- Common Material shared between the gospel accounts
- Uniquely Matthew
- Uniquely Mark
- Uniquely Luke
- Uniquely John
It becomes clear when you colour the differences. The overall pattern can be seen in the colours above. Matthew and Mark stick much closer to one another in the things they chose to share with us. Luke clearly uses the other synoptic writers material but makes changes of his own. In a sense, they all do this as we have seen in past examples. Each writer is prone to putting their own spin on the events in focus. Each will make little changes: a word here or there, an extra sentence or idea slipped in, one word substituted for another, an element or section omitted in preference for something else. But still Matthew, Mark and Luke stay closer to one another than John does. John’s gospel does not stick closely to the standard account as the other three tend to do. That is why Matthew, Mark and Luke are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels. “Seen together” — in sync optically or “seen together”.
You can see above, John’s account of the betrayal and the arrest of Jesus, varies greatly with the other three. Yet you can also see from the colouring above, that there is far less yellow (shared elements) in Luke’s account than the other two. Likewise, there are significant elements of the accounts of all three synoptic writers which are different from the other two. It is these differences which make each account distinctive. Likewise, it is true that we don’t gain the full story from any one gospel writer. Rather, we gain the full story when we put all four together. This is why God gave us four different accounts of Jesus time on earth, so we could gain a fuller appreciation of what He did and the significance of it all.
I am spelling these things out in this Gem because there are a significant number of new people who have joined the Gems or Permata Alkitab in the last couple of months. So I felt it best to explain the process in this Gem. Of course, also the astute ones among you, will realize I am giving you some time to look at the colouring and come to your own conclusions from the facts before you. I have told you before, gather all the resources you have at your disposal, in order to dig deeper into the Word of God. Using a harmony of the gospels enables you to do this. I introduced you to the harmony available in E-Sword in the last Gems and how to use it (Gems 1222). This is a useful tool in comparative gospels study. You can look at past Gems on the Berean Insights website: http://www.bereaninsights.com .
I have gemmed the following Biblical Books:
- John’s Gospel Gems 1 – 130
- Romans Gems 131 – 301
- 1 Corinthians Gems 302 – 499
- 2 Corinthians Gems 500 – 591
- Ephesians Gems 592 – 725
- Luke Gems 726 – 1327
- Acts Gems 1329 – 1898
On the website you can search for either the number of a specific Gems or you can type the Bible reference in the search engine. It is better to type Luke 11 than to type Luke 11:1-8. I may not have divided the text at the specific place you are looking for. But if you type the biblical book and the chapter number you should find it easily.
You will be able to find some interesting extra elements by comparing the gospel accounts above. Look for the similarities and look for the differences. When you put the two together, it adds to your understanding of the text of the Bible. In this case, as I have emphasized before, we are focused on Luke because I am gemming Luke. But I will take some time out on this segment to repeat again what I said when I covered John’s account — when we get to it.
I will leave you now to utilize the comparative columns above and the colouring to pick out the significant elements in this section. I will return to begin our analysis of it next gem. Have fun putting it all together.
The best thing about tomorrow is that it comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln
What is important in your life is what you decide is important — & this decision will indelibly create who you are.
Anon
The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.
Anon
Develop the ability to develop others. Don’t just concentrate on developing yourself.
Ian Vail
Have the dogged determination to achieve your goal regardless of circumstances or whatever other people say, think or do.
Paul J. Meyer