Luke 24 · Robertson's Word Pictures
1At early dawn (orthrou batheos). Genitive of time. Literally, at deep dawn. The adjective bathus (deep) was often used of time. This very idiom occurs in Aristophanes, Plato, et cetera. Joh 20:1 adds "while it was yet dark." That is, when they started, for the sun was risen when they arrived (Mr 16:2 ).
Which they had prepared (a etoimasan). Mr 16:1 notes that they bought other spices after the sabbath was over besides those which they already had (Lu 23:56 ).
2Rolled away (apokekulismenon). Perfect passive participle of apokulio, late verb and in the N.T. only in this context (Mr 16:3; Mt 28:2 ) while Joh 20:1 has ermenon (taken away).
3Of the Lord Jesus (tou kuriou Iesou). The Western family of documents does not have these words and Westcott and Hort bracket them as Western non-interpolations. There are numerous instances of this shorter Western text in this chapter. For a discussion of the subject see my Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, pp. 225-237. This precise combination (the Lord Jesus) is common in the Acts, but nowhere else in the Gospels.
4While they were perplexed thereabout (en to aporeistha autas per toutou). Luke's common Hebraistic idiom, en with the articular infinitive (present passive aporeistha from aporeo, to lose one's way) and the accusative of general reference.
Two men (andres duo). Men, not women. Mr 16:5 speaks of a young man (neaniskon) while Mt 28:5 has "an angel." We need not try to reconcile these varying accounts which agree in the main thing. The angel looked like a man and some remembered two. In verse 23 Cleopas and his companion call them "angels."
Stood by (epestesan). Second aorist active indicative of ephistem. This common verb usually means to step up suddenly, to burst upon one.
In dazzling apparel (en esthet astraptouse). This is the correct text. This common simplex verb occurs only twice in the N.T., here and Lu 17:24 (the Transfiguration). It has the same root as astrape (lightning). The "men" had the garments of "angels."
5As they were affrighted (emphobon genomenon auton). Genitive absolute with second aorist middle of ginoma, to become. Hence,
when they became affrighted . They had utterly forgotten the prediction of Jesus that he would rise on the third day.
6He is not here, but is risen (ouk estin ode, alla egerthe). Another Western non-interpolation according to Westcott and Hort. The words are genuine at any rate in Mr 16:6; Mt 28:7 .
The third day rise again (te trite emera anastena). See 9:22; 18:32,33 where Jesus plainly foretold this fact. And yet they had forgotten it, for it ran counter to all their ideas and hopes.
9From the tomb (apo tou mnemeiou). Some documents omit these words. This word for tomb is like our "memorial" from mimnesko, to remind.
Told (apengeilan). It was a wonderful proclamation. Luke does not separate the story of Mary Magdalene from that of the other women as John does (Joh 20:2-18 ).
11As idle talk (os leros). Old word for nonsense, only here in the N.T. Medical writers used it for the wild talk of those in delirium or hysteria.
Disbelieved (pistoun). Imperfect active of apisteo, old verb from apistos, without confidence or faith in. They kept on distrusting the story of the women.
12This entire verse is a Western non-interpolation. This incident is given in complete form in Joh 18:2-10 and most of the words in this verse are there also. It is of a piece with many items in this chapter about which it is not easy to reach a final conclusion.
Stooping and looking in (parakupsas). First aorist active participle of parakupto, to stoop besides and peer into. Old verb used also in Joh 20:5,11; Jas 1:25; 1Pe 1:12 .
By themselves (mona). Without the body.
To his home (pros auton). Literally, "to himself."
13Were going (esan poreuomeno). Periphrastic imperfect middle of poreuoma.
Sixty stadia (stadious exekonta). About seven miles.
14They communed (omiloun). Imperfect active of omileo, old and common verb (from omilos, in company with). In the N.T. only here (and verse 15) and Ac 20:11; 24:26 . Our word homiletics is derived from this word for preaching was at first largely conversational in style and not declamatory.
15While they communed and questioned together (en to omilein autous ka sunzetein). Same idiom as in verse 14, which see. Note sunzetein; each questioned the other.
Jesus himself (autos Iesous). In actual person.
Went with them (suneporeueto autois). Imperfect middle, was going along with them.
16Were holden that they should not know him (ekratounto tou me epignona auton). Imperfect passive of krateo, continued being held, with the ablative case of the articular infinitive, "from recognizing him," from knowing him fully (epi-gnona, ingressive aorist of epiginosko). The me is a redundant negative after the negative idea in ekratounto.
17That you have with another (ous antiballete pros allelous). Anti-ballo is an old verb and means to throw in turn, back and forth like a ball, from one to another, a beautiful picture of conversation as a game of words. Only here in the N.T.
They stood still (estathesan). First aorist passive of istem, intransitive. They stopped.
