Synoptic comes from the Latin and Greek words meaning synopsis, seeing all together as one.
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose content is comparatively distinct.
The areas the synoptic gospels correlate are as follows.
- John the Baptist
- Baptism and temptation of Jesus
- First disciples of Jesus
- Hometown rejection of Jesus
- Healing of Peter's mother-in-law, demoniacs, a leper, and a paralytic
- Call of the tax collector
- New Wine into Old Wineskins
- Man with withered Hand
- Commissioning the twelve Apostles
- The Beelzebul controversy
- Teachings on the parable of the strong man, eternal sin, His true relatives, the parable of the sower, the lamp under a bushel, and the parable of the mustard seed
- Calming the storm
- The Gerasene demoniac
- The daughter of Jairus and the bleeding woman
- Feeding the 5000
- Confession of Peter
- Transfiguration
- The demoniac boy
- The little children
- The rich young man
- Jesus predicts his death
- Blind near Jericho
- Palm Sunday
- Casting out the money changers
- Render unto Caesar
- Woes of the Pharisees
- Second Coming Prophecy
- The Last Supper, passion, crucifixion, and entombment
- The empty tomb and resurrected Jesus
- Great Commission