THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL Vol. I Introduction
THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL Vol. I Introduction
THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL Vol. I Introduction
PART X, SECTION I
100,PRINCES STREET
Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO.
3Letp}tg: F. A. BROCKHAUS
INTRODUCTION
BY
EDWIN A. ABBOTT
Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge
Cambridge :
1913
(Eambtrtge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
TO
THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO UNDERTAKE THE STUDY
OF THE FOUR GOSPELS
AS IMPERFECT DOCUMENTS
IN THE BELIEF THAT THEIR VERY IMPERFECTIONS
WERE PERMITTED OR ORDAINED
TO DRAW US NEARER
THROUGH THE LETTER TO THE SPIRIT
OF THE PERFECT LIFE
WHICH THEY IMPERFECTLY DESCRIBE
PREFACE
PREVIOUS Parts (published in 1900-12) of the
series of which this is the tenth have dealt mostly with
Vlll
PREFACE
"
might have incurred the charge of being modern."
EDWIN A. ABBOTT.
IX
CONTENTS
PAGE
REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS , xiii xv
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
PAGE
I The advantages of taking Mark as the starting-point .
37
2 The disadvantage of taking Mark as the starting-point .
39
3 The disadvantage of neglecting Johannine chronology .
42
4 The disadvantage of passing over traditions outside the
threefold Synoptic Tradition 49
5 The advantages outweigh the disadvantages . . .
51
CHAPTER VI
things omitted" 53
2 The historian's right to omit 55
3 Miracles omitted 58
4 Miracles inserted 63
5 The Passover 68
6 The Temple 69
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
....
::
i not write in order," if order includes
"appropriate beginning and end" 82
j 2 Mark is vague as to time and place 84
3 Indications of Marcan omission 88
CONTENTS
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
i Luke attempted to write in chronological " order " . . 108
2 Luke wrote as a Greek historian but incorporating Jewish
documents and traditions 114
"
3 Luke's arrangement, sometimes dependent on proofs " . 120
Luke's view of " the beginning " and the end
" "
4 . .
124
CHAPTER XI
^ 7
5
6 Attraction and recoil, Peter and Judas ....
John's omission of exorcisms and of most of the pre-
144
146
xn
REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS
REFERENCES
(i) Black Arabic numbers refer to paragraphs in the several volumes
of Diatessarica, as to which see p. 178 :
1 272= Clue.
273 552= Corrections of Mark.
553 1149 = From Letter to Spirit.
11501435 = Paradosis.
1436 1885 =Johannine Vocabulary.
\28o'ZI'&=Johannine Grammar.
2800 2999 = Notes on New Testament Criticism.
30003635= The Son of Man.
3636 3999 = Light on the Gospelfrom an ancient Poet.
be,of the words in question, and not as meaning that the actual
writer was Samuel, Isaiah, or Matthew.
(iii) The principal Greek MSS are denoted by J$, A, B, etc. ; the Latin
versions by a, b, etc., as usual. The Syriac version discovered by
Mrs Lewis on Mount Sinai is referred to as SS, i.e. " Sinaitic
Syrian." It is always quoted from Prof. Burkitt's translation.
I regret that in the first three vols. of Diatessarica Mrs Lewis's
name was omitted in connection with this version.
(iv) The text of the Greek Old Testament adopted is that of B, edited
by Prof. Swete ;
of the New, that of Westcott and Hort.
(v) Modern works are referred to by the name of the work, or author,
voL, and page, e.g. Levy iii.
343 a, i.e. vol. iii.
p. 343, col. I.
ABBREVIATIONS
Aq. = Aquila's version of O.T.
Brederek Brederek's Konkordanz zum Targum Onkelos, Giessen,
1906.
Burk. = Prof. F. C. Burkitt's Evangelion Da-mepharreshe, Cambridge
University Press, 1904.
Chr. = Chronicles.
Clem. Alex. 42 = Clement of Alexandria in Potter's page 42.
Dalman, Words = Words of Jesus, Eng. Transl. 1902; Aram. G.=
Grammatik des Jiidisch-Paldstinischen Aramdisch, 1894.
En. = Enoch ed. Charles, Clarendon Press, 1893.
xiii
REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS
Ency. = Encyclopaedia Biblica.
R., after Gen., Exod., Lev. etc. means Rabboth, and refers to Wiinsche's
edition of the Midrash on the Pentateuch, e.g. Gen. r. (on Gen. xii. 2, Wii.
P- 177).
Rashi, sometimes quoted from Breithaupt's translation, 1714.
S. = Samuel; s. = "see."
Jewish Quart. Rev., Oct. 1899 (also printed in About Hebrew Manu-
scripts (Frowde, 1905) by Mr E. N. Adler, who discovered the missing
chapters).
SS, see (iii) above.
Steph. Thes.
= Stephani Thesaurus Graecae Linguae (Didot).
Sym. = Symmachus's version of O.T.
Targ. (by itself) is used where only one Targum is extant on the
passage quoted.
Targ. Jer., Targ. Jon., and Targ. Onk., see Jer. Targ., Jon. Targ., and
Onk., above.
Tehillim = Midrash on Psalms, ed. Wiinsche (2 vols.).
Test. XII Patr. = Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs ed. Charles,
1908 (Gk., Clarendon Press, Eng., A. & C. Black).
Theod. = Theodotion's version of O.T.
Thes. = Payne Smith's Thesaurus Syriacus, Oxf. 1901.
Tromm. = Trommius' Concordance to the Septuagint.
Tryph. = the Dialogue between Justin Martyr and Trypho the Jew.
Walton = Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, 1657.
Wetst. =Wetstein's Contm. on the New
Testament, Amsterdam, 1751.
W.H. = Westcott and Hort's New
Testament.
Wii. = \Yiinsche's translation of Rabboth etc., 1880 1909 (including
Mechilta, Pesikta Rab Kahana, Tehillim &c.).
xv
CHAPTER I
1 "
Synoptic," applied to the first three gospels, was probably intended
to mean that their contents can be, for the most part, " seen together,"
or " seen at the same time." For example, the descent of the Holy Spirit
on Jesus is described by Mark, Matthew, and Luke, in such a way that
the accounts can be arranged in three parallel columns and "seen to-
gether." But John, though he represents the Baptist as referring to it,
does not describe it in such a way as to make a fourth parallel column
" :;
following nature:
"
I do not like this use of after. The word used by
Matthew and Mark more naturally means behind, as though
Jesus 'came behind' in the character of an attendant. When
I come to write about this, in the Acts, writing on my
1
See Son of Man 3519 a, quoting Acts xiii. 25.
3 i2
THE OBJECT OF THIS TREATISE
We do not at present affirm that this is what John actually
meant But we do affirm already that this is what he may
"
Mark, And he was not able to do there any mighty work,
save that on a few sick folk he laid his hands and cured them ;
gospel, for the most part, lies outside its purlieu. But the
heading, "Passages seeming to limit...," suggests an inquiry
1
Mk vi. 5 6, Mt. xiii. 58, Lk. iv. 24 foil. (om.). It is open to doubt
whether Luke intended to identify the visit he describes with the one
described by Mark and Matthew. But the Diatessaron identifies them.
2
Horae Synopticae, by the Rev. Sir John C. Hawkins, Bart., M.A.
D.D., 2nd ed. p. 118 (Oxford, 1909). It compares also Mk i.
45 and vii.
1
Jn v. "unless he be [at the moment] seeing the Father doing
19 (lit.)
they all testify that His enemies accused Him not of failure,
but of diabolical success, healing with the aid of the devil.
The Talmudic evidence, scanty though it is, tends in the
same direction 1 .
1
See Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, R. T. Herford, pp. 103 foil.,
6
THE OBJECT OF THIS TREATISE
" "
faith Jesus as Jesus, that is to say, as the well-known
in
"
Jesus of Nazareth, the Exorcist, and Healer." Was it then
any foreknowledge possessed by Jesus of the man's ultimate
reform ? It is not so said. And, against it, is the fact that
the man, after receiving this warning, actually goes and
informs "the Jews" of the name of his benefactor, whom
"
they consequently persecute." Was it then simply the
Lord's compassion for the man's long-continued disease?
That indeed suggested by the statement that Jesus " knew
is
"
that he had been a long time thus. But it is no more than
suggested. And what about the rest the " multitude of the
sick, blind, halt, withered"?
"compassion" is to be con-
If
"
sidered as the motive, had Christ no crumbs of " compassion
to cast to one or two of them ?
The
conclusion to which John seems to desire to lead us
" "
In such cases," John seems to say, the Son, being in a
divine unity with the Father, 'was not able', as Mark says,
'
to perform any mighty-work'. Mark calls it 'a mighty-work'
Matthew and Luke use the same term when describing the
Lord's acts of healing. But I prefer to call them 'signs'
1
Lk. iv. 26.
7
THE OBJECT OF THIS TREATISE
For they were 'signs' of the Father's will. Called by that
name, the acts indicate that they could not occur on earth if
they had not counterparts, or what Philo calls patterns in
'
1
,'
1
See p. 5, n. i.
CHAPTER II
Chapter I, where John the Baptist uses about Jesus the words
"
cometh after me" Finding the phrase " after me" omitted
by Luke alone, we there treated Luke as omitting what was
in his predecessors,Matthew and Mark, and John as (so to
speak) rehabilitating it by explanation. Thus we seemed
tacitly to adopt the common order Matthew, Mark, Luke,
John.
But the second passage, where we quoted Mark as
in
"
saying that Jesus was not able to do there any mighty work,"
we placed Mark first ;
Matthew second, as omitting the
italicised words ;
Luke third, as omitting the whole of the
sentence; John fourth, as applying the phrase elsewhere to
Jesus in an explanatory context.
The time has now come to decide on some order in which
to discuss the variations of the four Evangelists. If the four
9
WHICH GOSPEL SHOULD STAND FIRST?
"
great body." We do
deny that Mark, like other gospels,
riot
1
See Corrections of Mark 31430, and the Preface to Rushbrooke's
Synopticon.
2
The reader should note that the Synoptic narrative has nothing
to do with what might be called the Matthew- Luke record containing
the longer discourses of the Lord. See the definition of Synoptic above,
p. i, n. I.
10
WHICH GOSPEL SHOULD STAND FIRST?
1
This is done in Rushbrooke's Synopticon (Macmillan), pp. vi vii
any of the three, does he, the last of the four Evangelists,
" "
borrow ? But we have not yet proved that John is the
last of the four Evangelists." It will be best to discuss that
1
See Corrections of Mark 31430. The object of that treatise is to
shew that the few and unimportant similarities of Matthew and Luke in
the Synoptic Tradition, where there is a parallel Mark which contrast
conspicuously with the many and important close similarities of Matthew
and Luke in the Double Tradition, or Tradition of Doctrine, where there
is no parallel Mark are probably to be explained by the fact that
Matthew and Luke in many cases borrowed from the same corrected
edition of Mark.
12
CHAPTER III
I. Internal evidence
by the Baptist, 2nd, the descent of the Holy Spirit, 3rd, the
Baptist's imprisonment by Herod. About the first he is
silent, but we know that he must have assumed it from what
is in the context. As for the second, he represents the
"
Baptist as expressly saying, before it happens, Upon whom-
soever thou sJtalt see tJie Spirit descending and abiding upon
him" As for the third, he expressly says, "John was not yet
cast into prison" without telling us when, or why, or by whom,
the prophet was imprisoned. Obviously he assumes all the
three facts to be so well known that no one will be perplexed
by his silence about the first and by the brevity of his allusions
to the second and the third. All three might justly be
regarded as essential to any treatise that professed to be an
14
WHICH GOSPEL SHOULD STAND LAST?
words " John had been all the time confining himself to oral
:
15
WHICH GOSPEL SHOULD STAND LAST?
as also to everyone, he accepted them indeed and testified to
their truth; but [added] that the only thing left out in the
writing [of the three] was the account of Christ's acts at first,
1
Jn ii. 11, iii. 23 4.
2
Euseb. iii. 24. 7
13. Comp. ib. vi. 14. 5 foil., where ra>v fvayyt\i<av ra
"
TTtpuxovra ras y. should probably not be rendered of the gospels, those that
"
contain the genealogies were written first," but of the gospels, those [parts'}
that contain as their substance (or, have as their contents] (or, consist of
copies of] the genealogies were written first." See instances in Enc. Bibl.
"Gospels" col. 1823, to which add Joseph. Ant. xii. 4. 10, 11, where
" " "
(Whiston) the copy whereof here follows and these were the contents
(TOVTOV irtpidxe TOV rpoTrov)" are used about the same epistle. The phrase
recurs in ib. xiii. 4. 9, &c. It was natural that genealogies should be, or
16
WHICH GOSPEL SHOULD STAND LAST?
Later on in his history, Eusebius quotes from Clement
"
of Alexandria a very early statement as made by the elders
"
from the beginning not only attesting the early date of the
A. 17 2
WHICH GOSPEL SHOULD STAND LAST?
the son of Heli" There were also many other points of
difference between the two genealogies 1 .
Some
converts might well be perplexed, others might be
divided into conflicting parties, by discrepancies of this kind
E.g., the son of David from whom Luke (iii. 31) traces the Messiah's
1
" "
descent is not, as in Mt. i. 6, Solomon," whom David begat of her
[that had been the wife] of Uriah," but Nathan. The author of Luke's
genealogy might very well believe that Nathan placed before Solomon
in 2 S. v. 14, and presumably older than Solomon was not the son of
Bathsheba, whose eldest surviving son (2 S. xii. 24) appears to have been
Solomon. Schottgen (on Lk. iii. 31) quotes a tradition from Sohar that
Hephzibah (Is. Ixii. 4) "the wife of Nathan the son of David" is "the
mother of the Messiah"
This avoids what some in spite of Jerome (on Mt. i. 3 6) might
regard as a stumbling-block.
18
WHICH GOSPEL SHOULD STAND LAST?
so far from being inconsistent, is admirably accordant, with
the supposition that he was also influenced, or even constrained,
19 2 2
CHAPTER IV
illustrating with
detailed quotations or references the
peculiarities of the several Synoptists. This section gives
various groups of Marcan peculiarities to which we find
" " "
nothing corresponding under Matthew and Luke." First
"
come Passages seeming (a) to limit the power of Jesus
Christ, or (b) to be otherwise derogatory to, or unworthy of,
Him." Of the former there are seven instances ;
of the
"
latter, fifteen. Next come Passages seeming to disparage
the attainments or character of the Apostles." Of these there
"
are seven. Then come Other passages which might cause
offence or difficulty," of which there are seventeen. The total
is forty-six.
