These are highlighted notes for JUPEB CRS 002. For complete study materials, check out our A-level Exam focused CRS summary textbook.
CRS 002: New Testament Studies – The Synoptic Gospels
Alright, let’s walk through this course together. The goal here is not just to pass JUPEB but to actually understand what you’re reading when you open Matthew, Mark, or Luke. By the time we finish, you should be able to look at the first three Gospels and see them differently. Reading complete lecture notes and practising past questions is the secret of boosting your score by 40%
Part One: The World Before the Gospels Were Written
The Political Scene – Rome Running the Show
By the time of Jesus, Israel had been under foreign rule for centuries. Romans were the latest ones. They weren’t gentle. They taxed heavily, appointed their own governors (like Pilate), and let local kings rule only if they stayed loyal.
Think about it: here’s a people who believed God was their real king. Now they’re paying taxes to Caesar. That tension is everywhere in the Gospels. When Jesus talks about the "kingdom of God," that’s not just spiritual talk. It’s a quiet challenge to Rome’s claim over everything.
The Religious Groups You Need to Know
Pharisees: The people’s teachers. They focused on the Law – every little rule. Most Jews respected them, even if they found them exhausting. Jesus clashed with them not because they were wrong about everything but because they added so many human rules on top of God’s commands.
Sadducees: Wealthy, powerful, connected to the temple. They didn’t believe in resurrection or angels – only the first five books of Moses counted for them. They worked with Rome to keep the peace. Jesus didn’t get along with them either.
Essenes: Not mentioned directly in the Gospels but important background. They thought the temple was corrupt and went to live in the desert. The Dead Sea Scrolls came from them. Some scholars think John the Baptist might have been close to their circles.
Zealots: Revolutionaries. They wanted to kick Rome out by force. One of Jesus’ own disciples, Simon the Zealot, came from this group. Imagine the mix in that group – Matthew was a tax collector (worked for Rome) and Simon wanted to overthrow Rome. Jesus held them together.
Part Two: Why the Gospels Took Time to Be Written
At First, Nobody Wrote Anything Down
Jesus died around AD 30 or 33. The first Gospel (most scholars say Mark) was probably written around AD 65-70. That’s a gap of over thirty years. Why the wait?
Simple: the first Christians thought Jesus would return any day soon. Why write a book if the world is about to end? They just preached what they remembered – stories, teachings, miracles. It was all oral.
What Changed? Three Things
1. People started dying. The eyewitnesses – apostles, Mary, others – were getting old or getting killed. Someone had to write things down before the living memory disappeared.
2. False teachings popped up (hereditary books). Some people were twisting what Jesus said. Written records helped keep the story straight.
3. The Church spread far. New believers in places like Rome, Corinth, and Alexandria never saw Jesus. They needed reliable written accounts, not just word-of-mouth from strangers.
Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Material?
Scholars came up with a theory. You don’t have to believe it, but you need to know it for the exam. It’s called the Two-Source Hypothesis.
Source 1: The Gospel of Mark – Most scholars say Mark was written first. Matthew and Luke used Mark as a backbone. That’s why so many stories appear in all three.
Source 2: A lost document called "Q" (from German Quelle = source). Matthew and Luke share about 200 verses that are not in Mark. So there must have been another written collection of Jesus’ sayings. Nobody has ever found Q, but the theory explains the data.
· Source 3: Material unique to each writer – Matthew has some stories nobody else has. Luke has others (like the Good Samaritan and Prodigal Son). That means Matthew and Luke each had their own private sources.
Part Three: The Synoptic Problem – What Is It and Why Should You Care?
What "Synoptic" Means
"Synoptic" comes from Greek – syn (together) and opsis (seeing). The Synoptic Gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke because they "see together" – they look at Jesus’ life from roughly the same angle. Compare that to John’s Gospel, which is totally different in style and content.
The Problem:
Read Matthew, Mark, and Luke side by side. You’ll notice:
· Most of Mark’s 11,000 words appear in Matthew and Luke.
· Sometimes the wording is identical, even in Greek.
· But sometimes the order changes. And some details are different.
So the question is: if these three writers were independent, how do you explain the word-for-word matches? The obvious answer: they copied from each other or from a common source. But who copied from whom? That’s the Synoptic Problem.
The Main Solution:
Markan Priority – Mark came first. Matthew and Luke used Mark plus another source (Q) plus their own special material.
Why does this matter for JUPEB? Because exam questions will ask: “Examine the similarities and dissimilarities of the synoptic Gospels” or “Appraise the proposed solutions to the synoptic problem.” You need to be able to explain the Two-Source Hypothesis.
Part Four: How the New Testament Was Canonized
What "Canon" Means
A canon is a list. When we talk about the biblical canon, we mean the official list of books accepted as inspired Scripture.
The Process – It Took Time
· Early Church (AD 50-150): Christians used the Old Testament plus letters from Paul and some Gospels. But different churches had different books.
· Mid-200s: A guy named Marcion said only Luke and Paul’s letters were valid – and he edited Luke to remove anything too Jewish. That pushed the Church to decide: what really belongs?
· 367 AD: Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote a letter listing the 27 New Testament books we have today. That’s the first time the exact list appears.
· 397 AD: The Council of Carthage officially approved that list.
Criteria for Canonization
How did early Christians decide what made the cut?
1. Apostolic origin – Was it written by an apostle or someone close to an apostle? (Mark was connected to Peter, Luke to Paul.)
