The Gospels - (continued) Notice how the three nearly follow each other almost word for word?  There are a few more things that should noted here as well. The first three gospels share the appearance of John the Baptist, Jesus' baptism and temptation, and the initiation of Jesus' public ministry are linked together. Jesus' ministry is confined to Galilee until He attends the Passover celebration in Jerusalem, there He is crucified. The story ends with His crucifixion and resurrection. In addition there is an undeniable interrelatedness with respect to actual content: Luke contains 50 per cent of the substance of Mark's verses, while Matthew contains a full 90 per cent of Mark.  Of course the latter of the two have been switched by some scholars reflecting that Mark contains a full 90 per cent of Matthew.  Yet the three gospels posses significant diffrences.  Why? Augustine (A.D. 354-430) a bishop and theologian of Rome (A.D. 395-430), offered one of the most influential answers that would become an orthodox view for over 1400 years.  He decided that Matthew was the first to write his gospel and that Mark abridged what Matthew wrote thus creating the second gospel.  Luke was considered to be dependant of the first two and therefore the third gospel. By the eighteen hundreds, advancements in archaeology and languages would introduce new methods into biblical studies and porduce fresh solutions to the synoptic problem.     > double-click white part of page to return to top <