Now according to a strict and literal interpretation of
" "
the fourfold gospel
title we should be excluded from
dealing with any of these forty-six instances. For, even if
John alluded to them, the result would be, literally speaking,
"
no more than a twofold gospel." But in the first group
of these instances we find that Marcan passage quoted in
our first one that appeared well worth including
Chapter
in our investigation, if we wished to include parallelism of
"
evangelic thoughts as well as words saying that Jesus
was not able to do any mighty work."
Continuing, then, to adhere to the principle of inclusive-
ness there laid down, let us make the following experiment,
in which no one will be able to say that we evolved a theory
" "
One of the two Marcan instances of healing with spittle
1
Levy iv. 470 b quoting Sanhedr. 101 a.
"
2
Jn ix. 6 7 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and
made clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, and said
unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is, by interpretation,
Sent)." The blind man is the Gentile world, born again. In the new-
born proselyte, the old eye must be closed before the new one is opened,
see Levy iv. 154 b quoting Lev. r. (on Lev. xii. 2).
22
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
describes the cure of a blind man, effected not at once but
as it were in two stages. The Johannine instance of the cure
"
of a man born blind and healed by " spittle is .of a similar
description, as being effected by two acts, though not, as in
Mark, first partially and then completely No such instances
1
.
1
Mk viii. 226 (a blind man), Jn ix. I
7 (a man blind from birth).
8 Mk vii. 34, and Mk viii. 12 parall. to Mt. xvi. 2.
3
Jn xi. 33, 38, 41. See also R.V. margin.
23
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
But take the following comment about Christ's being "not
able" to do what He wished, which John puts into the mouth
"
of " some of " the Jews," near the grave of Lazarus " The :
them said, This man, who opened the eyes of the blind [man],
was not able to prevent this man [Lazarus] also from dying " !
1
See Cramer (on Jn xi. 36 7) where it is said that they "malignantly
referred to that miracle as though it had not [really] come to pass." The
commentator apparently read the words about opening the eyes of the
"
blind as meaning who opened [so it is said]." And there is irony in
"was not able [strange to say]." The early Syriac Version known as
Syro-Sinaitic (SS) inserts a rare word meaning "forsooth" implying
"
contempt or surprised incredulity, (lit.) not forsooth was he (or, would
he have been) able to make this [one] that he should not die."
24
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
We
pass to a very different instance. No great principle
is involved in it. It is merely that Mark appears to have
1
Mk iv. 36.
2
Jn vi. 23 (A.V.) "other boats." The text has many variations.
Some them are caused by the ambiguity of the Gk unaccented aXXo,
of
which may mean " others " or " but? SS must be added to the versions
that adopt " other."
3
The Greek word, jrapaXa^ai/w, used by Mk, occurs in Jn 11 "his i.
own him not," but it often means " take along with oneself."
received
25
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
"
They therefore desired to take him into the boat, and straight-
way the boat was by the land to which they were going ." 1
1
Jn vi. 21. xv. 44. 2
Mk
Acta Pilati (B) 11.
3
4
Jn xix.
34 5. the On
probable symbolism see Light on the Gospel
3999 (iii) 13 a, and on the following words "and he (f'/celi/of) knoweth
that he (unemph.) saith true," see Johannine Grammar 2383 4.
Reading the text of Mark after that of John, as it is placed in the
6
asked the body of Jesus [who, he said, had already died]. But Pilate
wondered if he had indeed already died, and he called the centurion to
"
him and questioned him..." John does not mention Pilate's wonder-
ing," but he leaves us able to say, with the aid of the Johannine additions,
26
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
might have been derived from the earliest of the Synoptists
by an opponent of the Christians. And, as in the story of
healing by "spittle," he meets it with an explanation that
apparently has a mystical interpretation.
"
But the explanation may not be true." That, though it
will be the main point ultimately, is not the main point at
present. We are considering, at present, not the Evangelist's
veracity, nor his accuracy, but his method in general, and his
" '
Pilate wondered' at first, when he heard the news from Joseph, but not
afterwards when he heard the whole news."
The historical fact is not discussed above. The point is merely this,
that the details added by John are adapted to remove the difficulties
raised by Mark.
1
See p. 38.
2?
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
grounds for believing that although the vision of the flow of
the stream of blood and water from Christ's side was sub-
was cursed that the disciples, "going by, early, saw the fig-tree
withered from its roots 1 ." Matthew writes thus, " He saith
unto it, Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward for ever.
And 2
immediately the fig-tree withered away ." Luke, though
he omits the story of the Withering of the Fig-tree, has a
parable that might be called the Probation of the Fig-tree.
In that, the Fig-tree is at first doomed to an immediate fall
(" Cut it down ") because the Lord of the Orchard has come
"
"three years 3 to it and found no fruit. Then the Gardener
intercedes (" Lord, let alone this year also ") that it may
it
1
Mk xi. 20. Mt. xxi. 19. 2
3 "
Concerning the (Lk. xiii. 7) three years," Schottgen ii. 548 quotes
two traditions (to which add Pesikt. Wii. p. 150, n. 4) representing the
"
Shechinah as going out of the City, and standing three years and a half
on the Mount of Olives," and bidding the men of Jerusalem to "repent"
(Jer. xiii. 16) "before the darkness falls" upon them. The prediction
"three years and a half" is illustrated by Dan. xii. 7 "A time, times, and
half a time."
28
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
1
to the barren Church of the Jews Here, the important .
"
question may suggest itself, Did Luke omit the Marcan
miracle because he believed Mark to have misunderstood a
" "
It appears from many quotations that this plane-tree
" "
and this mountain were terms used contemptuously by the
Jews to denote the Samaritan worship on Mount Gerizim,
where it was supposed that Jacob had buried " strange gods "
1
Origen, on Mt. xxi. 20 (the Withering of the Fig-tree) combines
Lk. 7 (the Parable of Probation).
xiii. He does not confuse the two, and
of course he does not deny the miracle but he recognises that the
;
Marcan miracle and the Lucan parable apply to the same thing, the
The Docetae are said by Hippolytus (Haer.
unfruitful tree of Israel.
viii. have quoted words from the two Traditions in a confused form.
i) to
2
See Son of Man 3364 / q, which contains a separate Note on
"This Sycamine-tree."
29
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
under a " "
called by various names.
terebinth tree great A
number of passages describe conversations in which a typical
Samaritan suggests to a typical Jewish Rabbi, on his way
through Samaria to Jerusalem, that it would be better to stay
" "
and worship in this plane-tree (paraphrased in some English
"
translations as in this mountain ").
" "
1
See Son of Man 3364 / q. Also on Monopolies see ib. 3585 c
"
shewing how doves at one time were sold in Jerusalem for pence of
"
gold and how Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel determined to break down
"
this extortion so that doves were sold that very day for two farthings."
A passage in J. Berach. ii. 4 (teeming with quaint and ancient traditions
30
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
contained a condemnation by Jesus of all religious practices
that .make an appointed place or time or bodily action
appointed by
"
the commandments of men " an essential of
worship. More especially is this condemnable when these
commandments are issued for their own interests by any class
pigeons, whence the women to be purified were supplied "? These three
all
31
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
Jehovah in the days of false teachers and false apostles who
had begun already to "make-merchandise" of the faithful 1
.
"
and believing on the report of a woman (Jn iv. 42 believed " no longer
"
32
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
mountain" some Christian Gerizim a necessity for approach-
ing God. We are warned against it We are to worship Him
"
"
neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem but " in spirit
and truth 1
."
1
See Johannine Vocabulary 1647 foil., which suggests that the
original text gave the language of the Samaritan woman thus (Jn iv. 20,
" Our fathers in this mountain, and
22) [i.e. the Samaritans] worshipped
" "
deed of the fig-tree
'
" "
sycamine? '''fig-tree derived from post-scriptural tradition.
1
Mk i. 2 " Isaiah" for "Malachi and Isaiah." Jerome (on Mt. iii. 3)
explains it as (i) "an error of scribes," or (2) an error caused by "making
"
one corpus" out of diverse testimonies."
34
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
"
and Luke has, a mention of a tree." But it is contended that
even in this instance where, at first sight, we might have
supposed the hypothesis of allusion to be absurd it has been
proved to be not absurd, so far as concerns a general parallelism
"
between " mountain and " tree," in a metaphorical sense,
meaning corrupt worship, and bringing out a doctrine of
Chrisfs that had been merged in miracle by Mark. In the
rest of the instances, allusion appears to be either proved or
probable. And in all, even in this last one, the hypothesis of
a possible allusion seems to have been a fruitful one, inasmuch
as it has turned our thoughts in a natural way to the varying
actually bestowed.
These results justify us in giving special attention to Mark
(rather than Matthew and Luke) in his relations to John.
We will impartially
keep our eyes open to John's allusions to
any one of the three Synoptists. But we shall not be unfair if
we give special care and more space to his allusions to Mark.
The reason be that they will demand more care and
will
35 32
ALLUSIONS IN JOHN TO MARK
starting-point.
First, it has been shewn above that Mark contains a
tradition from which Matthew and Luke borrowed, and in
behalf of which John whether deliberately or not sometimes
intervened. Secondly, it is also an undisputed fact that
although Matthew singly, and Luke singly, may deviate from
Mark's chronology, they never do so jointly. Thirdly, there
are the advantages of Mark's frequent (though not invariable)
37
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
written in one style and on one and the same level of mystical
and allusive thought. Nevertheless we may be antecedently
certain that John was not uninfluenced by those "many"
38
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
Christian history that not a word remains, from Papias or
any other Christian writer, early or late, to tell us any solid
truth about his subsequent labours or even about the time
of his death 1 .
1
Origen (on Rom. 10) asks whether "Apelles" is Apollos.
xvi.
Deissmann (p. 149) quoting a will dated 238 7 B.C. 'A7roXXa>i/ioi>...6r KCU
2uprri 'la>i>a'0av, says that the former "is a sort of translation" of the
latter.
39
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
of Jesus and a vision of angels at the sepulchre. In the
;
" "
To the four-column passages we might append the
2
1
Jn xii. 18, Lk. vii. 36 50. Jn vi. 1521.
40
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
Word. A little later on, according to Mark, the Baptist
"
uses concerning Jesus the words coming behind me? Luke
omits "behind me? John represents the Baptist as not
only the words but the thought beneath the words and if the ;
"
rejoinder to say, Mark is often comparatively '
common-
'
;
so that,
if John interpreted Mark, this is just what might have
been expected."
in Christ's career.
would seem that the Johannine tradition about " three
It
1
Hos. vi. 2 on which see Paradosis 1218. 1297, and especially 1306 :
regards the meaning of the two days and third day in Hosea,
' !
But Ibn Ezra, one of the most trustworthy critics on verbal points, says,
'
He will make us to live means He -will heal us : In two days means In
a short time! This suggests a parallelism with a saying of our Lord
recorded by John alone, (xvi. 16) A little -while and ye shall see me'."
'
43
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
the blood from the Crucified, at the end, the prediction. fulfil
1
Jn i. 12.
44
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
will not come
before us, directly, in Mark's order, till the
say severally :
"
This remarkable Marcan insertion about the hardening
of the heart'' in connection with the Feeding of the Five
Thousand, must be compared with another, referring to, and
placed almost immediately after, the Feeding of the Four
Thousand, an event not narrated by Luke and John. As
"
before, hardening," which
the Matthew again omits, is
"
connected with " loaves :
45
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
In the first of these two Marcan passages, the usual
explanation of understood not concerning the loaves " is
"
"
given by Prof. Swete thus Their amazement would have
:
the five thousand recipients, John says that " the men, seeing
the signs that he had wrought, began to say, This is truly the
46
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
"
He was not thinking of material, but of immaterial, leaven"
namely, hypocrisy.
"
Itdoes not obviously seem a sign of a " hardened heart
if the disciples of the Lord Jesus failed as Bengel puts it
"
to infer from the bread to the sea." For did not their Master
Himself say, later on, " If it be possible" and does not Mark
"
say that, on a certain occasion, He was not able to do any
mighty work"? But it might seem to a spiritual Messiah
"
a sign of a hardened heart," if His disciples interpreted His
Eucharistic doctrine of self-sacrifice, taught in the Feeding
"
of the Five Thousand, as meaning a doctrine of loaves and
fishes." After all that Jesus had done and taught, might it not
47
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
discourse about the mystical Bread which John puts into His
mouth as being uttered in the synagogue at Capernaum, almost
immediately after the Sign of the Five Thousand. But
though we reject the words, we shall be prepared to accept
the thought. Piecing together Marcan scraps of tradition
with the aid of what we may call John's Targumistic ex-
position of it, we shall (I believe) arrive at the conclusion
that a Eucharistic doctrine expressed in a Eucharistic practice
was inculcated by Jesus at an early period 1 , and only repeated
with special emphasis not introduced as a quite novel thing
on the night of the Last Supper 2 .
1
Nothing in this section is intended to suggest that John regarded
the Feeding of the Five Thousand as being a mere metaphor treated as
literal fact. The consensus of the Four Gospels does not permit us to
place this narrative on the same level as that of the Withering of the
Fig-tree, omitted by Luke and John. John (doubtless) accepted the
Feeding as what is called a miracle. He differs from the Synoptists
"
merely in insisting that it is a moral or spiritual miracle, a sign."
This is not the place to discuss what, if any, material action that is
to say, what, if any, actual feeding of a multitude may have accompanied
what Mark (vi. 34) and Luke (ix. u) severally call Christ's "teaching
many things" and "speaking concerning the kingdom of God." This
must be discussed hereafter when we come to the subject in its Synoptic
order.
