Boston Chabzola
October 5, 2023
The Synoptic Problem
The three Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke they are similar in style and share similar content
and perspective of the life and ministry of Jesus unlike the Gospel of John. This is why Matthew,
Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic Gospels. Among the three books it is more likely that
Matthew and Luke used Mark as their skeleton but they did not copy the book. For it is also clear
that Matthew and Luke did not follow Mark exactly in each and every order of events of Jesus
and his ministry. For example, Matthew and Luke begin their first chapters with the information
of Jesus’s birth through the Virgin Mary. While Mark, he begins his book with the story of Jesus
as an adult who was going to be baptized by John the Baptist.
All the synoptic Gospels make a prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, and yet they do not narrate it
(Luke 21:5-9, Mark 13:5-1-2, Matthew 24:1-2). In their structure, they all also move from the
baptism of Jesus, to his ministry and then death. There have been some various conclusions
concerning these similarities among the synoptic gospels. Some have concluded to say that
because of these similar contents the book of Mark was compiled from portions taken from
Matthew and Luke. However, since Mark is the oldest among the three books, this cannot be
true. Matthew and Luke used Mark as a skeleton, but they did not copy it. Because we see other
things that are not in the other books. For example, among the synoptic gospels, Matthew is the
only one to use the word church (Matthew 16:18, 18:17). While for Luke, he has some parables
that are only unique to his Gospel, like the parable of the prodigal son and the parable of the
Good Samaritan (15:11-32; 10:29-37). In addition to that, he also has longer travel details
compared with the other two books (Luke 9-19). Luke gives some unique details about John the
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Boston Chabzola
October 5, 2023
Baptist in 1:5-2:1-52 in contrast with the other books. He arranges his material in a very
scholarly way unlike the two, his use of Greek is well advanced. So if Mark was compiled or
copied from Matthew and Luke, then there would not be these differences.
These differences are proof that all the three books were written by real people that lived in a real
time through history. These are not just myths nor are they fake stories that were copied from
other sources. For if they were, each and everything would be the same. But they have
similarities and differences as well. For we see that Matthew in his genealogy follows the line of
Joseph as per Jewish customs and also uses Solomon’s line. While Luke, focuses on the
biological line of Mary and follows the line of David through his son Nathan, not Solomon.
While Mark does not mention the genealogy at all. These difference are what authenticates these
books, for they give the same accounts but some from different angles. For example, if an
accident happened and they ask three witnesses to give their account of the story. They will all
write what happened but it might be the same story from a different perspective and details.
However, all that being said. The Holy Spirit inspired these authors (2 Tim 3:16) to give us the
exact word of God as God intended as the Holy Spirit carried them along (2 Peter 1:21) like a
boat on an ocean. So all the three books are the inspired word of God.
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