Sources of the Synoptic GospelsPatton, Carl S. (Carl Safford)
Religion
Sources of the Synoptic Gospels
Patton, Carl S. (Carl Safford)
Bible. Gospels -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
For this saying Matthew has a doublet in xii, 33-35. Mt vii, 20, is also
an exact reproduction of vii, 16, with the particle ἄραγε prefixed. If
Matthew found this saying in two of his sources, it is impossible to say
what the second of these was, for it apparently was not Mark. In Matthew's
second report of the same saying he has used the words "generation of
vipers," which he has in iii, 7, ascribed to John the Baptist. The fact
that both speeches in which the phrase occurs have to do with trees, and
the fact of the repetition, not only of the saying twice in Matthew, but
of the same sentence twice in one report, may perhaps indicate that
Matthew found the saying only in his version of Q, and is himself
responsible for the repetition. Or the saying may have been recorded twice
in Matthew's version of Q, with the variations shown in Matthew's two
citations of it. Upon either hypothesis the form of Mt xii, 35, is much
nearer to Lk vi, 45, than is Mt vii, 19-20, or vss. 16-18. The writer
assigns the section to QMt and QLk.
WARNING AGAINST SELF-DECEPTION
(Mt vii, 21-23; Lk vi, 46; xiii, 26-27)
Of the first of these three verses in each Gospel, Harnack says it is
"perhaps not derived from Q." But the verse stands in substantially the
same context in both Gospels--in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and
the Sermon on the Level Place in Luke. In spite of the difference
introduced thruout the verse by Matthew's having it in the third person
and Luke's giving it in the second, a reminiscence of the same source may
be found in the fact that κύριε is used by Matthew in the vocative, where
a more strict construction would require the accusative. The last two
verses of the section Matthew has combined with the first, whereas in Luke
the context for them is quite different. Thru all three verses Luke seems
to have the more primary form. Not only the second person of the verbs,
and the direct address of Jesus to the crowd, but the words, "we have
eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets" have
an original sound, whereas Matthew's form, "Many shall say to me in that
day, Lord, we have preached in thy name and in thy name have cast out
demons," would seem rather to come from a time when many men had been
preaching in the name of Jesus. Harnack says that the two sayings are
"quite independent," but that there is "a common source in the
background." This common source in the background might be the
undifferentiated Q, and the immediate sources might be the two recensions
of that document. The general character of the sayings, and the context,
would encourage such an assignment. Since here as in many other places the
version of Matthew seems to indicate adaptation to a later time, but since
the Gospel of Matthew cannot be shown to be later than the Gospel of Luke,
it seems fair to attribute the divergence between the two evangelists here
to the different history thru which their two versions of their common
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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