DID YOU KNOW?

In the four-source theory of how the first three Gospels relate, what do the letters "M" and "L" stand for?

The answer

Material found only in Matthew, and material found only in Luke. The other two of the four sources are Mark and Q, the lost collection of sayings that Matthew and Luke are thought to have shared.

Why it’s interesting

Nobody knows what M and L were. They may have been written sources, stories passed on by word of mouth, or the writers' own work. The workers in the vineyard are M material, and the Good Samaritan is L (Matthew 20:1-16; Luke 10:29-37).

Scholarly consensus

Learn the Bible.

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