What is synoptic problem and its solution?

Answer 1

IT IS that mathew and luke are almost literal copies of mark in greek. greek is translated from hebrew which is what jesus spoke. its not possible for three different translators to translate another language with the same exact wording. the solution is that it is a huge problem with the reliablility of the gospels.

Answer 2

The 'Synoptic Problem' concerns the similarities between Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which are so numerous and so close, not just in the order of the material but also in the exact wording of long stretches of text, that it is not possible to understand the gospels as being written independent of each other, nor to explain the similarities on the basis of common oral tradition alone. At least some degree of literary dependence must be assumed.

For most of Christian history, Matthew's Gospel was thought to be the earliest gospel. As long as Matthew could be considered to be written by an eyewitness disciple, it was possible to accept those of Mark and Luke as being based, at least in part, on Matthew, given that neither Mark nor Luke is considered to have been one of the twelve disciples. Essentially, this is the 'Augustinian Hypothesis'. However, scholars have demonstrated that Mark was the original gospel and that Matthew and Luke were each, independently based on Mark for much of their content.

Another aspect of the Synoptic Problem is that Matthewand Luke contain further material that must have come from a common source. The Augustinian Hypothesis does address this, with Luke coming from both Matthew and then Mark. Given that the Augustinian Hypothesis is considered by most scholars to be too flawed to be a possible explanation, then a further source document, written in the Greek language, must be considered. This further source document is known as the 'Q' document. Although no extant copy of Q exists, scholars have been able to put together what they believe is a quite close copy of the original, by comparing Matthew's and Luke's use of material from that document.

The preferred option of many is to ignore the Synoptic Problem as irrelevant, and continue to preach the gospels as written independently and based on first-hand knowledge (Matthew) or close sources, such as the assumption that Peter taught Mark. When pressed, some would probably accept the Augustinian Hypothesis, for all its limitations, since it posits that at least one gospel was written by an eyewitness.

AnswerThis is in relation to the three 'synoptic gospels' Matthew, Mark and Luke. There are a range of theories put forward to explain the similarities and the differences between them. Evidence of similarity is used to argue there is some kind of literary dependence between them. It has been postulated that Matthew borrowed from the Gospel of Mark and 'Q', a lost source used to explain the bits Matthew has which are not in Mark.