In the immediate aftermath of Jesus' death his followers expected him to return at any moment, certainly within their own lifetimes, and in consequence there was little motivation to write anything down for future generations, but as eyewitnesses began to die, and as the missionary needs of the church grew, there was an increasing demand and need for written versions of the founder's life and teachings.
Mark uses a variety of sources, including conflict stories (Mark 2:1โ3:6), apocalyptic discourse (4:1โ35), and collections of sayings (although not sayings gospel known as the Gospel of Thomas and probably not the Q source used by Matthew and Luke).
Amen." The consensus among modern scholars is that the gospels belong to the ancient genre of bios, or biography.
Ancient biographies were concerned with providing examples for readers to emulate while preserving and promoting the subject's reputation and memory, and so they included both propaganda and kerygma (preaching) in their works.
Mark, the first gospel, never calls Jesus "God" or claims that Jesus existed prior to his earthly life, never mentions a virgin birth (the author apparently believes that Jesus had a normal human parentage and birth), and makes no attempt to trace Jesus' ancestry back to King David or Adam.350, at Nag Hammadi in 1945โ46, and three papyri, dated to c.200, which contain fragments of a Greek text similar to but not identical with that in the Coptic language, have also been found.The Gospel of Judas is another controversial and ancient text that purports to tell the story of the gospel from the perspective of Judas, the disciple who is usually said to have betrayed Jesus.It paints an unusual picture of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, in that it appears to interpret Judas's act not as betrayal, but rather as an act of obedience to the instructions of Jesus.