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The Synoptic Problem

What is the synoptic problem? Much of the text of the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke is very similar to, and in some places identical to, text in either one or both of the other two gospels, and for this reason they are collectively referred to as the Synoptic (or ‘seeing together’) Gospels, or just the ‘synoptics.’ The existence of these synoptic parallels raises the issue of how they came to exist, and a very good general statement of the problem (usually referred to as the synoptic problem), with suggested solutions, is given by Stephen C. Carlson on the Synoptic Problem Website:


Carlson continues:


Because of these agreements, a number of questions come to mind: How did the agreements arise? Were the words in one gospel copied from another, or did the common words come from other (unknown) sources? Where words are the same in two or all three gospels, can we tell the directionality, i.e. which was written first? The various synoptic hypotheses that try to answer these and other questions generally suggest copying and/or editing between Mark, Matthew, and Luke, possibly supplemented by additional hypothetical source material, typically either earlier material from which one or more of the synoptics was derived, or a document containing material common to two of them.

Although the synoptic problem is not completely ‘solved,’ the current majority opinion is that Mark was the first of the synoptics to be written (this is known as Markan Priority), with Matthew and Luke following, probably in that order, and there is a group of several hypotheses that fit this general pattern. Within this group the existence of the parallel material in Matthew and Luke is usually accounted for by aMatthew (the author of Matthew) knowing Luke, aLuke (the author of Luke) knowing Matthew, or through the use of a hypothetical document known to both aMatthew and aLuke, generally known as Q (see What Exactly is Q), and being the source at least of some of their common material (The details of these and other hypotheses can all be found on the Synoptic Problem Website). The use of Q as a source solves an otherwise difficult part of the problem, which is that in the places where Matthew and Luke have parallel material Matthew sometimes appears to be earlier (more primitive) than Luke, but in other places Luke appears to be more primitive than Matthew. This is often referred to as ‘alternating primitivity,’ and is described in Fallacies at the Heart of Q by Mark Goodacre.

Because it is impossible for both Matthew and Luke to be earlier than each other, an additional document on which both depend is usually posited, either something like Q (although it should be noted that Q is a very slippery beast, with it’s content varying considerably depending on who is defining it, as indicated in Has Goulder Sunk Q? by Allan J. McNicol), or sometimes an earlier version of either Matthew or Luke that was also known to the author of the other gospel. If such an earlier version did exist, and it could be shown that it accounted for the alternating primitivity, then the need for a document like Q would disappear. However, to date (Jun 2016) it has not been decisively determined whether Q or some other document is actually required to 'solve' the synoptic problem.

One way of looking at the problem is to look at the style of text used in different parts of the gospels, to see (for example) whether the style of the text in an agreement matches that in other sections of the gospels in which the agreements occur. This is termed stylometic analysis, of which this stylometric analysis is an example. The Conclusions of this stylometric analysis show strong support for Markan Priority, but also support for the view that some words common to Matthew and Luke (but not Mark) came from another source, although this source does not appear to be what is commonly referred to as 'Q.' Instead, this source can possibly be viewed as an early version of Luke, as described in MwEL: A New Synoptic Hypothesis.

See also Marcion's Gospel and the Synoptic Problem for information regarding Marcion's Gospel, and how it relates to Luke and the other synoptic gospels.


Bigg, Howard C: The Present State of the Q Hypothesis, 1988

Bird, Michael F: The Holtzmann-Gundry Solution to the Synoptic Problem (Three Source Hypothesis). Also Goodacre, Mark: Mike Bird on Luke's use of Matthew and Q 

Burkett, Delbert Royce: Rethinking the Gospel Sources: Volume 2: The unity or plurality of Q, SBL, 2009 

Carlson, Stephen C: The Synoptic Problem Website 

Derrenbacker, Robert A, Jr and Kloppenborg Verbin, John S: Self-Contradiction in the IQP? A Reply to Michael Goulder, 2001 

Early Christian Writings: The Existence of Q 

Farmer, William R: The Present State Of The Synoptic Problem, 1998 

Foster, Paul: Is It Possible to Dispense with Q? , 2003 

Gentile, David: A statistical approach to the synoptic problem 

Goodacre, Mark: The Case Against Q: Studies in Markan Priority and the Synoptic Problem and The synoptic problem: a way through the maze. Online: The Case Against Q, Ten Reasons to Question Q, A Monopoly on Marcan Priority? Fallacies at the Heart of Q. See also Mark Q Overlaps I: Terminology, II: Major Agreements Between Matthew and Luke, III: Minor Agreements between Mark and Luke, IV: Back to the Continuum, V: the degree of verbatim agreement, VI: The Direction of Dependence 

Goulder, Michael: Luke: A New Paradigm 

Head, Peter M: Textual Criticism and the Synoptic Problem, New Studies in the Synoptic Problem, Oxford Conference, Part 1, April 2008 

Head, Peter M. and Williams P.J: Q Review, Tyndale Bulletin 54.1, 2003 

Huggins, Ronald V: Matthean Posteriority: A Preliminary Proposal, 1992 

Just, Felix: The Synoptic Problem 

Kelhoffer, James A: Miracle and Mission: The Authentication of Missionaries and Their Message in the Longer Ending of Mark, 2000 

Kloppenborg, John S: On Dispensing with Q?: Goodacre on the Relation of Luke to Matthew, 2003 

Kok, Michael J.: Euangelion Kata Markon, The Case For and Against Q 

McNicol, Allan J, (Ed) with Dungan, David L., and Peabody, David B: Beyond the Q Impasse: Luke’s Use of Matthew, 1996  

Powell, Mark Allen: What are They Saying about Luke?, 1989 

Sanders E.P, and Davies, Margaret: Studying the synoptic Gospels 

Smith, Barry D: The Synoptic Problem, Crandall University 

Streeter, B.H: The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins. Treating of the Manuscript Tradition, Sources, Authorship, and Dates 

Text Excavation.com: The Synoptic Problem 

Theopedia.com: The Synoptic Problem 

Turton, Michael: Is Mark Q? 

Wallace, Daniel B: The Synoptic Problem 

Waltz, Robert: The Encyclopedia of New Testament Criticism (online) or in PDF form 

West, H. Philip Jr.: A Primitive Version of Luke in the Composition of Matthew, 1967 

Wikipedia.com: Synoptic Gospels 

The Gospel of Q