The Bible in a Nutshell IV: An Intro to the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of Matthew

The Synoptic Gospels
The Gospels are narratives about the life of Jesus that include some of the words of Jesus. Three of the four gospels are called synoptic gospels meaning they are related. Although there may be small details that are unique to a particular gospel, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell a similar story. There are various theories as to which ones were written first and why they were written in that order. There are two major schools of thought when it comes to this issue, referred to by scholars as the "Synoptic Problem". One asserts that Mark was written first because Matthew and Luke both include some of the same details as Mark, but they share other details between them, that Mark doesn't mention. Therefore, it is believed that Mark was written first, then Matthew and Luke were written at a later date to include some of the details Mark omitted.

The other philosophy says that Matthew wrote the first Gospel in the Hebrew dialect because the Gospel was to go to the Jew first and then the Gentile. Following this, Mark wrote the Apostle Peter's testimony for him while he was away in Rome and then Luke the Apostles Paul's (who was in Rome also) adaptation of Jesus' life. Both of these were written in Greek, presumably so that the people Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome would be able to read the text. Later on, Matthew would synthesize a Greek version of his Hebrew text.

Though the order in which the Gospels were written is disputed, Mathew is the first book placed New Testament.