2
Comp. Acts of John which says that, when Jesus was invited
8,
to receive one loaf" (as also did the other guests) "and blessing His own
loaf He used to distribute it to us, and from this slight [nourishment]
each was filled." This quaint materialisation may indicate an early and
habitual use of the sign of "one /oaf." This will come before us in
considering Mk viii. 14 "and they forgot to take loaves and had but one
loaf with them in the boat." Matthew omits the italicised words and
Luke omits the whole, so that, according to our rule, John should inter-
vene. John nowhere mentions "one loaf." But he describes "a fish" and
"a loaf" as prepared for the disciples in the course of Christ's final
"
manifestation, during which Jesus cometh, and taketh the loaf, and
giveth to them, and the fish likewise." See Jn xxi. 9 foil., where R.V.
text has "bread? but R.V. marg. "a loaf." The latter rendering is
favoured by the parallelism between it and " a fish." See Son of Man
3422 /.
48
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
These instances must suffice to shew both the disadvantage
and also the means by which we may hope to minimise the
John, too, omits it. And the question arises whether we are,
or are not, to include in our investigation passages of this
1
If we did not include it here,we might include it in later comment
on Mk ix. 49 ''salted with fire," omitted by the parall. Matthew, and also
by Luke.
A.
49
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
"
commonly called Q," and recognised by many as a separate
book 1
. This mass of tradition lies beyond our present scope
"
On Q," or the Double Tradition of Matthew and Luke, see Son of
1
Man 3333 a d.
See Son of Man 3432 b on Lk. xiv. 26, "one of the very few passages
2
"
where John takes up a phrase peculiar to Luke," namely, hateth...his
own soul." It is rightly printed in Rushbrooke's Synopticon as part of
" "
the Double Tradition, though the harshness of hate has been softened
in the parallel Mt. x. 37.
5
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
which Luke alone connects with the calling of Peter, and
shall note its similarity to a Johannine narrative of a
miraculous draught of fishes, in which Peter plays a prominent
And when we discuss the brief
part, after the Resurrection.
Marcan statement about the naming of Peter ("and Simon
he surnamed Peter") we shall refer not only to John's
"
tradition thou shalt be called Cephas" but also to Matthew's
" " "
much fuller tradition about Peter and the " building of
"
the Church."
5 1
42
THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE
I.
John regarded as a book, like Chronicles, "supplying
things omitted^"
scriptures known
Books of the Kings 2 in order to
as the ,
53
"
PARALEIPOMENA " OR "THINGS OMITTED"
" "
with much more
freedom, as long as the gospel was fluid
(being largely oral) and before a few written gospels had
achieved a pre-eminent position that had begun to give them
the same kind of authority among Christians that the Old
Testament possessed among Jews in the first century.
In the Old Testament, the Chronicler largely retains the
54
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
1
2 Chr. xxi. 12.
s " Uriah the
i Chr. xi. 41 Hittite," i Chr. iii. 2 "the third, Absalom
the son of Maacah."
55
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
"
1
But he refers to it Have not I chosen you, the Twelve ?").
(Jn vi. 70,
mentioned (Jn ix. 16, 24, 25, 31) in the charge of being "a sinner," brought
against Christ Himself!
3
Mk vi. 1726, Mt. xiv. 3 9, see Son of Man 3338 b.
56
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
"
omits Cain," because Cain does not point toward the Law.
But the Evangelist, being a poet (that is, a "maker 1 "), and in
harmony with the Maker of the world, knows that the light
shines in darkness, and that darkness must not be omitted in
the opening words of his Gospel, describing the second genesis
"
of Man, or the building of the New Temple. The " darkness
"
increases the glory of the victorious light : The light shineth
in the darkness and the darkness overcame it not." The
Evangelist does not omit the name of Judas but emphasizes
it. And although he does not repeat the lengthy Marcan
detailsabout John the Baptist's imprisonment and death, he
does not leave his readers in ignorance of the fact that he is
passing over them (" John was not yet cast into prison ").
As
regards the personal element, nowhere in the Synoptists
are new characters introduced so freely in places, sometimes,
where the Synoptists have mutes or unnamed speakers or
a blank :
Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Martha,
Andrew, Nicodemus, Jude, and Thomas,
Philip, Nathanael,
not to speak of the unnamed woman of Samaria and yet ;
1
Compare Wordsworth's Prelude v. 595 foil, on :
"
suggests the mystery of the Word," and the mystery of the connection
between the Word and the Spirit. And " visionary power " is a tide that
might be given to the whole of the Fourth Gospel.
57
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
3. Miracles omitted
Both the Chronicler and John omit almost all the miracles
described by their predecessors. But the reason seems to be,
not that the miracles appeared to them incredible or doubtful,
but that they occupied a position too spacious and prominent
in the ancient books to allow of their insertion in a supple-
1
2 Kings xx. I II. 2 Chr. xxxii. 24.
In those days was Hezekiah In those days was Hezekiah
sick unto death. ..(8) And Hezekiah sick even unto death ;
and he prayed
said unto Isaiah, What shall be the unto the Lord ;
and he spake unto
sign that the Lord will heal me... him and [he] gave him a sign (or,
58
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
(n) And Isaiah the prophet cried wonder). But Hezekiah rendered
unto the Lord; and he brought not...
the shadow ten steps backward, by
which it had gone down on the dial
of Ahaz.
Who in Chronicles "spake
:!
unto whom? Most English readers
"
would probably reply God spake to Hezekiah? But Rashi takes it as
meaning "'Hezekiah spake unto God [saying, What shall be the sign?]
And the Lord gave him a sign" interpreting Chronicles by Kings.
59
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
with the Johannine " they desired t/ierefore to take him into the
"
boat may be inferred from the fact that even the ingenuity of
the Diatessaron finds itself unable to insert the latter, though it
does insert the following words " and immediately the boat, . ,
servant 2 ,
it is worth considering whether mystical reasons
may not have united with textual ones to induce John to
omit the miracle. The Synoptic contexts exhibit an unusual
degree of similarity in describing how one of those near Jesus,
in the moment of His arrest, struck off the ear of the servant
"
of the High Priest. Luke
the right ear 3 ," and adds
calls it
"
But Jesus answering said, Suffer ye thus far, and having
touched the ear he healed him."
In place of this miracle, Mark has a blank. But Matthew
has "Then saith Jesus to him, Put tip thy sword into its
place... ."
60
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest and
cut off his right ear (now the servant's name was Malchus) ;
Jesus therefore said to Peter, Put tJte sword into ttie sJuath..."
A detailed explanation of these parallelisms must be
deferred till we come to the passage in its Marcan order, but
an outline maybe given here.
(1) The words were simply a command to the disciples
"
to desist either Thus far" by itself, or " Thus far" preceded
" "
by Let be ! ", meaning Let be ! Thus far [and no further]."
(2) meant ''Enough of this-!" Of this,
This, in effect,
Luke gives another version a little before, " Here are two
swords. But he said to them, It is enough 3 "
(3) Compare Kings and Chronicles, identical as to the
"
words // is enough : now stay thine hand," but divergent in
the sequel thus :
Kings Chronicles
So the Lord was intreated for And the Lord commanded
the land, and the plague was the angel; &c\& he put up his sword
1
Agreement as to the words of Jesus (e.g. Jn xii. 25, Lk. xiv. 26, see
be distinguished from agreement in narrative.
p. 50, n. 2) is to
*
In Lk. xxii. 51, the Syro-Sinaitic version has (Burkitt) "Enough.
As far >: " satis est ad hanc
as this [man] ; Walton has
Syr. usque rem
[processisse], Arab. " cohibe te," Aethiop. " sine hunc," Pers. " usque ad
hunc terminum " ; codex b has " dimitte eum " before the miracle, and
'' ::
sine usque hoc after it.
3
Lk. xxii. 38. The Hebrew
in Kings and Chron. (" enough^ stay
now thy hand") is the same as that used by Delitzsch ^enough for you")
"
to render As far as this " in Lk. xxii. 51.
4
2 S. xxiv. 16, 25, i Chr. xxi. 15, 27.
61
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
"
Let the ear be restored to its place 1 ."
(6) Luke takes it thus, and clears away (as he supposed)
"
the obscurity, saying, in effect, Jesus not only said Let [me
go\ as far as this [man], but also went up to the man and
touched him. And the consequence of the touch was an act
of healing 2 ."
"
Why does John follow Luke in the little detail of the
right ear," while rejecting Luke's miracle ?
Probably because
he preparing his readers for the trial of Christ before that
is
"
Caiaphas who said to the chief priests It is expedient that
one man should die for the people." " These Jewish High
"
Priests," John seems to say, were wicked in the worst
sense, far worse than Pilate. They were given over by God
to pronounce a verdict in accordance with their ingrained
injustice externally High Priests of the Lord but internally
ministers of Satan, the ruler of this world.' Most appro-
'
"
6 with Ezek. 30 Heb.
1
Compare Jer. xlvii. xxi. Cause it to return
into its sheath," LXX diroorpffa, see context.
2
Ephrem 236 7) says that the ear, as well as the sword, was
(pp.
"
restored," brought back into its place.
i.e.
3
See Gesen. 573 foil, for many instances of names derived from the
"
root of the Heb. king."
62
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
by the Law of
'
'
4. Miracles inserted
(i) And David built there an And David built there an altar
altar unto the Lord, and offered unto the Lord, and offered burnt
burnt offerings and peace offerings. offerings and peace offerings, and
So the Lord was intreated for the called upon the Lord ; and he
land, and the piague was stayed answered him from heaven by fire
from Israel. upon the altar of burnt offering.
And the Lord commanded the
angel ;
and he put up his sword
again into the sheath thereof.
i K. viii. 54 5. 2 Chr. vii. I
3.
the altar of the Lord from kneeling and the glory of the Lord filled the
on his knees with his hands spread house. And the priests could not
forth toward heaven. And he stood enter into the house of the Lord,
63
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
It probable that the Chronicler deliberately, but not
is
appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from
before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering
and the fat : and when all the people saw it, they shouted,
and fell on their faces 1 ."
If the author of the book of Kings knew of this Levitical
"
description of
"
the glory of the Lord and of " fire from
"
before the Lord in the Tabernacle, could he have omitted
and blessed all the congregation of because the glory of the Lord filled
Israel with a loud voice, saying the Lord's house. And all the
Blessed be the Lord... children of Israel looked on, when
the fire came down, and the glory
of the Lord was upon the house ;
64
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
" "
nor was there any fire from heaven
1
was assuredly not
present to the mind of the Chronicler in comparing the
1
Ezra iii. 12, vi. 16. But 2 Mace. i. 18 36 contains a long account
of a continuation of the fire from the first Temple, by the agency of
Xehemiah.
Other apocryphal narratives shew the importance attached to the
continuation of the sacred fire, as to which note the variation in :
In the first year of Cyrus the In the first year of the reign of
king, Cyrus the king made a decree :
Cyrus, king Cyrus commanded that
Concerning the house of God at the house of the Lord at Jerusalem
Jerusalem, let the house be builded, should be built again, where they
the place where they offer sacrifices, do sacrifice with continual fire ;
and let the foundations thereof be whose height shall be sixty cubits
strongly laid the height thereof; and the breadth sixty cubits...
threescore cubits and the breadth
thereof threescore cubits...
i K. viii. 523. 2 Chr. vi. 412.
That thine eyes may be open Now
therefore arise, O Lord
unto the supplication of thy servant, God, into thy resting place, thou,
and unto the supplication of thy and the ark of thy strength let thy :
1
xviii. 6, which I have not included, because some would not
On Jn
call a miracle, see Son of Man 3326 a, which interprets it as a mis-
it
66
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
u
What John straightway the boat was by the
inserts (
Him, as
'
the haven where they
1
Johannine Grammar 2340 6. To the instances there given add
Numb. xx. 24 (LXX) "on (i.e. by or at} the water," where another transl.
has "/."
67 52
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
desired to be.' That done, all was done, and the boat was
safe by the shore 1 ."
5. The Passover
"
1
Comp. So he bringeth them unto the haven where they
Ps. cvii. 30
desired to be," on which Jerome says that He who stills the storm, and to
whom they desire to be led, is "the true haven."
3
-
2 K. xxiii. 21. 2 K. xxiii. 22.
" " "
4
2 Chr. xxxv. 1 8. It mentions the days of Samuel and the kings
of Israel," but not "the kings of Judah."
68
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
"
God's people came up to his holy habitation, even unto
heaven 1
."
6. TJte Temple
1
2 Chr. xxx. I 27. The whole of 2 Chr. xxix. 3 xxxi. 21 is devoted
to Hezekiah's religious reformation, and there is no parallel to it in Kings
69
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
"
making His Father's House a house of merchandise," and
1 2 3
Jn ii. 21. i Chr. i.
i, 2 Chr. xxxvi. 23. Ezek. xlviii. 35.
70
"PARALEIPOMENA" OR "THINGS OMITTED"
" "
first, as a babe, to be presented to the Lord secondly, as ;
1
Mt xviii. 17, xvi. 1 8.
2
Lk. ii. 46, comp. Mt. xxvi. 55.
3 * 6 Mai.
See pp. 94 5. Jn ii.
13. iii. 2.
" PARALEIPOMENA " OR "THINGS OMITTED"
" " "
Jews," with their polluted Passover," are destroying the
Temple, and Jesus bids them persist in their evil course if
"
they wish to destroy it :
Destroy this temple and in three
1
days I will raise it up ."
1
Jn ii. 19. On the imperative SQQ fohannine Grammar 2439 (iii) (v).
72
CHAPTER VII
1
"Kings" includes "Samuel," see p. 15, n. i.
73
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN HEBREW HISTORIES
as an appendix, after "the last words of David 1
," whereas
Chronicles gives them a place nearer to that which would
be appropriate for the account of their achievements 2 But .
" "
2. After these things in Hebrew
" " " "
The Hebrew for after these things when things
"
is expressed by a separate noun is literally after these
1
See 2 S. xxiii. 8 foil., following xxiii. I foil, "these be the last
words..."
2
See I Chr. xi. 10 foil.
3
Gen. xv. i, xxii, i.
74
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN* HEBREW HISTORIES
twofold Hebrew meaning may be illustrated by such an
"
expression as By t/i last words of David the sons of Levi
" 1
were numbered," where the margin has In the last acts ."
Of the thirteen instances in which the phrase is fully expressed,
six are in Genesis 2 .
" "
3. After these things" and after this" in John
In John, "after these things" and "after this" occur
more frequently than in any other book of the New
" "
Testament. For the most part, after this implies only
a short interval 4 . But the radical distinction between the
two is, perhaps, sometimes this, that "after these things"
whether the interval of time be short or long implies a
75
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN HEBREW HISTORIES
Jesus Here " these things " were quite recently accomplished.