Looking sad (skuthropo). This is the correct text. It is an old adjective from skuthros, gloomy and ops, countenance. Only here in the N.T.
18Dost thou alone sojourn? (su monos paroikeis;). Monos is predicate adjective. "Hast thou been dwelling alone (all by thyself)?"
And not know? (ka ouk egnos;). Second aorist active indicative and difficult to put into English as the aorist often is. The verb paroikeo means to dwell beside one, then as a stranger like paroiko (Eph 2:19 ). In Jerusalem everybody was talking about Jesus.
21But we hoped (emeis de elpizomen). Imperfect active, we were hoping. Note emphasis in emeis (we).
Redeem (lutroustha). From the bondage of Rome, no doubt.
Yea and beside all this (alla ge ka sun pasin toutois). Particles pile up to express their emotions.
Yea (alla here affirmative, as in verse 22, not adversative) at least (ge) also (ka) together with all these things (sun pasin toutois). Like Pelion on Ossa with them in their perplexity.
Now the third day (triten tauten emeran age). A difficult idiom for the English. "One is keeping this a third day." And he is still dead and we are still without hope.
22Amazed us (exestesan emas). First aorist active (transitive) indicative with accusative emas of existem. The second aorist active is intransitive.
Early (orthrina). A poetic and late form for orthrios. In the N.T. only here and Re 24:22 . Predicate adjective agreeing with the women.
23Had seen (eorakena). Perfect active infinitive in indirect assertion after legousa. Same construction for zein after legousin. But all this was too indirect and uncertain (women and angels) for Cleopas and his companion.
25Foolish men (anoeto). Literally without sense (nous), not understanding. Common word.
Slow of heart (bradeis te kardia). Slow in heart (locative case). Old word for one dull, slow to comprehend or to act.
All that (pasin ois). Relative attracted from the accusative a to the case of the antecedent pasin (dative). They could only understand part of the prophecies, not all.
26Behooved it not? (ouch edei;). Was it not necessary? The very things about the death of Jesus that disturbed them so were the strongest proof that he was the Messiah of the Old Testament.
27Interpreted (diermeneusen). First aorist active (constative aorist) indicative of diermeneuo (Margin has the imperfect diermeneuen), intensive compound (dia) of ermeneuo, the old verb to interpret from ermeneus, interpreter, and that from Hermes, the messenger of the gods as the people of Lystra took Paul to be (Ac 14:12 ). But what wonderful exegesis the two disciples were now hearing!
Concerning himself (per eauton). Jesus found himself in the Old Testament, a thing that some modern scholars do not seem able to do.
28Made as though (prosepoiesato). First aorist active middle (Some MSS. have prosepoieito imperfect) indicative of prospoieo, old verb to conform oneself to, to pretend. Only here in the N.T. Of course he would have gone on if the disciples had not urged him to stay.
29Constrained (parebiasanto). Strong verb parabiazoma, to compel by use of force (Polybius and LXX). In the N.T. only here and Ac 16:15 . It was here compulsion of courteous words.
Is far spent (kekliken). Perfect active indicative of klino. The day "has turned" toward setting.
30When he had sat down (en to kataklithena auton). Luke's common idiom as in verses 4,15 . Note first aorist passive infinitive (on the reclining as to him).
Gave (epedidou). Imperfect, inchoative idea, began to give to them, in contrast with the preceding aorist (punctiliar) participles.
31Were opened (dienoichthesan). Ingressive first aorist passive indicative of dianoigo.
Knew (epegnosan). Effective first aorist active indicative fully recognized him. Same word in verse 16.
Vanished (aphantos egeneto). Became invisible or unmanifested. Aphantos from a privative and phainoma, to appear. Old word, only here in the N.T.
32Was not our heart burning? (Ouch e kardia emon kaiomene en;). Periphrastic imperfect middle.
Spake (elale). Imperfect active, was speaking. This common verb laleo is onomatopoetic, to utter a sound, la-la and was used of birds, children chattering, and then for conversation, for preaching, for any public speech.
Opened (dienoigen). Imperfect active indicative of the same verb used of the eyes in verse 31.
33That very hour (aute te ora). Locative case and common Lukan idiom, at the hour itself. They could not wait.
Gathered (ethroismenous). Perfect passive participle of athroizo, old verb from athroos (copulative a and throos, crowd). Only here in the N.T.
34Saying (legontas). Accusative present active participle agreeing with "the eleven and those with them" in verse 33.
Indeed (ontos). Really, because "he has appeared to Simon" (opthe Simon). First aorist passive indicative of orao. This is the crucial evidence that turned the scales with the disciples and explains "indeed." Paul also mentions it (1Co 15:5 ).
35Rehearsed (exegounto). Imperfect middle indicative of exegeoma, verb to lead out, to rehearse. Our word exegesis comes from this verb. Their story was now confirmatory, not revolutionary. The women were right then after all.
