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'Q' was a document used as source material by the authors of Matthew and Luke. It does not appear to have been known to the author of Mark's Gospel.
Q was a document containing sayings attributed to Jesus, and is believed to have been written in four distinct layers over time.
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Which is the earliest of all the gospels written?
A:Mark's Gospel was written approximately 70 CE and was the first New Testament to be written. Scholars reading the Gospels of Matthew and Luke synoptically in the original Greek language have demonstrated that these were actually based on Mark's Gospel and were therefore not independent accounts. John's Gospel was loosely based on Luke's Gospel, with some material taken direct from Mark. Thus, Mark was the first of the New Testament gospels. However, there are many other gospels, the most important of which were the Gospel of Thomas and the 'Q' Gospel. Q is a hypothetical document, meaning that no copy has survived independently to the present day. However, it was used extensively as a second source for Matthew and Luke. There is continuing debate as to whether Thomas was an early gospel, or was written much later, but there is persuasive evidence that it was written around the same time as Q. Both could have been written before Mark, although both were added to over time.Thus, the choice is Mark, Q and Thomas, with the probability that early versions of Q and Thomas existed before Mark was written.
When was the 'Q' document written?
A:'Q' ('Quelle')was a document used as source material by the authors of Matthew and Luke for material in addition to that which they used from Mark's Gospel, and was therefore written before Matthew and Luke. Matthew's Gospel is believed to have been written during the eighties of the first century and therefore the Q document was written sometime before the eighties. Scholars tell us that Q was written in four distinct stages or layers over a period probably of decades, but must have been complete by the time Matthew was written. Q does not appear to have been known to the author of Mark's Gospel, but this does not mean it did not exist when Mark was written approximately 70 CE. In fact, it is unlikely that the four stages could have developed during the short period between the authorship of Mark and Matthew. So we can only say that Q was written prior to the 80s and could have been started some decades earlier, circulated as a completed document at each stage, but progressively added to.
What is the Two Source Theory?
Emerging in the 19th century, the Two-source hypothesis provided an explanation for the differences between the three Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It stated that the gospels of both Matthew and Luke were based on the Gospel of Mark as well as quotes and sayings from a hypothetical written Greek source now known as 'Q'.
Was Matthew's Gospel written in chronological order?
Matthew's Gospel contains around 600 of the 666 verses from Mark's Gospel and was written in the same order as Mark. In this respect, the Gospel of Matthew agrees with Luke. Some sayings material was inserted into Matthew at various points, from the hypothetical 'Q' document, but not necessarily at the same points as Luke, when it uses the same material form Q.As far as the author of Matthew could establish, the Gospel was written in chronological order.AnswerNo. Luke's is the only Gospel meant to present a historical work "in order" (Luke 1:3). Most of his stories fall in chronological sequence.
What is Luke's Gospel inspired by?
Scholars say that Luke's Gospel was inspired by Mark's Gospel and the hypothetical 'Q' document, which together account for about two thirds of Luke's Gospel, although Luke omits or changes passages in Mark unfavourable to those whose subsequent career makes them worthy of respect. The important thing about Jesus, according to Luke, was that the Holy Spirit was especially active in his life.
Was Mark's gospel probably one of the last New Testament books to be written?
No. Paul's genuine epistles were written before Mark, as was Hebrews, but most other New Testament books were actually written later than Mark's Gospel.It can be demonstrated that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were derived directly form Mark's Gospel and the hypothetical 'Q' document, thus Mark is necessarily earlier than those gospels. John's Gospel was inspired in turn by Luke's Gospel, with some material taken direct from Mark, so once again, Mark is earlier.Mark's Gospel is also earlier than many of the epistles, including all the pseudo-Pauline epistles.
Is there a gospel older than Mark?
