The Synoptic Gospels Essay

Should one fully read the opening four Gospels of the New Testament, he or she can find many similar patterns of literature and themes affording much attention to detail and study. This is what someone such as Merriam Webster would define as the ?Synoptic Gospels?. So, what are and how can we explain the differences and similarities among synoptic authors Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the gospel, John? Which Book was written first? To what extent did the Evangelists depend on oral tradition, written sources, or each other? The phenomenon and mystery of these similar but unique Synoptic Gospels has for centuries challenged some of the best minds of academia and the church, stirring up much scholarly

Starting with differences, in the Gospel of Matthew 15:21-28, Matthew seems to have actually referred to Jesus in the text a few times, whereas in the Gospel of Mark 7:24-30 Jesus is continually referred to as “he” by Mark. Not once is Jesus’ actual name mentioned anywhere throughout the text in which Mark is describing the events of what was going on. Although it might be worthy to note that in other portions throughout Mark’s Gospel Jesus is indeed mentioned by Mark.

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

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 )

The books of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; where written over 2000 years ago. These books excluding the Gospel of John are often called the synoptic Gospels. The term synoptic is derived from the Greek word meaning “seeing together.” These three books are comparable in their recording of the existence and ministry of Jesus. The wording of the synoptic Gospels is similar as well. For example, the account of the healing of the leaper occurs in all three books and the

The first three gospels are sometimes called the 'synoptic' (same view) gospels. This is because they each cover teaching and miracles by Jesus that are also covered in another account. John, writing later, recounts Jesus' other words and miracles that have a particular spiritual meaning.

Beare, Francis Wright. "Mission of the Disciples and the Mission Charge: Matthew 10 and Parallels." Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 89, no. 1, Mar. 1970, pp. 1-13.

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

The widely accepted theoretical solution for the synoptic problem is a second source, usually called the ‘Q’ scroll. The ‘Q’ scroll is thought to contain 235 verses, while leaving out any narrative referring to Jesus’ birth, early life, or death. The scroll has been reconstructed from shared knowledge between the gospels. This is commonly called the “two-source hypothesis”, where the Gospel of Mark and the ’Q’ scroll were accessible by the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. This is brought around by the fact that Matthew and Luke share commonalities with Mark that they do not share with each other. The “two-source hypothesis” gains further support from the timeline, which puts Mark as the first gospel around 70 CE and Matthew and Luke following suit around 85 CE.

In the first comparison that I will look review, the story of Jesus walking on water both in Matthew 14:22-33 and Mark 6:45-52. Starting with the verses in Mark, the story of Jesus walking on water, was rather anti-climactic (Martin, 2012). In both versions Jesus dismissed the disciples, to go to the other side of the sea, while he cleared the crowd out and then goes to the mountain to pray alone. The first difference between the two versions is that Mark has him standing on the shore looking out at the boat that was far out to sea. In Matthew’s version, there is no mention of Jesus watching the boat, just coming to it. The second difference is the type of trouble that the disciples are having. In Mark, there is a heavy wind that they are struggling to row against. In Matthew, there is a bit more danger, his is a heavy wind that is battering the boat while they are far from

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).

There are small differences within each book. This raises some questions with what book was written first and where the information came from. One theory is that there is a third party book named Q. Historically we know Mark is the first book written. With the Q theory it is said that Matthew and Luke use information from both Mark and Q to write their own version of the story of Jesus. Which could account for the extra or missing parts between Matthew and Luke. There is also another theory that Matthew was the first book then Mark and Luke were written after. This could fit because Matthew has the most information and the beginning genealogy. Mark and Luke could have simply left out the parts they felt weren’t as important to the

The first time a difference between Matthew, Mark, and Luke was presented, was in the opening line. Matthew and Mark did not identify Jesus’ hometown, while Luke says “Nazareth” and expanded upon it saying, “where he had been brought up” (Luke 4:16). Luke in his account went into a more detailed version of his story, therefore he would not be satisfied with just “hometown” (Matthew 13:54, Mark 6:1). Luke throughout his gospel added more detail than Matthew and Mark in order to clearly articulate the story. He had to name the town and describe that was where Jesus “had been brought up” (Luke 4:16). Luke needed to describe all the action that occurred in order to have a sufficient retelling of this particular story.

The word "gospel" is a translation of the Greek word "euangelion" which means "good news. The first three books in the New Testament (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) are often referred to as the Synoptic Gospels (from Greek synoptikos, "seen together") They bear greater similarity to each other than any of the other gospels in the New Testament. Along with these similarities come some differences among the gospels, suggesting that each gospel was written for a specific audience and for a specific purpose. This paper will examine the resurrection of Jesus, while identifying the significant differences between Mark, Matthew and Luke. This paper will also analyze the differences to suggest the prominent theological perspective each gospel author