Page 18 - New Testament Survey Student Textbook

How does Luke Relate to Matthew, Mark, and John?

We call the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke as Synoptic Gospels because they have a similar
perspective of the life of Jesus (“synopsis” = “see together”). However, the Gospel of John has a very
different outline and includes different content. About 90 percent of Mark is in Matthew, and roughly 50
percent of Mark is in Luke, whereas about 90 percent of John is unique material. Further study shows
that there are approximately 230 sayings in Luke and Matthew that are not in Mark or John. The
“Synoptic Problem” refers to the difficulty of explaining why the first three Gospels are so similar to each
other. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are alike in content (as noted above), outlines (the order of individual
stories), wordings (some exact quotations, even of narrative portions), parenthetical notes (the same
narrative asides in the same locations), and Old Testament citations and allusions (even when
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paraphrases and not quotations).

While some have suggested that either divine inspiration or shared oral traditions would adequately
explain the similarities, most Gospel scholars find a multi-document hypothesis more convincing to
explain the high degrees of similarity. That is, it appears that the Synoptic Gospels are somehow
interdependent and/or share common written sources for their stories about Jesus. Furthermore, Luke
himself mentions his awareness of previously written reports about Jesus’ life (Luke 1:1–4). The three
main multi-document theories are as follows:
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• Augustine: Matthew wrote first, Mark used Matthew, and Luke used both Matthew and Mark as
sources.
• Griesbach (Two-Gospel Hypothesis): Matthew wrote first, then Luke wrote using Matthew as a
source, and finally Mark wrote his account as a summary of those two Gospels.
• Oxford (Two-Source Hypothesis): Mark wrote first, and then Matthew and Luke each wrote using
Mark as a source. The non-Markan similarities between Matthew and Luke are explained by
suggesting they use a second common source, dubbed “Q” (whether Q was an actual written
document or simply a set of oral traditions is debated). This hypothesis is sometimes called the
“Four-Source Hypothesis,” recognizing that both Matthew and Luke have unique material (which
implies two additional sources, dubbed “M” and “L” respectively, regardless of whether or not those
sources were written documents).

Current scholarship favors Markan priority and some version of the Oxford Hypothesis. However, any
proposed solution to the Synoptic Problem must be held cautiously, as none offers definitive proof.
Special features

• Luke recorded more of the parables of Jesus than any other Gospel. can be as difficult to
understand today as they were in the first century. The key to interpreting parables is to find the
part of the parable that is unexpected (e.g., the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37). This
unexpected event or person is the key to understanding the riddle.
• Luke has more inclusion of women, children, and the vulnerable, in connection to Jesus’
encounters with people.
• Luke’s geneology goes far back to Adam.
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• Only Luke includes Jesus’ childhood.

54 Huffman, D. S. et al.
55 Ibid
56 Ibid
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