The 'Q' Source

 

 

Ifyou study the Bible at all, you have undoubtedly come across the Q Gospel. Thisis the name given to a collection of sayings of Jesus. The name comes from theGerman word ‘Quelle’, which means source. The Q Gospel is associated with theSynoptic Gospels. These are the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which allshare some aspects in common and are believed to have drawn from a commonsource or sources.

TheGospel of Mark is considered to have been the first written. It is believedthat Matthew and Luke both used Mark as a primary source for their writings. Atthe same time, Matthew and Luke have several sayings and or teachings of Jesusin common that are not found in the Gospel of Mark. This has led some scholarsto suggest there was another source used by both Matthew and Luke, which theyhave named the Q Gospel.

Itis important to remember that the Q Gospel is strictly theoretical. There is nomention of such a writing in any other texts. There are no known copies of theQ gospel in existence, and no fragments have ever been discovered. This is instark contrast to the multiple copies of the other gospels, as well as partialfragments. Some scholars have attempted to reconstruct the Q gospel based onthe similarities in Matthew and Luke, but many other scholars do not believesuch a document ever existed. They think other explanations can account for thesimilarities in the gospels.

Interestingly,most of those who support the theory of the Q gospel believe it was fardifferent in format than the other four gospels. It is thought that the Qgospel was not a narrative of Jesus' life, but rather a collection of Jesus'sayings.

Again,there is no historical proof of such a document. The Q source is a hypotheticaldocument created by scholars to account for similarities in the three SynopticGospels. If such a document ever existed, there has, to date, been no physicalevidence discovered to support its existence. This is not to say evidence maynot be found in the future, but it is considered unlikely by most scholars.

Itis curious that if such a document existed, Mark apparently did not use any ofits material in his gospel account.

 

 

Note: Withthe Two-Source Hypothesis, it is believed that the Q gospel was the firstwritten. Mark was then composed second, followed by Matthew, and finally theGospel of Luke. The Gospel of John is considered separate from this group ofgospels.

Itshould also be noted that early Christian historians/writers such as Clement ofAlexandria recorded that Matthew and Luke were written first. If this isaccurate, they could not have used the Gospel of Mark as a reference.