The Synoptic Gospels

Moving Literature or Apostolic Texts?

Abstract

Some scholars hold that the ascription of final authority to scripture alone is untenable in light of the fact that the Biblical text has continually been revised. I seek to find whether this challenge to the Scripture principle can find a coherent response from within the framework of Evangelicalism. I discuss some significant textual modifications in the Synoptic Gospel tradition that challenge the Evangelical position. I conclude that the Gospels are the kind of texts that do have originals and that attempts at reconstructing the text are justified. While we cannot prove that the earliest reconstructable text is the same as what the original author wrote, it is not unreasonable for Evangelicals to assume that this is the case.