To attempt to answer this question, we need to understand the background of the synoptic gospels. In spite of the later attribution to the apostles whose names they now bear, all the New Testament gospels were written anonymously. As the question implies, Mark's gospel was the first New Testament gospel to be written, followed by Matthew and Luke. Moreover, the authors of Matthew and Luke relied on Mark for everything they knew about the mission of Jesus. But they also relied on another document known as the hypothetical 'Q' document or Q Gospel for sayings material attributed to Jesus.Scholars of the Q Gospel say that it was written in four stages over a period of several years. It is very likely that the earliest form of this document was written before Mark's Gospel.There is a division of opinion on the sayings gospel known as the Gospel of Thomas. Although there is a view that GThomas was written in the second century, the weight of scholarly opinion now is that it was written in the middle of the first century, possibly before Mark's Gospel. The 'late view' for Thomas points out that there is no known early mention of the gospel. The 'early view' sees similarities between Thomas and Q - in fact at an early point in Q scholarship it was thought that they might have been the same document.
What does the reference to Q mean in footnotes to the New American Bible?
AnswerScholars have established that Mark's Gospel was the first to be written, around 70 CE, and that Matthew and Luke were entirely dependent on Mark for their information about the life and mission of Jesus. However, Matthew and Luke also have considerable content on which they both agree quite closely, but which is not found in Mark. Scholars now realise that when the the two gospels agree like this, they both used a common written source, in the Greek language because the wording is often identical in Greek. This hypothetical document is called 'Q' (from Quelle, from German: 'source').Q is only a sayings document and does not provide any information about when, where or in what context Jesus might have said what has been attributed to him. So the authors of Matthew and Luke had to create their own, often quite different scenarios for the stories surrounding the sayings, often in parables to avoid complexity. Another interesting aspect of Q is that there is no mention at all of the crucifixion or resurrection.
Who used Mark's Gospel when writing other gospels?
AnswerIt is known that the authors of Mathew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel relied on Mark's Gospel for their information about the life and mission of Jesus. Whenever they agree with Mark, the text is almost identical in the Greek language. Also, the "Missing Block" proves that the author of Luke knew nothing about Jesus apart from what he found in Mark. Both Matthew and Luke also relied on a hypothetical 'Q' document, also written in Greek, for many of the sayings and parables attributed to Jesus.The link between John's Gospel and Mark is less direct. The author of this Gospel drew mainly from Luke's Gospel, often changing or reversing material form Luke, thus relying indirectly on Mark's Gospel. He also used some material directly from Mark, so both gospels must have been known to him.
What do Catholics consider the oldest gospel?
Originally, St. Matthew's Gospel was considered the first Gospel. However, today that status is in question. Matthew is said to have written the Gospel in Hebrew but that text disappeared over time and was lost to history. A Gospel of Matthew in Greek is still extant but it is unknown if this was a translation of the original Hebrew Gospel or was a different version. Matthew's Gospel includes the version written by Mark almost in its entirety so Matthew may have borrowed extensively from Mark's Gospel and added to it from his own personal observations and remembrances. That would mean that Mark is the author of the oldest Gospel.
In what order were the gospels written?
AnswerThe four New Tetament gospels were all written anonymously and only attributed to the disciples whose names they now bear later in the second century. Examining the texts, scholars say that none of them could have been written by an eyewitness to the events they portray, or even be someone close to an eyewitness to those events. Mark's Gospel was the first gospel to be written and internal evidence dates it to approximately 70 CE. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says that Mark seems to depend on traditions (and perhaps already shaped sources) received in Greek.Matthew's Gospel came next and appears to have been written during the 80s of the first century, although Brown cautions to allow a few years either side of that decade. A parallel reading in the Greek language shows that Matthew was based on Mark and another, now lost document which scholars call the 'Q' document, with some material unique to Matthew.Luke's Gospel came next and was written late in the 90s or quite early in the second century. Like Matthew, it was substantially based on Mark and Q, with some material unique to Luke.John's Gospel was the fourth gospel, written early in the second century. It differs more from the other, 'synoptic' gospels, having limited input direct from Mark and was mainly inspired by Luke's Gospel.The early Church Fathers preferred a sequence in which Matthew was written first, with Mark and Lukebased on Matthew. This had the advantage of a single source, which was assumed to have been written by an eye-witness, but modern scholarship demonstrates that this sequence is inconsistent with the texts themselves.
Is there a parallel in Matthew or Mark to Luke Chapter 4 verses 1 through 11?
Yes. This is the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the desert, after his baptism by John. The original material is in Mark 1:12-13 and in the hypothetical 'Q' document. Matthew also used Mark and 'Q' and has a similar passage in 4:1-11.
