Were the Gospel accounts of the sayings and miracles of Jesus compiled from two distinct sources?

Answer 1

A:Yes, scholars most certainly say that the gospel accounts of the sayings and miracles of Jesus were compiled from two different sources, the hypothetical 'Q' document and Mark's Gospel.

It has traditionally been assumed that the gospels were actually written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - two of whom were apostles of Jesus and would have been writing eyewitness accounts. However, the gospels were actually written anonymously and only attributed to these evangelists later in the second century. Before being attributed to John, the fourth gospel was apparently attributed to Cerinthus. Modern New Testament scholars say that none of the gospels could have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed.

When we lay the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke side by side and read them synoptically ('with the same eye') in the original Greek language, it quickly becomes evident that there is a literary dependency among them. Scholars have established that Markwas written first, and that the authors of the other gospels relied on Mark for everything they knew about the life and mission of Jesus. It also becomes evident that Matthew and Luke share another source for sayings material not found in Mark. So well can this be established that scholars have been able to recreate this source document, now known as the 'Q' document, in spite of no copy having survived to the present day, and even establish that Q was written over a period of time in three separate 'layers'.

A small amount of material seems to have been common to both Mark and Q, and it remains to be resolved whether there is an older source on which both depended to some extent, Q influenced Mark or vice-versa. Perhaps it is not impossible that Mark was influenced by an early layer in Q and that later material in Q was influenced by Mark.

Until early in the twentieth century, scholars accepted that John was independent of the synoptic gospels, as it is so different. They have now established that this gospel was loosely based on Luke, with some material taken direct from Mark.

It has been noted that some of the sayings attributed to Jesus in Mark appeared earlier in Paul's epistles as sayings of Paul, and it appears likely that Mark relied on Paul for inspiration. Another intriguing suggestion, from Dennis R. MacDonald, is that some of the material in Mark was inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey epics.

It should also be recognised that Mark makes extensive use of the Old Testament for inspiration and actual material, as do the other gospels independently.