The pericope I chose for this writing assignment is The Call of Levi (Matthew). This coloring assists me to answer the synoptic problem because it demonstrates how Mark, Luke, and Matthew are very similar to each other, yet commonly different in their own way. In this essay, I will firstly explain why I think Mark was composed first. Secondly, I will elaborate on why I think Matthew was written second. To close, I'll expand on why I think Luke was compiled last. Firstly, most of the time Matthew and Luke agree with Mark using the actual words. They never agree with each other when their idea differed from Mark. For example, when Mark said, “sitting at the tax office" (2:14), both Matthew and Luke used the exact words. However, we see when they disagree with Mark, they both use different phrases to get their main point across in a nutshell. For instance, Matthew said “why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" (9:11) and Luke said "why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" (5:30). To me, this seems to prove that both Matthew and Luke depended on Mark to get their information. Since mark has a …show more content…
Reasons for my thinking is that his passage was very close to Mark’s style of writing. His passage possess a copy of Marks’ gospel. His order, words, events and description drew the majority of Marks’ material. To emphasize, Matthew excluded what he thought was unnecessary, but managed to capture a great amount of data that was incorporated in Mark’s passage. To clarify, Mark said, “For when he sat at table in his table, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him” (2:15). In addition, Matthew summarized that exact idea in a single phrase. By recognizing the material that Matthew adds, omits, and rearrange in his piece, we have to appreciate his uniqueness and agree that he composed his gospel after
He is known as the tax collector who turned disciple who writes to Jewish believers to emphasize the legitimacy of Jesus as the long awaited Jewish Messiah. According to Hindson and Elmer Matthew provides some of Jesus most prominent sermons, parables, and miracles, plus a record of important messages. He provides an eyewitness account of such significant events as the transfiguration, the triumph entry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. He explains the character and nature of the ministry of John the Baptist as the last of the prophets. Matthew originally crafted the Gospel for a group of Christians who were already familiar with the Old Testament. Both church tradition (external evidence) and the contents of the Gospel itself (internal evidence) suggest that this Gospel was originally written for Jewish Christians who were given the responsibility to share its message with the world (Hindson and Elmer pg. 350). Matthew also gives special attention to the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders. He exposes the religious blindness of his fellow countrymen, and he demonstrates Jesus superior understanding of the person of God, the intent of the law, and the proper application of biblical
The roles of disciples play a very important part in developing the message of the gospels due to their close relation to Jesus throughout the stories. To start to understand the importance of the disciples first you have to understand the main purpose of the Gospels. The Gospels are written in order to describe Jesus’s life on earth before Heaven. They give people insight to who Jesus was and create a stronger basis of belief in Jesus and God. In order to bring the Gospels to life they use the students of Jesus or Disciples to project his teachings and stories. The disciples take on many different roles in the varying gospels. They are students, friends, witnesses, observers, and worshipers of Jesus. Disciples come in many different forms of people as well. During the stories of the Gospels, Jesus is essentially walking along picking up new followers and experiencing new things with them. Throughout the experiences, Jesus teaches the disciples and they grow and learn and as a result the reader grows and learns as well. That is why the disciples play such a pivotal role in the comprehension of Jesus and him as a person. It becomes evident when analyzing the different Gospels that Jesus’ relationship with the Disciples is slightly changed in the varying texts. A noticeable difference in the development of the disciple 's relationship to Jesus is present specifically in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Thomas.
While both books of Mark and Matthew portray Peter as one of the most important followers of Jesus, Mark seems to emphasize Jesus' spiritual career unlike the broad, more in-depth pursuit of Jesus' life that Matthew embellishes on. As both Jesus' student and friend, Peter is the one disciple most commonly referred to in the stories. Yet the two passages seem to draw different pictures of Jesus' distinguished disciple. In Matthew, Peter seems to play a larger role in Jesus' teachings and seems more significant to Jesus throughout the book. In Mark, he is still important, but to a lesser extent in the eyes of the author. Mark leaves Peter out of a few of the stories altogether and only touches
I have decided to compare and contrast the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. In the book of Matthew, we begin with the angel coming to Joseph and telling him of the son that Mary will bare him. The angel says to name him Jesus and tells him that he will save the people from their sins. This clearly marks Christ as the savior from the start. It can be seen that Jesus is the healer of many when he is presented with sick people, because he heals them. He heals those who are sick, mental, and possessed. He is seen as a teacher when he goes to the top of the mountain and speaks to everyone that is listening, he teaches them what is right from then on. He is seen giving healing powers to his disciples and sending them forth to heal and teach the people of his ways. He is seen as a miracle worker, when he walks on the waters of the sea and calms them and then allows Peter to walk on the water toward him. He is seen as a leader as well, in the many times that he leads his people to where they need to be. He is seen as forgiving, in the many times he forgives and tells others to forgive. He is seen as the Messiah, which was clear from the
When looking in the Gospel of Matthew 15:21-28 and the Gospel of Mark 7:24-30 one can find that each of these pieces of their respective gospels have both some similarities and differences. There is evidence of overlap between these two which are quite easy to find whilst one is reading the sections of each. There also are points in which these two accounts diverge from one another by either telling a certain part of the other gospel in a different way, removing content from one of the other gospels, or adding something that may not have been referenced or described in the other. Either way these accounts from Matthew and Mark both have connections to each other even if not visible on the surface.
