how to harmonize the Gospels ?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
W

Widdekind

Guest
#1
#1
Minimalist critics, like the Jesus Seminar, treat the Gospels, as in-consistent with each other, since some quote some saying of Jesus, in one setting, whereas others put those words, into Jesus' mouth, in some other setting.

But, there is no in-consistency. The Gospel writers could have "fluffed" their Gospels, adding arbitrary amounts, of extraneous information, e.g. "Jesus got up, Jesus ate breakfast, Jesus breathed in & out, Jesus walked 10 steps with his walking stick in his right hand, then changed hands", etc.

Instead, for sake of time, their's and their reader's, & papyrus + ink, the Gospel writers arguably streamlined their Gospels, only including important sayings, one time. But, Jesus was a wandering preacher, repeatedly repeating important points, over and over, time and again, town after village. So, what the Gospels actually reveal, is which sayings of Jesus, the various Gospel writers remembered, in various settings -- for some reason (say), Matthew remembered Jesus' parable in Capernaum, but Mark remembered Jesus (re-)saying that parable, in Magdala or Bethsaida.

Surely, Jesus stated each of his parables, hundreds of times, in his 1000 days of ministry. Different Gospel writers remembered different parables, from different settings, showing more about their own memory, than about any inconsistencies between their various accounts.
 
crossnote

crossnote

Senior Member
#2
Nov 24, 2012
30,707
3,650
113
#2
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
 
A

Abiding

Guest
#3
#3
i see it different...i see them writing as they were moved by the HolySpirit.
There are too many ties to OT types and too much perfection in other ways
to just be from memory...i think every word was written as God wanted it
even the divine contradictions. I call stumbling blocks or pearls depending
on who you are.
 
M

maverickman

Guest
#4
#4
The Gospels are testimonies and accounts not biographies. There are small variations in the 3 synoptic gospels but if 3 people saw an event and each wrote down what they saw you would get three testimonies that have a lot in common but don't perfectly line up. Why? Point of view is primary. Each person tells things from their own unique point of view built off of their experiences. The secondary is narrative. What story are they trying to tell. Mark's account is the most flattering to Peter which makes sense because mark was a disciple of Peter's. Matthew's was written for the jewish people and therefore held a lot that was important to them.

Once you understand these things the Gospels become much easier to read and learn from.
 
R

RachelBibleStudent

Guest
#5
#5
i can say based on my own efforts that harmonizing the chronology of the gospels is very difficult if not impossible...

this is not because there are contradictions though...it is because chronology was not always the top priority in the minds of the biblical writers...

the chronologies don't line up perfectly...which means some of the gospels are not arranged in precise chronological order...

this is fine since you can still convey truth without a chronological account...but it presents the problem of figuring out which of the gospels if any -is- in precise chronological order...and that may simply be up for opinion...

but you have to determine that before you can build a gospel harmony around the correct chronology...
 
W

Widdekind

Guest
#6
#6
Theology Network - The Bible - Question Mark: Understanding the Gospel of Mark

Papias ... was bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia of Asia Minor until about ad 130. His statement about the second gospel is recorded in Eusebius’s History of the Church (Historia Ecclesiastica), written in 325:
And the presbyter used to say this, ‘Mark became Peter’s interpreter [hermëneutës] and wrote accurately all that he remembered, not indeed, in order, of the things said or done by the Lord. For he had not heard the Lord, nor had he followed him, but later on, as I said, followed Peter, who used to give teaching as necessity demanded but not making, as it were, an arrangement of the Lord’s oracles, so that Mark did nothing wrong in writing down single points as he remembered them. For to one thing he gave attention, to leave out nothing of what he had heard and to make no false statements in them.’ (H.E. 3.39.15)​

... the presbyter whom Papias is quoting is the presbyter John, probably the apostle John himself.
Click to expand...

