CONTENTS OF Q-SOURCE IN THE SYNOPTIC GOSPEL

ECWA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, IGBAJA CONTENTS OF Q-SOURCE IN THE SYNOPTIC GOSPEL A TERM PAPER SUBMITTED TO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR A. M. AMODU IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE COURSE THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS GNS 831 BY ADEDOYIN DAVID ADEDAYO DOCTOR OF MINISTRY (CONTACT 3) AUGUST, 2024 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Origin and Development of Q-Source THE Q-People Evidence for Q-Source Contents of Q-Source Conclusion INTRODUCTION The issue of synoptic Gospels has been a subject of debate amongst scholars for many decades now querying the harmonization of the books. Synoptic Gospels are the first three books in the New Testament namely Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose content is largely distinct. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called “Synoptic Gospels” because they can be “seen together.” What that actually means is that these gospels contain many of the same stories, and that those stories are sometimes even presented in the same sequence within each of the three different synoptic gospels Ejiga Joseph, “The Necessity for Four Document Hypothesis as Solution to the Synoptic Gospel Debate,” An Assignment submitted to Ass. Professor A. M. Amodu (ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja, 2024), 1 . The Sayings Source Q, or simply Q, refers to an early ‘Christian’ text that many scholars of early Christianity believes was composed about a generation after Jesus’s death. ‘Q’ is an abbreviation for the German term Quelle (meaning ‘source’) and is the scholarly designation for the common collection of material that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke share with each other that they did not derive from Mark’s Gospel. This is part of a theory, known as the ‘Two-Source Hypothesis’, which posits that Mark was the earliest Gospel to be written and that Matthew and Luke independently used Mark as the narrative backbone for their compositions and supplemented it with material from Q. Q is a short text, under 250 verses, and is comprised primarily of teachings of Jesus with very little narrative material. Given its early moment of composition, the text stands to tell us about some of the embryonic ideas within the early Jesus movement—a period before anyone was using the term ‘Christian’ to describe followers of Jesus. Sarah E. Rollens, “Sayings Source Q,” eds. James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements (16 January 2021). Access on 22/6/24 www.cdamm.org/articles/sayings-source-q Q consists mainly of sayings and discourses. It appears as a manual of instruction that is in religions and moral matters for Christian community. The only exception is the story of the centurion's servant Matt. 8:5-13, Luke 7:1 -10. Its (Q) sayings are full of life and colour such as lilies, grass seeds, trees, reeds, scorpions, serpent etc. We also see Jesus interest in the common things of daily life such as clouds, winds lamps, purse, barns, milestone, house on sand and rock, children playing in market places. A.M Amodu, “Synoptic Gospel” A lecture note, EWCA Theological Seminary, Igbaja, 2024, 14 Note: Q texts are normally cited by their Lucan versification. Thus, Q 6:20 is the Q text located at Luke 6:20. This does not necessarily imply that Luke preserves Q better than Matthew. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT The origins of the Q source and the people responsible for it are rather hazy. Some scholars maintain that Q represents the earliest teachings of Jesus himself, including his original apocalyptic teachings. A more limited, but perhaps more academically responsible, view is that Q represents a collection of teachings that a group of early Jesus devotees associated with him. Sarah E. Rollens, “Sayings Source Q,” eds. James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements This latter view sees the authors of Q as selecting these teachings to be included in Q and arranging them in such a way as to match their own ideological interests and outlook on the world. Further, on this second view, Jesus may or may not have spoken all of the teachings in Q, but some of his early followers nevertheless connected them to his legacy. The Q ‘movement’, then, refers to the Jesus movement represented by the Q source, which, as discussed in more detail below, was probably headquartered in Roman Galilee and arose in the 50s or 60s CE. William Arnal, “The Q Document,” In Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts, ed. Matt Jackson-McCabe, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007):119 The activities and development of the movement are also unclear. The legends of Jesus in the canonical Gospels depict him as travelling throughout the villages, healing the sick, driving out demons, and teaching his ideas about the Kingdom of God. It is hard to be certain what, if any, of these things the Q people actually engaged in. The