Evangelien leuchtet, wird er nicht hinauskommen." And such Gospels Strauss and Renan would
fain make us believe to be poetic fictions of illiterate Galilaeans! This would be the most incredible
miracle of all.§ 79. The Synoptists.
(See the Lit. in § 78.)
The Synoptic Problem.
The fourth Gospel stands by itself and differs widely from the others in contents and style, as
well as in distance of time of composition. There can be no doubt that the author, writing towards
the close of the first century, must have known the three older ones.
But the first three Gospels present the unique phenomenon of a most striking agreement
and an equally striking disagreement both in matter and style, such as is not found among any three
writers on the same subject. Hence they are called the Synoptic or Synoptical Gospels, and the
three Evangelists, Synoptists.^878 This fact makes a harmony of the Gospels possible in all essentials,
and yet impossible in many minor details. The agreement is often literal, and the disagreement
often borders on contradiction, but without invalidating the essential harmony.
The interrelationship between Matthew, Mark, and Luke is, perhaps, the most complicated
and perplexing critical problem in the history of literature. The problem derives great importance
from its close connection with the life of Christ, and has therefore tried to the utmost the learning,
acumen, and ingenuity of modern scholars for nearly a century. The range of hypotheses has been
almost exhausted, and yet no harmonious conclusion reached.
The Relationship.
The general agreement of the Synoptists consists:- In the harmonious delineation of the character of Christ. The physiognomy is the same,
only under three somewhat different aspects. All represent him as the Son of man and as the Son
of God, as the promised Messiah and Saviour, teaching the purest doctrine, living a spotless life,
performing mighty miracles, suffering and dying for the sins of the world, and rising in triumph to
establish his kingdom of truth and righteousness. Such unity in the unique character of the hero of
the three narratives has no parallel in secular or sacred histories or biographies, and is the best
guarantee of the truthfulness of the picture. - In the plan and arrangement of the evangelical history, yet with striking peculiarities.
(a.) Matthew 1–2, and Luke 1–2, and 3:23–38, begin with the genealogy and infancy of
Christ, but with different facts drawn from different sources. Mark opens at once with the preaching
of the Baptist; while the fourth Evangelist goes back to the eternal pre-existence of the Logos.
About the thirty years of Christ’s private life and his quiet training for the great work they are all
silent, with the exception of Luke, who gives us a glimpse of his early youth in the temple
(Luke2:42–52).
(^878) Synopsis (conspectus), from σύν, together, and ὄψις–ϊ,–ͅϊ view, is applied since Griesbach (though used before him) to a
parallel arrangement of the Gospels so as to exhibit a general view of the whole and to facilitate a comparison. In some sections
the fourth Gospel furnishes parallels, especially in the history of the passion and resurrection. The first three Evangelists should
not be called Synoptics (as is done by the author of Supernatural Religion, vol. I., 213, and Dr. Davidson), but Synoptists. The
former is a Germanism (Synoptiker.)
A.D. 1-100.