Smoodock's Blog

How accurate is the Gospel of Matthew as Jesus’ biography? How accurate should we think any of the Gospel narratives are in terms of what we would expect a biography to be? We need to keep in mind that ancient biographies were composed, under a different set of literary rules than modern biographies adhere to. The Gospel narratives contain a basic framework of chronology. However, they don’t maintain a strict chronology throughout, as can be understood by comparing similar events in the different Gospel narratives. For example, did Mary Magdalene see the risen Christ first (John 20:15-16), or did Matthew’s women, who are fleeing from the tomb to Jerusalem (Matthew 28:9)? Did the women witnesses tell the disciples about the resurrection (Luke 24:10-11) or didn’t they (Mark 16:7-8)? Did the women prepare the spices before the Sabbath (Luke 23:55-56) or after the Sabbath (Mark 16:1)? Are their reasonable explanations for these questions or are they unanswerable contradictions?

The fact that we find such troublesome verses in the Gospel narratives tells us several good things about the authors of the Gospel records. First of all, **if** the authors of the Synoptics copied from one another, we can assume the authors knew of these problematic verses, but no one felt, as modern critics do, that they represented true problems, because the writer of the second manuscript neither sought to change the original nor did he try to rearrange his own account to agree with the source document. So, why didn’t they believe these problematic verses, as understood today, were really problematic, as that kind of thing is understood in their own days?

We need to keep in mind, while we read the Gospel narratives that, as we become aware of problematic verses, ancient authors enjoyed a literary flexibility that modern authors don’t have. In other words, the rules have changed over the centuries for literary genres. Therefore, we need to come to understand what an ancient biography was and how the flexibility of the author affected the accuracy of manuscript he wrote.

Ancient authors were permitted to arrange their biography in a manner that was both entertaining and provided moral guidance, when painting their portrait of a famous and important person in the ancient world. So, if they had to adjust certain details, that was permissible, as long as it didn’t distort the truth. Good, clear communication was the goal. The fact is that this is done even today in speeches, sermons and lectures. The itinerant speaker, preacher or professor simply uses this technique to emphasize a point or present it in a clearer manner to those who are listening.

Consider Tacitus’[1] own words concerning his own accuracy in recording Seneca’s death:

“Seneca, as his aged frame, attenuated by frugal diet, allowed the blood to escape but slowly, severed also the veins of his legs and knees. Worn out by cruel anguish, afraid too that his sufferings might break his wife’s spirit, and that, as he looked on her tortures, he might himself sink into irresolution, he persuaded her to retire into another chamber. Even at the last moment his eloquence failed him not; he summoned his secretaries, and dictated much to them which, as it has been published for all readers in his own words, I forbear to paraphrase.” (Tacitus Annals 15.63; emphasis mine).

Ancient authors were permitted to use several literary techniques, while composing their biographies without compromising their works as factual accounts of their famous and important character. They could paraphrase a person’s speech, relocate an event from one context to another or arrange events and speeches that occurred over time and compress them into a single event in time, for emphasis, and they could spotlight certain characters, while ignoring others who were also involved in a certain event. The fact is, that these kinds of things were expected of ancient authors, as they labored to present a story in a coherent manner that might otherwise appear unclear and cluttered. Thus, if an event in one Gospel record appears out of sequence in another, this was allowed. The author of each Gospel narrative was permitted to arrange his facts in a manner that allowed him to make his point about Jesus, and at the same time present his work in a clear uncluttered fashion.

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[1] Tacitus was a Roman historian, orator and public official, born in AD 56 and died in AD 120. Moreover, Diodorus, in the prologue of his Book 20 (310-302 BC) criticizes the practice of Greek historians who invent speeches for their characters as inappropriate for their genre. However, he does acknowledge that “in moderation such speeches can add variety and serve a didactic purpose.”