What is the Synoptic Problem? Part Three
Upon review of the preceding theories, the student of God’s Word must see their shortcomings and antagonistic origins. H. Leo Boles wrote, “It will be observed that these theories must be largely destructive of one another. It does not matter which wrote first, as all wrote as they were guided by the Holy Spirit” (Boles, 14). Boles then referred to the text 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which reads, “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” This is the only sound conclusion to which a Christian can come.
The Bible is verbally inspired. God is responsible for every word that is included in the Holy Writ. The Bible is a perfect, complete, word-for-word, Divinely inspired text. The only such text that exists in the world. How did God do it?
God’s superintendence extends even to the words of the writer. Paul based his argument on a plural noun, and insisted that God intended the word to be understood in the singular sense (Galatians 3:16). Jesus based on the precise verbal form of Scripture (John 10:34). He based His point on a particular word in Matthew 22:43, on a particular tense in Matthew 22:32, and even on the letters and their strokes in Matthew 5:17-18. Paul also affirmed verbal inspiration in 1 Corinthians 2. He claimed that his speech and his preaching were not “words of human wisdom” (vs. 4). Rather, his words were “in demonstration of the Spirit. (Butt and Miller, xi)
If God is the selector of every word included in the Bible, then we must understand Him as the originator, the author, the editor, and perfector of the complete text. As Boles said, it is truly irrelevant which author recorded first.
The Holy Spirit was the common source of all four Gospel accounts. Thus, we have a complete and thorough record of all that we need. It is written, “seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue” (2 Pet 1:3). If all things are given, then no things happened by accident. There is no elusive missing “Q.” Luke was not waiting around to read the other two synoptic accounts to figure out how he might add to it. The “all things” that Peter records would include every word of the Gospel accounts, albeit not every event of the Lord’s life and ministry was recorded. John’s account affirms this reality on two separate occasions.
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31). And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. (John 21:25).
The drive of such source criticism is largely from a humanistic view. They cannot begin to accept that perhaps God, in His Divine power, presented all we need. Therefore, the critic will become dependent on fictional sources that no man has seen and appeals to authority that does not validate their terms.
This approach is not new but is the same repurposed lies the Adversary has used from the Beginning. This is the same approach that the Gnostics utilized in times past and today. Orr said,
Gnosticism may be described generally as the fantastic product of the blending of certain Christian ideas–particularly that of redemption through Christ –with speculation and imaginings derived from a medley of sources (Greek, Jewish, Parsic; philosophies; religions, theosophies, mysteries) in a period when the human mind was in a kind of ferment, and when opinions of every sort were jumbled together in an unimaginable welter. (Gnosticism is) A claim on the part of the initiated to a special knowledge of the truth, a tendency to regard knowledge as superior to faith, and as the special possession of the more enlightened, for ordinary Christians did not possess this secret and higher doctrine. (Orr, 1240-1242).
The theories and the hypotheses proposed to the Synoptic Problem are based upon a rejection of numerous Biblical passages that affirm that God is the author of the Scriptures. All of these are dependent on the “knowledge” of mortals. God has made it clear that He doesn't have to have a man’s interpretation. “For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible student must approach the Word of God with this at the forefront of his mind. When we do this, we realize there is no special knowledge that is peculiar to any individual or group of individuals. Rather, God is able and willing to equip the student with the knowledge necessary for life and godliness.
The Bible is replete with evidence supporting the fact that God is the source of Scripture. The book of Leviticus is often overlooked by many Christians and picked apart by skeptics. However, that book alone affirms who is speaking more than another book of the Bible. Eighteen chapters of Leviticus begin with the words, The Lord said to Moses. Is there any question as to who is the source of the writing there? Jeremiah also recorded, “Then Jehovah put forth His hand, and touched my mouth; and Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth” (Jeremiah 1:9). If God was able to deliver the law unto Moses, and He put His intended words into the mouth of His prophet, why can He not do the same with precision in the Gospel accounts? The same God created the heavens and the earth in six literal days. He also parted the Red Sea to allow His people to pass through on dry land, then drowned the horse and rider of Pharaoh in the same sea. The same God came to this earth in the person of His Son, took on flesh, lived a perfect and sinless life, and was crucified until He died. That very same Christ rose from the dead on the third day as was prophesied. All of those details are but a few of the mighty works in Scripture. If God can do this, could He not inspire three, no, 40 writers, to record the exact word-for-word message He intended for mankind to receive? It appears the answer is much easier than many critics make it out to be.
Works Cited:
Boles, H. Leo. A Commentary on the Gospel According to Luke. Gospel Advocate Co., 1984.
Butt, Kyle, and Dave Miller, editors. Defending the Faith Study Bible: NKJV New King James Version. Apologetics Press, Inc., 2020.
Orr, James, et al. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. II, WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1939.