Of them (autois). To them, dative case. They did not recognize Jesus in his exegesis, but did in the breaking of bread. One is reminded of that saying in the Logia of Jesus: "Raise the stone and there thou shalt find me, cleave the wood and there am I."
36He himself stood (autos este). He himself stepped and stood. Some documents do not have "Peace be unto you."
37Terrified (ptoethentes). First aorist passive participle of ptoeo, old verb and in the N.T. only here and Lu 21:9 which see.
Affrighted (emphobo genomeno). Late adjective from en and phobos (fear). Both these terms of fear are strong.
Supposed (edokoun). Imperfect active of dokeo, kept on thinking so.
38Why are ye troubled? (t tetaragmeno este;). Periphrastic perfect passive indicative of tarasso, old verb, to agitate, to stir up, to get excited.
39Myself (autos). Jesus is patient with his proof. They were convinced before he came into the room, but that psychological shock had unnerved them all.
Handle (pselaphesate). This very word is used in 1Jo 1:1 as proof of the actual human body of Jesus. It is an old verb for touching with the hand.
Flesh and bones (sarka ka ostea). At least this proves that he is not just a ghost and that Jesus had a real human body against the Docetic Gnostics who denied it. But clearly we are not to understand that our resurrection bodies will have "flesh and bones." Jesus was in a transition state and had not yet been glorified. The mystery remains unsolved, but it was proof to the disciples of the identity of the Risen Christ with Jesus of Nazareth.
40Another Western non-interpolation according to Westcott and Hort. It is genuine in Joh 20:20 .
41Disbelieved for joy (apistounton auton apo tes charas). Genitive absolute and a quite understandable attitude. They were slowly reconvinced, but it was after all too good to be true.
Anything to eat (brosimon). Only here in the N.T., though an old word from bibrosko, to eat.
42A piece of broiled fish (ichthuos optou meros). Optos is a verbal from optao, to cook, to roast, to broil. Common word, but only here in the N.T. The best old documents omit "and a honeycomb" (ka apo melissiou keriou).
44While I was yet with you (et on sun umin). Literally,
Being yet with you . The participle on takes the time of the principal verb.
45Opened he their mind (dienoixen auton ton noun). The same verb as that in verses 31,32 about the eyes and the Scriptures. Jesus had all these years been trying to open their minds that they might understand the Scriptures about the Messiah and now at last he makes one more effort in the light of the Cross and the Resurrection. They can now see better the will and way of God, but they will still need the power of the Holy Spirit before they will fully know the mind of Christ.
46It is written (gegrapta). Perfect passive indicative of grapho, to write, the usual phrase for quoting Scripture. Jesus now finds in the Old Testament his suffering, his resurrection, and the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. Note the infinitives pathein, anastenai, keruchthena.
47Beginning (arxameno). Aorist middle participle of archo, but the nominative plural with no syntactical connection (an anacoluthon).
49Until ye be clothed (eos ou endusesthe). First aorist middle subjunctive of enduo or enduno. It is an old verb for putting on a garment. It is here the indirect middle, put on yourselves power from on high as a garment. They are to wait till this experience comes to them. This is "the promise of the Father." It is an old metaphor in Homer, Aristophanes, Plutarch, and Paul uses it often.
50Over against Bethany (eos pros Bethanian). That is on Olivet. On this blessed spot near where he had delivered the great Eschatological Discourse he could see Bethany and Jerusalem.
51He parted from them (dieste ap' auton). Second aorist active (intransitive) indicative of diistem. He stood apart (dia) and he was gone. Some manuscripts do not have the words "and was carried into heaven." But we know that Jesus was taken up into heaven on a cloud (Ac 1:9 ).
52Worshipped him (proskunesantes auton). Here again we have one of Westcott and Hort's Western non-interpolations that may be genuine or not.
With great joy (meta charas megales). Now that the Ascension has come they are no longer in despair. Joy becomes the note of victory as it is today. No other note can win victories for Christ. The bells rang in heaven to greet the return of Jesus there, but he set the carillon of joy to ringing on earth in human hearts in all lands and for all time.
THE FOURTH GOSPEL
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
GREATEST OF BOOKS
The test of time has given the palm to the Fourth Gospel over all the books of the world. If Luke's Gospel is the most beautiful, John's Gospel is supreme in its height and depth and reach of thought. The picture of Christ here given is the one that has captured the mind and heart of mankind. It is not possible for a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God to be indifferent to modern critical views concerning the authorship and historical value of this Holy of Holies of the New Testament. Here we find The Heart of Christ (E. H. Sears), especially in chapters Joh 14-17 . If Jesus did not do or say these things, it is small consolation to be told that the book at least has symbolic and artistic value for the believer. The language of the Fourth Gospel has the clarity of a spring, but we are not able to sound the bottom of the depths. Lucidity and profundity challenge and charm us as we linger over it.