1
."
gone into the temple to pray with his lips, he had never
turned in his heart to Jesus, his Healer, but had returned
to his old sins]. And
Jesus said unto him, Behold, thou art
made whole : no longer continue-sinning, lest a worse thing
befall thee. The man went away and told the Jews that it
was Jesus that had made him whole. And for this cause
the Jews began-to-persecute Jesus, because he did these
temple, Neco king of Egypt went up... and Josiah went out
against him... and hearkened not unto the words of Neco,
from the mouth of God 3 ." It is implied that there was a
fatal blindness upon Josiah, even on this, the best of the
later kings. Like the wicked Ahab and with the same
result the pious Josiah "disguised himself... and hearkened
not unto the words of Neco, from the mouth of God." Thus,
" " "
dying, lamented by all the singing men and singing
women unto this day," he carried with him to the grave
1 2 3
Jn xix. 38. Jn v. 14 16. 2 Chr. xxxv. 20.
76
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN HEBREW HISTORIES
Judah's last hope. And why ? Because they had despised the
words of God "until the wrath of the Lord arose against
his people and there was no remedy 1
."
2
fested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias ."
A new condition introduced wherein the disciples,
of things is
refreshed by a morning meal (" come, break your fast ") are
to go forth to do the day's work for the Master, whether
" "
it be by following Him on the Way of the Cross or by
" "
waiting till He come.
" "
4. After these things" and after these words,"
in Luke
"
The only case where Luke uses " after these things in
3
Synoptic narrative is as follows :
(or, out) again by the by thence, saw a man things he went forth
sea... and passing
by called Matthew... (or, out) and beheld
he saw Levi the son ...by name Levi...
of Alphaeus...
1 2
2 Chr. xxxv. 22 5, xxxvi. 16. Jn xxi. i foil.
"
3
Luke uses it also in x. i Now after these things the Lord appointed
"
seventy others.
1'
But that is a tradition, not Synoptic,'" but peculiar to
Luke.
77
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN HEBREW HISTORIES
publicans....
" "
The Diatessaron apparently takes after that to denote
an interval inconsistent with the supposition that the event to
be described was identical with the one described by Mark as
occurring when Jesus "came out" which it takes to mean
"
came out of the synagogue'.'
There other evidence of early confusion between the
is
" "
vision of the Kingdom :
1
See Son of Man 3375 k.
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN HEBREW HISTORIES
Mk ix. 2 Mt. xvii. i Lk. ix. 28
And after six days And after six days Now it came to
Jesus taketh with him Jesus taketh with him pass, after these
Peter... Peter... words, about eight
days, taking with him
Peter...
"
number of days is expressed by all the
But, as the
i
"
Synoptists, Luke may have inserted
i(
after these words in
"
order to shew that what he emphatically means is not after
"
the events I have been relating," but after tJiese express
'
'
1,,'ords about a '
vision
'
1
As regards Lk. "about eight days," it may be noted that Mark has
a but Matthew ped' fjnepas, and
f)fji(pas fifd* in N.T. with accus. occurs
elsewhere only in Jn xx. 26 " after eight days." " Eight" indicated by H,
may have dropped out before the H in Mark's fjpfpas, and "fir" may be
an error of Mark's followed by Matthew.
2
Mk i. 14.
79
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN HEBREW HISTORIES
in the smoothest possible way, with the aid of the formula
"
after this\"
The Chronicler
is deliberately omitting. May not the
Evangelist (or the authority that he followed) be also de-
liberately omitting not from a desire to curtail, but from
a want of special knowledge about anything except that part
of the gospel which Jesus preached at a particular time and
...Jerusalem. And
it came to ...Jerusalem. And came to
it
pass after this that there arose war pass after this that [Absalom had
at Gezer with the Philistines. a fair sister (xii. 31, xiii. \)...And
it came to pass after this that
Absalom prepared (xv. i)... And it
came to pass after this that} there
was again war with the Philistines
at Gob (xxi. 18).
2
I K. xx. 43, xxi. i.
80
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN HEBREW HISTORIES
1
See Disarrangements in the Fourth Gospel p. 3, by F. Warburton
Lewis B.A. (Cambridge at the University Press, 1910). Some of his
:
conclusions extend beyond the chapters above mentioned and do not seem
to me so strong as the rest. The treatise does not (I think) refer to the
use of the formula in Kings and Chronicles.
81
CHAPTER VIII
the things that were either said or done by Christ 1 ." Perhaps
" "
by the somewhat emphatic phrase either said or done
"
(instead of said or done ") Papias means that Mark wrote
down either Christ's acts or else His words, whichever hap-
pened to come before him in Peter's teaching or preaching
from day to day, without separating words from deeds in such
a way as to give a clear view of a progress of events, or a
progress in doctrine
2
If so, we might freely paraphrase him
.
"
thus Mark might conceivably have now and then grouped
:
1
See Enc. Bibl. col. 1811 "Gospels."
"
2
The same phrase, without either," is used by Josephus Contr.
Apion. \. 10 (see below, p. 116, n. 2).
82
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
"
of Thucydides as
being deficient in order." They are
recorded thus, by Dionysius of Halicarnassus early in the
"
first century Now some find fault also with his order, since
:
nothing can [well] come before it, and in rounding off the
action with such an end that nothing shall seem deficient
in it ."
1
In Dionysius, as in Papias, "order" is represented
" "
by the Greek taxis. It might mean
marshalling or
John came. This the Evangelist does not tell us. Indeed,
he himself suggests though the suggestion is only indirect
"
an earlier " beginning than John, in the shape of a prophecy
about John, by saying " even as it is written in Isaiah the
prophet. Behold, I send... thy way." These words are not in
"
Isaiah, but in Malachi. Mark's beginning," then, is erroneous
in its context as well as The Greek
unsatisfactory in itself.
critic would assuredly condemn it and ask how any advocate
" "
of Mark could say Nothing could well come before
'
John.'
1
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Judic. de Thucyd. 10.
2
On the technical meaning of rd| see Steph. Thes., vol. vii, col. 1822.
83 62
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
" "
Again, as to Mark's end no doubt if Papias could :
"
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was
received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of
God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the
signs that followed. Amen " he would have had to drop
"
one half of his accusation. But a book of " good-tidings
that ends with "they were afraid" cannot be said to end
baptized...
1
." This is a type of Mark's general chronological
vagueness. When we come to consider this passage in its order,
1
Mk i.
9, parallel to Mt. iii. 13, Lk. iii. 21.
84
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
Mark's topography is equally vague. He tells us indeed
that John was baptizing "in the wilderness." But in what
" "
wilderness ? Not assuredly in the wilderness mentioned
"
in his preceding sentence the voice of one crying in the
" "
wilderness" for that refers to the wilderness travelled over
;
1
See pp. 77 8.
2
Mk Mt. xxvi. 30 '''they went out" Lk. xxii. 39 "and having
xiv. 26,
85
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
"
the city using language that would naturally mean a final
departure from the City
1
.
John and Andrew. Matthew says they were " the disciples."
" "
Luke, who mentions questioning," but omits Mount of
" " "
Olives and privately," has they-questioned," no pronoun
being added. Hence Luke's "they" may refer to Luke's
"
preceding some."
These small details deserve the closest attention in view
of the exaggerated importance attached by many modern
critics to the Synoptic reports of Christ's sayings, at this point,
1
See Origen (Lomm. iv. 71 foil.) and Jerome, on Mt. xxi. 17 naTa\ura>v,
86
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
the Synoptists to Jesus, but, as the reader perceives, amid
different audiences, and in different circumstances. In the
bound to intervene.
It can be shewn (I believe) that he does intervene. And
surely the occasion was one that called on the latest Evangelist
1
Comp. Heb. xiii. 13 "Let us go-out to him, outside the camp."
2 "
Jn xviii. I
literally ;
xviii. 4 to intercede for the disciples (ib. 8) let
these depart," and xix. 5 as the mediating Man of Sorrows; xix. 17
"
as the Martyr, bearing his own cross."
3
On Luke's avoidance of the word "sea," applied to what he calls
the "lake of Gennesaret," see Johannine Grammar 2045.
87
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
of the now extant written gospels, beyond the days when such
details had lost much of their interest lost it, at least, except
so far as they had passed into poetic history and gained a
new by becoming symbolically attractive, when the
interest
30 "and
2
E.g. Jn vi. 21 suggests a Christian application of Ps. cvii.
88
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
"
says simply he went forth again." where, as has been said,
"
Luke implies an interval of some duration by inserting after
tJiese things*."
A little later and again without mention of interval
"
Mark describes Jesus as going on the sabbath
through the
cornfields." This phrase, taken with its context, gives us
at last something approaching to a date. For the mention
" " " "
of cornfields in which the disciples pluck the ears of corn
indicates a date not very long after the Passover. The
1
Mk i. 14.
-
Mk ii. i 81' rjiitpvv. Note the parall. Lk. v. 17 "and it came to pass
in one of the days."
3
Judg. xi. 4, xiv. 8, xv. i. In the last two instances, the interval is
long enough to allow (i) the deposit of a honeycomb in the body of a
slaughtered lion, (2) the re-marriage of Samson's wife.
4
See above, p. 78.
5
This, as will be seen later on, resembles John's view. In that case
there must be a long interval between i. Mk
13 "and the angels ministered
Mk "
unto him" and i. 14 Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came..."
89
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
it fall just before
Christ's baptism, so that it just escaped
"
during which the crowds, drawn by His preaching and
"
casting out devils," prevented Him from openly entering
into a city 2." The
between the beginning of this
interval
appears on the surface, for the first of the two views above
mentioned. That view would be compatible with the
imprisonment.
Here it is natural to pause and ask whether we can find
1
Mk i.
1438. 2
Mk i.
3945-
3
See p. 89, n. 3.
90
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
in Mark, or in any of the Synoptists, any trace whatever
of a second visit of Christ's to the Temple, so that we might
"
say There is some evidence shew that there were more
to
visits than one. John has recorded them in detail. The
Synoptists have omitted all but the last but, in their records of ;
We may exclaim,
"
How could the Evangelists fail to
know ? Was
not their duty to
it know ? " Such a question
would betoken our own ignorance ignorance of that which
" "
the Evangelists would consider their duty in the first years
of the Church, up to the time, say, of the fall of Jerusalem.
The Christians of those days were highly practical men, and
were mainly concerned with Christ in three aspects, first, as
the Giver of promises of salvation which could be obtained by
"belief" and by the performance of His precepts; secondly,
" "
as the Lord from heaven, who might come at any moment
to establish His Kingdom on earth ; thirdly, as the Fulfiller
of prophecies in such a way that He not only enabled them
" "
to believe, but also gave them power to mightily confute
their adversaries 1 . Mere anecdotes about Christ's journeyings
and actions would find little place in early and compendious
handbooks of the first Christian missionaries. They might be
looked down upon as treating of Christ " in the flesh " or even
"
after the flesh 2 ," until Luke came to broaden the conception of
"
evangelistic duty." In a Galilaean compendium dealing with
the gospel in Galilee and the north, it is conceivable that two or
three visits of warning to Jerusalem might be at first grouped
1
Acts 2
xviii. 28. 2 Cor. v. 16.
91
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
If there has been such confusion, the place in which traces
of it are to be first looked for is manifestly the Synoptic
"
He would have done more, but He could not. He was pre-
vented by the sunset." It is not surprising that Luke omits
this, and that the parallel Matthew has something quite
different 2 .
1
Mk xi. ii, Mt. xxi. 10, om. by Lk. xix. 38 foil.
2
Mt. xxi. 10 ii "And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the
city was stirred, saying, Who is this? And the multitudes said, This is
92
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
Herods or lepers, or with any other subject excluded from
the Johannine Gospel. There is no way of escaping one of
two conclusions. Either (i) the rule of Johannine Intervention
fails here, or (2) John somewhere intervenes to describe some-
thing that corresponds to what Mark here inserts and Matthew
and Luke alter or omit.
1
Mk xi. ii. "Looking round," irfpi3\t\lrdfjL(vos, in the traditions of
which Mark took notes, might mean (i) literally, a turning round of the
whole body, such as was ascribed (Buddhist Suttas, p. 64) to the Buddha ;
" looked round"
(2) a mystical act of the Saviour, who like Moses (Exod.
ii. 12
7!-epi3Xr\^afi>or, on which see Philo, and comp. Is. lix. 16) and saw
none but Himself to save Israel. The Greek word had many meanings
and was liable to confusion. Comp. Epictet. iii. 14. 3 Trfpi^Xc^eu, eWei-
oBnfn. Also note Mk xi. 1 1 n fpiSXt^d/ie vos parall. to Mt. xxi. 10 eo-fwr&j,
and Mk xv. 1 1 avta-furav (v.r. fireurav) parall. to Mt. xxvii. 2O eirfurav,
and comp. Lk. xxiii. 5 avaaeiti all betokening conflicting Greek traditions.
Mark's use of irfptftXtironai will come before us in its order. It occurs
nowhere in X.T. except Mark, six times (and Lk. vi. 10 copying Mk iii. 5).
93
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
"
for doing nothing was that it was late" All this Matthew
alters, and Luke omits
1
.
"What seek 9
ye ?" (2) In Luke, Jesus very seldom speaks
"
of God as my Father*" but in John the phrase is frequent.
(3) In the Johannine account of the Purification of the Temple,
" "
Jesus calls it my Father's house 5 (4) In John, just before
(not after) the first visit to the
Temple, it is said that
" "
Jesus went doivn with His mother and His brethren to
6
Capernaum .
1
Mk xi. II, Mt. xxi. 10 n, Lk. xix. 38 foil.
2 3
Lk. ii. 49. Jn i.
38.
4
It occurs in Lk. x. 22 (parall. to Mt. xi. 27) and xxii. 29, xxiv. 49, both
7
Mk15 xi. "and
they come to Jerusalem" xi. 27 "and they come again
to Jerusalem" have no parallels in Matthew or Luke. Taken with xi. ii
"
and he entered into Jerusalem" they constitute a threefold Marcan
mention of visiting Jerusalem, which is perhaps to be regarded as in-
tentional and allusive, representing a threefold warning. See p. 28, n. 3.
