Ignore the Skeptics — Paul Knew the Gospels
The Bible is reliable
One of the most frequent attacks against the Bible claims that the Gospels were written late, a generation or three after the time of Jesus. The further away from Jesus they can push the Gospels, the less credibility they’ll have.
Paul wrote his letters early in history, a handful of decades after Jesus died on a Roman cross. Even the greatest skeptics will acknowledge that Paul’s letters appeared early, with letters like 1 Corinthians written in 52/53 A.D.
If Paul knew the Gospels, that would mean the Gospels were written even earlier. This would shatter the skeptics’ attack, pushing the Gospels well within the lifetimes of the eye-witnesses.
Skeptics, therefore, try to claim that Paul knew nothing of the Gospels. They must, or else their attacks against the Gospels crumble.
Yet the evidence is hard to ignore. Paul certainly knew of the first three Gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is likely that John had not yet been written by the end of Paul’s life, but he nevertheless demonstrates familiarity with the content John writes about.
This is easy to prove. All we have to do is point out where Paul quotes from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
