The Synoptic Problem

Greetings and salutations!,

I thought it might be interesting to have an update that touches on some of the stuff that gets covered in seminary. So, here’s a couple tidbits about what seminary at Drew is like, from an academic perspective:

-Most students at the seminary are either pursuing a Master of Theological Study (mTS) or a Master of Divinity (mDiv). I’m pursuing the mDiv, which is the longer degree. It’s 84 credits, which equates to usually three years if you go full time. Some of my classmates are stretching it to 4 or more years, which makes sense because you cover a LOT of ground in each class and taking 12 or more credits a semester is quite challenging.

-Classes are offered in 5 different areas: Biblical Studies, Church History, Pastoral Theology, Church and Society, and Theology and Philosophy.

And as an example of something you’d learn in a class, here is what’s called the Synoptic Problem...

OK, look at these two gospel passages:

Matthew 3:7-10 ⁷ But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit worthy of repentance. ⁹ Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰ Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Luke 3:7-9 ⁷ John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹ Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

Do you notice that the words of John the Baptist are EXACTLY the same in each passage? Think about the ancient world. They didn’t have video cameras, newspaper reporters, tape recorders, or even printing presses. All writing was hand written and most news spread by word of mouth. If you’ve ever been involved in the rumor mill or played the game ‘telephone’, you know that what someone actually said gets pretty mangled the more times the quote gets passed on.

So how did the writer of Matthew’s gospel and the writer of Luke’s gospel manage to get the quote exactly the same? Chances are pretty low that they were both there when John actually said it and immediately wrote it down. This is the Synoptic Problem. Several examples like this one can be found when comparing the gospels of Matthew, Luke, and Mark (the gospel of John is pretty different from the other three in general). There are various theories put forth by biblical scholars about how to resolve the issue, and I’d be happy to discuss them with you. But for now chew on the problem. Email me or leave a comment on this post if you want to explore this a bit more.

Blessings,

Kevin