What makes the synoptic Gospels similar?

Answer 1

Matthew's Gospel contains all the essential features of the Christian message as it relates specifically to Jesus' life while on earth. In particular, the focus is on Jesus as a great teacher and miracle-worker, who called a group of men to follow him and who came by their experience with Him to realize who He was. This realization is particularly evident after His resurrection. There is also the theme of conflict with the Jewish religious teachers of His day which eventually led to His crucifixion and death.l

Apart from the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the greatest direct similarities cluster around the details of the crucifixion itself. = Q document = The Q document or Q (from the German Quelle, "source") is a postulated lost textual source for the Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of Luke.

The recognition of 19th-century New Testament scholars that Matthew and Luke share much material not found in their generally recognized common source, the Gospel of Mark, has suggested a second common source, termed the Q document. This hypothetical lost text-also called the Q Gospel, the Sayings Gospel Q, the Synoptic Sayings Source, the Q Manuscript, and in the 19th century The Logia-seems most likely to have comprised a collection of Jesus' sayings. Recognizing such a Q document is one of two key elements in the "two-source hypothesis" alongside the priority of Mark. The two-source hypothesis is the most widely accepted solution to the Synoptic Problem, which concerns the literary relationships between and among the first three canonical gospels (the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke), known as the Synoptic Gospels. Similarity in word choices and event placement shows an interrelationship. The synoptic problem concerns how this interrelation came to pass and what the nature of this interrelationship is. According to the two-source hypothesis, Matthew and Luke both used the Gospel of Mark, independently of one another. This necessitates the existence of a hypothetical source in order to explain the double tradition material where there is agreement between Matthew and Luke that is not in Mark. This hypothetical source is named Q for convenience.

Answer 2

Many similarities exist between the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. This is evident both in the original Greek and is reflected in the various translations into English.

Scholars have noted that there are a great many similarities between the three synoptic gospels and the attempt to account for both similarities and differences is called the 'synoptic problem.'

Matthew, when compared to Luke, has by far the most teaching of Jesus.

Both Matthew and Luke proclaim Jesus to be the eternal son of God, both in terms of His authoritative teaching and His miracles. The final proof of this for both is the glorious resurrection, after His crucifixion, on the third day.

Answer 3

AnswerThe synoptic gospels are the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, so called because they are moderately similar in their treatment of the story of Jesus. The fourth gospel, the Gospel According to John, is substantially different in content and in its treatment of the story of Jesus. In order to understand the similarities among the synoptic gospels, it is necessary to understand the stages in their development.

Mark's Gospel was written first, and is generally dated by scholars to approximately 70 CE. Matthew's Gospel is believed to have been written in the eighties of the first century, although Raymond E. Brown suggests that an allowance should be made, of up to ten years either way. Luke's Gospel was written late in the century or early in the second century.

The authors of both Matthew and Luke relied on Mark's Gospel for their information on the mission, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. This results in an underlying similarity of the two later gospels, although each author seems to have added some embellishments of his own.

Matthew and Luke also contain some additional material that is common to both gospels, but not found in Mark. This is explained by the hypothetical 'Q' document, a sayings document that was used by both authors for parables and other sayings of Jesus. Since 'Q' is merely a sayings document and does not contain any information about when or where Jesus may have spoken these parables, or in what context, the authors of both Matthew and Luke added their own contextual information, which was generally quite different to that of the other author.

So, there are two sets of very similar material in the synoptic gospels. The first is the material that all three share in common and which was originally recorded in Mark's Gospel. The second consists of sayings material that the authors of Matthew and Luke found in the 'Q' document, and which each placed in his own time, place and context.

Answer 4

As with the other New Testament gospels, Matthew's Gospel was written anonymously and only attributed to the apostle whose name it now bears, later in the second century. It was written in Greek Koine, as were the other New Testament gospels.

