(b.) The preaching and baptism of John which prepared the way for the public ministry of
Christ, is related by all the Synoptists in parallel sections: Matt. 3:1–12; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3:1–18.
(c.) Christ’s baptism and temptation, the Messianic inauguration and Messianic trial: Matt.
3:13–17; 4:1–11; Mark 1:9–11, 12, 13 (very brief); Luke 3:21–23; 4:1–13. The variations here
between Matthew and Luke are very slight, as in the order of the second and third temptation. John
gives the testimony of the Baptist to Christ, and alludes to his baptism (John 1:32–34), but differs
from the Synoptists.
(d.) The public ministry of Christ in Galilee: Matt. 4:12–18:35; Mark 1:14–9:50; Luke
4:14–9:50. But Matthew 14:22–16:12, and Mark 6:45–8:26, narrate a series of events connected
with the Galilaean ministry, which are wanting in Luke; while Luke 9:51–18:14, has another series
of events and parables connected with the last journey to Jerusalem which are peculiar to him.
(e.) The journey to Jerusalem: Matt. 19:1–20:31; Mark 10:1–52; Luke 18:15–19:28.
(f.) The entry into Jerusalem and activity there during the week before the last passover:
Matt. 21–25; Mark 11–13; Luke 19:29–21:38.
(g.) The passion, crucifixion, and resurrection in parallel sections, but with considerable
minor divergences, especially in the denial of Peter and the history of the resurrection: Matt. 26–28;
Mark 14–16; Luke 22–24.
The events of the last week, from the entry to the resurrection (from Palm Sunday to Easter),
occupy in all the largest space, about one-fourth of the whole narrative.- In the selection of the same material and in verbal coincidences, as in the eschatological
discourses of Christ, with an almost equal number of little differences. Thus the three accounts of
the hearing of the paralytic (Matt. 9:1–8, and parallel passages), the feeding of the five thousand,
the transfiguration, almost verbally agree. Occasionally the Synoptists concur in rare and difficult
words and forms in the same connection, as ἐπιούσιος [ιν τηε Λορδ̑ς Πραψερ], τηε διμινυτίε ὠτίον,
little ear (of Malchus, Matt. 26:51, and parallel passages), δυσκόλως,hard (for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom, Matt. 19:23, etc.). These coincidences are the more striking since our Lord spoke
usually in Aramaic; but those words may have been Palestinian provincialisms.^879
The largest portion of verbal agreement, to the extent of about seven-eighths, is found in
the words of others, especially of Christ; and the largest portion of disagreement in the narratives
of the writers.^880 This fact bears against the theory of interdependence, and proves, on the one hand,
(^879) Holtzmann (p. 12) and others include also among the verbal coincidences the irregular ἀφέωνται (the Doric form of pass.
perf., 3 pers., plur.), Matt. 9:2, 5; Mark 2:5, 9; Luke 5:20, 23, and the double augment in ἀπεκατεστάθ̓η, Matt. 12:13; Mark 3:5;
Luke 6:10. But the former is ruled out by the better reading ἀφίενται, which is adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles,
and Westcott and Hort, in Matt. 9:2, 5, and in Mark 2:5. Moreover, the Doric form is not confined to the New Test., but somewhat
widely diffused; see Moulton’s Winer, p. 97, note. And as to the double augment, it occurs also in the Sept. (see Trommius’
Concord., I., 163, sub ἀποκαθίστημι); comp. also ἀπεκατέστη in Mark 8:25. Ebrard (Wiss. Krit., p. 1054) quotes a passage from
Pseudo-Lucian (Philiopatr., c. 27) where ἀπεκατέστησε occurs.
(^880) Mr. Norton brings out this fact very fully in his Evidences of the Genuineness of the Gospels (Boston, ed. of 1875, p. 464
sq.). I give his results: "In Matthew’s Gospel, the passages verbally coincident with one or both of the other two Gospels amount
to less than a sixth part of its contents; and of this about seven-eighths occur in the recital of the words of others, and only about
one eighth in what, by way of distinction, I may call mere narrative, in which the evangelist, speaking in his own person, was
unrestrained in the choice of his expressions. In Mark, the proportion of coincident passages to the whole contents of the Gospel
is about one-sixth, of which not one-fifth occurs in the narrative. Luke has still less agreement of expression with the other
evangelists. The passages in which it is found amount only to about a tenth part of his Gospel; and but an inconsiderable portion
of it appears in the narrative, in which there are few instances of its existence for more than half a dozen words together. In the
narrative, it may be computed as less than a twentieth part. These definite proportions are important, as showing distinctly in
A.D. 1-100.