94
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
" "
and looked round without doing anything. This or parts
of this he may have blended with another tradition, that
Jesus, in quite early days, held a discussion with the Jews
"
in the Temple, and that He called the Temple my Father's
[house]."
In concluding these observations about Mark we may do
"
well to note that, as he thrice mentions coming to Jerusalem"
so also he thrice mentions "coming toCapernaum^"; and
perhaps, as regards both places, it was intended, in the
convey that both cities received
original poetic tradition, to
a threefold warning from the Messiah. Also we must remark
that either Jesus was very lax in attending the three Feasts
at Jerusalem, as enjoined by the Law, or else the Synoptists
1
Mk i. 21, ii. i, ix. 33, with two or three parallels in Matthew, but
not in Luke except as to the first (Lk. iv. 31).
-
See Son of Man 3584 b on the " incompatibility (Sw^oponjs) "
between the purificatory rites of the Essenes and those of the Temple,
to which they sent offerings, but which they did not attend,
"performing
95
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MARK
make no mention of subsequent attempts of Jesus to
satisfactory answer.
"
96
CHAPTER IX
"
Where two or three are gathered together in my name,
tJiere am I in the midst of them*'"
Abraham, according to Isaiah, was the "rock" from which
the nation of Israel was hewn. Jewish tradition declaredA
that, until he came, the Lord could not begin to build up a
people for Himself 5 All was swamp. When Abraham came,
.
1 2
Gen. xv. i. Gen. xxvi. 24, xxviii. 15.
3 4
Mt. i. 23 quoting Is. vii. 14. Mt. xviii. 20.
5
See Son of Man 35956.
A. 97 7
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
something of His own divine steadfastness and truth, and
made Himself the Patriarch's " exceeding great reward," and
became an " Immanuel " to his descendants that is Matthew's :
98
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
Rock of which Abraham was the type and Jesus was the
fulfilment. Building on that Rock they would have His
"
presence always with them unto the consummation of tJie
aeon\"
"
2. Matt/tew wrote in order" of a kind, but not
chronological "order"
Seventy.
These two instances suggest that the use of the clause
"
it came to
and pass when Jesus had made-an-end" may
"
resemble that of the clause after these things," which, as we
found above, served in Kings and Chronicles to close one
epoch or one important narrative, so as to introduce another.
Somewhat similarly, " made-an-end" is used in Genesis to
conclude (i) God's promise to Abraham, of a covenant with
1
Mt xxviii. 20. *
ML vii. 28, xi. I.
99 72
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
Isaac, (2) Isaac's blessing of Jacob, (3) Jacob's blessing of the
1
twelve patriarchs .
"
"
parables," and once giving-precepts."
"
Words " applies
to the Sermon on the Mount, which, besides being a blessing
"
(beginning Blessed are the poor ") is also a Law like that
"
of which it is said that Moses made-an-end-of speaking all
these words to all Israel 3 ."
1
Gen. xvii. 22, xxvii. 30 (but not after xxvii. 40 at the conclusion of
the blessing of Esau), xlix. 33. It is also used of God in Gen. ii. 2
(ending
work) and xviii. 33 "made-an-end-of communing with Abraham" and of ;
100
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
Where the system of grouping does not stand in the way,
"
and especially near the end of the Gospel where " words
fall into the background and long discourses are non-existent
Numbers, along with the law, records the facts that gave rise
to the law 1 What Exodus is to Numbers, that (it may be
.
Of
the evidence for the Messianic claims of Jesus the
all
'
Numb. xv. 32 6, Exod. xxxv. i 3, xxxi. 14 15.
2
Comp. Acts xviii. 28 on Apollos, " He
mightily confuted the Jews,
publicly shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ."
101
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
dealt with prophecy we may better consider after a word or
two on Mark's employment of it.
"
Perhaps we ought rather to say Mark's non-employment
of it." For after quoting, in his own person, and in the first
two verses of his Gospel, a prophecy from Malachi, and
another from Isaiah, both of which he attributes to Isaiah,
Mark never quotes prophecy again. When he uses the
" " " "
expressions came into Galilee and by the sea of Galilee
at the beginning of Christ's preaching, we may think it
"
scripture," but even Jesus (in Mark) never quotes it formally
"
as from a prophet." Mark, in his own person after his
introductory error about the prophet Isaiah never mentions
" " "
either scripture or prophet."
1
Mk i.
14, 16, xi. 7.
2
Mt. iv. 12 16, xxi. 3 7.
102
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
pious men
like Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian."
"
prophecy about an ass, and a colt t/te foal of an ass," mentions
two animals John, quoting only part of the prophecy, a part
;
103
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
by Matthew alone and connected by him with the weeping
of Rachel for her children mentioned by Jeremiah 1
.
1
Jer. xxxi. 15.
2
The "habit" is "general" but not invariable. There are a few
exceptional cases where Matthew (Horae Synopticae, p. 158, referring
to Mt. xxvii. 34, 43, 57) alludes to prophecy without quoting it.
3
Hor. Hebr. on Mt. i. 17.
104
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
105
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
"
to baptize all nations into the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The last words of all, " I am
with you... unto the consummation of the aeon," come much
more suitably here than this baptismal precept, which (if the
text genuine) appears to be ante-dated.
is
1
In i Cor. xv. 5 8, Paul omits all mention of manifestations to women,
but mentions three to single witnesses (i) Cephas, (2) James, (3) himself.
2
Origen Cels. ii. 7 '"' /xovw yvvaiw *cai rols eauroO ^latrtorais 1
1 06
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN MATTHEW
find two Marys and a third woman mentioned as present
at Christ's death, with others and the Synoptic passages
;
1
Mt. xxvii. 56 (comp. Mk
xv. 40), abbreviated in Mt. xxvii. 61 (comp.
Mk xv. 47) and in Mt. xxviii. i (but three persons are mentioned in the
107
CHAPTER X
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
LUKE'S
intention to write in chronological order is definitely
1 "
Attempted," with sense of futility or evil purpose, both in Acts ix.
elsewhere used in N.T.) and also in LXX, see p. 1 16, n. 2.
29, xix. 13 (not
2
Comp. Origen Fragm. on Lk. (Lomm. v. 86, 237) which contrasts
"facts" with the <pai>Tacria into which the Incarnation was converted by
heretics.
3
On this Preface see Notes on N. T. Criticism 29804. Add Origen's
"
remark on "all ("having followed [them] up all"} off run rStv flprj^eveav,
dXXa irda-tv. Luke probably used it with reference to the preceding
Trpaypdrcav (which signifies the words and the deeds of the real, non-
phantasmal, incarnate Lord). "A.ira<ri is used similarly, in the neuter, by
"
Demosthenes, xix. 257 knowing his villainies most exactly and having
followed \thent\ all ttp."
"
Consecutively
"
Kadf&s (not in LXX or N.T. exc. Lk. and Acts) lit.
''''exactly in order" is much rarer in literary Greek than (fagfjf (not in
1 08
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
"
It will be observed that Luke applies the word following-
up ," not to "teaching," as the Epistles to Timothy do, but to
1
"
facts," as handed down to the believers of his day by those
who Jtad been
eyewitnesses or attendant-ministers. This language
prepares us to find, in his Gospel, traces of traditions, docu-
LXX or N.T.) "following in order." The former does not occur in the
Concordances to Aristotle, Epictetus, and Plutarch (except once) the ;
latter occurs in them often. Good Attic Greek would have been content
"
with jjr as in Lucian (Hermotim. 43, i. 785) You speak as though in
every case (navTuts) letters were written in order ()f), first A, secondly
B...." But Luke always uses ef-rjs (not in N.T. except Lk. vii. n, ix. 37,
Acts xxi. i, xxv. 17, xxvii. 18) with the article, to mean "the day (or time) t
109
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
from the Lord that which also I delivered unto you 1 ." In
"
such a collection, Lord" may have been regularly used
the
for "Jesus." We shall presently come to other instances of
"
the Lord" in Luke almost alone of the Evangelists
introducing narratives peculiar to his Gospel. These facts
point to the conclusion which is supported by other evidence
that Luke found a non-Marcan as well as a Marcan account
of the Sending of Apostles, that the former was in a collection
where Jesus was regularly called " the Lord," and that Luke,
" "
in the true spirit of an exact historian
following up per-
plexing tracks, determined to leave the stamp of its origin on
this other narrative, by retaining "the Lord" thus, "After
these things the Lord appointed other seventy 2 ."
"
We have seen, above 3 ,
that
"
after these things is an
unsafe guide in chronology. Luke may have been misled here,
in placing the Sending of the Seventy so soon after the
Sending of the Twelve. Perhaps indeed the Sending of
"
the Seventy or some of its precepts, such as eat those
4
"
things that are set before you refers to a period after the
1
i Cor. xi. 23. In the Pauline Epistles, and in the Acts, Kvpios, with
" the Lord "
the article, would mean Jesus (except in very special contexts
"
such as 6 ayyeXos TOV nvpiov) in accordance with i Cor. viii. 6, To us
there is one God, the Father... and one Lord, Jesus Christ? so that Rom.
"
xii. 1 1
serving the Lord" (on which Origen Lat. quotes i Cor. viii. 6)
would mean "serving the Lord Jesus." For the most part, " the Lord"
and " the Christ" would not be used in gospels, until He had been (Rom.
i. 4) "denned" by "the resurrection of the dead," to be, in a unique
sense, the Son and Lord and Christ. The originators of the reading
Lk. xxiv. 3 "the body of the Lord Jesus" (comp. Mk-App. xvi. 19, 20)
were perhaps influenced by the feeling that Jesus had been thus "de-
nned."
2 3 80
Lk. x. i. See pp. 74 foil., foil.
4
Lk. X. 8 tardier* ra irapariBf^tva vfuv, comp. I Cor. x. 27 nav TO irapa-
ri6fp.fvov vp.lv fo-dierf, i.e. eat, without regard to Jewish distinctions. No
doubt, the context shews that Luke placed the precepts before Christ's
resurrection, e.g. (x. i) "The Lord sent them. ..into every city and place
where he himself purposed to come." But might not this be used, in
poetic tradition, of "the Lord sending His Apostles," e.g. Paul, to the
no
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
"
Resurrection. But at all events Luke might say I did my
best. copied the document exactly. And I ascertained it
I
"
was after' I could not ascertain " how long after'
' '
"
Again, take the Lucan context of the words of Jesus, the
dead are raised 1
." If they are to be taken literally, as Luke
appears to take them, we require some narrative of an act of
"
said, in that instance, She is not dead but sleepeth 3," it is not
a strong case. The case supplied by Luke ismuch stronger.
Matthew, however, though he agrees with Luke as to " the
dead are raised," and as to the context and circumstances
in which the words were uttered, has no record of any act
of revivifying except that which concerns the daughter of
Jairus.
As
regards the source of Luke's insertion, we should note
" "
that, here again, the Lord" is used for Jesus," not in speech
but in narrative (" And when the Lord saw her 4 "). It is
probable that Luke has inserted the story from the document
above mentioned, attempting to fix its chronological place
in
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
his readers the impression that Simon had not been called
There are grounds for thinking that Luke may have been
misled by following some Hebrew document in which the
Call of Peter the Fisherman, and the Return (i.e. the Repen-
1 2 3
Diatess. v. 48 9. Mt. iv. 19. Lk. v. 10.
4
The narratives, as they stand in the Diatessaron, may be illustrated
i S. xvi. 22 "And Saul sent
by the much more difficult sequence in to
go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner... Whose son is this
youth?... Inquire thou whose son the stripling is... And Saul said to him
(David), Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I
am the son of thy servant Jesse..."
6
Lk. v. i tv TO) iiriKtlffOai. On this use of tv T see Son of Man 3333 e.
In due course, as part of the examination of Lucan parallels to Mark, the
112
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
a tradition about Peter the Fisherman 1 . This he places after
the Resurrection. It mentions one boat instead of two.
Indeed it seems expressly to contradict one detail of Luke by
" 3
saying that the net was not rent ." Also it says that Peter
swims to Christ instead of bidding Christ depart from him 3 .
they took nothing, but when day was now breaking Jesus stood
on the shore" unrecognised then Jesus says " Cast tlie net ;
on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find," and now,
at last when they have " found " Jesus is recognised as
"
the Lord That disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter,
:
" "
'
It is the Lord,' and Peter threw himself into the sea,"
while the rest came in the boat.
facts given in 3333 e will be more fully illustrated, and it will be shewn
that even in the Acts, where the form is comparatively rare, Hebraic
influence may be traced.
1
Jn xxi. 6 ii.
2
Lk. V. 6 Sitpijo-o-ero, Jn xxi. 1 1 ov< eo-^io-^ij.
3
Lk. v. 8, Jn xxi. 7.
A.
113 8
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
or Hebraic traditions 1 . The point for us, at this moment,
is one of thought, not of words. The Lucan thought is,
"
Peter called Jesus Master until he was converted by the
1
On firia-TaTrjs (alw. voc.) see Dalman Words, p. 336 foil. Lk. v. i
begins with the Hebraisms (i) eyevero, (2) eV TO>, on the latter of which see
Son of Man 3333 e. There is also an fyevero eV T< in the Lucan story of
the ten lepers (Lk. xvii. n
13) where firivrara occurs. Petrine passages
containing eVKrrdra are Lk. v. 5, viii. 45, ix. 33. John the son of Zebedee
utters it in Lk. ix. 49. The other Synoptists present interesting variations,
e.g. Mk iv. 38 StSao-KaXe, Mt. viii. 25 Kvpif, parall. to Lk. viii. 24 tirurrdra
114
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
"
1
Began," i.e. before His death, and before the Holy Spirit was given
(see below, p. 128).
2 "
the
Through Holy Spirit." Perhaps Luke implies that there was
some gift Holy Spirit when He appeared to the Apostles and
of the
(Lk. xxiv. 45 foil.) "opened their mind" and gave them their commission
to preach in His name. Jn xx. 19 23 expressly describes such a gift.
3 "
Whom he had chosen." Something seems to be implied, e.g.
"whom, after the defection of Judas, he had finally chosen," or, "whom,
"
after death, he chose again" (comp. Jn vi. 70 Did not I choose you, the
twelve, and one of you is a devil ?").
