How We Got the BibleEarly Gospel Sources

General Outline5. Early Gospel Sources6. The Writing of the New Testament7. The Dissemination of the New Testament8. The New Testament Canon

Questions We Have• In what form did the gospel exist before the

written Gospel accounts?• Did the Gospel writers use their own

memories?• Did the Gospel writers have sources?• Did the Gospel writers use each other?• When were the Gospels written?• Are the Gospels reliable witnesses?

Remembering Jesus’ Teaching• The authority that Jesus spoke with

commanded respect, Matthew 7:28-29• Jesus identified himself as Messiah, John

4:25-26, 28-30• If the disciples viewed Jesus merely as a

rabbi, they stilled would have passed down his teachings.

• Over 80% of Jesus teaching is in the form of memorable comparisons and proverbs.

Remembering Jesus’ Teaching• Elementary education for boys through age

twelve was typical in Israel.• The disciples learned, discussed, and taught

Jesus’ teachings, Luke 11:1, etc.• The early church was aware of Jesus’

teachings outside of the Gospels, Acts 20:35

Oral Tradition of the Gospel StoryHow did Paul learn the Gospel?• The Lord through Ananias, Acts 9:10-18• Received of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 11:23• Received of witnesses, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8• God revealed it, Galatians 1:11-17• Paul met Peter & James, Galatians 1:18-24While we do not exclude the work of the Spirit, direct revelation is not the only vehicle for the early gospel teachings.

Rehearsing the GospelHow did Aquila and Priscilla “explain” to Apollos the way of God (Acts 18:26)?• Date: After 49 AD? (Acts 18:1-2)• The term is used of a “rehearsal” of events in

Acts 11:4 and of a retelling of the gospel in Acts 28:23.

• The same term is even used of written documents (decrees) in the LXX: Esther 3:14; 4:3,8; 8:13,14,17; 9:14; Daniel 3:29; 6:8; Zechariah 1:16.

Did Gospels Use Each Other?• Luke 1:1-4 admits that his material is at least

partially “compiled” (from ανατάσσομαι, meaning “to put together in order, arrange, compose”) and is based also on eyewitness testimony that was available.

• One common belief is that Luke and Matthew drew a large portion of their material from Mark.

• The relationship between Matthew, Mark, and Luke is called the Synoptic Problem.

Did Luke Use Sources?Blomberg on Luke 1:1-4• “Certainly, Luke admits familiarity with

previous presumably written accounts of the events of Jesus’ life (Luke 1:1), but it is impossible to know if he had in mind any of the other three Gospels in finished form.”

• “The Greek word for ‘narrative’ in this context (diegesis) most naturally refers to a written account.”

Did Gospels Use Each Other?

• Only 10% of Mark’s brief Gospel is not also found in either Luke or Matthew.

What about the other stuff?• Material in Matthew and Luke that is not

found in Mark has been attributed to another document, called Q (from the German “Quelle” meaning “source”).

• However, there is no end to theories on how this might have worked out.

Death By Charts

Death By Charts

Death By Charts

What About Q?• First, there is precisely zero manuscript

evidence that such a document ever existed.• As Blomberg admits, “we have no external

evidence to demonstrate that Q even existed, much less to tell us anything else about it.”

What About Q?• Second, Q cannot be rightly called a “lost

gospel,” since as we have already discussed, Q by definition is just the material that we have in Matthew and Luke.

• There is definitely no evidence that it contains additional information than is contained in the Gospels that we have.

What About Q?• Third, we should also acknowledge that there is

no shortage of doubt about the Q document.• Klyne Snodgrass, Professor of New Testament

Studies, North Park Theological Seminary: “I am not convinced of the existence of Q, but even if it did exist in some form, the procedure used in reconstructing or determining original forms is not trustworthy. Hypotheses on these matters cannot be demonstrated and often show more about the scholar’s assumptions than anything about the tradition history.”

What About Q?• N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham, writes that he

remains “skeptical about how much we can know of the ways in which traditions developed prior to their first appearance in our sources, and between then and subsequent appearances,” and he writes, “I am not even sure whether to believe in Q or not, and if so in what version of it.”

• Wright mentions the populated “ranks” in the scholarly community, “if not of ‘Q skeptics’, at least doubters or questioners.”

Final Thoughts On SourcesJohn’s Explanation of the Source of Gospels:• The Holy Spirit was promised as a “teacher”

(John 14:26).• He would also make use of the memory of the

apostles (John 14:26).• As the Spirit was a witness to the apostles, so

they would be to others (John 15:26-27).• The Holy Spirit would provide additional

material beyond even what Jesus taught (John 16:12-13).

Dating the Gospels: Mark• Papias (early 100’s AD) taught that Mark

worked with Peter “and wrote accurately all that he remembered, not indeed, in order, of the things said or done by the Lord.”

• Irenaeus (late 100’s AD) wrote that “Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter also transmitted to us what he had written about what Peter had preached.”