text simply represents a collection of ideas and important teachings that the authors sought to feature centrally. At minimum, these significant teachings entail wise ethical sayings and apocalyptic pronouncements. It is reasonable to assume that adherents to the ideology may have done some sort of deliberate activity to promote their ethos. Realistically, this promotion (i.e. the ‘mission’ of Q) was likely just moving within localized village networks to disseminate their ideas. The other main practice that this Jesus movement engaged in was obviously text production and redaction (editing). William Arnal, “The Q Document,” In Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts, 120 These are admittedly relatively tame practices compared to the activities that other apocalyptic movements throughout history have engaged in: revolts, coups, death cults, public terrorism, and the like. Yet, the intellectual activities that sustain apocalyptic movements are equally as important as their revolutionary activities. THE Q-PEOPLE There are various views on who these authors were. One view, stemming from Gerd Theissen’s early work on the Jesus movement, views the Q people as itinerant ‘radicals’ who voluntarily adopted a life of poverty in order to travel around preaching the teachings of Jesus. Gerd Theissen, Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity, ed. John Bowden (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978), 28 While this was initially an argument about the kind of preacher that Jesus himself was, it was quickly assumed that his followers would have modelled their lifestyles after his. This understanding of Q’s authors follows from passages in Q that seem to recommend itinerancy and voluntary poverty (e.g. Q 10:4 or 12:22–31). The notion of the Q people as itinerant teachers lies behind many efforts to depict their lifestyles as akin to that of Cynic philosophers. John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991), 22 However, many scholars have critiqued this understanding of the Q people on the grounds that it engages in mirror reading of the text and assumes that the textual ethos matches a lived reality. In addition, the lifestyle it recommends is rather implausible considering the realities of rural life in first-century Galilee. William Arnal, Jesus and the Village Scribes (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 53 THE EVIDENCE FOR Q-SOURCE Before proceeding to the contents of Q, it is necessary to comment on the evidence for Q. The existence of Q is part of a wider discussion in New Testament studies known as the ‘Synoptic Problem.’ The Synoptic Problem explores the ‘problem’ of extensive verbal agreement between the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. While numerous solutions have been entertained by scholars, the most commonly accepted is the Two-Source Hypothesis, mentioned already. In the framework of this hypothesis, Q is a logical correlative that follows from assuming that Mark was written first and that Matthew and Luke worked independently from one another. K. C. Hanson and Horsley .A. Richard, Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus (Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1985), 20. Two document Hypothesis Mark Q Matthew Luke We do not have a physical manuscript of Q. The contents of Q must be reconstructed from verbal similarities between Matthew and Luke (it is conventional to cite Q based on its Lukan versification for simplicity), which, in many cases, is quite easy given the extensive verbatim agreement. Admittedly, Q is dismissed by some scholars as being merely hypothetical; however, in the view of many scholars, there is no other compelling way to explain the literary relationships between the Synoptic Gospels when such extensive verbatim agreement is present. Moreover, in its reconstructed state, Q has a distinct literary and ideological profile, meaning that it has a kind of thematic and structural coherence that further supports its one-time existence as an extant document. Arland Jacobson, ‘The Literary Unity of Q.’ Journal of Biblical Literature, 101, no. 3, (1982):365 Much of this thematic coherence appears in the apocalyptic sayings and prophetic judgments that Q’s Jesus utters. Some dissenters notwithstanding, most scholars are relatively comfortable speaking of the Jesus movement imagined in Q and/or the authors of the text. Richard A. Horsley and Jonathan A. Draper, Whoever Hears You Hears Me: Prophets, Performance, and Tradition in Q. (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999), 110. THE CONTENTS OF Q-SOURCE Q contains echoes of the inner experiences of Jesus. Particularly the cry I thank thee O Father Luke 10:21ff, Matt. 11:25-27, No passion story in Q which suggests that already a passion story has been written down or was in oral existence or purely because Q was for converted Christians who knew the story of Jesus by heart. The tone of Q is universalistic and liberal e.g, the centurion's faith was praised. A.M Amodu, “synoptic gospel” A lecture note, (EWCA Theological seminary, 2024), 14 Below are materials in Q-source: The Sayings of Jesus: Jesus’s sayings in Q primarily fall into two categories: wisdom sayings and apocalyptic pronouncements. The wisdom Teachings: This tends to be those that imagine a society without the widespread inequality and economic exploitation that, as we have seen, marked Roman Galilee in the early first century CE. For instance, the Q’s ‘Sermon’ (Matthew 5–7//Luke 6:1–49) comforts those who suffer hunger and persecution and advocates practicing impartiality and eschewing judgment of others before recommending that one love one’s enemies in imitation of God. John S. Kloppenborg, ‘Literary Convention, Self-Evidence and the Social History of the Q People.’ In Early Christianity, Q and Jesus, ed. by Leif E. Vaage and John S. Kloppenborg, (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991): 77 Apocalyptic/Judgment sayings: Q also has another kind of material in it, called the apocalyptic/judgment sayings. Arguably in the history of the reception of the Jesus tradition, these apocalyptic ideas have been emphasized far more than the ethical instructions for daily life. The apocalyptic traditions in Q are characterized by a decidedly pessimistic view of the world. Whereas the wisdom traditions embodied a kind of confidence in humans’ abilities to change and enhance their own lives, the apocalyptic traditions assume humanity’s fate is already sealed and that Jesus—or ‘the son of humanity’ (Luke 7:34; 9:58; 11:30; 12:8–10,40; 17:24,26–27) (note that Jesus is never specifically referred to as the messiah in Q)—is coming soon with judgment; his future appearance is often enigmatically referred to in Q simply as ‘the day’ (Luke 10:12; 12:46; 17:24, 30). Burton L. Mack, The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins. (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993), 45 This apocalyptic framework is evident in the opening sayings of Q, spoken by John the Baptist, who appears in the wilderness and announces an impending judgment on those who presume to hold an elect status as ‘children of Abraham’ (Matt. 3:7-19; Luke 3:7–9). John furthers warns of the ‘one who is to come’ after him (Jesus), who is prepared to ‘clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn on a fire that can never be put out’ (Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:16–17). This saying assumes that the judgment is already in motion and that it is only a matter of time before the useless ‘chaff’ will receive its due. Burton L. Mack, The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins, 46 The Lord’s Prayer: Q also supposes that if one relies on God to provide, then one’s needs will be met, as in the famous Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus teaches people how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2–4) and then immediately assures them that their requests will be met (Luke 11:9–13). John S. Kloppenborg, ‘Literary Convention, Self-Evidence and the Social History of the Q People.’ In Early Christianity, Q and Jesus, 79 The idea is reinforced later, when a larger unit about the anxieties of daily life ends with the following maxim: ‘Seek his kingdom, and [all these things] shall be granted to you’ (Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:31). These sayings imagine an ideal set of social relationships that operate on transparency, equity, and sound judgment, as well as a kind of confidence in God that he will provide for his followers’ basic needs. If we can confidently speak of any sort of ‘social program’ that Q advocated, it would likely be behaviour that follows these guidelines and tries to enact this worldview. John S. Kloppenborg, ‘Literary Convention, Self-Evidence and the Social History of the Q People.’ In Early Christianity, Q and Jesus, 80 Parables about Judgment: In the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:16–21, for instance, Jesus warns the rich man that accumulating land and crops will not ensure one’s safety during one’s future judgment, which God states will come on the ‘night (his) soul is required of (him)’ (Q 12:20). This is just one of several parables that Jesus uses to explain what will happen when Jesus returns to judge humanity. The Parable of the Faithful and Unfaithful Slave (12:42–46), the Parable of the Great Banquet (Q 14:16–23), and the Parable of the Entrusted Money (Q 19:12–26) likewise use metaphors to explore ‘the day of the son of humanity’ and the apocalyptic judgment that will accompany it. Sarah E. Rollens, ‘The Kingdom of God Is Among You: Prospects for a Q Community.’ In Christian Origins and the Establishment of the Early Jesus Movement, ed., by Stanley E. Porter and Andrew W. Pitts, (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 224 Within these common parables, Matthew sticks to a large blocks of sayings, whereas Luke incorporates narratives. Luke’s narratives tend to make his passages a little longer, and therefore, the common verses are in different placements in both gospels. The parable of the log: The parable of the log in Luke 6: 4 1-42, Matthew 7: 3-5. Of the 85 words of the English version in Luke and 82 in Matthew, there are only 14 verses in Luke and 7 in Matthew which are different. Not all the parallels are as close as there verses but there are enough cases of this kind to suggest dependence on a common source. It is hardly possible to argue that Matthew and Luke are dependent on each other because of the complete divergence in their birth and infancy narrative and the differences in the passion and resurrection make it certain that Matthew and Luke are independent works A.M Amodu, “Synoptic Gospel” A Lecture Note, EWCA Theological seminary, Igbaja, 2024, 13 The killing of prophets: (Luke 13:34–35 and Matthew 23:37–39). The text explicitly aligns the Q people’s experiences of ‘persecution’ with the rejection of the prophets in the past: ‘Blessed are you when they insult and persecute you … for this is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you’ (Q 6:22–23). Q also places a great premium on properly responding to such prophetic revelations (Q 7:31–35; 10:23–24; 11:29–32; 13:25–27) and recognizing the signs that indicate where humanity is on the apocalyptic timeline (Q 11:30; 12:54–56). It speaks of several past prophets who have been rejected or misunderstood (Q 6:23; 11:47,49–50; 13:34). In short, though Q is largely a sayings collection, it is also a prophetic text, in that (1) it presents Jesus’s apocalyptic prophecies about the end time and (2) the imagined community of the Q people sees itself as the most recent prophets of God sent to reform his people. Sarah E. Rollens, ‘The Kingdom of God Is Among You: Prospects for a Q Community.’ In Christian Origins and the Establishment of the Early Jesus Movement, 225 Luke 11:47-51//Matthew 23:29-31, 34-36: Also, in the Q passage which possibly foreshadows Jesus' death, Jesus warns his opposition that they are guilty of the same crimes which their ancestors committed when they murdered and persecuted the prophets and apostles (Mt. has prophets, wise men, and scribes). Because of their part in these crimes, this generation will be punished-justice is required of them. The sense is that Jesus’ opponents are completing the evil task which their forefathers began; therefore, they are responsible for all the innocent blood which has been shed from Abel to Zechariah. Edward P. Meadors, “The Orthodoxy of the 'Q' Sayings of Jesus,” https://tyndalebulletin.org/, accessed 19/7/2024 Cost of discipleship: Luke 14:27//Matthew 10:38: The final Q passage which possibly alludes to Jesus' death is a statement which Matthew and Luke both use to describe the cost of discipleship. Jesus warns the audience, the twelve or more likely the crowd at large, that obedience to himself must be unconditional-even to the point of death. To refuse to suffer is to fail the test of discipleship. Again, however, it must be stressed that this passage, like the previous two we have discussed, is neither a description of Jesus' death, nor an interpretation of why Jesus died. It is the audience which is advised to take up the cross. Edward P. Meadors, “The Orthodoxy of the 'Q' Sayings of Jesus,” https://tyndalebulletin.org/, accessed 19/7/2024 Jesus’ answer to John’s servants: Luke 7:22, 23//Matthew 11:4-6. Theses verses present Jesus answering John the Baptist's question 'Are you the coming one?' without a simple yes or no. Instead, Jesus tells John's messengers to report back that in Jesus' ministry the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor hear good news. Edward P. Meadors, “The Orthodoxy of the 'Q' Sayings of Jesus,” https://tyndalebulletin.org/, accessed 19/7/2024 The Golden Rule: The Golden Rule appears as a statement made by Jesus during his Galilean ministry in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:12, in Matt. 3-7:27) and in Luke’s Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:31, in Luke 6:20-49). The critical question, as by now must be obvious, is what the saying means in these contexts. Meier extracts the logion from its contexts in Matthew and Luke, compares it to Greco-Roman and Hellenistic Jewish sayings that sound similar, concludes that the logion expresses a classical ethical principle of reciprocity, and then argues that such a meaning does not fit well with the authentic sayings of Jesus in the Sermons on the Mount and the Plain: A number of sayings attributed to Jesus—notably the Q block mirrored in Luke 6:27-36—indicate that Jesus criticized the ethic of reciprocity (“hand washes hand”) common in the Greco-Roman world. But the Golden Rule is one expression, however refined and elegantly formulated, of precisely such an ethic of reciprocity…. one readily sees why Matthew, with his love for orderly development, moved the Golden Rule out of this Q block of material (Matt 5:38-48), where it does not fit, and repositioned it later in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt 7:12). John P. Meier, “The Golden Rule in the Q Tradition,” in A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume