Christmas stories: Dreams in Matthew vs Angels in Luke?

[JohnClay]

What I found interesting was that in Matthew people are given messages in dreams while in Luke it is through angels in real life.

So in Matthew, Joseph has a dream of an angel, the wise men had a dream and then Joseph did again. (angels are mentioned later though)

In Luke, Zacharias is visited by an angel, then Mary, then shepherds, then the shepherd were visited by many angels.

I was wondering why they seem so different..... did the writers know all of the stories and Matthew's writer just decided to write about dreams in the Christmas stories while Luke's writer just decided to write about angels in real life?

I get the impression that Matthew and Luke came up with two sets of independent stories - one with the dreams and the other with the real life angels. What do Christians think?

 

[ralliann]

What I found interesting was that in Matthew people are given messages in dreams while in Luke it is through angels in real life.

So in Matthew, Joseph has a dream of an angel, the wise men had a dream and then Joseph did again. (angels are mentioned later though)

In Luke, Zacharias is visited by an angel, then Mary, then shepherds, then the shepherd were visited by many angels.

I was wondering why they seem so different..... did the writers know all of the stories and Matthew's writer just decided to write about dreams in the Christmas stories while Luke's writer just decided to write about angels in real life?

I get the impression that Matthew and Luke came up with two sets of independent stories - one with the dreams and the other with the real life angels. What do Christians think?

It seems different events with different people. What is so different?

 

[JohnClay]

It seems different events with different people. What is so different?

In Matthew's Christmas stories there are 3 stories about dreams (and no real life angels) and in Luke there are 3 stories about angels (and no dreams)....

 

[ralliann]

In Matthew's Christmas stories there are 3 stories about dreams (and no real life angels) and in Luke there are 3 stories about angels (and no dreams)....

That is not unusual. Visions, dreams, and appearances are the norm all throughout the bible.
Diverse manners...
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Ac 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

 

[PloverWing]

I was wondering why they seem so different..... did the writers know all of the stories and Matthew's writer just decided to write about dreams in the Christmas stories while Luke's writer just decided to write about angels in real life?

I get the impression that Matthew and Luke came up with two sets of independent stories - one with the dreams and the other with the real life angels. What do Christians think?

It's an interesting observation, and I hadn't noticed it before.

Matthew and Luke are probably drawing from different sources for their nativity stories. I don't think we know whether each knew about the other's nativity sources. I agree that it's interesting that Matthew's stories have dreams and Luke's have angels. The two authors have the messages coming to different people -- Joseph and the Magi in Matthew, Zechariah and Mary and the shepherds in Luke -- so the stories aren't contradictory. Multiple commentators have noticed that Luke's gospel emphasizes God's message to people of relatively low status, so it makes sense that Mary and the shepherds are the ones to receive God's message about Jesus' birth in Luke. Maybe the message has to be more spectacular if it's being delivered to people who aren't likely to be believed. But that's just one guess.

I'll note that angels appear later in Matthew, so Matthew does believe in angels. At the end of the temptation story, angels appear to Jesus. Luke does not mention angelic visitation in his telling of the temptation story.

 

[ralliann]

It's an interesting observation, and I hadn't noticed it before.

Matthew and Luke are probably drawing from different sources for their nativity stories. I don't think we know whether each knew about the other's nativity sources. I agree that it's interesting that Matthew's stories have dreams and Luke's have angels. The two authors have the messages coming to different people -- Joseph and the Magi in Matthew, Zechariah and Mary and the shepherds in Luke -- so the stories aren't contradictory. Multiple commentators have noticed that Luke's gospel emphasizes God's message to people of relatively low status, so it makes sense that Mary and the shepherds are the ones to receive God's message about Jesus' birth in Luke. Maybe the message has to be more spectacular if it's being delivered to people who aren't likely to be believed. But that's just one guess.

I'll note that angels appear later in Matthew, so Matthew does believe in angels. At the end of the temptation story, angels appear to Jesus. Luke does not mention angelic visitation in his telling of the temptation story.

Doesn't Luke say as much........
1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

 

[DragonFox91]

I noticed the other day when I was reading Matthew the heavy use of dreams leading up to & around Jesus's birth, & remembered in Luke an angel directly appears to Mary. Good observation!
No, I don't think it's evidence the writers were making it up.
In the Old Testament we see a mix of both as well. Sometimes dreams, sometimes angels.

 

[PloverWing]

Doesn't Luke say as much........

I agree. Luke himself says that he's compiling an orderly record based on the various accounts that have been handed on to him from the eyewitnesses.