2. Widespread use – Was it read in churches everywhere, not just one region?
3. Orthodox teaching – Did it agree with the core beliefs already accepted (Jesus is divine, resurrection, etc.)?
4. Spiritual power – Did it change lives and build up the church?
Part Five: Modern Criticism of the Gospels – What You Should Know
The syllabus mentions "modern criticisms" – don’t panic. You just need to know three approaches.
1. Source Criticism
We already did this. Asking: where did the writer get his information? That’s source criticism.
2. Form Criticism
This asks: what form of oral tradition existed before it was written? Parable? Miracle story? Teaching? Saying? Scholars tried to trace how stories changed as they were passed down by mouth.
Effect: It showed that the Gospels are not newspaper reports – they’re collections of oral traditions shaped by the early church’s worship and teaching. That doesn’t mean they’re false; it means you have to read them as ancient biography, not modern journalism.
3. Redaction Criticism
Redaction = editing. This looks at how each Gospel writer changed his sources to make his own point. For example, Matthew often softens Mark’s blunt statements about the disciples’ failures. Luke rearranges material to highlight Jesus’ concern for the poor and women.
Effect: It helps us see each Gospel as a real book with a real author who had a real message – not just a copy machine.
Part Six: The Literature and Theology of Each Synoptic Gospel
Now we go through each Gospel one by one. For the exam, you need to know: authorship, purpose, date, destination, theological emphasis, and characteristics.
The Gospel According to Matthew
Who wrote it? Tradition says Matthew, the tax collector who became a disciple. The book itself doesn’t name him directly, but early church writers like Papias (around AD 120) said Matthew collected Jesus’ sayings in Hebrew or Aramaic.
Date: Probably AD 80-90. Too late for an eyewitness? Possibly. But Matthew used Mark as a source, so it had to come after Mark.
Destination: Jewish Christians. Matthew assumes you know Jewish customs and doesn’t explain them like Mark does.
Purpose: To prove that Jesus is the promised Messiah – the new Moses, the Son of David, the fulfillment of everything in the Old Testament. Matthew quotes the OT more than any other Gospel.
Theological emphasis:
· Jesus is the King. That’s why Matthew includes the visit of the Magi (Gentile kings bowing to a Jewish baby) and the Great Commission ("all authority in heaven and on earth").
· The church matters. Matthew is the only Gospel that uses the word "church" (ekklesia) – twice (16:18 and 18:17).
· Righteousness is deeper than rules. The Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7) says you don’t just avoid murder – you avoid anger.
Characteristics:
· Organized into five big teaching blocks (like the five books of Moses).
· Lots of "fulfillment" citations: "This happened to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet…"
· Very Jewish, but ends with Jesus sending disciples to "all nations."
The Gospel According to Mark
Who wrote it? John Mark, a companion of Peter and Paul. Early tradition says Mark wrote down Peter’s memories. The Gospel has rough Greek and vivid, eyewitness details – exactly what you’d expect from a fisherman’s stories translated by a scribe.
Date: AD 65-70. Probably the first Gospel written.
Destination: Gentile Christians in Rome. Mark explains Jewish customs (like hand-washing) because his readers wouldn’t know them.
Purpose: To present Jesus as the suffering Son of God. Mark doesn’t have a long birth story. He starts with Jesus’ baptism and jumps straight into action. The word "immediately" appears over 40 times.
Theological emphasis:
· Jesus is powerful but misunderstood. Even his disciples don’t really get it until the cross.
· The cross is central. One third of Mark’s Gospel is about the final week. Mark wants you to know that following Jesus means taking up your own cross.
· The "Messianic Secret" – Jesus keeps telling people, "Don’t tell anyone." Why? Because Mark thinks people will only understand Jesus correctly after his resurrection.
Characteristics:
· Short, fast, urgent.
· Lots of human emotions – Jesus gets tired, hungry, angry, surprised.
· The original ending is debated. Some manuscripts stop at 16:8 with the women running away in fear. Later scribes added a longer ending.
The Gospel According to Luke
Who wrote it? Luke, a doctor and travel companion of Paul. He was a Gentile. That’s unique – the only non-Jewish writer in the New Testament.
Date: AD 80-90. Luke used Mark and Q, and he also did his own research.
Destination: Theophilus (name means "lover of God") – likely a wealthy Roman official. But really, Luke wrote for a broad Gentile audience.
Purpose: To write an "orderly account" so that Theophilus "may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." Luke is a historian. He investigates, interviews eyewitnesses, and arranges things carefully.
Theological emphasis:
· Jesus is the Savior for everyone – not just Jews, but Samaritans, Romans, poor people, women, outcasts. Only Luke tells the parable of the Good Samaritan (Jew and Samaritan as neighbors) and the story of the ten lepers where only the Samaritan gives thanks.
· The Holy Spirit drives everything. The Spirit comes at Jesus’ baptism, leads him to the wilderness, and fills the disciples in Acts (which Luke also wrote).
· Prayer and joy keep popping up. Jesus prays before every big decision. Angels sing. Old people praise God. It’s the most joyful Gospel.
Characteristics:
· Beautiful, polished Greek – the best writing in the New Testament.
· Lots of unique stories: the Prodigal Son, the Rich Man and Lazarus, Zacchaeus, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
· Women play big roles: Mary, Elizabeth, Anna, the widow of Nain, the sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet.
· Luke’s Gospel connects directly to the book of Acts. Same author, same style, same themes.