Four: Law and Love, Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 556 Unique themes: Certain themes, such as the Deuteronomist view of history, are more prominent in Q than in either Matthew or Luke individually. Luke mentions that he knows of other written sources of Jesus' life, and that he has investigated in order to gather the most information. (Luke 1:1-4) Accounts of Jesus birth: Matthew and Luke both assert that Mary was a virgin when she conceived and that an angel announced that her son would be the messiah. Both authors affirm that Mary and Joseph were engaged to be married and that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And, in both gospel, Jesus’ family end up in Nazareth. N.A, Matthew’s and Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth, https://anglicanfocus.org.au, accessed on 20/7/24 Doublets: These are sayings which occur in Luke and Matthew in two forms, one of which is clearly Markan and the other non-Markan. By analogy we infer that the non-Markan comes from another written source e.g. Matt 19:9 cf Mk. 10:11 & Mtt 5:32 cf Lk 16:18, Mk. 4:22, Mtt 10: 26. A.M Amodu, “Synoptic Gospel” A Lecture Note, EWCA Theological seminary, Igbaja, 2024, 14 Others are; The Baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3, 5, 7-12; Luke iii. 3, 7-9, 16-17.), The Temptation of Jesus (Matt. 4. i-ii; Luke 4. 1-13.) CONCLUSION From the investigation so far the following points have emerged: The Q-Document was at the time of its utilization by St. Matthew and St. Luke in a fixed written form. However, some sayings might have undergone slight alterations due to the influence of the oral tradition. The Q-Document was originally written in Greek; there is no sufficient evidence to prove that it was translated from Aramaic, or other Syrian language. The Q-Document was a single document used by St. Matthew and St. Luke in the same form. The Sequence in which the Q sections of the Double Tradition occurred in the original Q Document is the one found in Luke. With regard to the wording of the Q-Document Luke seems to preserve it more accurately in most of the cases, but Matthew, too, has some original words to show. However, today when it is generally accepted that the evangelists did not always copy verbatim their sources but sometimes they expressed in addition their theological ideas altering them where it was needed radically, it would not be surprising if in some cases where St. Matthew and St. Luke diverge considerably none of them has preserved the original form. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Arnal, William. Jesus and the Village Scribes. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001. Crossan, John Dominic. The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991. Hanson K. C. and Horsley A. Richard. Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus. Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1985. Horsley Richard A. and Draper, Jonathan A. Whoever Hears You Hears Me: Prophets, Performance, and Tradition in Q. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999. Theissen, Gerd. Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity, edited by John Bowden. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978. Journals, Magazines and Online Materials Arnal, William. “The Q Document.” In Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts. Edited by Matt Jackson-McCabe, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007):119- 154 Jacobson, Arland. ‘The Literary Unity of Q.’ Journal of Biblical Literature, 101, no. 3, (1982):365–389. Kloppenborg, John S. ‘Literary Convention, Self-Evidence and the Social History of the Q People.’ In Early Christianity, Q and Jesus. Edited by Leif E. Vaage and John S. Kloppenborg, (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991): 77–102. Meadors, Edward P. “The Orthodoxy of the 'Q' Sayings of Jesus.” https://tyndalebulletin.org/, accessed 19/7/2024 N.A, “Matthew’s and Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth.” https://anglicanfocus.org.au, accessed on 20/7/24 Rollens, Sarah E. ‘The Kingdom of God Is Among You: Prospects for a Q Community.’ In Christian Origins and the Establishment of the Early Jesus Movement, edited by by Stanley E. Porter and Andrew W. Pitts, (Leiden: Brill, 2018): 224–241. Rollens, Sarah E. 2021. “Sayings Source Q.” Edited by James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements (16 January 2021). Access on 22/6/24 www.cdamm.org/articles/sayings-source-q Unpublished Works Amodu, A.M “Synoptic Gospel.” A lecture note, EWCA Theological seminary, Igbaja, 2024. Joseph, Ejiga. “The Necessity for Four Document Hypothesis as Solution to the Synoptic Gospel Debate.” An Assignment submitted to Ass. Professor A. M. Amodu. ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja, 2024. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Meier, John P. “The Golden Rule in the Q Tradition.” in A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume Four: Law and Love. Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009): 551-557. 16