Synoptic Gospels

The Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence, and sometimes the exact same wording. This degree of parallelism in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence structures can only be accounted for by literary interdependence. Scholars believe that these gospels share the same point of view and are clearly linked together. The term synoptic comes from the Greek 'syn,' meaning "together," and 'optic,' meaning "seen". A possible fourth Synoptic Gospel is the Gospel of the Hebrews. It too has a degree of parallelism that can only be accounted for by literary interdependence. Some scholars believe that this Hebrew Gospel was composed by Matthew himself and was the basis of the Synoptic Gospels. Others argue the Gospel of the Hebrews was derived from one or more of the Synoptic Gospels. The other Apocryphal gospels, as well as the canonical Gospel of John, differ greatly from the three Synoptic Gospels.