Synoptic problem Facts for Kids

The New Testament contains four important books called Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books tell the story of Jesus's life, teachings, and actions. What's interesting is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar in how they tell these stories. They often use similar words, events, and even the order of events. Because they can be "seen together" (synoptic means "seen together"), they are called the Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of John, however, tells many of the same stories but in a very different style and often includes unique events or teachings not found in the other three.

The synoptic problem is a puzzle for scholars: Why are Matthew, Mark, and Luke so much alike, while John is so different? People have come up with several ideas to explain this puzzle.

Understanding the Synoptic Problem
- Possible Explanations
Images for kids
See also

Understanding the Synoptic Problem

The main question is how these three Gospels ended up being so similar. Did the writers copy from each other? Did they all use an older, lost source? Or was there another way they shared information?

Possible Explanations

Here are some of the main ideas people have suggested to solve the synoptic problem:

The Idea of a Lost Source

One idea is that there might have been an older, common text or collection of Jesus's sayings that is now lost. Matthew, Mark, and Luke could have all used this same source when writing their Gospels. This would explain why they share so much content.

Oral Tradition

Another idea suggests that there wasn't just one written source. Instead, the stories of Jesus were told and retold by many people for years before they were written down. Think of it like professional storytellers or "evangelists" (people who spread the good news). They might have learned the stories by heart and shared them in a very similar way, leading to the Gospels being alike.

The Two-Source Theory

This is one of the most popular ideas today. It suggests that:

The Gospel of Mark was written first.
Matthew and Luke both used Mark's Gospel as a main source. This explains why they share so many stories and often follow Mark's order.
Besides Mark, Matthew and Luke also used another common source, which scholars call "Q" (from "Quelle," the German word for "source"). This "Q" source is thought to be a collection of Jesus's sayings that is now lost.
Matthew and Luke also added their own unique stories and teachings that came from other sources they had access to.

This theory helps explain both the similarities (from Mark and Q) and the differences (from their own unique sources) in Matthew and Luke.

The Two-Gospel Hypothesis

This idea suggests a different order. It proposes that Matthew was written first, then Luke used Matthew, and finally Mark used both Matthew and Luke. This is less commonly accepted than the Two-Source Theory but is still discussed by some scholars.

Images for kids

This diagram shows how the Synoptic Gospels might be related to each other and to other sources.
The calming of the storm is recounted in each of the three Synoptic Gospels, but not in John.
Christ cleansing a leper by Jean-Marie Melchior Doze, 1864.
A page from a book called Synopsis Evangeliorum, which shows the texts of the Synoptic Gospels arranged side-by-side in columns so you can easily compare them.