Harmony of the Gospels

PROBLEMS AND PRINCIPLES OF HARMONIZATION

When people study harmonies, one of the first things one can find is how some of Jesus’ words are worded differently in each of the Gospels. One conversation could have differences such as synonyms, tense changes, and nouns replaced by pronouns. Sometimes people say that there are contradictions in Scripture.

However, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did not write the Gospels with the idea of harmonizing them. That was not their purpose, and while the authors could have done so, it would have changed the scholarly content of the Gospels. It would have also made four self-reliant accounts obsolete. One advantage of having four reports, is how the reader obtains four different perspectives on Jesus’ life. Matthew provides the reader with a basic understanding of Jesus’ place in tradition and his authority as the Messiah. In comparison, Mark talks about the ministry of Jesus and his connection with humanity. Luke is an academic Gospel that provides essential details about Christ, and finally, John completes it by giving us the human view of Christ.

THE HISTORY OF HARMONIES

Harmonies are not a new thing and have been around for a long time. Despite limitations and the difficulties involved with it, the church recognized the advantages of putting the four accounts of Jesus’ life together. Tatian made one of the earliest known attempts at this in 170 A.D. Current knowledge of Tatian’s Diatessaron is incomplete. But either way, it appeared that Tatian seemed to have found parallels in the four Gospel accounts. However, it is unknown if Tatian had any success at this. Ammonius of Alexandria in the early third century formulated another system which made it possible to compare passages in Mark, Luke, and John with similar passages in Matthew.

Since then, there have been many people who studied and compared the Gospels. A more recent example could be found in Reuben J. Swanson’s book, “The Horizontal Line Synopsis of the Gospels” which introduced the Gospels in a completely new way. Swanson’s addition to harmonies grew out of the annoyance people would have in identifying the similarities and differences among the Gospel accounts.

THE LEGITIMACY OF THE HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

In the nineteenth and the twentieth century, people questioned the facts of harmonizing the Bible. Many people have started asking if the Gospels should be aligned, especially since there are four of them. One theory called the Redaction Theory, regards the author of the text as editor of the source materials. This theory also states that the writers also took church traditions and reconstructed them to reflect the church’s own understanding of the Gospels. If the Redaction Theory is correct, then that means that the Gospels' authors confused the historical Jesus and his teachings. While each of the Gospels had a purpose for why they were written, it is vital to know that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were men of integrity. The Gospels' authors were also writing about Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the light. To say that the authors lied, even if it was a white lie, is to assail the truth itself.

Some of the reasons to harmonize the Gospels include: harmony helps us to understand places, times, and people. Secondly, harmony strengthens the historical basis of Christianity, helping it to stand out from other world religions. And finally, when one harmonizes the Gospels, that person learns more about the historical Jesus.