The Common Source
The Common Source
One could argue that Mark, “Q,” and Matthew all drew on 1 Thessalonians. This argument would need to assume, however, either that both Mark and “Q” were written from Thessalonica (a view held by no one), or that Paul’s letters were already collected by the time that they were written, which is unlikely, especially for “Q” (a view again held by, so far as I know, no one).
A much more defensible solution would be to argue that indeed Paul and the extant Jesus tradition draw on a common source. What was this source? Some contend that this source was a prophecy, Paul’s “word of the Lord” in 1 Thess 4:15.27 This solution is likelier than dependence on Paul, but proves problematic in a different way. Paul indicates that early Christian prophecy was pervasive, suggesting even the existence of multiple prophets in local Christian congregations (1 Cor 14:29, 32). He limits their prophecies to two or three at a time (14:29-30), but may allow more prophecies so long as the conduct is orderly (14:31).
Even by the time Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians, and even if we limited the total prophecies to three per week in just twenty eastern Mediterranean house churches, we should think of over 3,000 prophecies per year, or perhaps 60,000 early Christian prophecies by the time that Paul wrote. Indeed, given the increase in churches, that number could easily be doubled by the time Mark wrote. The coincidence of motifs between Matthew and Paul is far more dramatic against a control group of pre-70 Christian prophecies (if we had a better sampling of them) than against the control group of early Jewish eschatological motifs. What would make one particular prophecy or group of prophecies so authoritative as to be cited so prominently?
In Paul’s own day, Paul himself, who is not shy about appealing to his apostolic authority, distinguishes between Jesus’ tradition and his own counsel (1 Cor 7:10-12), even when he regards the latter as inspired (1 Cor 7:40). Further, the material to which Paul alludes in the “word of the Lord” is something he has already taught them, since he claims that they “already know” these things (1 Thess 5:2). If Mark, Q, Matthew and Paul drew on a common prophet, it was likely Jesus himself, or at least some form of Jesus tradition widely accepted as authentic.