Studies in the Gospels (Part Two)

In this second post of the series, let’s look at some reasons why Mark is considered to be the first gospel written. One thing we need to establish at the outset of our study is that the gospel writers took an active role in editing and shaping the traditions that were passed down to them.  The gospels were not the product of “dictation from the Holy Spirit,” as some Bible teachers suggest.  The gospels were based on oral and literary traditions passed down by the communities of early Christians.  Each gospel writer took the traditions they received, arranged them in a certain order and changed or added details to the story which they felt were important.  Each parable, wisdom saying, miracle story or narrative was probably passed down as a separate unit of oral tradition.  Each gospel writer then combined those units in the way that made the best sense to them. When we carefully compare each gospel to the others, we notice large similarities (particularly among the three synoptic gospels) and important differences.

Here is a list that shows us some similarities and differences among the three synoptic gospels.  I have taken 9 sequential units from Mark and I have listed where they appear in all three gospels. We can see how Matthew and Luke put some of these events in a different order and how they also added verses to supplement Mark’s “bare bones” descriptions. (Matthew and Luke include birth stories so they don’t get to Mark’s first topic until their third chapters). 

1.      The ministry of John the Baptist (Mark 1:1-8), (Luke 3:1-20), (Matthew 3:1-12)

2.      The baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:9-11), (Luke 3:21-22), (Matthew 3:13-17)

3.      The temptation of Jesus (Mark 1:12-13), (Luke 4:1-13), (Matthew 4:1-11)

4.      Jesus begins his preaching ministry in Galilee (Mark 1:14-15), (Luke 4:14-15), (Matthew 4:17)

5.      Jesus calls his first disciples (Mark 1:16-21), (Luke 5:1-11), (Matthew 4:18-22)

6.      The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31), (Luke 4:38-39), (Matthew 8:14-15)

7.      Jesus’ healing ministry in Galilee (Mark 1:38-39), (Luke 5:15), (Matthew 4:23-25)

8.      Jesus chooses the 12 apostles (Mark 3:13-19), (Luke 6:12-16), (Matthew 10:1-4)

9.      Jesus’ parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20), (Luke 8:1-15), (Matthew 13:1-23)

 

Looking at the above listing of 9 units of tradition we can make these observations:

a.      Luke and Matthew both allocate over ten verses to the temptation whereas Mark only has 2 verses on that subject. Luke

b.      Luke allocates 11 verses to the calling of the first disciples, while Mark allocates 6 and Matthew allocates 5. 

c.       Mark tells the story of the selection of the 12 apostles in chapter 3, but Luke gives it in chapter 6 and Matthew waits until chapter 10 after many preaching and healing events have taken place.

d.      Mark places the parable of the sower early in Jesus’ ministry (chapter 4) whereas Matthew waits until chapter 13 to present it.  Matthew’s chapter 13 is where he includes many parables.

e.       Mark and Luke both include the story of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law early in their gospels, whereas Matthew sets it in chapter 8, after the sermon on the mount and in a grouping of healing stories.

This demonstrates that each gospel writer arranged the material passed down to them in a way that made the most sense for their own purpose.

One reason we think that Mark was the first gospel written is the difficulty in explaining all the omissions if Mark had Matthew’s gospel and/or Luke’s gospel available to him when writing.  Here is a table showing the length in chapters and words of each of the synoptic gospels:

Gospel	Number of Chapters	Number of English Words	% of Mark’s content
Mark	16	14,949	-
Luke	24	25,640	Over 50%
Matthew	28	23,343	Over 90%

 

As you can see, Luke and Matthew both have considerably more material than Mark.  Matthew contains over 90% of the material found in Mark and Luke contains over 50% of the material found in Mark.

If Mark was writing after either Matthew or Luke, he would have had to purposely leave out all these topics:

1.      The birth stories

2.      The extended story of the temptation in the wilderness (Mark devotes only 2 verses to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness)

3.      The sermon at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30)

4.      The sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7, paralleled in Luke 6)

5.      Numerous parables and stories (for example, the parable of the Prodigal Son does not appear in Mark)

6.      The resurrection appearances (there are no recorded resurrection appearances in Mark)

It seems strange that Mark would have left all things out.  Surely the resurrection appearances were very important, so even if he were trying to write a “condensed version” of Jesus’ story he would have included some of those.  This is a strong reason for Mark's gospel being written first.

In our next post we will look at some editorial changes made by Luke and Matthew to the material they received from Mark.  They made these editorial changes for theological reasons and these also point to the primacy of Mark's gospel.