What makes Luke's Gospel similar to other Gospels?

Answer 1

The four gospels are all the same story, but written from four different points of view. The differences depend on which occurences particularly influenced or made their mark on the writers, what they personally witnessed, etc.

Answer 2

Luke's Gospel is similar to other Gospels in that it presents a narrative of the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus Christ. It includes unique stories and parables not found in the other Gospels, such as the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Additionally, like the other Gospels, Luke emphasizes Jesus' compassion for the marginalized and his teachings on love and forgiveness.

Answer 3

It seems that Luke viewed Christ's teaching from a historical or narrative point of view while Matthew, being a tax collector, looked at it from a legal point of view.

Other areas of difference may relate to the people addressed. Matthew is clearly writing for a Jewish audience, while Luke is addressing Gentiles. Thus Matthew has more detail familiar to Jewish people such as fulfilled prophecy and numerous references to Jewish laws and customs and legal disputes about the sabbath. Luke has more of a personal touch and has little of these Jewish elements so prominent in Matthew.

Luke also, in line with his stated aim of giving an account 'in order' follows a definite chronological sequence. He also has access or uses additional sources which accounts for much of the different material, particularly noticeable in the infancy narratives. It is considered that Jesus' mother Mary was the source for much of this.

Answer 4

We must not assume that the four New Testament gospels are independent eyewitness accounts or separately based on apostolic testament, because they were originally anonymous and were only attributed by the early Church Fathers to the disciples whose names they now bear, later in the second century. In fact, scholars say that the author of Matthew relied on Mark's Gospel for everything he knew about the life and mission of Jesus, as well as relying on the hypothetical 'Q' document for additional sayings material.

Matthew contains some 600 of the 666 verses of Mark, often using exactly the same wording in the Greek language. As a result, much of what is in Mark will be found in Matthew, although sometimes with elaborations. For example, in Mark, the stories of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus are dealt with in ten verses, but take 17 verses in Matthew's Gospel. In Mark, the story of the temptation in the wilderness takes just one verse (Mark 1:13), but consists of ten verses in Matthew (Matthew 4:2-11) - using material from the 'Q' document.

In a few cases, the author of Matthew appears to have corrected what he saw as errors in Mark's Gospel. In Mark, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee to the land of the Gerasenes*, a town far away from the Sea and across a river, and healed the demon-possessed man. The story remains much the same in Matthew but the location was changed to 'Gadarenes', a more geographically realistic location. In another passage, Mark's Gospel has the storm whipping up waves that threatened to sink the fishing boat. Matthew and Luke, possibly more familiar with Palestine, remove the references to the storm waves that threatened to sink the fishing boat.

The similarities also flow from Matthew to Mark. Mark's Gospel originally ended at verse 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen, and they fled in terror telling no one - thus no resurrection appearances. With no guidance from Mark, each of the later gospel authors had to create his own resurrection appearances, to prove to the readers that Jesus really had risen from the dead. In Matthew's case, Jesus first appeared to the two women as they walked back to tell the disciples; in Luke's case, Jesus appeared to the two men as they walked on the road to Emmaeus. When the 'Long Ending' was eventually added to Mark, it included a passage in which Jeus appeared to "the two of them", thus harmonising with both Matthew and Luke.

Footnote

*The KJV Bible has changed the text in Mark to 'Gadarenes' in conformance with Matthew, but some other English translations, such as the New American Bible (NAB), have kept the original text.

Answer 5

A:Both gospels were written anonymously in Greek Koine, and only attributed to the apostles whose names they now bear later in the second century. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the synoptic gospels because they agree moderately well on the life and mission of Jesus, but Matthew and Luke are the least similar of the synoptics.

Scholars now know that the authors of Matthew and Luke used 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. Luke differs in that it has a 'Missing Block' a sequence of probably thirteen pages that were missing from the copy of Mark that its author was using as his source.

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.

A similarity of concept is that both contain nativity accounts of the birth of Jesus, as well as genealogies of his earthly father, Joseph. However, the stories themselves and the genealogies are almost as different as they can be.

Answer 6

Luke's Gospel is similar to Mark's Gospel because the author of Luke relied on Mark for his knowledge of the life and mission of Jesus, often copying Mark word for word in the Greek language. It is similar to Matthew's Gospel because the author of Matthew also relied on Mark and also copied most of Mark almost word for word in Greek Koine. However, there is a "Missing Block" in Luke, corresponding to probably thirteen pages of Greek text that were missing from the copy of Mark that the author of Luke was using.

Further similarities exist between Luke and Matthew because both relied on the hypothetical 'Q' document for additional sayings attributed to Jesus. Both gospels use more or less the same words in the Greek language for each of these sayings but, because Q was only a list of sayings without information about when or where Jesus might have told them, each one places them in a different context.

John's Gospel is similar to Luke's Gospel because it was inspired that Gospel, although a small amount of material was taken direct from Mark. However, the author of John's Gospel was more willing to change details and chronological order. So, while the Cleansing of the Temple occurs right at the end of Jesus' mission in Luke's Gospel, it occurs at the beginning of John. Luke says that the women were the first to find the tomb to be empty, but John's author seems unwilling to let the women have the honour of first discovering that the tomb empty. John says they ran back to the disciples as soon as they saw the stone moved. To harmonise somewhat with Luke's Gospel, John has Mary Magdalene return after the disciples had left and look into the empty tomb.

Answer 7

A:While Matthew and Luke do agree moderately well on the material both sourced from Mark's Gospel and the hypothetical 'Q' document, material unique to Matthew disagrees strongly with material unique to Luke's Gospel.

