An interesting idea!

[Jonathan McLatchie]

Last week I was writing an article on "Did the writers of the new testament regard their writings as Scripture?" (http://www.gotquestions.org/NT-authors-inspired.html).

I had an interesting idea while writing it. We all know the classic arguments; 2 Peter 3:15-16, 1 Timothy 5:18 etc. But have you ever thought through the latter's implications?

1 Timothy 5:18 reads: "For the Scripture says, 'Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,' [Deut25:4] and 'The worker deserves his wages.' [Luke10:7]" I am sure most people approach this passage casually, seeing merely that Luke's Gospel is regarded to be of the same authoritative value (that is, divinely inspired word of God) as Deuteronomy and the other Scriptures. Upon reading the passage this time, something unusual did not slip my notice.

Consider the following facts.
1: Most scholars date the death of the Apostle Paul to around 64 A.D.
2: The Gospel of Luke was probably written sometime after 60 A.D. but before 70 A.D. (some liberal scholars date it after 70 A.D. but there is no good reason for this if you grant the possibility of predictive prophecy).
3: Luke's Gospel was almost certainly not regarded as Scripture until at least 80 or 90 A.D.
4. Paul is dead by this time.

So, Paul is quoting a book which has not yet been written? This perplexed me for a few moments. Then, it struck me. Could this verse be used as evidence for the existence of the hypothetical Q source document? Could this be evidence that Luke relied upon an underlying document containing the sayings of Jesus which was regarded as authoritative and which pre-dates Luke far enough to have been regarded as Scripture? Is it possible that Paul also knew of this Q document and had access to it?

What do folks think?

JM

[Craig]

Jonathan, I'm not sure what you're getting at. Are you saying that because Paul wrote something very similar to what Luke wrote, and because Paul was dead well before Luke's gospel was considered inspired, thus one or both of them had to rely on some other unknown writing such as the Q document??

[Jonathan McLatchie]

No, I am stating that Paul explicitly quotes one of the sayings of Jesus, as recorded by the Gospel-writer Luke, regarding it as nothing less than Scripture itself:
"For the Scripture says, 'Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,' [Deut25:4] and 'The worker deserves his wages.' [Luke10:7]"

Paul probably died in A.D. 64. Luke was probably written a short time after that, certainly after the time when Paul was penning his letter to Timothy. Moreover, Luke's Gospel probably wasn't regarded as Scripture until at least A.D. 80 or 90. Thus, my contention is that Paul and Luke are here drawing from the same source document, presumably a compilation of the sayings of Jesus, which scholars name the "Q" document.

Making more sense now?

JM