Luke was acknowledged as doctor, and it was occasionally proposed the author of Luke has particular interest in the diagnosis of illness. Luke tends to be more sympathetic than Mark to the work of doctors. It becomes noticeable in the story of how Jesus cured women with an incurable disease. Mark 5:26 records “instead of she been treated by many doctors and the somehow comment critically, “she spent all her money instead of getting better she got worse all the time”, will Luke on the other hand, comments that no one had been able to cure her”.
Luke’s gospel seems to be aimed at the gentiles and outcast. In Luke’s account of the sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus’s message was concerned with the Gentiles (Luke 4:16-30) he also talks about Jesus’ interest in Samaritans who the Jewish hated. In fact, Jesus is characterised as a friend to the outcast of society. These are people that God welcomes to the Kingdom.
Mathew’s Gospel is concerned with future eschatology. Numerous amount of parables mentioned are about the second coming and last judgement. They encourage Christians to be in constant readiness for Jesus’ return because you do not know the day or hour. Parables like the ten braid maids and great feats emphasises the kind of attitude that could lead to people being excluded unexpectedly from the Kingdom of God.
From my own perspective, I believe that writers of the synoptic gospels edited the material they used to portray a unique picture of Jesus. Each gospel writer contributed uniqueness in an astonishing manner. Although, they can share experience, their account was different. Throughout the gospels they reflect their personalities and interest. The editorial of the materials have made today’s understand the life of Jesus from a different perspective.
1 (b) Assess the claim that the synoptic gospels cannot be trusted to give an accurate account of the life of Jesus. (15 marks)
In the recent years, biblical scholars have specifically studied and investigated the biblical literatures. This aim was to seek differences between the synoptic gospels. One of the first biblical critics was called Griesbach, who posed this, “how can the Gospels have, on the other hand, so many things in common yet, on the other hand, have so many disagreements.”
Taking that into account, I agree with the claim that the synoptic Gospels cannot be trusted to give an accurate account of Jesus. Form critics argued that that the materials used in the Gospels was somehow preserved in an oral tradition; stories passed down from mouth. Most Hebrew Scriptures were transmitted by word of mouth before it was written down, and some of it contains written text that was originally delivered orally. This explains why it took the early Christians a highly period of time writing the Gospels. However, form critics argued that during the years of oral tradition, the materials must have been changed or condensed which makes it untrustworthy. Rudolf Bultmann made the proposition that individual stories was preserved in different forms depending on “life situations” of the early church which is translated in the German terminology “Sitz im Leben” These were not based on the life of Jesus. Instead, it focused the needs of the early church communities of that particular time. For example, in Matthew 18:15-22 it makes an elaboration about how the early church should deal with sins. On the other hand, an individual may argue that differences can be accounted for because of the oral tradition. The spoken word is a cultural practice that was highly regarded in the early community. This allows the readers to understand the period in which the content was developed. In addition, it indicates the importance of the teachings within that particular time.
Furthermore, I disagree with the claim that the synoptic gospels cannot be trusted to give an accurate account of the life of Jesus .New Testament scholars have attempted to distinguish the correlation between the gospel writers and materials. In fact, the gospel writers shared a great deal of information. New Testament developed the theory- markan priority. They made speculations the Matthew and Luke imitated Mark’s material. For example, Mark uses 661 verses and Matthew include 606 of them, whereas, Luke use 320. In addition, they claimed that Mark’s Gospel was the first to be written, because there were similarities in Matthew and Luke. This proves that Matthew and Luke are eye witnesses. The fact that Mark was the first to be written gives firm evidence for proving the accuracy of the account As Graham Stanton concluded if Mark was the first gospel writer than it is the most reliable source.
In conclusion, I personally believe that synoptic gospels can be trusted to give an accurate account of the life of Jesus. Present day Christians regard the gospels as a trustworthy source of information, as all “scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instructions in righteousness” 2 Timothy 3: 16 However, Christians need faith and doctrine that the synoptic gospels are trustworthy.