4
"Proofs" TfKprjpiots, does not recur in the whole of the canonical Greek
Testament. It is a favourite word with Thucydides, who says, early in
his history (i. 20
that though his readers may find it difficult to accept
i)
from him " proof \taken singly] in consecutive order (iravrl et-TJs
e^'ery
"
TtKp.rjpia>) they will nevertheless not go wrong if they accept the general
''
results of the above-mentioned proofs" Both eijr and reic/xijpioi/ re-
present the lines on which Luke writes a history of consecutive facts
resulting in proofs.
115 82
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
on the subject, so as to teach all that desire to know the
"
truth 1 ."
" "
So no great verbal similarity.
far, there is Truth and
"
proof" are words that any writer, Jew or Gentile, was
obliged to use if he wished to begin a historical treatise with
"
Certain vile fellows have attempted to slander my history
...But they ought to know that whosoever promises to hand-
down [a history of] actions in-their-true-form should himself
first learn them with-exact-care, either having-followed-up the
occurrences, or inquiring about them from those that know...
Now when writing the history of the war [of the Jews with
the Romans] I had been the personal originator of many
" "
1
Joseph. Contr. Apion. i. i Most excellent is, as in Luke, ^parterre.
But that was probably a common word in dedications, so that not much
stress must be laid on that similarity. "Proof" (or "token") is rfn^piov.
*
Joseph. Contr. Apion. i. 10. All the italicised words are identical, in
Greek, with the Lucan words above mentioned, except (i) "actions,"
TTpd^fts, Lk. TTpdyfjiaruy and (2) "said or done" TU>V \tx6f vr<av irpaxGfVTmv, fj
Lk. (Acts) iroifiv re Kal 8i8da-iceiv. On (2), note that Papias (above, p. 82)
has the same phrase, but with the repeated fj.
That the Lucan "attempt," eVt^eipe'w, was used by Luke in a bad
sense, is indicated by its use in LXX, in Acts, and in the present
passage of Josephus. See also Mayor's note on Clem. Alex. 889 t-m-
Xpi7pzo-t, "sophisms," quoting Dion. H. p. 723 1. IO \^v\pav Kai airidavov
(mxfipw iv Versions of a fragment attributed to Origen (Cramer ad
-
loc., and Lomm. vol. XX, pp. viii ix) assert as (i) probable (ra^a) or
116
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
Of course, allowance must be made for the fact that all
probably written after A.D. 93. The Preface to the Acts must therefore
have been written later still, if it alludes to that treatise.
3
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, The Three Literary Letters, by Professor
117
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
TO Tre'Xayoy
...Xft/xaq-flftf (where note that irl\ayos is used in Acts xxvii. 5 to mean the
open sea and occurs nowhere else in N.T. exc. Mt. xviii. 6 T irt\ayei rtjs
$nXa<r<n7f). Note also (ib. p. n)the similarity of rhythm between Acts xvi.
12 fls 4>tXt7T7rouy, ffns fcrrlv Trpwrr; TTJS ptpifios MaKfdovias TroXtr AcoXoxna, and
Thuc. vi. 62 (S 'Ip-tpav, rjirfp fiovT) tv TOVTW TW pipd TTJS 2t<cXt'ar 'EXXa?
TToXts f'ort'. The whole book
deserves careful study. Part of it is devoted
to a comparison of the language of the Acts with that in two of the most
celebrated orations of Demosthenes. The conclusion seems to me to be
that Luke, like most other educated Greeks, agreed with Dionysius of
Halicarnassus that Thucydides and Demosthenes were good authors for
him to follow when writing in the historical style with narrative and
speeches intermixed.
118
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
One passage in this valuable little treatise calls attention
"
But Luke also adds terrors and great signs from heaven."
" "
And, later on, he repeats signs," saying signs in the sun
and moon and stars-" He also expresses the impending
distress in language like that of a speech of Nicias in
119
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
to see in these Lucan deviations from Mark and Matthew
some trace of the influence of Thucydides on a writer who
had himself spent " three days " at Syracuse on his way to
1
1
Acts xxviii. 12.
2
See Notes on N. T Criticism 2837 (iii) a and Son of Man 3281 a b.
The SoKifioi mentioned by Eusebius might be variously interpreted, e.g.
as (Mk xiiu 3) "Peter and James and John and Andrew." Comp. Gal.
ii. 6 SoKovvTfs and the context,
referring to "James [i.e. the Lord's brother]
and Cephas and John." The deviation of the parallel Matthew and Luke
from Mk xiii. 3 shews that the names did not rest on the highest
authority.
120
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
" "
But the thirteenth verse (about salt that loses its savour)
is placed by Luke some eight chapters later, after some Lucan
" ''
traditions about "counting the cost" of a tower," and taking
counsel" about a "war." Turning to Mark, we perceive that
Mark, too, puts a tradition about "saltless" salt at a much
later period 1
. In this case, then, we see that Luke may have
"
depended, not merely or at all on proofs," but on Mark's
testimony of postponing this utterance.
in favour
1
Mt. v. i 12 parall. to Lk. vi. 20 23, but Mt v. 13 parall. to Lk. xiv.
34 5 (comp. Mk ix. 50).
-
Lk. xi. i (comp. Mt. vi. 9). "In the [time of] his being" is an
attempt to render eV TO> en/at, which (see Son of Man 3333 e) is a sign of
translation from Hebrew.
3
be objected that Biblical Hebrew does not use the
It may vocative
" "
Father? which Luke here uses, but only my Father" But in later
Hebrew as well as in Aramaic, Abba is used to mean either " Father '
or "my Father." so that Lk. xi. 2 "Father," parall. to Mt. vi. 9 "Our
121
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
This is honest, and we ought to be grateful. But it
follows that in dealing with this tradition (and others like it)
But on the other hand Luke's desire for proofs and definite
factsappears sometimes to lead him beyond the limits
imposed by the older Evangelists. His preference for definite
evidence may perhaps be illustrated by his difference from
Matthew where Matthew
in the history of the birth of Jesus,
"proofs" from which, at an early stage of his History, he infers the facts
of antiquity.
4
20 "in a dream," compared with ib. 24 "arose from his
Mt. i.
sleep,"
implies night. Lk. i. 268
"the angel Gabriel was sent... and, having
come in unto her, said " is more definite.
122
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
with the descent of the Spirit as a dove, but Luke dispenses
with "saw" and adds that the Spirit descended "in a bodily
shape
1
." We
have also seen how Luke appears to have been
"
led, by a desire to find a proof of the truth of the words the
dead are raised," not only to insert in his Gospel, but also
to insert just before those words, an account of a literal
" "
No doubt, the
proofs never used by Luke in
word is
his Gospel and only once in the Acts but the atmosphere ;
"
of what one may call " proof-seeking may be felt in many
portions of the former where neither the word, nor any word
like it, is employed. The Spirit itself is described by Luke
" " " "
in his Gospel as a mouth and wisdom which adversaries
l< "
will not be able to withstand or to gainsay a true aspect,
but not the deepest or most essential And 4
. in the description
"
of view, is the most cogent of the " many proofs spoken of
in the Preface to the Acts*. But it strangely differs from the
1
Mk i.
10, Mt. iii. 16, Lk. iii. 22.
2
See p. 1 1 1.
3
Lk. v. 8 9.
4
Lk. xxi. 15.
5
Lk. xxiv. 39 43. In Jn xx. 249, Thomas insists on proof by
touch, and it is offered to him. But he is gently rebuked, and it is not
stated that he availed himself of the offer. It is said, " Because thou hast
thou hast believed." "
seen me, thou hast touched
It is not said, Because
me."
6 "
Acts i.
3. 3 (speaking of "women" and
In Lk. xxiv. 22 a vision
of angels") may be it
implied that the speakers were not at that time
aware of the subsequent manifestation to the women who (Mt. xxviii. 9)
clasped Christ's feet. But the intention of the context appears to be to
shew that the Evangelist like Paul, see p. 106 does not appeal for
123
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
"
Johannine answer to the question, Lord, what is come to
pass that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the
"
world ? and also from any reasonable interpretation of the
words in Revelation, "If any man hear my voice and open
the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he
with me 1
."
124
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
" "
salvation or the remission of sins," but that he was only
" "
to prepare the way of Jelwvah with a view to these gifts
1
Lk i. 36.
2
Lk. iii.
23.
"5
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
know it, he should have failed to state easy to have it. How
said about John's birth, " In the year of Herod the
king," or "In the year of Augustus Caesar "! But
1
1
Lk. iii. i.
2
Comp. Lk. i.
5 "There was.. .a certain priest...," with i S. i. I "Now
there was a certain man..." introducing Elkanah, and his wives, byname.
3
See above, p. 112, n. 5, as to ev rw with inf. it occurs in Lk. i. 8, 21,
;
126
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
And in the hymn of Mary, the Mother of the Lord, are not
" "
the last words Abraham and his seed for ever* ? Was not
Matthew also content to trace the genealogy from Abraham ?
"
Why then does Luke carry it up to the
man, the [son]
first
"
of Seth, the [son] of Adam "and "
the [son] of God 4 ?
then,
Since every human being is a " son of Adam," must there not
be some hidden meaning in these words, if they are to escape
127
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
"
Taking this title in its Hebrew form, that is, Son of
Adam," a mystical Pauline genealogist might despise the
jibe "Are we not all sons of Adam?" by replying, "Yes,
but to Son of Adam,' I add Son of God
'
that means The
' ' '
"
he says, meaning the Gospel deals with all that Jesus
1 2
Acts xvii. 26. Lk. xxiv. 49.
128
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN LUKE
drama. In the conclusion of Matthew, and also in the Mark-
Appendix, the Apostles are sent forth with the words " Go
ye
1
." In Luke the command is "Tarry ye
2
." It is true that
"
the Gospel ends with a note of joy, And they were continually
in the temple blessing God." But there is also a subdued
"
undertone of expectation. They are " blessing God for a
" "
promise not yet fulfilled a promise of power to conquer
in a battle not yet begun.
1
Mt xxviii. 19, Mk xvi. 15.
z
Lk. xxiv. 49.
A.
129
CHAPTER XI
also find that with another six days, not implied but expressed
1
See Johannine Grammar 2624, and comp. Westcott (on Jn xii. i)
" The
Gospel begins and closes with a sacred week."
2
For "six" disciples, not mentioned but implied, see the comment in
by Judas Maccabaeus
1
.
1
i Mace. iv. 59. See Light on the Gospel 3999 (iii) 7.
write about Judas (Jn xiii. 30) " He, then, having received the sop, went
out straightway and it was night" The language may be, as it were,
:
sympathetic with the subject. The Gospel has recently introduced (Jn
viii. 1
2) the subject of the revelation of Christ as the Light of the world,
and the Evangelist may wish to suggest to his readers that the Light is
fast sinking towards the horizon at least, for those unbelieving Jews who
regard Him as a blasphemer.
131 92
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
giving them their Jewish names. Also, in describing the
Feeding of the Five Thousand, John, alone of the Evangelists,
"
speaks of the loaves as being of barley," and he previously
describes Jesus as saying to the disciples, " Say ye not, Yet
four months and the harvest cometh 1 ?"
The precise significance of the " barley " and the " four
months" cannot be discussed here 2 but they combine with ;
1
Jn vi. 9, iv. 35.
2
See Son of Man 3420, and Johannine Grammar 2230 (ii) foil.
3 xii.
Jn 24.
4
xvi. 21 "The woman, when she is bringing forth, hath sorrow."
Jn
"
This corresponds to Mk xiii. 8, Mt. xxiv. 8 These things are the beginning
of travail-pangs? which the parallel Luke omits. In Gal. iv. 19, there is
perhaps a confusion of metaphor, under the influence of passionate sorrow,
in which the apostle says " My little children, of whom I am again in
travail until Christ be formed in you." The Socratic word fiaitvriKos
would not have adequately described the complex relation between the
apostle and his "little children."
132
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IX JOHN
which Luke has left his record of Christ's life. Not a single
date is given that refers to Emperor, King, Tetrarch, or
Governor.
Why is this? Isaiah gives the date of his vision of
" In
1
Is. vi. i the year that king Uzziah died," Ezek. i. 2 " the fifth
133
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
"
to the elders that were conversant in Asia with John the
temple," which was "his body" (see Johannine Grammar 2021 4).
2
Iren. ii. 22. i
"They endeavour to establish this out of the prophet,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and
'
for it is written (Is. Ixi. 2)
'
the day of retribution being truly blind, inasmuch as they affirm they
have found out the mysteries of Bythus, yet they do not understand..."
No evangelist quotes Is. Ixi. 2 except Luke (iv. 19), who stops at "the
Lord."
134
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
Gnostic errors were soon to cluster. Not improbably, the
germs of these errors were already shooting when the Fourth
Gospel was published published perhaps, for the purpose
(among other purposes) of guarding against such errors.
John at all events would have agreed with what Irenaeus
"
says about Isaiah, The prophet speaks neither of a day that
includes the space of twelve hours, nor of a year of which the
period of judgment for the rulers of the Jews^ when Jesus was
destined to suffer death*.
"
2. The beginning"
1
Iren. ib.
*
Comp. Origen Comm. Joann. xxviii. 15. ^Evutvros, not eros, is
the word here used for year. It does not occur in the Gospels except
" the
in Lk. iv. 19 (Is. bd. 2) acceptable year of the Lord," and Jn xi.
1
49, 51, xviii. 13 (always about "Caiaphas, high priest for that year' }.
In Heb. ix. 7, 25, x. I, 3, it refers to the official acts of the High Priest
" once in the " "
year or year by year."
3
Lk. iii. 2 "...in the highpriesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word
of God came...."
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
follows. This also avoids some metaphysical speculations
that might have arisen out of a personification of the Arche',
or Beginning, if he had written, " The beginning was." In
the next place, by saying "In [the] beginning was the Logos,
or Word" he calls up thoughts both of the creative Word
(" by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made "), and
also of the prophetic Word, which every reader of the LXX
would find at the beginning of the books of the prophets
" "
not also the light of animals ? Have not animals eyes ?
"
The Evangelist would of course reply You know I mean the
light of reason and the spirit." We are therefore to think of
the Logos sometimes as spiritual life, sometimes as spiritual
light, while not forgetting that through the Logos there were
also made the material types of these spiritual things.
