New Testament that Luke the Evangelist, an associate of St. Paul who was probably not an eyewitness to Jesus' ministry, wrote the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles. Scholars are also divided on the traditional claim that Mark the Evangelist, an associate of St. Peter who may have been an eyewitness to Jesus' ministry, wrote the Gospel of Mark. Scholars are more divided over the traditional claim that Matthew the Apostle wrote the Gospel of Matthew and that John the Apostle wrote the Gospel of John. Opinion, however, is widely divided on this issue and there is no widespread consensus.
Development of the New Testament canon on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle"—equivalent to the "four-formed" gospel, is the origin of the conventional symbols of the Evangelists: lion (Mark), ox (Luke), eagle (John), man (Matthew). Irenaeus was ultimately successful in declaring that the four gospels collectively, and exclusively these four, contained the truth. By reading each gospel in light of the others, Irenaeus made of "John" a lens through which to read "Matthew", "Mark" and "Luke". Based on the arguments Irenaeus made in support of only four authentic gospels, some interpreters deduce that the "fourfold Gospel" must have still been