THE BELOVED DISCIPLE
The book claims to be written by "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (Joh 21:20 ) who is pointedly identified by a group of believers (apparently in Ephesus) as the writer: "This is the disciple which beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his witness is true" (Joh 21:24 ). This is the first criticism of the Fourth Gospel of which we have any record, made at the time when the book was first sent forth, made in a postscript to the epilogue or appendix. Possibly the book closed first with Joh 20:31 , but chapter 21 is in precisely the same style and was probably added before publication by the author. The natural and obvious meaning of the language in Joh 21:24 is that the Beloved Disciple wrote the whole book. He is apparently still alive when this testimony to his authorship is given. There are scholars who interpret it to mean that the Beloved Disciple is responsible for the facts in the book and not the actual writer, but that is a manifest straining of the language. There is in this verse no provision made for a redactor as distinct from the witness as is plausibly set forth by Dr. A. E. Garvie in The Beloved Disciple (1922).
A PERSONAL WITNESS
It is manifest all through the book that the writer is the witness who is making the contribution of his personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry. In Joh 1:14 he plainly says that "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory" (etheasametha ten doxan autou). He here associates others with him in this witness to the glory of the Word, but in Joh 21:25 he employs the singular "I suppose" (oima) in sharp dis- tinction from the plural "we know" (oidamen) just before. The writer is present in nearly all the scenes described. The word witness (martureo, marturia) so common in this Gospel (Joh 1:7,8,19; 3:11,26,33; 5:31; 12:17; 21:24 , etc.) illustrates well this point of view. In the Gospel of Luke we have the work of one who was not a personal witness of Christ (Lu 1:1-4 ). In the Gospel of Matthew we possess either the whole work of a personal follower and apostle or at least the Logia of Matthew according to Papias preserved in it. In Mark's Gospel we have as the basis the preaching of Simon Peter as preserved by his interpreter John Mark. John's Gospel claims to be the personal witness of "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and as such deserves and has received exceptional esteem. One may note all through the book evidences of an eye-witness in the vivid details.
WITH A HOME IN JERUSALEM
It is not only that the writer was a Jew who knew accurately places and events in Palestine, once denied though now universally admitted. The Beloved Disciple took the mother of Jesus "to his own home" (eis ta idia, Joh 19:27 ) from the Cross when Jesus commended his mother to his care. But this Beloved Disciple had access to the palace of the high priest (Joh 18:15f. ). Delff (Das vierte Evangelium wiederhergestellt, 1890) argues that this fact shows that the Beloved Disciple was not one of the twelve apostles, one of a priestly family of wealth in Jerusalem. He does seem to have had special information concerning what took place in the Sanhedrin (Joh 7:45-52; 11:47-53; 12:10ff. ). But at once we are confronted with the difficulty of supposing one outside of the circle of the twelve on even more intimate terms with Jesus than the twelve themselves and who was even present at the last passover meal and reclined on the bosom of Jesus (Joh 13:23 ). Nor is this all, for he was one of the seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee (Joh 21:1ff. ) when Peter speaks to Jesus about the "Beloved Disciple" (Joh 21:20 ).
ONLY ONE JOHN OF EPHESUS
It is true that an ambiguous statement of Papias (circa A.D. 120) is contained in Eusebius where the phrase "the Elder John " (o presbuteros Ioannes) occurs. The most natural way to understand Papias is that he is referring to the Apostle John by this phrase as he describes the teachings of the apostles by "the words of the elders" just before. This interpretation of the allusion of Papias has been rendered almost certain by the work of Dom John Chapman, John the Presbyter and the Fourth Gospel (1911). Not before Eusebius is the error found of two Johns in Ephesus, one the apostle, the other the so-called Presbyter. "Papias is no witness for the admission of two Johns of Asia Minor. Irenaeus, too, in any case, knows of but one John of Asia Minor. And this John was an eye-witness of our Lord's Life" (Bousset, Die Offenbarumg des Joh., p. 38, translation of Nolloth, The Fourth Evangelist, p. 63, note). Let this be admitted and much becomes clear.
NO EARLY MARTYRDOM FOR THE APOSTLE JOHN
In 1862 a fragment of the Chronicle of Georgius Hamartolus, a Byzantine monk of the ninth century, was published. It is the Codex Coislinianus, Paris, 305, which differs from the other manuscripts of this author in saying that John according to Papias was slain by the Jews (upo Ioudaion aneirethe) while the other manuscripts say that John rested in peace (en eirene anepausato). The passage also quotes Eusebius to the effect that John received Asia as his sphere of work and lived and died in Ephesus. This same George the Sinner misquotes Origen about the death of John for Origen really says that the Roman king condemned him to the Isle of Patmos, not to death. Another fragment of Philip of Side, apparently used by Georgius, makes the same erroneous reference to Papias. It is therefore a worthless legend growing out of the martyrdom promised James and John by Jesus (Mr 10:39; Mt 20:23 ) and realized by James first of all (Ac 12:1f. ). John drank the cup in the exile to Patmos. The correction to Peter in Joh 21:20-23 would have no meaning if the Apostle John had already been put to death.
