hing which are seldom to be
found in the Synoptic Gospels. The difference was well expressed by
Clement of Alexandria, who calls the Synoptic Gospels _bodily_ and St.
John's Gospel _spiritual_; and by Theodore of Mopsuestia, who says that
St. John declared that "doubtless it was not right to omit {16} the
facts told with regard to the sojourn of Christ in the flesh, but
neither was it right to omit the words relating to His Divinity." For
the Synoptic Gospels relate the outward events connected with our
Lord's ministry, while St. John records the discourses and works which
reveal our Lord's heavenly origin and divine authority. Again, the
Synoptic Gospels report Christ's addresses to simple Galilean people,
addresses consisting largely of _parables_; while St. John reports
discourses, frequently expressed in the language of _allegory_, and
uttered to the Jews of Jerusalem or to His own intimate disciples.

[Sidenote: The Synoptic problem.]

The Synoptic problem consists in the difficulties raised by the fact
that the Synoptic Gospels show both a remarkable similarity and a
remarkable dissimilarity. It is just because the similarity is often
so astonishing that we find it all the more difficult to explain the
dissimilarity when it exists. A study of the Synoptic problem is
valuable for the Christian student, inasmuch as it directs our
attention to the sources employed by the evangelists, and thus leads us
nearer to the actual events connected with the rise of Christianity.

The RESEMBLANCES between the Synoptic Gospels may be observed in the
following points:--

(a) _A common plan._--The general view of the course of events is
almost identical. St. Matthew and St. Luke give separate accounts of
the infancy of our Lord, but they then join with St. Mark in their
account of St. John the Baptist, the baptism and temptation of Christ,
and the beginning of His ministry. Later all three direct their
attention mainly to Christ's work in Galilee, while St. John describes
much that took place in Judaea and Samaria. They pass rapidly over
some considerable space of time until they come to the last week of His
life, where all three give a detailed account.

(b) _A common selection of facts._--By far the larger number of both
events and discourses are found in all three Gospels. If anything is
recorded in Mark it is generally to be found in {17} Matt. and Luke,
and almost always in either Matt. or Luke. If the whole nu