THE PREACHING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
(Mt iii, 7b-10; Lk iii, 7b-9)
This section is universally ascribed to Q. In Matthew’s Gospel it contains sixty-three words; in Luke’s sixty-four. These are identical in the two Gospels, except for Luke’s addition of καὶ at the beginning of his 9th verse, his plural (καρποὺς) where Matthew has the singular, and his substitution of ἄρξησθε for Matthew’s δόξητε. The parallelism begins in the middle of the 7th verse of each Gospel; the first part of the verse in each case evidently being supplied by the evangelist. Matthew says John’s remark was addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees. With his customary indifference to class distinctions among the Jews, Luke represents the words as being addressed to all those who came for baptism. They do not seem appropriate to candidates for baptism, whether Pharisees, Sadducees, or others. Luke uses some form of the verb ἄρχω with the infinitive λέγειν eight times as against Matthew’s twice. As it seems here to have no advantage over δοκέω it might be safe to suppose that the substitution was made unintentionally, and from the influence of the recollection of similar usage in other parts of Luke’s Gospel. The first half of vs. 7 in each Gospel should be assigned to the evangelists; the remainder of the section to Q.
THE MESSIANIC PROCLAMATION OF THE BAPTIST
(Mt iii, 11-12; Lk iii, 16-17)
Matthew’s vs. 11 and Luke’s vs. 16 are closely parallel to Mark i, 7-8. But they are still more closely parallel with each other, and contain common deviations from Mark which cannot be explained upon the supposition that they are taken from the latter. The wording in the two Gospels, for twenty-six consecutive words, is identical, except for Luke’s omission of καὶ in his vs. 17, and his consequent change of verbs from the finite to the infinitive mood. This section is universally assigned to Q.
THE TEMPTATION
(Mt iv, 3-11; Lk iv, 3-13)
The whole story of the temptation as told by Matthew and Luke includes the two verses of each Gospel which immediately precede the section here specified. These verses are not included here because they seem to the writer to be taken by Matthew and Luke from Mark and not from Q. The common avoidance by Matthew and Luke of Mark’s statement that Jesus was “with the wild beasts,” and their common substitution of διάβολος for Mark’s σατανᾶς, would point toward their exclusive use of Q and their avoidance of Mark in these verses. On the other hand, Matthew and Luke use very different phraseology to express their common idea of the hunger of Jesus (Luke saying οὐκ ἔφαγεν οὐδὲν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις, καὶ συντελεσθεισῶν αὐτῶν ἐπείνασεν, while Matthew says καὶ νηστεύσας ἡμέρας τεσσεράκοντα καὶ τεσσεράκοντα νύκτας, ὕστερον ἐπείνασεν). Matthew agrees with Mark in six consecutive words (except for the transposition of two of them) where Luke has a wording of his own. Whereas Mark says that Jesus was tempted forty days, saying nothing about his hunger, Matthew says he fasted for forty days and was tempted at the expiration of this time, and Luke that he fasted forty days and was tempted during that time. The best explanation for these divergences and similarities is that Matthew and Luke take these verses from Mark but correct him freely under the influence of Q. Q also of course contained these verses, and they will be assigned to him when we come to consider the Q material in Mark. In the rest of the temptation narrative, where Mark has no parallel, there is great verbal similarity. The enlargement of the Old Testament quotation may perhaps be ascribed to Matthew. The transposition of Matthew’s second temptation to the third place in Luke seems to spoil the climax in the narrative; Mr. Streeter (Oxford Studies, p. 152) argues that Luke would not have spoiled so good an arrangement if he had found it in his source. If this argument were allowed, the section would have to be assigned to QMt and QLk. The writer does not feel that the divergences are great enough to necessitate this, and so assigns it to Q.