Why Are the Gospels So Much Alike?
The charts below illustrate two hypotheses that seek to explain the similarities among the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). The first hypothesis enjoys the support of most New Testament scholars. It argues that Matthew and Luke drew on Mark for their basic outlines of Jesus’ life; onto that biography they added sayings of Jesus that they had drawn from a source known today as Q, an early “Sayings Gospel.” A second theory regarding the relationship among the Gospels, put forth by the 18th-century German scholar Johannes Griesbach, argues that Luke drew on Matthew’s Gospel and that Mark then drew on both Matthew and Luke.