That is one of the steps by which the Prologue leads us
1
In the LXX the minor prophets come first, and Hosea first of all.
2
See above, p. 83.
136
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
evil as a foil to the good. John does not say this. But he
suggests it to us, as it were, through Nature, by reminding us
"
that the darkness is a foil to the light : The light shineth in
the darkness, and the darkness overcame it not"
" " "
Why
"
the darkness ? We can understand "
the in the
God divided the light from the darkness? But in the very
instance in the Johannine prologue it appears to be
first
"
assumed that " darkness is one of tJie recognised elements
(like "the air," "the sea," "the earth"). The first Genesis
" "
speaks of it for the first time as " darkness (not the dark-
ness") and as existing, not as created. In the second Genesis
" "
it is perhaps to be regarded as the darkness because of the
"
aeons during which it has been striving to overcome," and
"
has not " overcome," the light that shines in it"
But whence, and why, any "darkness"? Does not the
Johannine Epistle imply that it would have been more like
"God" to have given us "light" and "no darkness at all 1 "?
John brings us face to face with this question and then leaves
us to answer it, so far as it can be answered at present, through
"
his gospel of the Incarnation. In this, he says, in effect : It
1 " God is
Comp. I Jn i.
5 light ,
and in him is no darkness at all"
137
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
conceive at present of God as Almighty, but rather as Light
contending against Darkness, and as the Father sending His
Son, surely not without a divine sacrifice on the Father's part,
' '
overcome,' that
'
the light has been shining in it '."
"
the beginning Luke's Genealogy as saying " Adam the son
;
this or that parentage, nor for this or that nation, but for all
helpless flesh and blood in every nation and in all time. All
138
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
were His own, but His own received Him not into their hearts.
Yet to those that received Him, that is, those who believed in
His name, He gave authority to become children of God,
'begotten from God.'"
Human beings to become "begotten from God"! We
"
are naturally led on to ask What Being, save God Himself,
'
'
could bestow on humanity this divine authority ? Surely
this Bestower, this Logos, must have been Himself essentially
and uniquely God-begotten" Having led us to frame this
"
question, and to answer it for ourselves in the term God-
begotten," the Evangelist now, as it were, sanctions our
answer by beginning of Genesis on earth
his description of the
"
The Word became flesh, and tabernacled in [the midst of]
us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from
139
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
God ."
1
If anyone were to say that John wrote this simply
"
Matthew
genealogy has a perpetually recurring
in his
'
begat
'
beginning with
;
Abraham begat Isaac and ending
' '
the [son] of Heli &c.' But of course Luke must admit that
'the [son] of means 'begotten by.' That being the case,
it is fair to substitute
Beget,' not
'
140
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
after the flesh, was but the type of the begetting of the second
Adam, after the Spirit. It isa paradox, but a truth, that
tJie gospel! How could they, his hearers, believe in it till they
had heard it ? And how can we, your readers, believe in it
tillwe have read it ? " Perhaps Matthew and Luke felt this
difficulty. At all events Matthew omits the difficult words,
and Luke substitutes something quite different 1
.
1
Mk i.
15 parall. to Mt. iv. 17 "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand." Luke iv. 1415 gives no precept of any kind.
8
Jn i. 12.
141
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
To
this question the future converts one of them Andrew,
" 3 "
introduced as Andrew, Simon Peter's brother reply with
1
In Mk i. 14 15 "preaching the gospel of God (?) and saying ([<al
Xe'ywi/]) that (OTI) the season is fulfilled and the kingdom of God hath
drawn near. Repent and believe...," the text is doubtful but in any case
;
142
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
" "
another question, Rabbi, where abidest thou ? and receive
"
the promise Come, and ye shall see." That, in itself, is a
teacher's triumph, to induce the questions. learner to ask
severally to Jesus
2
. How much is here left to the imagination !
of the much more famous Simon Peter," and then the second thought,
"Yes, but after he was before Peter in coming to Jesus, and he brought
all,
Peter to Jesus. We should not have guessed this from Mark, Matthew,
and Luke."
Comp. Mk x. 17, Acts ii.
1
37, xvi. 30.
-
See Son of Man 3626 a. 3
j n i 42
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
a desire to neutralise a tendency to magnify the position of
Simon Peter as "first'" of the Twelve 1 And a desire to .
ally, we may say that it is more likely that Peter was con-
verted by Christ's personal influence than by a miraculous
draught of fishes narrated by Luke, and by no other Evan-
1
Mt. x. 2 "First, Simon...." "First" is omitted in the parall. Mk iii. 16,
Lk. vi. 14. Jn i.
41 "He (i.e. Andrew) findeth first... Simon" suggests that
" " "
Simon might have been originally connected with first," without any
notion of primacy. And it expressly asserts that Andrew, rather than
"
Peter, was "first in priority of calling.
2
Jn ii. 25.
3
Mk ii. 5, Mt. ix. 2, Lk v. 20. On this see Son of Man 315868. The
abruptness and anacoluthon of the words in Mk ii. 10 and parall. which
144
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
"
a true explanation, if "faith is rightly interpreted. But of
"
what kind was this "faith ? Was it a faith in Jesus as
being merely a man of such a nature or maybe a prophet
"
of such a nature that He could heal anyone whom He
" "
to heal, if only one could induce Him to
"
liked like to
paralysed sufferer had been a rich rascal, who had paid four
"
other men sharing the same
all faith," a very strong faith,
taking off the roof and letting him down through the opening,
can we suppose for a moment that Jesus would have said to
" "
him Thy rascalities are forgiven thee ?
These facts help to explain why John never uses the noun
"
"faith a chameleon word that takes its colour from its
atmosphere. Yet he lays stress all the more on " kaving-faith"
"
or believing" provided that one believes in the right way
and in the right object fixing one's eyes on the Suffering
they all agree, namely, that Jesus did pronounce a forgiveness of sins.
1
Lk. vii. 47.
A. 145 10
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
sacrificing Father
1
Among John's views of forgiveness, one
.
" "
also sometimes suggested that the Son, while He gives forth
this divine righteousness, also takes away the human sin
" "
This thought of the Son as being delivered over," or given," by
1
the Father, to suffer for men, is lost in our rendering of the Synoptic
passages where the English uses "betrayed? that is, "betrayed by Judas."
The Greek is " delivered over " That may mean "delivered over by God"
i.e. mankind. See pp. 1 51 2, and Paradosis 1150 foil, andpassim.
to die for
"
Jn xiii. I foil. On the wiping," and its spiritual significance, see
2
3
Jn vi. 1415-
146
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
go ? Thou hast words of eternal life. And we have believed
and know that thou art the Holy One of God ." 1
conventional :
"
We entirely believe and entirely know that
thou art the Holy One of God 6
." And this is preceded by
Lk I7 _!8
1 2
Jn vi. 68. . i x . foil.
3
Mk viii. 9, 27 9, Mt xv. 39, xvi. 13 16.
4
Jn vi. 41, 60.
5
Mt. xvi. 16. Lk. ix. 20 omits " the Son "
and "
living," Mk viii. 29
omits "the Son. ..God."
6
vi. The R.V. " we have
Jn 69 ir(irurre\)K.aiJi(v K.a\ eyv<aicap.ev.
believed " would naturally mean " we have believed up to this time, or,
at times, but we do not now believe." The Greek perfect here denotes
completeness.
147 10 2
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
" whom we go ? Thou hast words of eternal
Lord, to shall
1
Comp. Richard 77, v. i. 28 " Hath Bolingbroke depos'd thine in-
tellect? hath he been in thy heart?"
2
Lk. ix. 22 3 closely follows Mk viii. 31, 34, Mt. xvi. 21, 24, but has
no parallel to Mk viii. 32 3 and Mt. xvi. 22 3, which contain the rebuke
"
of Peter as Satan."
148
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
one of these sayings was addressed to "Simon Peter" But
"
the devil" -was not " Simon Peter" but "Judas the son of
"
Simon Iscariot 1
lead the Twelve in this direction. It was for this reason that,
"
in reply to Simon Peter's confession Thou art the Holy One
"
of God," He said, Was it not I that chose [all of] you, the
"
Twelve, and one of you is a devil*?
Reading between the lines of what follows, and reading
in the light of the Mark-Matthew tradition, we ought to be
able to keep our minds open to a demonstration that the
Judas, not Simon] was destined to deliver him up, being [also]
one of the Twelve."
1
Jn vi. 71. John, alone of the Evangelists, says (thrice) that Judas
(Iscariot) was "son of Simon." "The son of Simon," meaning "Judas,"
might in some circumstances particularly in Greek, "son" being omitted
be confused with " Simon."
2 3
Jn vi. 60. Jn vi. 70.
149
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
If Jesus said to Peter, as the faithful representative of the
"
Twelve, in contrast with Judas the incipient traitor, Goest
" "
thou behind Satan ? that is, Wouldst thou too follow
Judas?" the alteration of a single letter would convert the
pathetic but obscure question into a bitter, but perfectly
clear, rebuke "
Go back, Satan " Such a rebuke Mark has
\
power and that enough had been said about them. He tells
1
On this passage, and on the Biblical use of OTTIO-W, and virdyetv, and
corresponding Hebrew words, see Son of Man 3528 b, From Letter to
"
Spirit 891 b. It should have been added in the former that Go, Satan*
is inserted by Matthew, but omitted by Luke, in that one of the three
"
temptations (relating to the kingdoms of the earth ") which is most
closely connected with the Johannine tradition that the multitude sought
" snatch " "
to Jesus away that they might make him a king"
2
Comp. Mk i.
24, Lk. iv. 34.
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
"
from them that He was
come from God." But a teacher
" "
he adds that Jesus did not trust himself to those who thus
"believed," and that He rebuked Nicodemus for what was,
in effect, incapacity to grasp the nature of the conditions for
kingdom of God
1
entering into the .
against the ruler of this world ; who sets up his throne in the
House of the Lord, among them that " sold oxen and sheep
"
and doves," making the Father's House a house of mer-
chandise."
As regards the predictions of" betrayal," or (more correctly)
"
of being delivered over," it is much more probable that Jesus
1
Jn ii.
23 foil.
2 "
Jn Comp. Lk. iv. 23 Whatsoever we have heard done at
ii. 12.
152
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
"
8. TJie self-troubling" of Jesus
" "
In hazarding the remark that it is more natural to
" "
nothing but troubled himself." When John means was troubled," he
writes (xiii. 21) (rapdxfy. Westcott (on Jn xi. 33) quotes the Vulg.
"turbavit se ipsum" and Augustine's comment "turbatus est Christus
quia voluit," see Johannine Grammar 2614 c.
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
absolute success in describing Christ's exorcism wrought for
the child of the father who cried, " I believe, help thou mine
unbelief."
From one point of view, this doctrine of "self-troubling"
may be in part explained as a Johannine intervention to
prevent a misunderstanding of some words of Jesus in Mark
and Matthew, omitted by Luke, " Exceeding sorrowful is my
soul, These words might give the impression
unto death 1 ."
that Jesus was troubled on His own account, and not for
the disciples, not for the world, not for the Darkness striving
to overcome the Light
2
.
They might also give rise to
" "
discussions of an unprofitable kind about the soul of Jesus 3 .
Apart from
arguments derived from Luke's omission
of these words, it is easy to see that they might be used
1
Mk
xiv. 34, Mt. xxvi. 38.
2
See Jerome on Mt. xxvi. 38.
3
See Origen Cels, ii. 9. In De Princip. n. viii. 4, IV. i. 31, Origen
"
quotes Mt. xxvi. 38 along with Jn xii. 27 Now is my soul troubled."
4
See From Letter to Spirit 919 foil.
154
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
his partner yes, and maybe even to share a sigh [outwardly]
;
and He
'
'
of "glory"
effect,
" You will never be
troubled? and ib. iii. " when he [i.e. your child]
dies you will not be troubled:'
2
The "love" of Jesus for Lazarus or his sisters is mentioned in
Jn xi. 3, 5, 36.
3
Jn xi. 33, on which see Son of Man 3547, or Johannine Vocabulary
1713 f, 1811 a-c.
155
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
"
it were, of the triumph, thus The multitude therefore :
that was with him when he called Lazarus out of tJte tomb
and raised him from tlte dead, bare witness. For this cause
also the multitude went and met him, for that they had heard
that he had done
It was said above that John
this sign 1 ."
king
2
.' And so they did. But you do not tell your readers
for what cause they did it. There is no sequence in your
story. was a procession of the Prince of Life. You paint
It
1
Jn xii. 1718.
2
Mk xi. 10, Mt. xxi. 9 have "Hosanna," Lk. xix. 38 has "King,"
Jn xii. 13 has both.
It is of course quite true that picturesque details are often the mark
3
of a late form of a tradition of which the early form did not contain such
details. See From Letter to Spirit 1069 (i) foil., and Notes on N.T.
Criticism 2837 foil., 294951 and Preface. One of the most pathetic and
156
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
researcher as Luke, who (alone of the Synoptists) mentions
Martha and her sister Mary, should have been ignorant of
the fact if it was a fact that their brother was called
Lazarus and had been raised from the dead after lying four
days in the grave.
out of Luke. But that article did not take into account the
"
did not mean invention." But that explanation did not go
far enough. I should now like tosubmit to the reader four
facts omitted in that article.
Jericho, where He had healed one or two blind men who had
appealed to Him by that
Other passages in the Gospels
title.
157
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
mentions two 1 and it is antecedently probable that in a
;
1
Mt. xx. 30. Mt. ix. 27 "two blind men...thou son of David" is a
separate narrative, peculiar to Matthew, but noticeable as containing the
"
appeal to the son of David."
2
Lk. xix. 37 fidov would naturally refer to miracles going on, if not
before their eyes, at all events during the course of the procession, so as
to include the healing of the blind near Jericho.
3
Mt. xxi. 14. See Origen (on 2 S. v. 6 8) "though they [i.e. the
blind and the lame on the walls of Jerusalem] hated David's soul, yet
they obtained compassion." But I have not found any links connecting
Mt. xxi. 14 with 2 S. v. 6 in early Christian thought.