We only have to look at the two nativity accounts, which Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says are "massively different" and virtually irreconcilable. In Matthew's infancy narrative, Bethlehem was the home town of Mary and Joseph. There is no suggestion in Matthew of a census or of a journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The wise men found the young family in their house, not in a stable; they fled from Bethlehem to Egypt and after the death of Herod began the journey back to Bethlehem but, being warned in a dream, turned aside and travelled to a city called Nazareth instead. In Luke's infancy narrative, Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth in Galilee and travelled to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, for a census controlled by the Syrian governor Quirinius; a few weeks after the birth of Jesus, the young family travelled to Jerusalem to present Jesus at the Temple, then returned peacefully to their home in Nazareth.

Another example is in the story of the empty tomb. Matthew chapter 28 says that just two women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, came to see the sepulchre. There was a great earthquake and an angel came down from heaven and rolled back the stone from the tomb and sat upon it. He told them that Jesus was risen, so they did not go into the tomb, but went quickly to tell the disciples. Luke chapter 24 says that Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James and a number of other women brought spices to anoint Jesus. Finding the stone already rolled away, they went in and found the body of Jesus missing. Two men in shining garments told them that Jesus had risen.

In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus appeared only once to the disciples, in Galilee. Here, he told them to travel the world and spread the gospel. In Luke's Gospel, he met the disciples in Jerusalem on the evening of his resurrection and took them out on the road to Bethany, where he was taken bodily up to heaven. Once again, the disagreement here is total.

An underlying difference is in the ways in which the two evangelists sought to strengthen the case for Christianity of a true religion. Matthew seeks to demonstrate the antiquity of Christianity, by more frequently referring to the Hebrew scriptures and showing them as foreshadowing or prophesying events in the life of Jesus. Luke places more emphasis on historical relevance by setting gospel events in the context of other well-known events, although Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says that sometimes it does so inaccurately.

Answer 8

When was Jesus born?Matthew 2:1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king. Herod died 4 BCE.

Luke 2:1, And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) Syrenius became Governor of Syria in 6 AD.

Where did Joseph and Mary live before the birth of Jesus?They lived in Nazareth, and traveled to Bethlehem because of a census. Luke 2:1-7.

They lived in a house in Bethlehem, and moved to Nazareth after returning from Egypt. Matthew 2:1-2, 11,22,23.

Did Jesus, Mary, and Joseph go to Egypt or Nazareth?They went to Egypt after Jesus' birth. Matthew 2:13.

They went to Nazareth after Jesus' birth. Luke 2:30.

Who visited Jesus when he was born?The Three Magi according to Matthew. No mention of the Shepherds.

The Shepherds according to Luke. No mention of the three Magi.

Another Answer

Matthew simply has a lot less detail. Luke includes the visit of the angels to the shepherds, the shepherds' subsequent visit to see Jesus and details even of the accommodation and what Jesus was wrapped in. He also mentions the census, the specific reason for them being in Bethlehem, as a historical marker of the event, no doubt familiar to people of his day.

Matthew wished to demonstrate Jesus as the Messiah of Israel and thus fulfilling Old Testament prophecy. So, in line with this purpose, he includes the Old Testament connections and excludes the specific details which Luke includes.

Answer1. When was Jesus born?

Matthew 2:1: "In the days of Herod". Note; Herod died 4BCE

Luke 2:1-7: "When Cyrenius was governor of Syria". Note; Cyrenius became Governor of Syria 7 CE (AD)

2. How many generations were there from David to Jesus?

Matthew 1:6-16: Twenty-eight

Luke 3:23-31: Forty-three

3. To whom did the angel announcing the miraculous conception appear?

Matthew 1:20,21: To Joseph

Luke 1:26-38: To Mary

Answer 9

All four New Testament gospels were written anonymously in Greek Koine, and only attributed to the apostles whose names they now bear later in the second century. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the synoptic gospels because they agree moderately well on the life and mission of Jesus.

Scholars now know that the authors of Matthew and Luke used 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. Luke differs in that it has a 'Missing Block' a sequence of probably thirteen pages that were missing from the copy of Mark that its author was using as his source.

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. However the Q material does not appear in Mark's Gospel.

In a few cases, the authors of Matthew and Lukeappear to have corrected what they saw as errors in Mark's Gospel. In Mark, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee to the land of the Gerasenes*, a town far away from the Sea and across a river, and healed the demon-possessed man. The story remains much the same in Matthew but the location was changed to 'Gadarenes', a more geographically realistic location. In another passage, Mark's Gospel has the storm whipping up waves that threatened to sink the fishing boat. Matthew and Luke, possibly more familiar with Palestine, remove the references to the storm waves that threatened to sink the fishing boat.

The similarities also flow from Matthew and Luke to Mark. Mark's Gospel originally ended at verse 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen, and they fled in terror telling no one - thus no resurrection appearances. With no guidance from Mark, each of the later gospel authors had to create his own resurrection appearances, to prove to the readers that Jesus really had risen from the dead. In Matthew's case, Jesus first appeared to the two women as they walked back to tell the disciples; in Luke's case, Jesus appeared to the two men as they walked on the road to Emmaeus. When the 'Long Ending' was eventually added to Mark, it included a passage in which Jeus appeared to "the two of them", thus harmonising with both Matthew and Luke.

Footnote

*The KJV Bible has changed the text in Mark to 'Gadarenes' in conformance with Matthew, but some other English translations, such as the New American Bible (NAB), have kept the original text.

Answer 10

All the New Testament gospels were written anonymously, but it was once thought that Matthew's Gospel was written by an apostle for a predominantly Jewish audience.

Matthew makes somewhat more use of the Hebrew scriptures than the other gospels, and the author has been described as "overly fond of the miraculous".