THE AUTHOR THE APOSTLE JOHN
Loisy (Le Quatr. Evangile, p. 132) says that if one takes literally what is given in the body of the Gospel of the Beloved Disciple he is bound to be one of the twelve. Loisy does not take it "literally." But why not? Are we to assume that the author of this greatest of books is playing a part or using a deliberate artifice to deceive? It may be asked why John does not use his own name instead of a nom de plume. Reference can be made to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, no one of which gives the author's name. One can see a reason for the turn here given since the book consists so largely of personal experiences of the author with Christ. He thus avoids the too frequent use of the personal pronoun and preserves the element of witness which marks the whole book. One by one the other twelve apostles disappear if we test their claims for the authorship. In the list of seven in chapter Joh 21 it is easy to drop the names of Simon Peter, Thomas, and Nathanael. There are left two unnamed disciples and the sons of Zebedee (here alone mentioned, not even named, in the book). John in this Gospel always means the Baptist. Why does the author so uniformly slight the sons of Zebedee if not one of them himself? In the Acts Luke does not mention his own name nor that of Titus his brother, though so many other friends of Paul are named. If the Beloved Disciple is John the Apostle, the silence about James and himself is easily understood. James is ruled out because of his early death (Ac 12:1 ). The evidence in the Gospel points directly to the Apostle John as the author.
EARLY AND CLEAR WITNESS TO THE APOSTLE JOHN
Ignatius (ad Philad. vii. 1) about A.D. 110 says of the Spirit that "he knows whence he comes and whither he is going," a clear allusion to Joh 3:8 . Polycarp (ad Phil. S 7) quotes 1Jo 4:2,3 . Eusebius states that Papias quoted First John. Irenaeus is quoted by Eusebius (H.E. V, 20) as saying that he used as a boy to hear Polycarp tell "of his intercourse with John and the others who had seen the Lord." Irenaeus accepted all our Four Gospels. Tatian made his Diatessaron out of the Four Gospels alone. Theophilus of Antioch (Ad Autol. ii. 22) calls John the author of the Fourth Gospel. This was about A.D. 180. The Muratorian Canon near the close of the second century names John as the author of the Fourth Gospel. Till after the time of Origen no opposition to the Johannine authorship appears outside of Marcion and the Alogi. No other New Testament book has stronger external evidence.
THE USE OF THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
As the latest of the Gospels and by the oldest living apostle, it is only natural that there should be an infrequent use of the Synoptic Gospels. Outside of the events of Passion Week and the Resurrection period the Fourth Gospel touches the Synoptic narrative in only one incident, that of the Feeding of the Five Thousand and the walking on the water. The author supplements the Synoptic record in various ways. He mentions two passovers not given by the other Gospels (Joh 2:23; 6:4 ) and another (Joh 5:1 ) may be implied. Otherwise we could not know certainly that the ministry of Jesus was more than a year in length. He adds greatly to our knowledge of the first year of our Lord's public ministry ("the year of obscurity," Stalker) without which we should know little of this beginning (Joh 1:19-4:45 ). The Synoptics give mainly the Galilean and Perean and Judean ministry, but John adds a considerable Jerusalem ministry which is really demanded by allusions in the Synoptics. The Prologue (Joh 1:1-18 ) relates the Incarnation to God's eternal purpose as in Col 1:14-20 and Heb 1:1-3 and employs the language of the intellectuals of the time (Logos -- Word) to interpret Christ as the Incarnate Son of God.
A DIFFERENT STYLE OF TEACHING
So different is it in fact that some men bluntly assert that Jesus could not have spoken in the same fashion as presented in the Synoptics and in the Fourth Gospel. Such critics need to recall the Socrates of Xenophon's Memorabilia and of Plato's Dialogues. There is a difference beyond a doubt, but there is also some difference in the reports in the Synoptics. Jesus for the most part spoke in Aramaic, sometimes in Greek, as to the great crowds from around Palestine (the Sermon on the Mount, for instance). There is the Logia of Jesus (Q of criticism) preserved in the non-Markan portions of Matthew and Luke besides Mark, and the rest of Matthew and Luke. Certain natural individualities are preserved. The difference is greater in the Fourth Gospel, because John writes in the ripeness of age and in the richness of his long experience. He gives his reminiscences mellowed by long reflection and yet with rare dramatic power. The simplicity of the language leads many to think that they understand this Gospel when they fail to see the graphic pictures as in chapters Joh 7-11 . The book fairly throbs with life. There is, no doubt, a Johannine style here, but curiously enough there exists in the Logia (Q) a genuine Johannine passage written long before the Fourth Gospel (Mt 11:25-30; Lu 10:21-24 ). The use of "the Father" and "the Son" is thoroughly Johannine. It is clear that Jesus used the Johannine type of teaching also. Perhaps critics do not make enough allowance for the versatility and variety in Jesus.
