Q Source

Overview and Scope

The Q source is not a book named in the Bible. It is a hypothetical source that scholars have proposed to explain the relationship among the Synoptic Gospels, namely Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew and Luke share some two hundred verses that are absent from Mark yet nearly identical in wording in the two books. Scholars hold that this material came from a common source used by both Gospels, and they call that source Q. Because most of its content consists of sayings of Jesus, it is also called the "Sayings Source."

Passages commonly assigned to Q include the following:

• The preaching of repentance by John the Baptist: Matthew 3:7-10; Luke 3:7-9
• The temptation in the wilderness: Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13
• The Beatitudes and love for enemies: Matthew 5; Luke 6:20-36
• The Lord's Prayer: Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4
• The healing of the centurion's servant: Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10
• The Parable of the Lost Sheep: Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:4-7

Name and Background of the Hypothesis

The name Q is generally said to derive from the first letter of the German word Quelle ("source"). In nineteenth-century German scholarship the "two-source hypothesis" became established. According to this theory, Mark was written first, and Matthew and Luke each drew on both Mark and an additional sayings source. In 1924 the British scholar B. H. Streeter expanded this model by adding the special material that Matthew and Luke each possessed separately, proposing the "four-source hypothesis." By scholarly convention, Q passages are cited according to the chapter and verse numbering of Luke, as in "Q 6:20."

In his prologue Luke writes, "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration" (Luke 1:1-4), indicating that written accounts preceded his own. Proponents of the Q hypothesis sometimes cite this passage as indirect evidence. The passage does not, however, refer to any specific document called Q.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

• Existence: No manuscript of Q has ever been discovered. Proponents point to signs that Matthew and Luke revised Mark independently of each other, and to the fact that the shared material is arranged differently in the two books. The Gospel of Thomas, discovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945, is often cited as evidence that documents consisting solely of sayings did in fact exist.
• Alternative hypotheses: One view holds that if Luke had direct access to Matthew, there is no need to posit Q. The British scholar Austin Farrer, among others, advanced this view. There is also the Griesbach hypothesis, which holds that Matthew was written first.
• Scope and character: Scholars differ on whether to include in Q passages where the two Gospels diverge considerably, such as the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Minas. Some scholars reconstruct Q as a document reflecting the theology of a particular community, an approach that critics fault as building hypothesis upon hypothesis.
• Confessional perspectives: Many evangelical scholars hold that acknowledging literary dependence among the Gospels does not conflict with the inspiration and authority of Scripture. Some conservatives, by contrast, place greater weight on the view that Jesus' words were transmitted through the apostles' memory and oral tradition, or remain cautious about source theories altogether. In either case, what the church received as canon is not Q but the Gospels.

In the Korean Church

In Korea, the Q source is treated mainly in New Testament introduction and Synoptic Gospels courses at theological seminaries and theological colleges, together with the Synoptic Problem. It is rarely mentioned in sermons or congregational Bible studies.