Who Is the Greatest?
Legend:
High overlap
Moderate overlap
Low overlap
Matthew 18:1–5
18:1 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” 63%
18:2 Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them, 90%
18:3 and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 67%
18:4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. 65%
18:5 Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, 100%
Mark 9:33–37
9:33 He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?” 61%
9:34 But they were silent, for they had disputed with one another on the way about who was the greatest. 58%
9:35 He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.” 47%
9:36 He took a little child, and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 85%
9:37 “Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn’t receive me, but him who sent me.” 96%
Luke 9:46–48
9:46 An argument arose among them about which of them was the greatest. 91%
9:47 Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their hearts, took a little child, and set him by his side, 67%
9:48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great.” 94%
Verbatim Agreement
Percentage of words that appear identically (same form and position) across gospel pairs.
Strong's Number Overlap
How much of each gospel's vocabulary (by Strong's number) is shared with another.
Mt
Mk
Lk
Mt
—
33%
39%
Mk
33%
—
34%
Lk
39%
34%
—
Unique Vocabulary
Strong's numbers that appear only in one gospel for this pericope.
Mark (23)
Explore the texts yourself
Every word in the synoptic gospels links back to its Greek lexicon entry. See what the gospel writers actually wrote.
Morphological data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.