(Mk i, 7-8)
Matthew and Luke are close to Mark in their wording here, but agree against him in putting his verses in reverse order and in the addition of καὶ πυρὶ. They then each add a verse (Mt iii, 12; Lk iii, 17) which has already been assigned to Q. In each Gospel this verse develops the idea introduced by the καὶ πυρὶ. The order of Matthew and Luke is here necessarily, and apparently originally, different from that of Mark, since the relative clause which begins the additional matter of Matthew and Luke depends upon the order of sentences in these two Gospels and will not fit Mark’s arrangement. In spite therefore of the close agreement of Matthew’s vs. 11 and Luke’s vs. 16 with Mark, these verses must be assigned to Q. In other words, it is probable that here Matthew and Luke are depending directly upon Q, and not merely indirectly upon him thru Mark.
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
(Mk i, 9-11)
This section is added to Q by many critics, on the ground of its position between the preaching of the Baptist and the temptation of Jesus, both related in Q. The agreements between Matthew and Luke against Mark are not, however, frequent or important enough by themselves to suggest this assignment. On the other hand, the addition in Matthew of the conversation between Jesus and John points to a source in that respect different from that of either Mark or Luke. Matthew also represents the voice from heaven as directed to the crowd, and not to Jesus alone, as do Mark and Luke. In both these deviations Matthew has an apparently later tradition, and has preferred to follow his recension of Q. Either Luke’s recension here agreed substantially with Mark’s, or else Luke has followed Mark more closely than Q.
THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS
(Mk i, 12-13)
The very brief account in Mark is followed in Matthew and Luke by nine and eleven verses respectively, which have been already assigned to Q. The question here is whether Matthew and Luke followed Mark in the first two verses of their narratives, and after that forsook him for Q, or whether they followed Q thruout. Matthew and Luke agree in substituting διάβολος for Mark’s σατανᾶς, in the omission of the clause “and was with the wild beasts,” and in placing the temptation in the period of hunger following the forty days’ fast. They apparently followed Q rather than Mark, but each introduced some changes out of deference to the latter. Mark’s account is similar enough to that of Matthew and Luke to be a brief extract from Q.
THE BEELZEBUL CONTROVERSY
(Mk iii, 20-29)