Dating the Gospels: Mark• Clement of Alexandria adds that this took

place during Peter’s lifetime.• Compare 1 Peter 5:13.• Tradition says that Peter died from 64-68 AD

and that Mark died in Alexandria in 62 AD.• Marks gospel would be written some time

before that.

Dating the Gospels: Matthew

• Irenaeus writes that Matthew produced his work “while Peter and Paul were preaching the gospel and founding the church in Rome” (60’s AD).

• Papias agrees and claims that Matthew originally wrote the “sayings” of Jesus in a Hebrew dialect.

• That would put Matthew as early as the 50’s or some would say 40’s.

Dating the Gospels: Luke• Luke and Acts are part of one narrative (Luke

1:1-4; Acts 1:1-3).• Acts ends abruptly and inconclusively before

the results of Paul’s appeal to Caesar are known (Acts 28:30-31).

• This would place the text’s authorship around 62 AD.

Dating the Gospels: John• John is usually considered the last of the

Gospels.• Many place his gospel in the 90’s, though a

minority put it as early as the 60’s.• John A.T. Robinson: “I believe John

represents in date, as in theology, not only the omega but also the alpha of the New Testament development.”

Dating the Gospels: John• Irenaeus: “We will not, however, incur the

risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision.

• “For [it or he] was seen not very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign.”

Dating the Gospels: John• Option #1: For it, that is the vision, was seen

not very long ago, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign.

• Option #2: For it, that is the written book, was seen not very long ago, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign.

• Option #3: For he, that is the Apostle John, was seen no very long ago, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign.

Dating the Gospels & MoreClement of Alexandria (150-215 AD):• “For the teaching of our Lord at His advent,

beginning with Augustus and Tiberius, was completed in the middle of the times of Tiberius. And that of the apostles, embracing the ministry of Paul, ends with Nero.”

Reliability of the GospelsComparison to Plutarch• Lived from 46–120 AD• Wrote about Julius Caesar (100 year gap)• Wrote about Alexander (400 year gap)• His works are the definitive ancient history of

these two figures.• How does this compare to the “biographers”

of Jesus of Nazareth?

Reliability of the GospelsBlomberg: “Still, given that Jesus was crucified no later than AD 30, we are still speaking of only one or two generations between the events narrated in the four canonical Gospels and the time of their being recorded (a point that remains true even if we accept the modern, more ‘liberal’ consensus that Mark should be located in the 70s and Matthew and Luke in the 80s). …

Reliability of the Gospels• Blomberg: “… Compared to the centuries that

typically elapsed between other people and events of antiquity and the time of their first biographers or historians, this is a remarkably short period of time that should inspire confidence in the Gospels’ trustworthiness.”

• Only 30 years separate Jesus from Gospels: Could you believe a book written in 2013 about the Carter Administration (1977-1981)? What if the author was in it?

Reliability of the GospelsThings to Keep in Mind:• The Gospels are largely topical and not

chronological.Example: Mark vs. Luke• John the Baptist’s imprisonment: Early in

Luke 3:1-20; Late in Mark 6:14-29• The call of Peter, John, & James: Early in

Mark 1:16-20; Late in Luke 5:1-11

Reliability of the GospelsThings to Keep in Mind:• Quotations marks do not even exist in

ancient languages.Example: Is it “you” or “him”?• Mark 1:11• Luke 3:22• Matthew 3:17

Reliability of the GospelsThings to Keep in Mind:• Details in a story are selected to reinforce the

teller’s emphasis.Example: Matthew Tells More About Peter• Matthew includes Peter stepping out of the

boat (Matthew 14:28-32) but not Mark or John (Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21).

• Matthew includes promises to Peter (Matthew 16:17-19) but not Mark or Luke (Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-21).

Reliability of the GospelsThings to Keep in Mind:• Differing details are not the same as

contradictory details.Example: Sermon on Mount or Plain?• Matthew says Mount (Matthew 5:1).• Luke says Plain (Luke 6:17).• Luke admits the plain was near the mountain

(Luke 6:12), and Matthew probably doesn’t imagine the crowd up on a peak!

Reliability of the GospelsExample: What women were at the tomb?• Matthew 27:61; 28:1• Mark 15:40, 47; 16:1• Luke 23:49, 55; 24:1, 10• John 20:1-2

Matthew Mark LukeMary Magdalene Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene

Other Mary Mary, mother of James & Joses

Mary, mother of James

Salome Other womenJoana

John 20:1-2 (ESV) Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, … she ran and went to [Peter & John], and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

Reliability of the Gospels• N.T. Wright on the Resurrection: “The stories

exhibit … exactly that surface tension which we associate, not with tales artfully told by people eager to sustain a fiction and therefore anxious to make everything look right, but with the hurried, puzzled accounts of those who have seen with their eyes something which took them horribly by surprise and with which they have not yet fully come to terms.”

Conclusions• Oral teaching predate the Gospels.• The Gospels made use of various sources,

including their own memories and the memories of others.

• The Gospels are reliable, especially if we know what to expect from them.

• The Gospels probably date to the years between 45-65 AD, with the possibility of John’s being later near 90 AD.