The first three gospels are called synoptic ('with the same eye') because their narratives are all built on the same events in the life of Jesus and indeed many passages from all three of them can be replaced side by side as evident parallels. From the earliest times, Matthew, Mark and Luke respectively have been named as the writers of them.
According to a tradition dating from the 2nd century, Saint Matthew was the first to write a gospel and he wrote 'in the Hebrew tongue'. Our Greek 'Gospel according to Saint Matthew' is not identified with this early Aramaic book which is lost though there are times when it appears to represent a more primitive text than Mark.
Some parts of the gospel story assumed a fixed and stereotyped pattern in the oral tradition founded on the preaching of the apostles; the similarity of the Passion in all four gospels suggests a common oral tradition (before its become written tradition) very firmly fixed. But the relationships between the three synoptic gospels are too close and too complex to be explained by a common oral tradition underlying all of them. It is clear that Luke depends on Mark and although it was held for a long time that Mark depends on Matthew, a number of indications now suggest the reverse. Luke and Matthew also have a number of non-Marcan passages common to both and these probably have a common source or sources; in addition, each of these gospels includes episodes and sayings not found in the other.
Mark said to have been Peter's interpreter, is mentioned in Saint Paul's letters as one of his companions and described in Acts as a disciple from Jerusalem. Luke is also mentioned in Saint Peter's letters and when writing Acts incorporated parts of a first person travel diary. Mark's gospel can be dated before A.D. 70, perhaps about 64. Our Greek Matthew and Luke are later and probably date from 70-80.
Mark's Greek is rough, strongly Aramaic and often faulty but it is fresh and frank. Matthew's Greek is also rather Aramaic but smoother and more correct than Mark's though less picturesque, Luke's style is variable: excellent when he is writing independently but at other times incorporating the peculiarities of his sources; as in Acts he suits the style to the subject and occasionally he goes out of his way to give a good imitation of Septuagint Greek.
In any case, the apostolic origin, direct or indirect, together with their involved literary formation confirm the historical value of the Synoptic and not only that but at the same time help us to understand the nature of that historical value, and since the gospels stem from an oral preaching that goes back to the beginnings of the primitive community, their guarantee in this way would ultimately rest on eyewitness. Neither the apostles themselves, however, nor any of the other preachers of the gospel message and tellers of the gospel story ever aimed at writing or teaching history in the modern technical sense of that word; their concern was sacred and theological: they preached to convert and edify, to infuse faith, to enlighten it and defend it against its opponents.
For this purpose they could and did appeal to solid evidence that could be checked and this appeal was demanded quite as much by their own sincerity as by their anxiety not to leave any loopholes for hostile argument. Those who finally composed the gospels, collecting the evidence and putting it into writing, had the same objective fidelity, and equal respect for their sources of information as is suggested by the simple and archaic quality of their work. The three Synoptic may not be history books but they do set out to give us historical fact.
Before inspiring the authors of the gospels, the Holy Spirit supervised the preparation of the material, adapted it to the diffusion of the faith and also secured its inerrancy - i.e. guaranteed as inerrant, not so much the facts and the precise circumstances in which facts occurred but rather the spiritual meaning conveyed by those facts. All this work of the Spirit was only concerned with the provision of food for the spirit in a form that could be digested by the faithful.
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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