Introduction 22
1. THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
INTRODUCTION
The first three gospels were first labeled the Synoptic Gospels by J. J. Griesbach, a German biblical scholar, at the end of the eighteenth century. The English adjective "synoptic” comes from the Greek συνόψις (synopsis), which means "seeing together,” and Griesbach chose the word because of the high degree of similarity found among Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their presentations of the ministry of Jesus. These similarites, which involve structure, content, and tone, are evident even to the casual reader. They serve not only to bind the first three gospels together but to separate them from the gospel of John.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke structure the ministry of Jesus according to a general geographic sequence: ministry in Galilee, withdrawal to the North (with Peter’s confession as a climax and point of transition), ministry in Judea and Perea while Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem (less clear in Luke), and final ministry in Jerusalem. Very little of this sequence can be found in John, where the focus is on Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem during his periodic visits to the city. In content, the first three evangelists narrate many of the same events, focusing on Jesus’ healings, exorcisms, and teaching in parables. John, while narrating several significant healings, has no exorcisms and no parables (at least of the type found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke). Also, many of the events we think of as characteristic of the first three gospels are absent from John: the sending out of the Twelve, the transfiguration, the Olivet discourse, the last-supper narrative. By having Jesus constantly on the move and by juxtaposing actions— miracles, especially—with (usually) brief teachings, the first three evangelists convey a tone of intense, rapid-fire action. This is quite in contrast to the more meditative tone of John, who narrates far fewer events than do the synoptic evangelists and prefers to present Jesus as speaking in long discourses rather than in brief parables or pithy sayings.
Over the last two centuries, scholars have scrutinized the Synoptic Gospels from many angles and with many different results. This is an inevitable result of the vital importance of these books for Christian belief and life. Here we have narrated the life of the One in whom God has chosen especially to make himself known to human beings. These books depict the events on which the significance of history and the destiny of every single individual depend: the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Issues pertaining to these books individually will be treated in the section devoted to each; here we address significant issues that embrace all three accounts. Specifically, we examine three questions: How did the Synoptic Gospels come into being? How should we understand the Gospels as works of literature? And what do the Gospels tell us about Jesus?