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Jesus Traditions |
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Contents
of Jesus Traditions
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Material
in red = Mark .. in blue
= Q
.. in green = Special Matthew ..
in fuchsia = Special Luke
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PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
Considering the importance of Jesus for the Christian faith, and indeed
for much of Western civilization, it is regrettable that he is not easily
accessible, even through the gospels, which are our principal and most
reliable sources. Scholarly caution encourages us to recognize the
limitations of these sources, without forcing answers where evidence is
not available. (Click on Perspective
for further discussion of issues of this sort.) Especially, we recognize
that we have no primary source materials going back to Jesus,
as we have for Paul. Our knowledge of the Jesus of history comes almost
exclusively from the gospels, which in their written form are dependent upon traditions which
circulated orally, which in turn are dependent upon recollections of people who
recounted what he had done and said.
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HINT:
Most hyperlinks, such as Matthew
19:16-17, below, direct the reader to another page of the Web,
and sometimes to a particular place on the page, which you
access by clicking. Return to the previous page using your browser's
Back button. |
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Sources for the Study of Jesus
Of the four gospels, the first three are known as synoptic gospels:
Matthew, Mark and Luke. Because of their extensive similarities, they may
be arranged in parallel columns and “viewed together,” hence, syn-optic.
(A convenient edition is The Gospel Parallels, published by
Nelson.) Together with their similarities, they also exhibit marked
differences. The synoptic problem is how, given these similarities
and differences, we may explain the relationship between Matthew, Mark and
Luke.
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| The Fourth Gospel, or the Gospel of John, as it is usually called,
is distinctive in its style, its theological perspective, and its
selection of Jesus traditions. Located on the cutting edge of New
Testament theology, and enjoying a unique place in nurturing Christian
spirituality, it deserves a fuller treatment than can be given in the
present discussion. While the Gospel of John shows some similarities with
one or another of the synoptic gospels, the differences are considerable,
both in form and content. If we go our way without recourse to this
gospel, we do so because it is probably in part derivative, employing
existing gospels, though exercising rather generous freedom in the way it
uses them; and because we have doubts whether it had access to
better or earlier sources.
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The prevailing solution to the synoptic problem is the two document
hypothesis, which traces the composition of the synoptic gospels to two
written sources, Mark and Q
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According to this theory, Mark is the earliest of the gospels,
written 65-70 A.D., and was used by the authors of Matthew and Luke as
the narrative framework for their gospels. The priority of Mark
explains those passages where there is agreement between Matthew, Mark
and Luke; see the parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-9 || Matthew
13:1-9
|| Luke 8:4-8, for an example of the use of Mark by Matthew and Luke.
There is evidence that the two later gospels have improved upon the
grammar and diction of Mark, and have “improved” on Mark where the
earlier gospel might have given an unflattering impression of Jesus;
see Mark 10:18 || Matthew 19:16-17.
Another good example of the improvement of Mark by Matthew and Luke is
their omission of Mark
3:19-21, which might have given the reader the impression that
Jesus was out of his mind!
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But there are also passages where material is found in Matthew and
Luke but not in Mark; so this material common to Matthew and
Luke, but not in Mark, is traced to a second source, Q.
We are fortunate to have one of the written sources, Mark; but Q, our
other written source, remains a hypothetical source; see the parable
of the Lost Sheep in Matthew 18:12-13 || Luke 15:4-6, for an example
of the use of Q by Matthew and Luke.
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| Thus, the Gospel of Matthew, written 80-90, used two sources, Mark and
Q, in addition to whatever other written or oral sources the author had
available (Special Matthew). Likewise, the Gospel of Luke, written 80-90, used Mark and
Q, in addition to whatever other written or oral sources that author had
available (Special Luke). (If one inquires where Mark and Q got their material from,
the answer is to be sought in the process of oral
transmission, discussed below. At the same time, one cannot
exclude the possibility that Mark and the compiler of Q had the
benefit of direct contact with apostles themselves.) |
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In the synoptic table below (and throughout this web), red designates
the source Mark; blue, the source Q;
green, Matthew’s special source; and
purple, Luke’s special source.
| Source |
Matthew (A.D. 80-90) |
Mark (A.D. 65-70) |
Luke (A.D. 80-90) |
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Mark
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Matthew 19:13-14
13 Then children were brought to him
that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked
the people; 14but Jesus said, “Let the children come to
me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of
heaven.”
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Mark 10:13-14
13And they were bringing
children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked
them. 14But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said
to them, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to
such belongs the kingdom of God.”
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Luke 18:15-16
15Now they were bringing even infants to him
that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it they rebuked them. 16But
Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not
hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”
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Q
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Matthew 12:28
“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I
cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
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[lacking in Mark]
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Luke 11:20
“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out
demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
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Special Matthew
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Matthew 13:44
“The kingdom of heaven is
like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid;
then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that
field.” |
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Special Luke
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Luke 17:20-21
20Once Jesus was
asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he
answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can
be observed; 21nor will they say, ‘Look, here it
is !’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the
kingdom of God is among you.” |
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Authorship
of the Synoptic Gospels
The gospels circulated originally as anonymous works. The
familiar titles, According to Matthew, According to Mark, and
According to Luke, were not a part of the original Greek text.
Attributing the gospels to apostles or to their presumed associates would
have provided
apostolic authority for these works. In the case of the Gospel of Mark,
the traditional attribution is possible, though there are as many
arguments against authorship by John Mark of Jerusalem as there are
arguments for.
In the case of the Gospel of Luke, the traditional attribution to Luke,
a presumed companion of Paul, is unlikely, especially when one considers
that the book of Acts, a companion volume coming from the same author,
disagrees with the letters of Paul in fundamental ways—click on Authorship;
click also on Acts as a Source
(1) and Acts as a Source
(3).
In the case of the Gospel of
Matthew, the traditional ascription of the book to
Matthew, one of the twelve apostles, is improbable, not only because the
author was obliged to use sources such as Mark (the author of which was
not one of the Twelve), but also because the author knows the Jewish Bible
for the most part in the Greek translation of the Hebrew, called the Septuagint.
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| Revised
July 24, 2003
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Contents
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