The Extent of Q: Luke 11.5-8, 14.5, 14.28-33, 17.7-10

What is it about?

Passages found in both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke but not in the Gospel of Mark are typically thought to have been taken from a hypothetical source for Matthew and Luke, which we call Q. This article argues that other passages were also taken by Luke from Q based on stylistic affinities between these passages and known Q passages. The passages considered are the Friend at Midnight (Luke 11.5-8), the Ox in the Pit (Luke 14.5), Building a Tower or Going to War (Luke 14.28-33), and the Servant Is Not Thanked (Luke 17.7-10), all of which are sayings of Jesus beginning with the question, "Who among you ...?" a question also found in Q 11.11; 12.25; 15.24, and all of which meet the criteria given by John Kloppenborg and Petros Vassiliadis for assigning passages to Q.

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Why is it important?

The publication of the Critical Edition of Q has helped scholarship move from questions of the extent and wording of Q to questions of the history and theology of the Q community. This author holds that major portions of Q have been omitted from the Critical Edition, which may make us need to rethink the data we use for understanding the history and theology of the Q community. This article does not try to cover all of the passages that should be assigned to Q but instead gives a sampling to demonstrate the problem and a method for identifying further Q passages.