Midterm Exam Essay Prep

Discuss the problem of the genre of the gospels with particular attention to their relationship to ancient biographies.

The closest thing that existed were biographies. The Roman Plutarch’s lives is similar, but the gospels don’t tell us what Jesus looked like, which ancient biographies typically do.

The gospels biography-like narrative sense, and Jesus’ characterization is displayed not by words but by actions, which is consistent with ancient biographies (Burridge). However, form criticism cast doubt on the biography genre because the evangelists are not concerned with precise chronology (the Lord’s supper is in the middle of John’s gospel at chapter 13 while Luke places it at the end in Luke 22). Bultmann contends they are not biographies and contain little or no historical info because the theology of early communities is intertwined throughout.

Present and explain the evidence for Marcan priority among the synoptic gospels. Give at least one good counter-argument.

Mark is likely first because it is unrefined with embarrassing details that Mt and Lk fix, like in the case of the rich young man (Mk 10:18) where Jesus implies he is not good or God. Mt and Lk both omit this, so they likely edited while using Mark as a source. Mark’s stories are generally much shorter, as with the John the Bapt pericopae in Mk 1, Lk 3, and Mt 3. Adding to a source is more likely than detracting, so Lk and Mt are likely later. Mk also has the most shared material (the middle term).

An alternative is Matthean priority, as Mt is the middle term in some parallel pericope, like in Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3:13-17. Also, Mark adds clarifications to obvious points, like in Mk 2:15. Mt and Lk parallels lack these, so on the logic that it is more likely to add to a source than detract, Matthew or Luke, not Mark, would be the first.

Present and explain the evidence for Q within the two-source hypothesis. Give at least one good counterargument.

Mt and Lk share a large amount of material that Mark does not have, and these stories seem to alternate in primitivity. Also, Q seems to make sense in detailed study after detailed study of redaction criticism, so Stanton says this is in favor of Q. If Luke knew Matthew, the sermon on the mount in Mt 5-7 is totally deconstructed into a shorter, unmemorable sermon on the plain. This seems strange to do, so Q is needed for shared material.

Mt and Lk may not be independent, though, with Luke potentially knowing Matthew. John the Bap mentions “unquenchable fire” in Matt 3:11-12 and Luke 3:15-17, but fire as punishment in hell appears many more times in Matthew than Luke, so Matthew might have been copied here.

Discuss the theme of the Messianic Secret in Mark. How is the theme expressed within the gospel and how does it relate to the author’s larger literary and/or theological goals?

In numerous places, like the cleansing of the leper in Mk 1:43-45, Jesus performs a miracle and instructs to not spread the news. Why does he do this? Mark may have had numerous public Jesus teachings about the kingdom of God and not about the person of Jesus. So, he made the messianic secret theme, keeping the public and the disciples in the dark about Jesus’ true identity up until Peter’s pronouncement in Mk 8:29-30. This would help explain how the jews are not believing in Jesus in droves and the kingdom of God was not present like they were thinking it would be. Jesus is not a warrior messiah but a suffering servant in Mark’s view, so he is portraying Jesus as coming in under the radar with this Messianic secret idea. To be an insider for Mk, you need to be willing to suffer as a disciple.

Explain why the quotation of the Hebrew Bible within the Gospel of Matthew is often problematic. Discuss two solutions that have been proposed by scholars.

Mt tends to quote things out of context, claiming biblical prophecies that were never previously interpreted as such. With Jesus’ virgin birth in Matt 1:23, Mt quotes Isaiah 7:14 in the Septuagint where the word virgin is used. However, Mt does not understand that the word virgin in the LXX is actually “young woman” in the Masoretic Text. This happens in other places, like with Matthew’s interpretation of Jesus riding two colts.

A solution to this is that Matthew was using the midrash method in the DSS (the pesher Habakkuk), where earlier writings were newly interpreted out of their original contexts and into a relevant contemporary social situation.

Another solution is typology, where keywords and patterns are searched for in the OT, as in the parallelism between Jesus’ birth story in Matthew ch 2 and the story of Moses.

Explain the importance of geography to the theme of salvation history in the Gospel of Luke.