THE SAME STYLE IN THE DISCOURSES
It is further objected that there is no difference in style between the discourses of Jesus in John's Gospel and his own narrative style. There is an element of truth in this criticism. There are passages where it is not easy to tell where discourse ends and narrative begins. See, for instance, Joh 3:16-21 . Does the discourse of Jesus end with verse 15,16, or 21? So in Joh 12:44-50 . Does John give here a resume of Christ's teaching or a separate discourse? It is true also that John preserves in a vivid way the conversational style of Christ as in chapters 4,6,7,8,9. In the Synoptic Gospels this element is not so striking, but we do not have to say that John has done as Shakespeare did with his characters. Each Gospel to a certain extent has the colouring of the author in reporting the words of Jesus. An element of this is inevitable unless men are mere automata, phonographs, or radios. But each Gospel preserves an accurate and vivid picture of Christ. We need all four pictures including that of John's Gospel for the whole view of Christ.
HISTORICAL VALUE OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL
It is just here that the chief attack is made on the Fourth Gospel even by some who admit the Johannine authorship. It is now assumed by some that the Fourth Gospel is not on a par with the Synoptics in historical reliability and some harmonies omit it entirely or place it separately at the close, though certainly Tatian used it with the Synoptics in his Diatessaron, the first harmony of the Gospels. Some even follow Schmiedel in seeing only a symbolic or parabolic character in the miracles in the Fourth Gospel, particularly in the narrative of the raising of Lazarus in chapter Joh 11 which occurs here alone. But John makes this miracle play quite an important part in the culmination of events at the end. Clearly the author professes to be giving actual data largely out of his own experience and knowledge. It is objected by some that the Fourth Gospel gives an unnatural picture of Christ with Messianic claims at the very start. But the Synoptics give that same claim at the baptism and temptation, not to mention Luke's account of the Boy Jesus in the temple. The picture of the Jews as hostile to Jesus is said to be overdrawn in the Fourth Gospel. The answer to that appears in the Sermon on the Mount, the Sabbath miracles, the efforts of the Pharisees and lawyers to catch Jesus in his talk, the final denunciation in Mt 23 , all in the Synoptics. The opposition to Jesus grew steadily as he revealed himself more clearly. Some of the difficulties raised are gratuitous as in the early cleansing of the temple as if it could not have happened twice, confounding the draught of fishes in chapter Joh 21 with that in Lu 5 , making Mary of Bethany at the feast of a Simon in chapter Joh 12 the same as the sinful woman at the feast of another Simon in Lu 7 , making John's Gospel locate the last passover meal a day ahead instead of at the regular time as the Synoptics have it. Rightly interpreted these difficulties disappear. In simple truth, if one takes the Fourth Gospel at its face value, the personal recollections of the aged John phrased in his own way to supplement the narratives in the Synoptics, there is little left to give serious trouble. The Jerusalem ministry with the feasts is a case in point. The narrative of the call of the first disciples in chapter Joh 1 is another. The author followed Simon in bringing also his own brother James to Jesus. John was present in the appearance of Christ before Annas, and Pilate. He was at the Cross when no other apostles were there. He took the mother of Jesus to his home and then returned to the Cross. He saw the piercing of the side of Jesus. He knew and saw the deed of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. E. H. Askwith has a most helpful discussion of this whole problem in The Historical Value of the Fourth Gospel (1910).
LIKE THE JOHANNINE EPISTLES
Critics of all classes agree that, whoever was the author of the Fourth Gospel, the same man wrote the First Epistle of John. There is the same inimitable style, the same vocabulary, the same theological outlook. Undoubtedly the same author wrote also Second and Third John, for, brief as they are, they exhibit the same characteristics. In Second and Third John the author describes himself as "the Elder" (o presbuteros), which fact has led some to argue for the mythical "Presbyter John" as the author in place of the Apostle John and so of First John and the Fourth Gospel. It is argued that the Apostle John would have termed himself "the Apostle John" after the fashion of Paul. But the example of the Apostle Peter disposes of that argument, for in addressing the elders (1Pe 5:1 ) he calls himself "your fellow-elder" (o sunpresbuteros). In the Epistles John opposes Gnosticism both of the Docetic type which denied the actual humanity of Jesus as in 1Jo 1:1-4 and the Cerinthian type which denied the identity of the man Jesus and the aeon Christ which came on Jesus at his baptism and left him at his death on the Cross as in 1Jo 2:22 . One of the many stories told about John is his abhorrence of Cerinthus when found in the same public bath with him. As Westcott shows, the Epistles of John prove his actual humanity while assuming his deity, whereas the Fourth Gospel proves his deity while assuming his humanity.
