In the first century AD, Aramaic was widespread throughout the Middle East, as supported by Josephus's testimony in "The Jewish War."
It's widely accepted that Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic. The areas where Jesus spent much of his time, Judea, Nazareth, and Capernaum, were Aramaic-speaking communities.

According to ancient Christian Tradition, the four canonical Gospels were written by their supposed authors. The earliest tradition regarding the origin of the Gospel comes from Papias of Hierapolis, living in the second century. This tradition is documented in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History.
Papias's testimony is highly regarded by many Christian apologists because he allegedly gathered information from individuals who had direct knowledge of Jesus.

Today, only fragments of Papias's writings remain, preserved in later excerpts. These fragments reveal that Papias stated that "Matthew put together the oracles (ta logia) in the Hebrew language...."(Matthew’s “Hebrew dialect” was what we now call a regional dialect of Aramaic,), which contrasts with the Canonical 'Gospel' of Matthew, primarily composed in Greek.

This brings me to the central theme of this article, "Logia or Gospel?".

The difference between "Logia" and a "Gospel" is that Logia refer to sayings or words attributed to Jesus, while a Gospel presents a narrative account of Jesus's life and teachings.
The term "Gospel" is the Anglo-Saxon translation of the Greek word "Euangelion." The Greek term was employed to interpret the Aramaic "awon-Galee-Yoon," which conveys the meaning of "He reveals."
So mark 1:1 would have correctly read "the beginning of the Revelation of Jesus Christ"....

"The word logia applies to teachings of Jesus used as source materials by the gospel writers in the writing of the canonical gospels."

When Papias describes a "Logia" written by Matthew, he isn't actually referring to the "Gospel" of Matthew we have now. Papias describes his Matthew as a collection of Jesus' sayings (Logia) as written in Hebrew, which raises questions about the current Gospel of Matthew, which is in Greek.
Many early church fathers also concur that these "sayings/Logia" were written in Hebrew, though their accounts often echo Papias or Irenaeus, with Irenaeus possibly drawing from Papias, as seen in his writings:

Irenaeus (170 CE): "Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect." [Against Heresies 3:1]

Origen (210 CE): "The first [Gospel] is written according to Matthew, the same individual who was once a tax collector and later became an apostle of Jesus Christ. He published it for Jewish believers, writing it in Hebrew."

A quote by Eusebius; "Eccl. Hist. 6:25"]
Eusebius (315 CE): "Matthew, having first proclaimed the Gospel in Hebrew, later committed it to writing in his native tongue. This way, he supplied his presence to other nations through his writings." ["Eccl. Hist. 3:24"]

So clearly this could not have been the Canonical Gospel of Matthew we have now, another point is the death of Judas conflicting story.
According to Papias, Judas did not die by hanging but lived on. However, in our present book of Matthew, Judas hanged himself (Matt. 27:5). Given Papias's view of Matthew's Gospel as an eyewitness authority on Jesus and his contemporaries, why did he not accept its accounts of Judas's death?


Regarding the Gospel of Mark, Papias claimed that Mark, who hadn't personally known Jesus, wrote based on Peter's teachings. Even though this is what he heard himself from the Presbyters, that's, the TRADITION been passed on.
According to Eusebius, Papias wrote as follows:
"But now, to the extracts already made, we shall add, as being a matter of primary importance, a tradition regarding Mark who wrote the Gospel, which he [Papias] has given in the following words:
"This also the presbyter used to say: "Mark, indeed, who became the interpreter of Peter, wrote accurately, as far as he remembered them, the things said or done by the Lord, but not however in order." For he [Mark] had neither heard the Lord nor been his personal follower, but at a later stage, as I said, he had followed Peter"

Papais claimed that Mark carefully gave an account of everything he remembered from the preaching of Peter, This assertion is debated among scholars due to Mark's limited knowledge of Jesus compared to his association with Peter, some of Peter's stories are in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark.
The short ending of the Gospel of Mark, which is widely accepted in scholarly circles, does not include an account of the resurrection appearances of Jesus.
if Mark indeed recorded the teachings of Peter, it seems inconsistent with what is known about Peter's preaching in other early Christian writings, such as Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 15. Acts 2 records Peter's speech at Pentecost, which focused on the resurrection, and 1 Corinthians 15 emphasizes the significance of Christ's resurrection appearances to Peter as a foundational belief in the early Church.

Although, Papias's statement about the origins of Matthew and Mark isn't highly regarded by modern scholars, and even Eusebius had a low opinion of Papias's intelligence.

Notwithstanding, Papias's insights are valuable. The Nag Hammadi collection consists of Gnostic works that focus on the sayings (Logia) of Jesus rather than narrative accounts.
The most prominent among them are the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, Gospel of Philip and in our new testament I'll include the Book of Revelation (Unveiling).
Although we have subtle logia/sayings in the Canonical gospel known as the "7 sayings," one of these sayings are in Aramaic. This connection to Aramaic leads us to the logia that Papais talked about being written in Aramaic. In Mark 15:34, we find: 'And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?

Now, these 7 sayings in the Canonical Gospels are attributed to "the disciple whom Jesus loved", as stated in John 21:24. He was the one taking notes of what Jesus was saying while He was dying and the activities going on around Him, which is mentioned in John 19:25-30. This person is none other than Judas Iscariot.
https://www.nairaland.com/7888378/other-disciple-whom-jesus-loved


The synoptic Gospels we have now (Mark, Matthew, Luke) share similar content and order. They were originally anonymous, and their titles and authors were assigned by early church fathers, led by Irenaeus. Scholars agree that Mark was likely the first Gospel, with Matthew borrowing heavily from it(80%), and Luke also using Mark as a source(50%).

"Until around 150 CE, Christians could produce writings either anonymously or pseudonymously, meaning they used the name of some acknowledged important biblical or apostolic figure. This practice was popular and accepted at that time."
https://www.britannica.com/topic/biblical-literature/New-Testament-canon-texts-and-versions


The Logia books are associated with Gnostics, who were referred to as Nazarenes or Mandaeans. Early church fathers considered them heretics. The Gnostic books we have now are dated to a later period, but they may have had the original material.

Epiphanius in 370 CE mentioned that the Nazarenes had a complete Gospel according to Matthew in Hebrew.
Eusebius noted that the term "Nazarenes" was formerly used for Christians

Acts 24:5
We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.

St Jerome also refers to it in his commentary on Isaiah, speaking of the Jews, he says: “Thrice every day, in all the synagogues,
They curse the word Christian under the name of the Nazarenes.”

Nazarene in Aramaic is Nasraya (ܕܢܨܪܝܐ). Nasrani is used in the Quran for Christians...

More Attestation.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du-Ucq5QrAc?si=emPBsrUm3rya7Gnd