The Synoptic Problem

The Synoptic Problem

The synoptic problem is that of considering which of the 3 synoptic

gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke was written first and perhaps which

gospel was written aided via the other and/or which writer used the

questionable Q source.

It is believed that there is a literary connection between the gospels

as there is an obvious verbal agreement that suggests some kind of

interdependence between them all. It is believed that these

similarities have arisen because

i. All the gospel writers were inspired by the power of the holy

spirit

ii. They are all an account of the Jesus. Therefore as they are all

about the same person there will be similarities between their

writings if they are historically accurate.

iii. They all share a common oral tradition

Looking at the content of the gospels in turn it is obvious that there

are links between the gospels. If you have faith then it is quite

easy to believe that these accounts are supposed to be the word or god

and through him they would write similar accounts. And this would

provide as evidence for their links. However, if you do not believe

in god the second point can be an accurate answer to the gospels

interdependence. As reporting on the same events people are always

going to have ties. Just as different people are touched by different

thing, this is an example of the similarities and differences. For

example, if one of the gospel writers was touched by one particular

work of Jesus they are more likely to record it in more detail. Just

as others might not have felt any connection with it and skipped it

absolutely. Also, as it is believed that the...

... middle of paper ...

...d exactly what the truth is behind the

question of the synoptic gospels. Evidence of this can be taken from

the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls. The information provided from

these and the Jesus papyrus suggest that there were/are many documents

that all the gospel writers could take their information from and

suggest that much of the information in the gospels was taken from

writings not only from common oral traditions. I believe that it

would be hard now to ever understand fully what exactly all the

gospels information was taken from and as time slips by so does

evidence.

The reasons for looking at the synoptic problem are that of trying to

help aid us in our understanding of the gospels themselves. As by

studying which came first we can then understand where the truth lies

and where bias can be placed.