The four canonical Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—are traditionally attributed to the following authors:

• The Gospel of Matthew is traditionally believed to have been written by Matthew, one of Jesus' twelve apostles and a former tax collector, known also as Levi.
• The Gospel of Mark is attributed to John Mark, a companion of both the apostle Peter and Paul, with the Gospel believed to be based on Peter's accounts.
• The Gospel of Luke is credited to Luke, a traveling companion of Paul and a doctor, who likely wrote based on eyewitness testimonies rather than being an eyewitness himself.
• The Gospel of John is traditionally ascribed to John, one of Jesus' closest disciples, often identified as the "beloved disciple" mentioned in the text.

These attributions come from early Christian writings and traditions recorded by figures such as Papias, Irenaeus, and the Muratorian Fragment, dating to the second century. Manuscript evidence and early church testimony consistently associate these names with the four Gospels, and no early manuscripts bear different authorship. Some modern scholars question the traditional authorship, suggesting that the Gospels were composed decades after Jesus' death by followers or communities rather than the apostles directly, but the earliest and strongest historical testimonies support the traditional attributions to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John based on connections to apostles and eyewitnesses of Jesus.