The author of Matthew's Gospel used two main source documents for his knowledge of the life, mission and sayings of Jesus. The first of these was Mark's Gospel, written approximately 70 CE. Matthew contains most of the verses in Mark, and whenever it does so, the sequence is the same and the actual words in the original Greek are almost identical. The 'Q' document was a Greek-language book of sayings attributed to Jesus, that the authors of Matthew and Luke both drew from. However, Q is only a list of sayings and does not provide the time or context for those sayings. Whenever Matthew and Luke provide a saying believed taken from Q, they use the same words in Greek, but usually report Jesus as saying them in different times and places.

Matthew was written during the 80s of the first century, at a time when the antiquity and authenticity of the new religion appear to have been coming under scrutiny. The author resolved this by making frequent references to the Old Testament, in order to show, if possible, that the New Testament stories were prophesied or prefigured in the Old Testament. Since he was writing in Greek, he used the Septuagint, a flawed early Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, rather than the Hebrew scriptures themselves. In some cases this can be detected, because Matthew relied on errors that existed only in the Septuagint.

In spite of knowing nothing of the life of Jesus, apart from what he learnt from Mark's Gospel, the author wrote a detailed account of the miraculous birth of Jesus, almost a century before the time of writing, and apparently unknown to other Christian writers. With the "Slaughter of the Innocents" and the flight to Egypt, he created a good parallel between Moses and Jesus, reinforcing this with the genealogy of Jesus. He gave Jacob as the father of Joseph, just as Jacob had been the father of Joseph in the Old Testament. The theme of Matthew's nativity is that Jesus came out of Egypt to save his people, just as Moses came out of Egypt to save his people.

Matthew was familiar with the Zoroastrian religion of the Persians, and his story of the virgin birth is suggestive of the virgin birth of the Zoroastrian Saoyshant. By having the magi, priests of the Zoroastrian religion, wish to visit Jesus and bring expensive gifts, he was showing that even the priests of this great religion would have wanted to worship Jesus. John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) says that Matthew was clearly writing Christian midrash. In fact, much of the content that is unique to Matthew could be termed Christian midrash.

Ian Wilson (Jesus: The Evidence) says that the author of Matthew's Gospel was demonstrably over-fond of the miraculous. Matthew appeals to the superstitions and mysticism of the age.The genealogy in this gospel demonstrated that there were 14 generations: from Abraham to David; from David to Josiah; from Josiah to Jesus. To do this, the author had to ignore 3 kings in the Old Testament and have David in the preceding (as 14) and following (as 1) groups, but not so Josiah. The passion story talks of the dead rising up out of their graves and walking into Jerusalem, where they were seen by many. This Gospel leaves no doubt about the miraculous nature of the resurrection, with an earthquake to move the stone, and an angel to sit on the stone. But the author also took a hard-headed, secular approach to counter suspicions that the disciples removed the body - he accuses the Jews of spreading a false rumour that the disciples did just that.

Answer 5

All of the Gospels contain similarities and work together towards a harmonized whole account. All of the key events are recorded. As you would expect from eyewitness acccounts, there are minor variations but nothing that contradicts the basic truths or events. They each provide a different perspective on the events witnessed.

While Matthew particularly relates Jesus to the Old Testament, Mark relates more the actions of Jesus while dealing with the same subject matter. Luke contains much detail on the same events and includes more based on different witnesses accounts. John is presented differently in style and sequence, but contains Jesus' teachings and the main key events as the others do. So, all the Gospels are similar in their united presentation of Christ as God and His teachings and miracles on earth while retaining the freshness of various witnesses accounts to the events.

Answer 6

A:The New Testament gospels were originally anonymous until attributed to the disciples whose names they now bear, later in the second century. Matthew and Luke are similar to Mark, because the authors actually relied on Mark's Gospel for everything they knew about the life and mission of Jesus. There are further similarities between Matthew and Lukebecause they also relied on the hypothetical 'Q' document for sayings material attributed to Jesus. Where they are different, it is because neither Mark nor Q gave them any guidance.

