The Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke

By Stephen Mitchell

The belief in the priority of Mark as the first Gospel written came about as a conservative knee-jerk reaction against a German heretical work by David Friedrich Strauss. In that 1835 work, titled English Life of Jesus, Critically Examined, Strauss’ thesis was that the Gospels contained myths, not history. Since Strauss had used Johann Griesbach’s explanation of the relationship between the synoptic Gospels as a springboard, therefore the attack against Strauss was conceived and carried out as an attack on Griesbach. Griesbach had shown that Mark had the text of both Matthew and Luke before him when he composed his Gospel, following first one, then the other, back and forth throughout, occasionally expanding, contracting, or inserting his own material. Markan priority demanded that Matthew and Luke independently used Mark as their source. Since Matthew and Luke had some material the same that Mark did not contain, therefore there must have been a fourth source from which they both derived this material, namely “Q.” This “Q” is wholly hypothetical since no physical trace of it exists, nor is it ever mentioned in the patristic writings, yet it is accepted as a proven fact among those who hold Markan priority. The purpose of this post is as a preamble to other posts on this subject supporting Griesbach’s original work. Matthew was the first Gospel written, Luke used Matthew, and Mark used both Matthew and Luke.

“The most ancient tradition of the Christian church is that the Fourfold Gospel came into existence in response to the needs experienced in some locality for an authoritative written word in addition to the continuous oral and unwritten preaching of the Gospel by the earliest apostles. The letters of Paul were also occasional writings, supplementary to his preaching and prompted by the particular needs of his converts as he saw those needs at any given moment. According to this same tradition, the twelve apostles were the sole original, authoritative, and inspired eyewitnesses of the words and deeds of Jesus. Furthermore, those few elements of teaching that they actually put into writing for certain particular purposes were also regarded by the churches that received them as having the same authority as their spoken words. Church tradition records that each of the four Gospels came into existence in response to the needs of the church at different moments during the lifetime of the original Twelve. This tradition is enshrined in the writings of the early Fathers of the church and was generally adopted by all the churches, in East and West, down to the eighteenth century.” David Alan Black, “The Historical Origins of the Gospels,” Faith and Mission 18 (Fall, 2000), 22.

Since at first the Church was almost wholly composed of Jewish converts, is there a Gospel that reflects a strong Jewish character? Yes, Matthew does. Since Matthew exhibits the strongest Jewish characteristic of all four Gospels, is there any evidence that it was written first? Again, yes. The unanimous testimony of the early church Fathers is that Matthew was the first of the Gospels written.
For example, Clement of Alexandria (c. A.D. 150-215), wrote that the Gospels with genealogies were written first. Origen (c. A.D. 185-253) also wrote that Matthew was the first written of the Gospels.
Where any church father spoke of the order of composition of the four Gospels, Matthew always was ascribed the position of first written.

Here are Clement of Alexandria’s views on the Synoptics as referred to by the early Church historian, Eusebius:

“Again, in the same books, Clement gives the tradition of the earliest presbyters, as to the order of the Gospels, in the following manner: The Gospels containing the genealogies, he says, were written first. The Gospel according to Mark had this occasion. As Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome, and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark, who had followed him for a long time and remembered his sayings, should write them out. And having composed the Gospel he gave it to those who had requested it. When Peter learned of this, he neither directly forbade nor encouraged it. But, last of all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the Gospel, being urged by his friends, and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel. This is the account of Clement.”

Since Clement’s writings from which Eusebius was quoting no longer survive, we have to use Eusebius’ references. One may read this for oneself at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201 The quote is from History of the Church, Book VI, ch. 14, paragraphs 5-7.

Irenaeus (c. A.D.115-180) also wrote of the origin of the Gospels. From his Against Heresies, Book III, ch. 1, sec. 1, we find these words:

“Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.”

The church father Augustine (A.D. 354-430), writing about A.D. 400, in his still valuable Harmony of the Evangelists, Book I, ch. 2, sec. 3, wrote:

“Now, those four evangelists whose names have gained the most remarkable circulation over the whole world, and whose number has been fixed as four,—it may be for the simple reason that there are four divisions of that world through the universal length of which they, by their number as by a kind of mystical sign, indicated the advancing extension of the Church of Christ,—are believed to have written in the order which follows: first Matthew, then Mark, thirdly Luke, lastly John.”

However, by the time he had worked out his harmony in detail, Augustine had come to a different conclusion based solely on the texts themselves. Here is what he wrote in Book IV, ch. 9, sec. 10:

“Thus, too, it is a clearly admitted position that the first three—namely, Matthew, Mark, and Luke—have occupied themselves chiefly with the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to which He is both king and priest. And in this way, Mark, who seems to answer to the figure of the man in the well-known mystical symbol of the four living creatures, either appears to be preferentially the companion of Matthew, as he narrates a larger number of matters in unison with him than with the rest, and therein acts in due harmony with the idea of the kingly character whose wont it is, as I have stated in the first book, to be not unaccompanied by attendants; or else, in accordance with the more probable account of the matter, he holds a course in conjunction with both [the other Syn-optists]. For although he is at one with Matthew in the larger number of passages, he is nevertheless at one rather with Luke in some others. And this very fact shows him to stand related at once to the lion and to the steer, that is to say, to the kingly office which Matthew emphasizes, and to the sacerdotal which Luke introduces, wherein also Christ appears distinctively as man, as the figure which Mark sustains stands related to both these.”