The Gospel according to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The story explains how the Messiah, Jesus, was refused by Israel and finally sent the disciples to preach the gospel around the whole world. As Matthew wrote for his fellow Jews, he wrote his Gospel in the language Jesus spoke, Aramaic, which led early Church Fathers to believe Matthew’s was the first Gospel. On the other hand, the Gospel of Mark teaches that Jesus is the Son of God who assumed human nature. Mark wrote the gospel in Greek for a Gentile-Christian audience, which was undergoing persecution, perhaps in Rome. A central theme is that following Jesus often means that a Christian must suffer like Jesus did. Mark’s Gospel points out that Jesus accepted this important title, but that he was reluctant to let people know his identity. (Matthew 26:26-30 and Mark 14:22-26 )
When studying the Gospel of Matthew, Scholars have dated the book to be written sometime between the ages of 80 and 90 CE. Scholars have also estimated the book to have been written somewhere outside of Palestine, potentially in Antioch, Syria. Antioch was a very wealthy and educated area with a large Jewish community (Study Bible, 1665-1667). From what evidence permits, it’s estimated that the whole purpose of the gospel was meant as a means of correcting the Gospel of Mark by emphasizing the Jewishness of Jesus as the glorious Messiah of the Jews. There is also a stress to all the followers
Who is this man Jesus? Where was he from? What did he do for others and us? A great source of reference to answer this question would be someone who had direct contact with him in everyday life. Someone who saw the daily wonders he created would be the best source for information. Matthew, the apostle, is believed to have written the gospel of Matthew. He was able to experience firsthand all of the amazing miracles that Jesus performed. God inspired his words, and his gospel relates to the other three gospels in overall context. They were written in different formats and styles, but the overall message and story remains constant throughout all four gospels. This creates a strong
Contextually and structurally there are some similarities and differences between the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. All three of the Synoptics begin very similar, with Jesus’ ministry. The Gospels of Mark and Matthew concentrate on narrating Jesus’ life from baptism to resurrection, while Mark spends a lot of time discussing the last week of Jesus’ life. Mark begins with only one verse, Mark 1:1, that labels the Gospel a “beginning. From this, Matthew was not offered much to go on.
Synoptic Comparison Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the three books in the New Testament that have been titled “the synoptic gospels.” The three gospels differ in some dramatic ways, but have many similar stories and accounts of the life of Jesus. There have been disputes over the source and the relationship between the three gospels, but most scholars tend to agree that the gospel of Mark was written first, and the authors of Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source for their work. This Markan priority helps scholars to begin to examine the differences and similarities that appear across the synoptic gospels, and determine how and why many pericopes seem to vary and even contradict each other at times. An example of one of the passages that
The Gospel of Mark contains the most shared passages between Matthew and Luke. Many comparative pieces of literature exist with columns of each text (synoptic parallels), where Mark is typically
Each of the Gospels were written for a special group of Christians and for a specific purpose. In Matthew’s gospel we often find the phrase "All its took place to fulfill through the prophet...", introducing a quotation from the Old Testament. This suggests that Matthew is speaking to people who consider the Old testament to be very
Both Mark and Matthew also agree with each other on parts of the story of marriage and divorce. In both Mark 10:2 and Matthew 19:2, it is written, “Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked.” Because of the exact word for word description of the Pharisees test of Jesus in both Mark and Matthew, it can be concluded that either were written
Mark: The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life from when he was baptized by John the Baptist until the days of his death, and his resurrection. Mark was the second of four Gospels although some Scholars argue and insist Mark was the first Gospel written 1. Mark was written by John Mark in AD 65, with a target audience of Roman Christian beleivers 2. Mark was written in a unique manner in regards to literary genre, as it contains figures of speech, and portray life situations in a passionate story like setting that can make the reader feel as if he is there 3. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, however it is written in a manner that emphasizes more so on Jesus’s works than Jesus’s words 4. The key theme in Mark is to portray the life of Jesus Christ as the son of God 5, and the purpose was to show the human qualities and emotions that Jesus displayed from anger (Mark 3:5), and compassion (Mark 1:41). Some of the key events of Jesus Christ’s life in the Gospel Mark include his miracles, his entrance into Jerusalem, the last supper, his arrest and trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension 6. The Gospel of Mark ends with his instruction to the eleven Apostles “And he said unto them “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:16), and his ascension into Heaven (Mark 16:19).
To accept the Markan Priority one must first denounce the word of Jesus, “that the Holy Spirit would bring all things back to their remembrance”; the testimonies of the early church leaders and historical facts. Also, if Matthew and Luke were present at the same time that Mark was present, why would they need to use Mark’s account?[7] Some authors believe that