BUT DIFFERENT FROM THE APOCALYPSE
It should be said at once that the Johannine authorship of the Fourth Gospel does not depend on that of the Apocalypse. In fact, some men hold to the Johannine authorship of the Apocalypse who deny that of the Gospel while some hold directly the opposite view. Some deny the Johannine authorship of both Gospel and Apocalypse, while the majority hold to the Johannine authorship of Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse as was the general rule till after the time of Origen. The author of the Apocalypse claims to be John (Re 1:4,9; 22:8 ), though what John he does not say. Denial of the existence of a "Presbyter John" naturally leads one to think of the Apostle John. Origen says that John, the brother of James, was banished to the Isle of Patmos where he saw the Apocalypse. There is undoubted radical difference in language between the Apocalypse and the other Johannine books which will receive discussion when the Apocalypse is reached. Westcott explained these differences as due to the early date of the Apocalypse in the reign of Vespasian before John had become master of the Greek language. Even J. H. Moulton (Prolegomena, p. 9, note 4) says bluntly: "If its date was 95 A.D., the author cannot have written the fourth Gospel only a short time after." Or before, he would say. But the date of the Apocalypse seems definitely to belong to the reign of Domitian. So one ventures to call attention to the statement in Ac 4:13 where Peter and John are described as agrammato ka idiota (unlettered and private or unschooled men). It is curious also that it is precisely in 2Peter and the Apocalypse that we have so many grammatical solecisms and peculiarities. We know that the Fourth Gospel was reviewed by a group of John's friends in Ephesus, while he was apparently alone in the Isle of Patmos. The excitement of the visions would naturally increase the uncouth vernacular of the Apocalypse so much like that in the Greek papyri as seen in Milligan's Greek Papyri, for instance. This being true, one is able, in spite of Moulton's dictum, to hold to the Johannine authorship of both Gospel and Apocalypse and not far apart in date.
THE UNITY OF THE GOSPEL
This has been attacked in various ways in spite of the identity of style throughout. There are clearly three parts in the Gospel: the Prologue, Joh 1:1-18 , the Body of the Book, Joh 1:19-20:31 , the Epilogue, Joh 21 . But there is no evidence that the Prologue was added by another hand, even though the use of Logos (Word) for Christ does not occur thereafter. This high conception of Christ dominates the whole book. Some argue that the Epilogue was added by some one else than John, but here again there is no proof and no real reason for the supposition. It is possible, as already stated, that John stopped at Joh 20:31 and then added Joh 21 before sending the book forth after his friends added Joh 21:24 as their endorsement of the volume. Some scholars claim that they detect various displacements in the arrangement of the material, but such subjective criticism is never convincing. There are undoubtedly long gaps in the narrative as between chapters 5 and 6, but John is not giving a continuous narrative, but only a supplementary account assuming knowledge of the Synoptics. It is held that editorial comments by redactors can be detected here and there. Perhaps, and perhaps not. The unity of this great book stands even if that be true.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE BOOK
The late Dr. C. F. Burney of Oxford wrote a volume called, The Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel (1922) in which he tried to prove that the Fourth Gospel is really the first in time and was originally written in Aramaic. The theory excited some interest, but did not convince either Aramaic or Greek scholars to an appreciable extent. Some of the examples cited are plausible and some quite fanciful. This theory cannot be appealed to in any serious interpretation of the Fourth Gospel. The author was beyond doubt a Jew, but he wrote in the Koine Greek of his time that is comparatively free from crude Semiticisms, perhaps due in part to the help of the friends in Ephesus.
THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK
He tells us himself in Joh 20:30f . He has made a selection of the many signs wrought by Jesus for an obvious purpose: "But these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name." This is the high and noble purpose plainly stated by the author. The book is thus confessedly apologetic and this fact ruins it with the critics who demand a dull and dry chronicle of events without plan or purpose in a book of history. Such a book would not be read and would be of little value if written. Each of the Synoptics is written with a purpose and every history or biography worth reading is written with a purpose. It is one thing to have a purpose in writing, but quite another to suppress or distort facts in order to create the impression that one wishes. This John did not do. He has given us his deliberate, mature, tested view of Jesus Christ as shown to him while alive and as proven since his resurrection. He writes to win others to like faith in Christ.
