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2 pages/≈550 words
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Religion & Theology
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Matthew's Use of Mark and the Synoptic Problem

Essay Instructions:

Please Pick TWO of the three to answer
1. Portraits of Jesus
In chapters 4 and 5 of Perkins’ book, the author presents the literary features of the gospels of Mark and Matthew. According to Perkins, what are the literary features found in each gospel? Based on these two chapters, how does each gospel portray Jesus?
2. Matthew’s Use of Mark
Discuss Matthew’s use of Mark’s gospel. How does he edit and shape the Markan material to bring out who Jesus is and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus? Include examples of verses in these gospels to demonstrate your answer.
3. Synoptic Problem
Summarize the Synoptic Problem. Your summary should touch on the following: What is the Synoptic Problem? What are some of the solutions that have been proposed? What is meant by Markan Priority? What evidence supports the theory that Mark was written first? What is the Q source? How does Q factor in as a solution to the Synoptic problem? How does having a solution to the Synoptic Problem help us in interpreting the Synoptic Gospels?

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Matthew's use of Mark and the synoptic problem
Question 1
Scholars have agreed that the Gospel of Mark was the first to be written, and from it, the others soon followed. Mathew and Luke are said to have primarily borrowed from Mark; Mathew contains about 90 percent of Mark's work while Luke borrows about 50 percent from Mark. There has been a tussle whether Mark or Matthew was the first synoptic gospel to be written, but over time, many scholars and Bible students have come to agree that Mark was written way before Matthew. Mark is agreed to have been written around 70 CE.
According to Doole (Doole, p51), Matthew, in his writing, was free to place Markan content without its original context. He, therefore, portrays Jesus as a Jew and proceeds to trace Jesus up the genealogy back to David then to Abram. From the conception of the Book of Matthew, his main aim was to shed some more light on the gospel, according to Mark, because he felt that Mark's work was a little brief. Unlike in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus is portrayed in full humanity bearing suffering and undergoing extreme pain, Matthew portrays Jesus as a fulfillment of Jewish scriptures, a teacher, and the long-awaited Messiah. (Matthew Chapter 18). Like Matthew puts it, to be a disciple of Jesus entails to follow Jesus and to lead others to follow him (Matthew 28:18-20).
Question 2
The synoptic problem is the problem of the literary relationship between the three synoptic gospels. These gospels are not only related to the order of materials but also in the exact wording. However, there are many differences in some cases. Sometimes, two gospels have different stories, and other times, the stories are different among all three. When the materials are similar, the sequence is not corresponding. This brings big trouble in understanding who wrote first and who copied from whom? As a resu...
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