In this latter passage Augustine is saying that Mark is a blend of Matthew and Luke, using Matthew mostly but also using Luke where his purposes aligned with Luke. The four living creatures Augustine related to the Gospels are those described in Revelation 4:7. The Royal nature of Christ is given in Matthew and is represented by the lion-faced creature. The priestly/sacerdotal nature of Christ is given in Luke and is represented by the calf-faced creature. The human nature of Christ is given in Mark and is represented by the man-faced creature. The divine nature of Christ is given in John and is represented by the eagle-faced creature. That the synoptic gospels are so similar is because they are giving the same truth from three different nuanced views: His humanity from the royal, priestly, and human aspects.

There have been put forth some seven proposals to explain the fact that these three essentially tell the same story but with some variation in details.
The earliest is the ‘Mutual Dependence’ theory. The three are so similar because they used each other in their composition. This is the view of the early Church Fathers. There is some variation. All who wrote on the subject agreed that, of the four, Matthew was written first and John last. But there is some disagreement on who was second and third. Augustine (A.D. 354 to 430) originally held that Mark copied Matthew and Luke used both Matthew and Mark in composing his Gospel. But towards the close of his life he stated that it was more probable that Luke used Matthew and Mark used both Matthew and Luke in composing his Gospel.
Late in the 18th century came what is called the ‘Common Original’ theory. Matthew wrote his gospel first in Aramaic and all three used Matthew’s Aramaic original, even Matthew, in composing their Greek Gospels. The major problem with this is that, though some of the early Church Fathers did state that Matthew wrote his Gospel in the ‘Hebrew’ language (or style), there has never been an Aramaic Matthew discovered and the Gospel of Matthew shows no evidence of having been translated from any other language.
Early in the 19th century was proposed the ‘Numerous Fragment’ theory. This view asserts that fragments of the life of Jesus were popular and circulating among the followers of Jesus. The three authors of the Synoptics took these fragments and composed their separate Gospels from them. The problem with this is that there have never been discovered any of these supposed fragments and they cannot explain both the similarities and the differences in the Synoptics.
Similar to the ‘Numerous Fragment’ theory is the ‘Oral Tradition’ theory. This explains the Synoptics as arising out of oral tradition rather than written fragments. The fragments were oral stories circulating about Jesus and the Apostles. The major difficulty is the internal evidence of dependence that the Gospels contain within themselves. They do show a dependence on each other thereby indicating that they were composed, at least two of them, on an actual existing written source, or sources.
Also in the 19th century came ‘Form Criticism.’ This is a combination and expansion of the previous two ideas. These ‘fragments’ existed as both written and oral sources. These fragments were of many different types: sayings, miracles, birth stories, myths, legends, and passion/resurrection stories. The insurmountable problem with this view is that there is absolutely no evidence for it.
As the 19th century developed, the ‘Two Document’ theory developed. It had many forms with many proposed sources but eventually settled upon just two: Mark and ‘Q.’ Mark was first and both Matthew and Luke copied and expanded upon Mark. But Matthew and Luke contain some common material that is not found in Mark. Since the assumption was made, and it is simply an assumption, that Matthew and Luke were not aware of each other and so could not have used each other, there had to be another source both used for the common material not found in Mark. This source, though it went through many forms, finally settled on a single document commonly called ‘Q’ for ‘quelle,’ the German word for ‘source’ or ‘spring.’ Though there has never been any evidence for ‘Q’ outside of this theory, the existence of ‘Q’ is strongly held to this day and is, to most Synoptic ‘scholars,’ the best explanation for the common material in Matthew and Luke not found in Mark.
Early in the 20th century, Burnett Hillman Streeter, dissatisfied with the ‘Two Document’ theory, proposed a ‘Four Document’ theory. Since the common material in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark still have some details that are different, there must be two additional sources that Matthew and Luke used. These would be source ‘M’ for Matthew and source ‘L’ for Luke. Since ‘M’ and ‘L’ overlap with ‘Q,’ it is not possible to actually come up with the text of these sources but they must exist to account for the differences within the commonality of accounts.
These are the seven theories that have taken shape to account for the Synoptic Gospels. The ‘Two Document’ hypothesis continues to hold pride-of-place in academia but a form of the ‘Mutual Dependence’ theory has been making a strong showing of late. This theory is the final one held by Augustine: Matthew was first, Luke used Matthew, and Mark used both Matthew and Luke.