Logia

Just a wee bit of information regarding the Gospels.

(Greek: "sayings," "words," or "discourses"), hypothetical collection,
either written or oral, of the sayings of Jesus, which might have been in
circulation around the time of the composition of the Synoptic Gospels
(i.e., those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke). Most biblical scholars agree that
Matthew and Luke based their written accounts largely on The Gospel
According to Mark. The versions of Matthew and Luke, however, both share a
good deal of material that is absent from Mark. This shared material is
largely made up of sayings attributed to Jesus, an ostensible coincidence
that has led biblical scholars to hypothesize the existence of an
undetermined source, perhaps the logia, from which the shared material is
drawn.

Matthew and Luke, however, share narrative material as well as the sayings
of Jesus. Scholars have therefore hypothesized the existence of a kind of
proto-gospel that incorporates the logia. Experts have called this
hypothetical source Q (from German Quelle, "source"). The existence of Q,
sometimes called the lost source, is theoretical; some scholars, although
believing that Q exists, contend that the logia is an entirely different
entity.

The first references to the logia were made by Papias, a 2nd-century bishop
of Hierapolis in Asia Minor, in his work Logixn kyriakxn exAgAseis
("Interpretation of the Logia of the Lord"), and by other early Christian
writers, such as Polycarp, a 2nd-centurybishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor.
According to Eusebius, a 4th-century church historian, Papias wrote that the
Apostle Matthew arranged the logia of Jesus in an orderly form in Hebrew.

Some scholars contend that the logia was a collection of Old Testament
oracles predicting the coming of the Messiah, but this view has been
challenged. Though the logia may not have been part of the theoretical lost
source known as Q or of the Old Testament messianic oracles, it is generally
assumed that early Christians either wrote down or transmitted orally the
sayings of Jesus, much as Jews of the period collected the sayings of
respected rabbis, and that this material was used by both Matthew and Luke.

Source Britannica.


--
Stephen Bayzik