Answer 7

A:Matthew's Gospel is the only New Testament gospel that explicitly tells us that it was written long after the events it portrays. It contains two passages that describe items in the passion narrative that are remembered "to this day". These would be very inappropriate unless Matthew was written long afterwards:

• 27:8: "Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day."
• 28:15: "So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."

The author provided this information inadvertently as part of his attempt to add emphasis to his narrative, but it should be remembered that, contrary to tradition, he never claimed to be one of the early disciples. Scholars say that Matthew was written anonymously around the eighties of the first century, so some fifty years or more after the passion event.

Another Answer:

Though Matthew has many Jewish overtones, the unique feature is that he is the only Gospel writer who speaks directly of the church (Matthew 16:18; 18:17). Matthew points to the Gentile make-up of the church by including several stories of their faith in Jesus. For instance, the wise men, the centurion and the Canaanite woman. He records our Lords prediction that the gospel will be preached to all nations in chapter 24:14, and the commission of the disciples to 'make disciples of all nations' in chapter 28:19. He notes Jesus' teaching pointed to the blessings of the kingdom being extended to Gentiles.

Answer 8

A:There are many similarities between Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel, because they both rely on the same two principal sources - Mark's Gospel and the hypothetical 'Q' document. This may still come as a surprise to some people, who were brought up to believe that the gospels were actually written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, with Matthew and John eyewitnesses to the events described.

Not only are the events taken from Mark similar in both gospels, and described in just the same order, they are often written using exactly the same words as Mark had used, in the Greek language. An important exception to these similarities is a group of miracles and discourses absent from Luke and now known as the 'Missing Block', corresponding to probably about 13 pages missing from the copy of Mark's Gospel that the author of Luke used.

A well-known similarity betweenMatthew and Lukeis in the four beatitudes that they both share. These came from the Q document, but Matthew adds a further four developed fro

mother sources including

Psalm 37:11 (Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth)

.

Both authors were aware of various passages in the Old Testament, that could be used as prophecies of Jesus. They knew that many Jews

at that time

interpreted

Micah 5:2

as a prophecy that their Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, so it was natural they would both have Jesus born in that town, although in almost every other respect their nativity accounts differ.

Answer 9

Technically, we know that both gospels were written in Greek, using Mark's Gospel as their principal source. Whenever they agree with Mark, the text is identical in Greek - something that could not have happened unless one gospel was being copied. Scholars have also identified a hypothetical document, now known as the Q document as the source of additional sayings attributed to Jesus by both Matthew and Luke. Whenever the two evangelists used a saying from the Q document, they provided the same text for the saying itself, but described a completely different context in which Jesus spoke.
Of course, the accounts of the life of Jesus are at least somewhat similar in all the gospels, but there is one important narrative that is to be found only in Matthew and Luke. Matthew and Luke were the only two gospels in the New Testament to provide a story of the birth of Jesus, although the two accounts are dramatically different and difficult to reconcile. Where they do agree is in saying that Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the reign of King Herod the Great.

Answer 10

It is almost universally assumed that the gospels were written from eyewitness accounts and should reflect different experiences of the disciples or their eyewitness sources, but the gospels were originally anonymous and modern scholars say that none of the New Testament gospels could have been written by an eyewitness. to the events they portray. The Gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke are known as the synoptic gospels because they are moderately similar, whereas the Gospel of John often differs quite markedly from the other gospels.

The reasons for the similarities are twofold. First of all, it has long been recognised that there is a clear literary dependency among the three synoptic gospels, often to the extent of verses having exactly the same words in the Greek language. The early Church Fathers assumed that this came about because the authors of Mark and Luke copied most of their material from Matthew. However, scholars now realise that Mark was really the first gospel and that Matthew and Lukewere copied from it. They also say that many of the additional passages that Matthew and Luke share, but which are not found in Mark, were copied by their authors from the hypothetical 'Q' document. There is some material unique to each of Matthew and Luke, for which the origin is unknown, but elsewhere they are similar because they share common sources, one of which was Mark's Gospel.