Synoptic

What is meant by the term "Synoptic Problem?" The word "Synoptic" means "seeing together" and it refers to the
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (which are known together as the "Synoptic Gospels"). The word "Problem" in
this academic context basically means "puzzle." This puzzle may be summed up in one question: What literary
relationship exists among the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke?

There are a lot of possible answers. Maybe the apostles, in the early years of the Christian church, composed a "Proto-
Gospel" and each Synoptic author used that source independently. Or maybe Matthew wrote his account first (as early
traditions say) and Mark and Luke used the Gospel of Matthew as a source. Or maybe something else happened.
Competent scholars have reached very different conclusions. Here are my own ideas in the form of a diagram, with
some accompanying notes.

Shortly after Jesus' ministry was finished, the apostles organized
their remembrances about Jesus. Jesus' miracles, His final week
in Jerusalem, and His death and resurrection were major focuses
of these orally transmitted remembrances.

Matthew wrote down some of Jesus' most important teachings in
Aramaic and thus formed a piece of source-material called the
"Logia." It was then translated into Greek.

Meanwhile, as Peter spread the gospel, he incorporated some
apostolic traditions into his sermons and lessons. His assistant
Mark collected Peter's remembrances about Jesus into a mutating
text known as "Proto-Mark," which grew longer as Peter kept on
preaching.

Luke obtained a copy of "Proto-Mark" and depended on it, as well
as some unique sources, when he composed the Gospel of Luke
in about A.D. 63.

A definitive text of the Gospel of Mark was released in Rome in
about A.D. 66.

Matthew used "Proto-Mark," the Gospel of Mark, the Aramaic
Logia, and some unique sources when composing the Gospel of
Matthew in A.D. 69-70.

This solution involves an adjustment of the usual premise of Markan Priority (that is, the idea that Matthew and Luke used the Gospel
of Mark). It explains why Luke does not use a large part of the Gospel of Mark: it simply was not in his copy of Proto-Mark. It also
explains the "Minor Agreements" (places where the wording in Matthew agrees with the wording in Luke but not with the wording in
Mark): some "Minor Agreements" are fortuitous and the rest occur at places where Matthew and Luke both retained the contents of
Proto-Mark at points where Proto-Mark differed from the Gospel of Mark.

For some other ideas about how the Synoptic Problem may be solved, you may want to visit the links listed below and the links that
they supply.