The Synoptic Problem 1

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The Synoptic Problem and Proposed Solutions:

- the era AD 65-100 is was probably when the Gospels came to be written based on the sacred deposit
of faith of the apostolic era which exited in both oral and written forms.
- Though all or some Gospel writers were not eyewitnesses, they were in contact with the eyewitnesses
directly or indirectly: Lk 1:1-4 clearly states the fact of receiving Jesus material through eyewitnesses.
Papias, the Bishop of Hierapolis, ca. AD 115 was seeking out those who had been with the older
apostolic generation or their immediate followers, looking for oral tradition independent of the written
Gospels that he also knew (EH 3.39, 3-4).
- The recognition that the evangelists were not eyewitnesses of Jesus’ ministry is important for
understanding the differences among the Gospels. If they were eyewitnesses as the older approach
suggested, they would have reported without differences: e.g., Sermon on the Mount in Mt and sermon
on the plain in Lk, cleansing of the Temple towards the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and as the climax in
the Synoptics.
- Thus rather than finding out who was having the right memory, we have to look for a new solution:
each evangelist have arranged the material he received so as to portray Jesus in a way to cater to the
spiritual needs of his particular community/ readership.
- Thus, the Gospels have been arranged in logical order and not necessarily in chronological order, using
the creativity of the particular evangelist anchored around the truth of the message he received.- the
evangelists shaped, developed, pruned, edited the material received according to their theological
vision.
- Thus Gospels are not literal records of the ministry of Jesus. It does not mean they are not true
accounts of Jesus. The evangelists, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1,20-21; 2 Tim 3,16),
creatively arranged and edited the Jesus material to lead the people to faith in Jesus and God’s rule
without distorting the truth of Jesus’ message, possibly following a literary method of the time or
uniquely.
- Though the interpreters may always not have all the answers to the differences, it does not invalidate
the truth of the Gospels. We need to respect the particular sequence and context in which a certain
Jesus material is placed in each Gospel: while it is true that some blind persons have been healed by
Jesus , Mk initially has creatively placed two such healings at the beginning and end of the journey to
Jerusalem so as to highlight the spiritual blindness of the apostles about Jesus during the ministry days
of Jesus.
The Synoptic Problem
 ‘Syn-optic’ means that the first three Gospels can be reviewed side by side or seen together in a
way that Jn is not.
 The problem to be solved: All three Gospels have some common material (Mk, Mt, Lk). Two
Gospels have the same material but not found in the third (Mt and Lk only). All three also have
unique material (Mk only, Mt only, Lk only).
 Mk has 661 verses, Mt has 1068, and Lk has 1149. 80% of Mk occur in Mt and 65% of Mk occur
in Lk.
 The “Triple tradition” = Mk’s material in other two or material common to all three Gospels.
 The “Double tradition” = the material common to Mt and Lk and not in Mk (about 220-235 vv).
 The similar sequence and similar wording when compared suggest the dependence is more at
the written level than the oral.
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Traditional Views:
 Medieval view of Christian piety: Evangelists were secretaries to God writing what was dictated
to their ears by an angel of God as depicted in the medieval paintings. Modern scholars do not
agree fully with it though divine inspiration is accepted.
 Apostles wrote them directly. It is an indirect contact with the apostles, for the scholars.
 The Synoptics drew on a no-longer extant Aramaic Gospel.
 One or more Proto- or apocryphal Gospels (the Gospel of Thomas, Secret Mark, and Gospel of
Peter) were the source of the Synoptics. However, the majority of scholars reject such claims
due to various problems with them: some of the cited are of later origin than the canonical
Gospels and fractional; some facts are not verifiable. Then the scholars turned to mutual-
dependence solutions, considering the inter-Gospel relationships.
The Proposed Scholarly Solutions
 Augustinian Hypothesis: Mt as the First Gospel ad Mk and Lk as dependent on them. This
hypothesis is the oldest, dating back to St. Augustine in 4 th cent and generally accepted by the
majority till mid-20th cent. In this Augustinian approach, the canonical order is also the order of
dependence. According to Augustine, Mk made a condensed version of Mt.
However, the question with this approach is how can Mk cut so vital passages of Mt such as the
Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, the virgin birth of Jesus and resurrection appearances.
 Griesbach hypothesis of Matthean Priority (1789) . Mt was written first. Then Lk based on Mt
(later modified by followers). Then Mk based on both Mt and Lk.
However, the difficulty with this proposal is to answer why Mk shed so much of Matthean
material. Griesbach school tries to answer it by placing Mk last and saying Mk reports material
where Mt an Lk agree. Yet why Mk omitted the material found only in Mt and Lk is a serious
problem to be solved.
 Farrer hypothesis of Markan Priority: Mk’s Gospel came first, Mt modified Mk, Lk drew on both
Mk and Mt.
 The Two-Source or Four-Source Hypothesis: This is the hypothesis accepted by the majority of
scholars today. According to this this theory, Mt and Lk borrows from two main sources: Mk and
Q (Quelle = source in German).
Mk was written first. Mt and Lk borrowed and expanded the material found in all the Synoptics.
But there are some materials that are found only in Mt and Lk, but not in Mk. Then where did
Mt and Lk get material common to each and not found in Mk? It should be from another source
known only to Mt and Lk only. That source is called the ‘Q’.
Then one finds in Mt material unique to Mt and in Lk material unique to Lk. It means that Mt
and Lk wrote independently of each other. Where did they get the unique material? It must be
from a source known only to each of them. The source unique to Lk is called ‘L’ and the source
unique to Mt is called ‘M’.

The Griesbach Theory Two-Source Theory Farrer Theory
Mt Mk Q Mk
Lk Mt
Mt Lk
Mk Lk

The Synoptic Problem 1

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The Synoptic Problem 1

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The Synoptic Problem and Proposed Solutions:

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