  1. Begin with the Gospel of John, the "Beloved" Apostle, and "pillar" of the Church (Gal 2), whose account spans all three years of Jesus' ministry.
  2. Interleave the Gospel of Matthew, one of the 12, an eye-witness.
  3. Link the Gospel of Mark, essentially a simplified & summarized Matthew, to Matthew

i have not tried to link in Luke yet
 
W

Widdekind

Guest
#7
#7
Luke follows Mark, through the middles of Luke 6 = Mark 3...

thus, the "out of order" ness of Mark, is reflected in Luke...

But, since Mark is linkable to Matthew...

and, Luke links to Mark...

so the chronology from the combo of John:Matthew, admits both (the beginnings of) Mark=Luke...

(the same "pericopes" (stories) in Mark=Luke, can be re-ordered, together, and linked back to Matthew)
 
M

megaman125

Guest
#10
#10
RachelBibleStudent said:
i can say based on my own efforts that harmonizing the chronology of the gospels is very difficult if not impossible...

this is not because there are contradictions though...it is because chronology was not always the top priority in the minds of the biblical writers...

the chronologies don't line up perfectly...which means some of the gospels are not arranged in precise chronological order...

this is fine since you can still convey truth without a chronological account...but it presents the problem of figuring out which of the gospels if any -is- in precise chronological order...and that may simply be up for opinion...

but you have to determine that before you can build a gospel harmony around the correct chronology...
Click to expand...
Contradictions are 2 things that cannot co-exist and both be true at the same time. The fact that the Gospels aren't in chronological order does not create a contradiction, it just means they're not in chronological order. It's not just the Gospels either, many things are not in chronological order. You see places in the Bible that are essentially a recap of earlier events. Either that, or the exodus out of Egypt happened about a dozen times.
 
W

Widdekind

Guest
#11
#11
observations:

All of the Synoptic Gospels agree, from the beheading of John the Baptist (Matt 14 = Mark 6 = Luke 9); chronological inconsistencies only occur, for the first years of Jesus' ministry. The last year, circa 29-30 AD, from the execution of John the Baptist, to the Crucifixion of Jesus, are completely compatible

Jesus baptized, tempted in wilderness = Matt 3-4 = Mark 1
John proclaims Jesus "Lamb of God", and some follow Jesus = John 1
John, Peter & Andrew, Philip & Nathaniel [bar Tolmay]​
Jesus goes to Galilee, back to Jerusalem for 1st Passover [28 AD], cleanses temple, teaches Nicodemus = John 2-3
Jesus baptizes in Judea, exceeds John the Baptist, flees to Galilee = John 3-4
in Galilee, Jesus recruits Peter & Andrew, James & John = Matt 4 = Mark 1 = Luke 5

Ipso facto, perhaps Peter & Andrew had been baptized by John in 27 AD, and tarried awhile as John's disciples. Then, their Rabbi told them about Jesus, so they followed Jesus for a while. Then, they somehow separated from Jesus, and went back to work, fishing for their father, about the time that Jesus cleansed the temple (Passover, 28 AD). Some months later, whilst they were working for their father, Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee, whilst teaching masses of people, and borrowing their boat. Once finished teaching the crowd, Jesus told Peter to cast his nets again, and a miraculous haul of fish nearly sank their boats. Peter professed himself a sinner (Luke 5), and followed Jesus (Matt 4 = Mark 1).

So, Simon-Peter may have briefly abandoned Jesus, in early 28 AD, until re-encountering Jesus some months later ? If so, then John the Beloved Disciple + Philip + Nathaniel [bar-Tolmay] followed Jesus, from the first time Rabbi John the Baptist, speaking by the Spirit of Elijah, proclaimed Jesus "Lamb of God"; whereas Peter & Andrew did not join "full time" until up to a year later.

John + Philip + Nathaniel all ministered in Asia Minor:

  • John = Ephesus, d. circa 100 AD
  • Philip = Hierapolis & Tralles / Aydin, d. circa 90 AD = persecutions of Domitian ?
  • Nathaniel = Armenia, d. circa 100 AD ?
 
J

jb

Senior Member
#12
Feb 27, 2010
4,940
589
113
#12
A nice little book that harmonises the 4 gospels is 'A Harmony Of The Gospels' by Loraine Boettner, you can get it on Amazon...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.