Summary
and Diagrams – see also the full paper and the appendix on Lukan characteristics and sources.
THE PROGRESSIVE PUBLICATION OF MATTHEW’S GOSPEL:
AN APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF SYNOPTIC RELATIONSHIPS
B Ward Powers
THE HYPOTHESIS: The five Propositions upon which the
approach is founded
Proposition 1: Matthew Responds to a Growing Need
In
Proposition 2: Many Take It In Hand
Once short accounts of this nature began circulating, and
meeting a felt need, other eyewitnesses would be motivated to take pen in hand
in similar fashion and begin recording Christ’s teaching and deeds of which they
were aware. We have the evidence of Luke’s Prologue to tell us this.
Proposition 3: Luke Collects His Material
Between AD 56 and 58, while Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea,
Luke engaged in discussions with eyewitnesses and collected information to
provide the basis for his record of the events from Pentecost onwards and used
the same opportunities, and questioned the same people, about the life of
Christ. Amongst the documents he collected, about which he tells us, were numbers
which had been written by Matthew.
Proposition 4: Publication of the Two Major Synoptic Gospels
In
In
Given, then, the different plan on which the two authors
constructed their Gospels, it is not surprising to see them placing particular
events or sayings in different order.
Proposition 5: Mark Produces A Special-purpose Gospel
Within a few years of when the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
began to circulate in the church - the early church Fathers identify the date
as being about AD 65 - Mark, in
Mark consists almost entirely of "action stories"
which show Jesus healing, performing miracles, engaged in conflict with his
opponents, and so on: such teaching as there is, either arises out of these
situations or is illustrative of the teaching aspect of Jesus's ministry, and
in any case is always related directly to one or more of the main themes of
Mark. In his Gospel, he does not assume the post-Easter faith, as do Matthew
and Luke. Mark traces the journey of the disciples from doubt and disbelief,
and aims to take his readers and hearers on that same journey. His Gospel is an
evangelistic tool - a resource book for
evangelists - aimed at introducing Jesus to the interested outsider. It was
intended to be used as a source-book in evangelistic preaching, and even to be
read aloud in places where people gathered. So it is worded (unlike the more
literary Matthew and Luke) in the common colloquial speech of the people.
Mark’s Gospel quite consistently includes material that is
in Matthew and Luke which was in accord with his themes, and excludes the
rest. Mark’s Gospel sets out the kerygma being preached to
unbelievers. It is "pure" kerygma, while Matthew and Luke are
combinations of kerygma and didache. Mark’s Gospel climaxes with
the cross, and with the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God - which he does
not teach earlier. His motivation in producing his Gospel is exactly the same
as that of those Christians today who publish extracts from Scripture in modern
speech for use in evangelistic outreach: like those who do this today, Mark
knew that the rest of the Gospel story was readily available in the church for
those who became interested.
To explain the order of Mark: (a) In accordance with his
intention to produce a Gospel of the deeds rather than the teaching of Jesus,
Mark adopted a framework which avoided the Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on
the Plain, and Luke’s Central Teaching Section. He followed the framework of
Luke’s Gospel to Mark 6:14 (Herod’s comment about Jesus), and thereafter the
framework of Matthew’s Gospel. (b) Into his Lukan framework he added four
sections from Matthew; into his Matthean framework he added four short sections
drawn from Luke. These insertions were placed in Mark’s Gospel at the same
point at which they occurred in his source.
Summary
and Diagrams – see also the full paper and the appendix on Lukan characteristics and sources.