For Luke, salvation history is important, with the period of Israel (centered at Jerusalem) coming before the “satan-free” period of Jesus (Lk 4:13), and then the period of the church, which is allowed to survive in an era with satan back because they have a description of the life of jesus. The old era is separated from the new by separating John the Baptist and Jesus. Time and space are related to the transition of the salvation history, as the gospel should go from Jerusalem (Lk 24:47) to judea, then samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8), which ends up being symbolized by Rome in Acts 28 for Paul. Luke has Jesus making multiple trips to the spiritual capitol of the world, Jerusalem, but Mark has the home base for Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, alternatively, and the theme of a changing center for salvation history is not prominent.

Discuss the possible relationships between the synoptic gospels and the Pauline tradition.

Paul references oral traditions that match up in the gospels like in 1 Corinthians 11:23 where Paul uses a formula for oral tradition about the Lord’s supper.

Mark is likely not connected to Peter (traditional interpretation) because Peter is a buffoon in his gospel, so Pauline influences are more likely. Like Paul, Mark in chapter 7 adds a commentary that food laws no longer apply (in contrast to Matthew. Mark also has a ransom model of the salvation (in contrast to atonement) which is more of a Pauline idea because Jesus’ resurrection takes you away from being a slave of sin to being a slave of righteousness.

Luke is traditionally accepted as being Pauline because Luke has dualism in his gospel, like with how Judas was possessed by Satan in Luke, which is a theme Paul uses extensively (1 Cor 7:5). However, ik Luke does not treat Paul as the leader, instead putting Peter as the head of the church, and Luke is not as apocalyptic as Paul.

Compare the three synoptic gospels with respect to their original audiences. What can we infer about the communities in which these gospels were first shared with respect to their core beliefs, identity, historical situation, etc.

Luke writes to Theophilus, but naming a patron was a custom regardless. Thematically in Luke-Acts he writes for Christians because he has Paul speak against apostasy. He also seems to be writing for Gentiles because he mentions that the Jews rejected Jesus (Lk 11:47-51) and has Jesus working in secular (Gentile) history.

Mark’s audience is also more gentile because customs are explained and he gets the geography mixed up, calling the sea of galilee a sea when it is really a lake. He also spells out simple Aramaic words like “bar.” Mark’s audience may have been away from Israel in Asia minor and under intense persecution, hence Mark’s emphasis on followers of Christ suffering (8:31).

Matthew writes to Christians as he is the first to use “church” (16:18). Matthew also reinterprets the parable of the lost sheep (Mt 18:15-18) to refer to lost members of the community. He also seems to be writing to a group that holds the OT in high regard, but he has a lot of anti-Jewish polemic, so he may be writing to Christians who recently parted ways with Jews.

Discuss the important differences in chronology between John and the Synoptics. How do these differences relate to John’s broader theological or literary goals?

Jerusalem is the end point in the synoptics, while John has Jesus going back and forth from Jerusalem multiple times. John moves the cleansing of the temple from the passion week in the synoptics to early on in his gospel (chapter 2) in an earlier Passover mention (one of three as compare to the synoptics which only mention one). John also moves the last supper to the day before the Passover, which is different than the synoptics which put the last supper on the actual day of the Passover. This moves Jesus’ death to the time of the sacrifice of the Passover lambs, which John likely does because Passover is really important to him and he wants to show Jesus as a sort of Passover lamb in his atonement sacrifice idea of the resurrection (in a blend of the idea of Yom Kippur and Passover).

Explain the importance of belief within the Gospel of John. How is this theme reflected in the literary structure of the gospel?

The main stories involve signs in the stories that specifically meant to make you believe, like how at the end of the wedding in cana miracle story in John 2 the disciples believed in Jesus (verse 11). Thomas’ doubt is uniquely mentioned in John, as Thomas who didn’t believe until he miraculously felt the holes on Jesus. “Blessed are those that haven’t seen yet still believe” (Jn 20:29) shows John’s belief theme. In this story, where the person of Jesus is on display in intricate dialogue with the blind man, Jesus asks whether the blind man believes in him (9:35) and the man says “Lord, I believe” in 9:38, emphasizing how belief is the climax of this story and is the reason the Jesus is doing the miracles (to make people believe ).