Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey (Bible study)
September 19, 1993
Gundry, chapter 5
HIGHER CRITICISM OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
I. What is Higher Criticism?
A. Lower Criticism is the study of the text of the present gospels.
B. Higher Criticism studies how the gospels came to be written in
the first place.
C. Christians have always searched for insight into the gospels.
It is with the rise of liberalism that higher criticism has
often be associated with destructiveness and negativism.
II. Form Criticism.
A. The material of the gospels was preached by Jesus, heard and
remembered, and later written down, probably in small units
called "pericope," as Luke indicates (Luke 1:1-3). Even
casual reading of the gospels shows that familiar stories are
often in a different order in various gospels.
B. These units are easily memorizable and follow certain patterns.
Among the standard forms:
1) Pronouncement stories. (Key feature is a quotation)
2) Miracle stories.
3) Legends. (A supernatural person is brought in)
4) Words of Jesus.
5) Passion (crucifixion) narrative.
C. Liberals argue that the early Christians shaped these stories
to reflect their own situation. For example, when Luke has
Jesus say in a parable, "Go out into the country lanes and
invite them to my banquet" it is Luke's way of promoting
foreign mission, a favorite theme of his. Conservatives
argue that the gospel writers may emphasize certain themes,
but all the themes are found in Jesus' teaching. The gospel
writers did not concoct stories on their own.
D. Five assumptions of Form Criticism:
1) The gospels are primarily sermons, not historical textbooks.
2) The units of the gospels were passed down orally. The
gospel writers were more collectors than original writers.
3) The collection and editing of the gospels was motivated by
the practical needs of the church.
4) Prior to the gospels there were intermediate collections
such as "Q".
5) The sequence of the gospels is topical more than chronological
This is especially true in the sermon material (Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew 5-7) where key words link units
together. Even early Christians like Papias noted this.
III. Source Criticism.
A. The units (pericopes) came to be grouped together by early
Christians, and were later assembled by the gospel writers.
B. Mark appears to be the earliest gospel, and Matthew and Luke
seem to depend on him. (Mark was considered Peter's secretary
by early Christian tradition.)
1) 90% of Mark is found in the other two gospels.
2) All of them follow Mark's order of events when they use
his material.
a) When Matthew and Luke use their own material, they
are independent.
3) Matthew and Luke improve Mark's grammar.
4) Mark gives the most negative description of the disciples.
5) Early tradition that says Matthew was first, and written
in Aramaic, has little outside support.
C. Much of Jesus' sermon material in Matthew and Luke is similar.
Scholars conjecture it was originally in a document called
"Q" (from "quelle," German for "source").
1) The order of material is generally the same.
2) Words, phrases and even unusual grammar are often the same.
D. Matthew and especially Luke contain unique material, especially
in the area of parables. This material is called "M" and "L",
respectively.
E. A common view is called the "Four Source Theory." The synoptic
gospels were composed from Mark, "Q", "M" and "L". The sources
were written down about 20 to 30 years after Jesus' death, and
the gospels were composed about 30 to 50 years after his death.
IV. Redaction Criticism.
A. The editors of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke)
assembled the units in a framework that reflected their
concerns. In other words, they edited ("redacted") the
stories to make a theological point.
B. Each gospel writer has his own way of illuminating the life of
Christ:
1) Mark emphasizes Jesus as a man of action. "Immediately" is
a favorite word of his.
2) Luke emphasizes the world-wide scope of the gospel. When
Jesus mentions outcasts, Luke embellishes more than the others.
C. In an effort to get back to the "original Jesus," modern scholars
often inject their own theological concerns. German higher critic
Rudolf Bultmann "demythologized" the gospels by stripping away the
supernatural elements to get at "what really happened."
Conservatives believe the gospels are not like an orange that needs
a crust removed, but are more like an onion: layers can be
stripped away until nothing at all is left. Most liberal critics
tend to be very skeptical. One has argued just a single verse of
the gospels can be defended as absolutely authentic.
V. Corrections to Higher Criticism.
A. The gospels reflect the theological concerns of Jesus' day, not
the later church. If the early church had warped Jesus' words we
would expect him to make pronouncements on circumcision and other
controversial issues, but he does not.
B. The church emphasized the role of eyewitnesses. Matthias was
chosen as a replacement apostle because he was an eyewitness of
Jesus' ministry. Many of these eyewitnesses were alive when the
gospels were written.
C. Early Christians honored the words of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 7,
Paul carefully distinguishes between Jesus' testimony (which didn't
cover all the bases on the topic of divorce) and his own.
D. The gospels have isolated units, but there is an overall trend in
them.
E. The supernatural element should not be eliminated when studying
the gospels. It is often the very element that is being stressed in
the passage: "Realize that God has entered history!"
