Luke and Papias

I shall largely be summarizing the parallels between Luke and Papias presented by MacDonald (2012) who proposes Luke used the Exposition of Papias written sometime around 100 as one of his sources. It is not verified that Papias wrote before Luke. Nor am I persuaded of this but the parallels between the two works are significant enough to merit consideration. Ignatius, writing about the year 110 CE, quotes from Luke and also from John several times in his epistles. Many scholars would date Luke in the 80s or 90s but if Papias was a source for Luke then it would be placed sometime between 100 and 110. The similarities include not only similar content, but vocabulary, syntax and specific persons who are named in identical sequence—these are far beyond Minor Agreements that might be explained by coincidence or common sources. 

Luke describes his own work as διήγησιν περί τών πεπληροφορημένον έν ημίν πραγμάτων, which is to say, that he is compiling earlier written sources and oral traditions into a unified narrative. (Lk. 1:1)  Luke and Papias are both concerned with composing accounts that organize traditional content, preserved in earlier sources, in an appropriate order (τάξις), and Luke describes his own work as an “exposition” διήγησιν, which is quite similar to the title of Papias’ own work, εξήγησις. (Expos. 1:3. 5; Lk. 1:1-3) Both authors refer to oral traditions and logia handed down in christian communities with similar language and list the apostles in similar order. (Lk. 6:12-16; Expos. 1:5) Papias seeks to record “what was said or done [πραχθέντα] by the Lord,” (Expos. 1:3) and Luke seeks to record “the matters [πραγμάτων] of full credence.” (Lk. 1:2) The information Luke transmits was “handed on [παρέδοσαν]” and the information Papias transmits are “handed down [παραδίδωσιν]... traditions [παραδόσεις].” (Expos. 1:1 and 2) Using a verb only found once in his writings, “having followed [παρηκολουθηκότι] them all thoroughly.” (Lk. 1:3) Papias also uses the same verb and says he collected traditions from those who “followed [παρηκολουθηκώς] the elders.” (Expos. 1:5) As MacDonald notes, 

“Both authors use not only the same word [παρηκολουθηκώς], but they use it in the same tense, voice, mood and number—only the case is different because of the grammatical context.” (Ibid. pp. 45) 

Both authors seek to compile “sayings” λόγων in Lk. 1:4 and λόγους in Expos. 1:5, which have been passed down to them. Both men also address their audiences with the pronoun σοι. (Lk. 1:3; Expos. 1:5) Below I shall reproduce the chart which appears in MacDonald (2012), pp. 56-58, with a few slight adjustments: 

Preface of Papias’ Exposition

Preface of Luke

Title: Λογίων κυριακών εξήγησις Name of Author: Papias Name of Recipient: unknown Papias knew a book about Jesus ascribed to Mark and had heard from the elder John that Matthew wrote his arrangement of Logia in Hebrew, which “each translated” the best he could. “I will not hesitate to set in order [συγκατατάξαι] whatever I learned well.” Matthew “set in order [συνετάξατο] the logia.”  Mark translated the teachings of Peter, and Matthew composed his own logia. Papias seeks to gather the traditions [παραδόσεις] passed on about Jesus and the apostles from eyewitnesses and those who knew them.  Papias learned the teachings from those who had “followed [παρηκολουθηκώς]  the elders.”  Mark “wrote accurately [ακριβώς έγραψεν]” but not in sequence. “I will not hesitate to set in order for you (SD)”  Papias wanted to “confirm the reliability” of this tradition so that “you [σοι]” may learn from those “who taught the truth…. I would investigate the sayings [λόγους] of the elders.”

Title: Διήγησις of… (?) Name of Author: Luke (?) Name of Recipient: Theophilus (1:3)  “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to write it out for you in consecutive order [ανατάξασθαι], those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,  handed on to us [παρέδοσαν] it seemed fitting for me as well, having followed [παρηκολουθηκότι] everything carefully from the beginning,  to write precisely in sequence [ακριβώς καθεξής… γράψαι], most excellent Theophilus  so that you [σοι] may know the exact truth about the sayings [λόγων]  you have been taught.

While Mark, according to Papias, “wrote accurately [ακριβώς έγραψεν]” but did not write in proper sequence, τάξις, Luke will write his own work both “write precisely in sequence [ακριβώς καθεξής… γράψαι]... in consecutive order [ανατάξασθαι].” (4) Papias and Luke contain unique historical details such as similar accounts of the death of Judas (Expos. 4:5; Acts 1:18-20), the martyrdom of James (Expos. 2:3; Acts 12:1-3), the preaching of John the Baptist (Expos. 1:6; Lk. 3:8-13), et al.