STAGES LEADING UP TO THE GOSPELS
THE HISTORICAL STAGE, AD 28-30
The evolution of the Gospel writings begins with the beginning of events that take place in Jesus Christ's lifetime. Jesus was a Jewish man who was born in Bethlehem by the Virgin Mary in 6 BC. He spent the last 2-3 years of his life doing religious activities such as preaching about the reign of God, forgiving sins, healing the sick and the possessed, and attracting followers. One of the most popular events in Jesus' life was his death and resurrection. Anything prior to these last 3 years was mostly unknown and is rarely discussed.
THE STAGE OF ORAL PREACHING, AD 30-65
The oral preaching stage refers to when the Apostles wished to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ after the Pentecost. This was done to encourage more people to follow Jesus Christ. To do this, they educated people on numerous stories about Jesus and passed on what Jesus had done. Due to the first Apostles not being very well educated in the sense that they were unable to read and write, they preferred to pass on Jesus' stories orally
THE STAGE OF GOSPEL WRITING, AD 65-100
People had written down and memorised experiences with Jesus. Between 50 AD and 65 AD, a collection of these recordings began to accumulate. The early church used eyewitness accounts to explain experienced with Jesus to new followers althoug, eventually first hand eyewitnesses began to dwindle and the church realised Jesus wasn't coming back as soon as they'd hoped. This inspired the writing of the Gospel, the written accounts of Jesus.