Scholars have noted that Matthew and Luke both based their accounts not only on Mark’s narrative but also on another text that has not survived, which they quoted almost verbatim. Scholars call this lost gospel “Q,” from the German quelle (“source”). We do not know exactly when it was written, but because it does not refer at all to the Jewish War, it was probably put together in Galilee sometime before 66 and may even have been committed to writing as early as the 50s, at the same time Paul was dictating his own letters to the scribe. Unlike the canonical gospels, Q did not tell the story of
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