Gospel Harmony and History - Part Two

Harmony of the Gospels:
Just a tool to resolve discrepancies? 

Sea of Galilee

 

We saw in Part 1 how a Harmony of the Gospels can be used as an aid to resolve discrepancies. When 19th- and 20th-century academics treated the Gospels as if they were at war with one another, the individual teachings of the four Gospel-writers suffered. But a harmony is meant to bring peace, as this peaceful day on the Sea of Galilee.

One important facet of harmonizing is to identify when Gospels were describing the same event, or a different event with similar circumstances. The differing testimonies of the man 'demonized' by foul spirits (Matthew's account vs. Mark & Luke's account) are judged to be the same event, for all three Gospel writers show its appearance directly after Jesus calms the sea, and directly before the healing of the 12-year suffering woman and the raising of the 12-year-old girl.

Not so with Jesus overturning the tables in the temple (John 2:13-22 vs. Matthew 21:12-16, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-48). Not only do the details differ, but John places the event near the beginning of Jesus' ministry, while the other three place it near the end, just after Jesus' triumphant entry into the temple. We would not attempt to harmonize John's account with the others.

Also in the case of Jesus' rejection at Nazareth, Luke's account of what Jesus has to say differs substantially from what he says in Matthew and Mark (Luke 4:16-30 vs. Matthew 13:53-58, Mark 6:1-6). Here there is only approximate placement agreement between Matthew and Mark, who place the incident near the middle of Jesus' ministry. But there is a substantial difference from Luke's account, who places it closer to the beginning of Jesus' ministry. These are two events, not one.

Which brings us to the subject of History. We must remember,
THE GOSPELS ARE NOT HISTORY LESSONS.
They are Christianity lessons. More about that in Part 3.