158
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
such a sign as the Raising of Lazarus to introduce a mention
of it at this stage and to explain thereby both the excitement
of the people, and also what they meant by their shouts of
"
David." John would say, in effect, " The kingdom of our
'
'
divergence that may prepare the way for trouble (" woman,
what have do with thee?"), and the contrast between
I to
"the good wine" and that which is "worse" seems to
prepare the way for a resistance of the "worse" to
the "good"2 ." But from the moment when Jesus said,
"Destroy this temple," there begins the process of the
1
Is. lv. 3, quoted in Acts xiii. 34 "And as concerning that he raised
him from the dead... he hath spoken on this wise, I will giveyou the holy
and sure [blessings] of David."
J
Jn ii. ii "Jesus... manifested his and see Jn
glory," ii. 4, 10.
159
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
"
by the Messiah and "rebuking 2
1
raised "weeping in the
the world is gone after him 3." Jesus recognises that the time
has come "that the Son of Man should be glorified" and that
" " "
"
the grain of wheat should die that it may " bear much
fruit." For the second time trouble " falls upon Him. " Now
"
"
thy name," and receives the answer I have both glorified it
and will glorify it again." Upon this Jesus exclaims " Now is
there judgment of Now shall the ruler of this
this world.
"
world be cast out" the second stage of " trouble
This is
1
Jn xi. 35 (8anpv<a). Luke also (xix. 41 nXaia) represents Jesus as
160
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
"trouble," and, perhaps, a deeper trouble than before not
" " " "
self-troublenow, but trouble of the soul from a cause
that the Saviour feels to be outside Himself.
The third and last stage of trouble and glory is reached
when Jesus is " troubled in tJie spirit V " One of you," He says
"
to His disciples, betray me." To the disciple whom
will
" "
being glorified ?
1 -
Jn xiii. 21. Jn xiii. 31 2.
A. 161 ii
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
" "
No, it is not a time to think of being glorified in the
" "
ordinary sense of the term. But what if being glorified
means here what a man of the world would call " being
"
crucified? Do we feel disposed to complain that Jesus does
not weep over Judas as He wept at the grave of Lazarus ?
If we do, is it not because we have failed to realise that
Jesus has done more for Judas than mere weeping? He has
been " troubled in the spirit? Not now in the " soul" but
"
in the Are we not intended by the Evangelist to
spirit"
" "
perceive herein the deepest of all the troubles of Jesus ?
And does he not also wish us to try to imagine, however
faintly, how profound and piercing must have been that stab
of sin which penetrated that infinite calm of the Lord's inmost
" "
being through the treachery of His familiar friend ?
Perhaps also, in reply to our remonstrance as to the in-
" " "
congruity of glory here, the Evangelist might say Satan
had just pierced the Lord Jesus with the cruellest of his
arrows, and was it fit that He should weep as one incurably
wounded or utterly defeated ? Could He do more for Judas
than be crucified for him, as also for the whole of the world
of sinners lying under Satan's rule ? Was it not right that
in thus accepting the Cross, in this bitterest of trials, as
"
The end," ina biography of a great man, a doer of great
deeds, may be regarded in two senses. It may denote the
appropriate and artistic termination of the writer's book, the
book being regarded as a work of art or it may denote ;
the record of the last days of the man's life. If the life
163 ii 2
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
real end," and secondly, what we should like to call " the
postscript." The real end comes at the end of the last
"
chapter but one, as follows Many other signs therefore did
:
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
1
Jn xx. 30 31.
2
See Johannine Gram mar 2303 4.
164
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
or Luke's,it would have been appropriate to the tone of
1 *
Jn xxi. i 14. I Cor. xv. 5 8.
3
Diatess. liv. i foil.,
combining Lk. xxiv. 36 foil, with Jn xx. 19 foil. It
will be found that the Diatessaron, in spite of its skill, does not quite
succeed combining Luke and John. For it begins by saying that (Lk.
in
"
the eleven were " gathered " and that Jesus " came and stood
"
xxiv. 33)
and " But
among them," yet goes on to say (Jn xx. 24) Thomas, one of the
twelve.. .was not there with the disciples when Jesus came." Strictly
"
speaking, the Harmonist should have said the eleven with the exception
of Thomas" but he prefers to retain the Lucan "eleven? and to shew, by
;
165
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
(but not Lucan) account of a manifestation to the disciples
including Thomas. Thirdly and we must note that it is
third in the Diatessaron, comes this Johannine account of
a manifestation at the Sea of Tiberias to seven disciples. In
this, He is not said to "eat." But He causes to eat, giving
" " " "
food bread and fish to the disciples. Coming thus
third in the Diatessaron the manifestation is perceived to be
"
one that might naturally be called " third by John.
It will be observed that in the second manifestation John
they are probably identical with the six that were called
at the beginning of the Gospel, before the feast of Cana, with
the addition of Thomas the Doubter.
"
11. The personal nature of the "postscript
Is there any other reason, beside this initial call, for the
Apostles?
1
Acts i.
3.
2
See Son of Man 3422 /.
1 66
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
who began by decrying a Messiah that could come from
Nazareth comes third. In these, we may see a reason.
Also, we adopt the general belief that "two other of his
if
"
disciples means Andrew and Philip, we can perhaps find
1
"
sense, those of doubters." From a poetic or mystical point
of view, there would be a kind of fitness in their being selected
to take part in a higher mystery that shall bring them to
a closer knowledge of the true Bread.
But there remain " the sons of Zebedee." What are they
recorded to have done (in any of the Four Gospels) that would
secure forthem a place in this little band of imperfect souls
friends all the more dear to Jesus perhaps because of their
1
Jn xxi. 2.
Comp. Evang. Petr. 14 "But I, Simon Peter, and
Andrew my brother, having taken our nets, departed to the sea, and there
was with us Levi the son of Alpheus, whom the Lord...." Here the MS
breaks off. Some might identify this " Levi " (Son of 3375 k) with Man
Nathanael. Evang. Petr. appears to be on the point of describing a
manifestation of the risen Saviour parallel to the one in Jn xxi. I foil.
2
Mk x. 35, Mt. xx. 20, Lk. om.
167
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
1 "
Came-forth." Comp. Clem. Alex. p. 595 (quoting Heracleon)
ou yap TruvTfs ot trcofo/iei'ot <op.o\6yT)(ra.v..,Ka\ f^ffkdov. 'E^r/X^of, in such
cases, would generally mean " departed from life." But it might some-
"
times mean went forth to receive execution of the sentence pronounced
from the tribunal." Heracleon says that Matthew, Philip, Thomas, and
Levi, belonged to this negative list. Jerome asserts, in effect, that John
did not belong to this list. It is a pity that Jerome does not quote, or
enable us to identify, the "ecclesiastical histories." The history of
"
Eusebius does not mention the burning oil." But Tertullian De Prae-
script.Haer. 36 mentions it, while connecting Peter, Paul, and John, as
the three pre-eminent martyrs in Rome. See Notes on N.T. Criticism
2939.
Origen (Lomm. iv. 15, 18) on Mt. xx. 22 says that most people refer
2
" "
both the "cup and the baptism" to martyrdom without distinguishing
the shades of meaning, and he quotes Rev. i. 9 to shew that John, as well
1 68
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
" " "
between baptism and cup," when applied to martyrs.
"Baptism" implied baptism in one's own blood, poured forth
" "
for Christ indeath cup might imply anguish, but not
;
as James, was a martyr, At8d<rcet 8e TO. irtp\ TOV paprvpiov eavrou 'icodwrjs...
" 0ov"
(frda-KW (Rev. i.
9) 'E-yo) 'la>dvvT]s..,oia TOV \6yov TOV nal ra e^r, just
stopping short of the words KOI (810) TTJV paprvpiav 'irjo-ov. This passage,
and that from Jerome, should be added to those collected in Notes on
N.T. Criticism 293541, on "The Modern Hypothesis of the Early
Death of John the son of Zebedee."
1
Jn xxi. 18 19.
" " "
23 Unto him," i.e. unto Peter. But why is unto him added ?
2
Jn xxi.
Is it intended to emphasize the fact that the words were part of a revela-
tion to Peter, and to him alone, and imparted by him to the beloved
disciple ? D has " There went-forth this saying to the brethren and they
supposed that that disciple was not to die (OVK diro6vf]a-Kfi) ;
(f8ot-av)
and [yet] Jesus said not precisely-that (ouro) (d, illud) 'Thou art not to
die (OIK diroffvfja-Ktis'),' but...." SS is rendered by Prof. Burkitt "But
Jesus not for that he was not to die said he [it], but...." Codex a,
Chrysostom, and Xonnus, omit "unto him." Codex e has "Thou shalt
not die."
169 II 5
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
not to die,' but 'If I will &c....' This is the disciple that
beareth-witness of these things... and we know that his witness
is true."
"
Steph. Thes. mentions, as a meaning of paprvpiov, place of martyr-
1
TOP TTJS 6/xoXoyt'af SiadXfivas ay&va, and Origen (Comni. Matth. xvi. 6) uses
170
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
to remember that this same John had been one of three to
whom it had been said, in effect (according to Matthew),
" "
Ye shall not taste death till ye see me come in my kingdom ;
"
but Mark spoke of the " coming " of " the kingdom of God ;
What did it all mean ? And what did it mean for John
in particular ? Was it all fulfilled for him when he and
James, with Peter, went up with the Master to the Mount
of Transfiguration ? On that day, not only Peter but also
he and his brother James, had been privileged to hear the
Voice from the overshadowing cloud. The Voice from
heaven would naturally be connected with the thought of
thunder and he and his brother had been specially called
;
"
by their Master, Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder ." Not,
2
1
Mk ix. i, ML xvi. 28, Lk. ix. 27.
2
On "
thunder" and " voice" see From Letter to Spirit 7279 &c.
3
Comp. Virgil Aeneid vi. 585 foil., on the thunders of Salmoneus.
"
Origen Comtn. Matth. xii. 32. On Boanerges see Son of Man
4 :I
3468 a <$, and note that Mark (iii. 17) John (xii. 29) and Revelation
(iv. 5, vi. I &c.) are the only N.T. books that mention "thunder." In
Jn xii. 29, "the multitude" gives the name of "thunder" to that which
" "
John records as an articulate voice from heaven/' Rev. x. 4 seal up
"
the utterances of the seven thundersmust not be taken to represent the
"
general characteristic of the sons of thunder." Their general task
would be as Origen says, not to "seal up, but to "have ears, and be :3
171
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
bear witness in the same way, the blessed and honourable
" "
way of the Cross, and to taste death for his Master ?
To this question the Evangelist, writing in the name of
the beloved disciple, offers no reply derived directly from that
" "
That was not the kind of coming that this Gospel
depicts or suggests. Doubtless, John regarded it as one
1
See Notes on N.T. Criticism 2936 a on Westcott's suggestion of
" "
some symbolicaction," and on firicrrpf^o) (R.V. turn about") :
" If
the narrative refers to a vision, to be taken separately from what
precedes, then 'following' may denote literal symbolic 'following,' seen
by Peter in that vision. After hearing and beginning to obey the call
'
Follow me [to the cross] Peter turns round,' in his vision, and sees the
' '
turned again,' and it suggests that there may have been various versions
'
of an ambiguous tradition about Peter's '
turning again after Christ's
resurrection."
172
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
1
Comp. Rev. iii. 20.
2
The earlier Christian Commentators explain that Mary was not
" Him
worthy to "touch" Jesus because she did not worship" as did the
"
other women (ML xxviii. 9), who
took-hold-of ((Kpa-nja-av) his feet.''
Westcott (on Jn xx. 17) says that "the exact form (^ an-rov) implies
further that she was already clinging to Him when He spoke," and that
" "
it implies the desire to retain." But does not Mt. xxviii. 9 they took-
hold-of his feet" imply "desire to retain"? Comp. Ignat. Smyrn. 3
"
Straightway they grasped (ij^avro} Him and believed."
It seems impossible to arrive at any safe conclusion about John's
173
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
But to say would have brought the Evangelist into
this,
direct contradiction of Luke, and perhaps of other traditions
about the Ascension. Such a contradiction he avoids by not
mentioning the subject again, and by bringing his Gospel
to an end in such a way as to imply that there was no gulf
of separation, scarcely even a line of demarcation, between
the life of the risen Saviour with His disciples when He was
on earth and when He was in heaven. Whether He is on
earth or in heaven, He loves the disciples, and of His love
there is no end.
This thought suggests a contrast between John and
" "
Matthew, whose last words do mention, if not an end
"
exactly, at all events something like it, I am with you
"
alway, even unto accomplishment of
tfie And this the aeon 1
"
again suggests the question, What has the Fourth Gospel
to tell us elsewhere since it tells us nothing here about
that end of the world, or consummation of the aeon, which
Matthew speaks of, and which is alleged by some to have
"
been a prominent subject of discourse with Jesus ? The
answer may be given in two short statements about the verb,
and the noun, " end." The verb is used twice, but only to
"
denote what is " ended on the Cross 2 The noun is used .
174
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
"
for what seems to be the end," the temporary departure
" "
of the Lord, it is only, John seems to say, a little difference
" "
just as the Saviour Himself spoke of only a little while
when He said,
"
Awhile and ye behold me not, and
little
"
Nothing but a mere addition to the multitude of books."
"
Thus, in a deliberate bathos, books," this Gospel terminates.
It began in the infinite altitude of the Logos the Word,
1
It is interesting to note that the only books in the Bible that use the
175
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
of the Word ? If all the true things about the Word could
be written down in
'
But whom do we mean by " the writer " from whose hands
" " "
we speak of the pen ? as " dropping
If he is not the aged
1
Jerome (on Gal. vi. 10).
176
ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT IN JOHN
his deathbed to receive his blessing, he once more repeated his
disparaging criticism of books. Most appropriately would it
be set down here by the Apostle's disciple and representative,
the actual author of the Gospel after his Master's death, or
during the last days of his extreme and decrepit old age as
1
For a somewhat similar saying of Papias, mentioning "books," but
using "voice" where the Johannine writer would probably use "word,"
see Euseb. iii. 39. 4 ov yap Ta ft ra>v fii&Xiaiv rotroiroj/ pe u>(J>f\(iv VTreAa/i-
fiavov 6<rov TO. irapa faxnjr (fxavfjs Kai pfvovoTjs. Also Irenaeus (iii. 2. l)
"
quotes a saying of heretics about scriptures,"' that the truth cannot be
extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition,
" non
enim
per literas traditam illam sed per vivam vocem.'
1
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