I am concerned about an encouragement you gave in an e-mail: "I would encourage you not to use words of Jesus from one section of one gospel to illuminate the meaning of other words of his in another section of an entirely different gospel." You were discussing Luke 14 at the time. I have loved reading harmonies of the gospels for years - to me these works "flesh out" different events in Jesus' life. In light of your encouragement, what attitude should I have to a "harmony"? Anyway, are not all the writings works of the Holy Spirit? Why should I beware of turning from one gospel to another for clarification or for deeper study of either an event in Jesus' life or one of his studies -- such as the events surrounding the cross, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7, cross-referencing Luke 6)? -- Meg Esry
Thank you for your question. It certainly is appropriate many times to compare one gospel to another in order to "flesh out" an event. Though I seem to have misled some of my readers, in a previous question, I was merely trying to suggest that we study each book in its own right before jumping to another book for clarification (as in the case of Luke 14 and Matthew 10). When we are dealing with narratives, "fleshing out" will at times be more necessary. When we are studying doctrine, it is best at the outset to contain our search: same writer, same book, even same passage if possible. The further afield we search, the less likely contextually the "answer" we find will truly relate to the original question. Moreover, each gospel has its own viewpoint, its own theology. The Spirit is showing us different things; over-harmonizing can obliterate the differences. Like putting all your vegetables in a blender, the meal (though it all goes to the same place, your stomach) loses something in being "homogenized."
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