plunder another historian of one-third or one-half of the contents of his book without a word of
acknowledgment direct or indirect? Let us give the Evangelists at least the credit of common
honesty, which is the basis of all morality.
Apostolic Teaching the Primary Source of All the Synoptists.
The only certain basis for the solution of the problem is given to us in the preface of Luke.
He mentions two sources of his own Gospel—but not necessarily of the two other Synoptic
Gospels—namely, the oral tradition or deliverance of original "eyewitnesses and ministers of the
word" (apostles, evangelists, and other primitive disciples), and a number of written "narratives,"
drawn up by "many," but evidently incomplete and fragmentary, so as to induce him to prepare,
after accurate investigation, a regular history of "those matters which have been fulfilled among
us." Besides this important hint, we may be aided by the well-known statements of Papias about
the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew and the Greek Mark, whom he represents as the interpret
The chief and common source from which the Synoptists derived their Gospels was
undoubtedly the living apostolic tradition or teaching which is mentioned by Luke in the first order.
This teaching was nothing more or less than a faithful report of the words and deeds of Christ
himself by honest and intelligent eye-witnesses.^894 He told his disciples to preach, not to write, the
gospel, although the writing was, of course, not forbidden, but became necessary for the preservation
of the gospel in its purity. They had at first only "hearers;" while the law and the prophets had
readers.^895
Among the Jews and Arabs the memory was specially trained in the accurate repetition and
perpetuation of sacred words and facts.^896 The Mishna was not reduced to writing for two or three
hundred years. In the East everything is more settled and stationary than in the West, and the
traveller feels himself as by magic transferred back to manners and habits as well as the surroundings
of apostolic and patriarchal times. The memory is strongest where it depends most on itself and
least upon books.^897
The apostolic tradition or preaching was chiefly historical, a recital of the wonderful public
life of Jesus of Nazareth, and centred in the crowning facts of the crucifixion and resurrection. This
is evident from the specimens of sermons in the Acts. The story was repeated in public and in
private from day to day and sabbath to sabbath. The apostles and primitive evangelists adhered
closely and reverently to what they saw and heard from their divine Master, and their disciples
faithfully reproduced their testimony. "They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching" (Acts(^894) Luke 1:2: καθὼς παρέδοσαν (handed down by the living word) ἡμῖν οἱ ἀπ ̓ ἀρχῆς (i.e., from the beginning of the public
ministry of Christ; comp. Acts 1:21 sq.; John 15:27) αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται γενόμενοι τοῦ λόγου (the same persons).
(^895) Hearers and hearing of the gospel are spoken of in many passages, as Matt. 13:14; Luke 7:1; John 12:38; Acts 17:20; Rom.
2:13; 1 Thess. 2:13; James 1:22, 23, 25. The reading (ἀναγινώσκειν) is mostly used of the Old Testament: Matt. 12:3, 5; 21:16,
42; 24:15; Mark 25; 12:10, 26; 13:14; Luke 4:16; 6: 3; 10:26; Acts 8:28, 30, 32; 13:27; 15:21, etc.; of the Epistles of Paul: Eph.
3:4; Col. 4:16; 1 Thess. 6:27; of the book of Revelation: Rev. 1:3; 5:4.
(^896) The rabbinical rule (in Shabb. f. 15, 1) was: "Verba praeceptoris sine ulla immutatione, ut prolata ab illo fuerunt. erant
recitanda, ne diversa illi affingeretur sententia."
(^897) Renan, Les Evangiles, p. 96: "La tradition vivante (ζῶσα φωνὴ καὶ μένουσα, Papias) était le grand réservoir où tous
puisaient .... Le même phénomène se retrouve, du reste, dans presque toutes les littératures sacrées. Les Védas ont traversé des
siècles sans être éerits; un homme qui se respectait devait les savoir par coeur. Celui qui avait besoin d’un manuscrit pour
rêciter ces hymnes antiques faisait un aveu d’ignorance; aussi les copies n’en ont-elles jamais été estimées. Citer de mémoire
la Bible, le Coran, est encore de nos jours un point d’honneur pour les 0rientaux." Renan thinks that most of the Old Testament
quotations in the New Test. are from memory. My own observations, and those of friends residing in the East, confirm the
uniformity of oral tradition and the remarkable strength of memory among the Arabs.
A.D. 1-100.