 95 AD and therefore this places John as a very old man indeed (in the standards of those days) at possibly 70-85 at the time of its writing. Thus it is probably that the youngest disciple of Jesus (or at least one of the youngest) was the oldest Gospel writer.

Answer 2

The apostle John is traditionally believed to be the oldest of the gospel writers in the New Testament. It is thought that he wrote his gospel later than the other gospel writers, possibly in the late first century.