JOHN'S PORTRAIT OF CHRIST
No one questions that the Fourth Gospel asserts the deity of Christ. It is in the Prologue at the very start: "And the Word was God" (Joh 1:1 ) and in the correct text of Joh 1:18 , "God only begotten" (theos monogenes). It occurs repeatedly in the book as in the witness of the Baptist: "This is the Son of God" (Joh 1:34 ). It is in the charge of the Pharisees (Joh 5:18 ) and the claim of Christ himself (Joh 5:20-23; 6:48; 8:12,58; 11:25; 14:9; 17:5 ) with the full and frank conviction of the author in Joh 20:31 . He has made good his purpose. He has proven that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. With some critics this purpose has vitiated the entire book. The effort has been made to show that Paul, Peter, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Synoptics give a lower view of Christ without the term theos applied to him. In particular it was once argued that Q, the Logia of Jesus, used by Matthew and Luke (the non-Markan portions in both Matthew and Luke), gives a reduced picture of Jesus as on a lower plane than God, the Arian or Ritschlian view at any rate as answering for God to us though not God in actual nature. But in the Logia of Jesus we find the same essential picture of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Son of Man as I have shown in my The Christ of the Logia (1924). The only way to get rid of the deity of Christ in the New Testament is to throw overboard all the books in it as legendary or reflections of late theological development away from the original picture. The very earliest picture drawn of Christ that has been preserved to us, that in the Logia of Jesus (drawn W. M. Ramsay believes before Christ's crucifixion), is in essential agreement with the fully drawn portrait in the Fourth Gospel. Each picture in the Four Gospels adds touches of its own, but the features are the same, those of the God-Man Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. The brilliant blind preacher of Edinburgh, George Matheson, sees this clearly (Studies in the Portrait of the Messiah, 1900; St. John's Portrait of Christ, 1910).
A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RECENT
LITERATURE (SINCE 1880)
ABBOT, EZRA, On the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel (1880). ABBOT, PEABODY, and LIGHTFOOT, The Fourth Gospel (1891). ABBOTT, E.A., Johannine Vocabulary (1935). ,Johannine Grammar (1906). APPEL, Die Echtheit des Johannesevangeliums (1915). ASKWITH, E.H., The Historical Value of the Fourth Gospel (1910). BACON, B.W., The Fourth Gospel in Research and Debate (1910). BALDENSPERGER, W., Der Prolog des vierten Evangeliums (1898). BARTH, K., The Gospel of John and the Synoptic Gospels (1907). BAUER, W., Das Johannes-Evangelium. 2 Aufl. (1925). BELZER, Das Evangelium des heiligen Johannes (1905). BERNARD, J. H., Gospel according to St. John (2 vols., 1929), in Int. Crit. Comm. BERT, Das Evangelium des Johannes (1922). BLASS, F., Evangelium secundum Johannem (1902). BROOKE, A. E., The Historical Value of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge Biblical Essays, pp. 289 to 328. 1909). BURCH, VACHER, The Structure and Message of St. John's Gospel (1928). BURNEY, C. F., The Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel (1922). CALMES, L'Evangile selon S. Jean (1904). CANDLER, W. A., Practical Studies in the Gospel of John (3 vols,, 1912-15). CARPENTER, J. ESTLIN, The Johannine Writings (1927). CHAPMAN, DOM JOHN, John the Presbyter and the Fourth Gospel (1911). CHARNWOOD, LORD, According to St. John (1925). CLEMEN, C., Die Entstehung des Johannesevangeliums (1912). D'ALMA, La Controverse du quatrieme evangile (1908). ,Philo et le quotrieme evangile (1911). DAUSCH' Das Johannesevangelium (1909). DELFF, H., Das vierte Evangelium wiederhergestellt (1890). ,Neue Beitrage zur Kritik und Erklarung des vierten Evangeliums (1890). DODS, M., Expositor's Bible (2 vols., 1891). ,Expositor's Greek Testament (1897). DRUMMOND, JAMES, An Inquiry into the Character and Author- ship of the Fourth Gospel (1904). EVANS, H. H., St. John the Author of the Fourth Gospel (1888). EWALD, P., Das Hauptproblem der Evangelienfrage und der Weg zu seiner Losung (1890). FOUARD, S., Jean et la hn de l'age apostolique (1904). GARDNER, P., The Ephesian Gospel (1915). GARVIE, A. E., The Beloved Disciple (1922). GOBEL, Die Reden des Herrn nach Johannes (2 vols., 1906, 1910). GODET, F., Comm. on the Gospel of St. John (Tr., 2 vols., 1886--90). GOGUEL, M., Les sources du recit Johannique de la Passion (1910). ,Le quatrieme evangile (1924). GORDON, S. D., Quiet Talks on St. John's Gospel. GORE, C., Exposition of the Gospel of John (1920). GREEN, A. V., The Ephesian Canonical Writings (1910). GREGORY, C. R., Wellhausen und Johannes (1910). GRILL, J., Untersuchungen uber die Entstehung des vierten Evangeliums (1902). GUMBEL, Das Johannesevangelium Eine Erganzung des Lukas ev. (1911). HARRIS, J. RENDEL, The Origin of the Prologue to St. John's Gospel (1917). HAYES, D. A., John and His Writings (1917). HOERNLE, E. S., The Record of the Loved Disciple etc. (1913). HOLLAND, H. S., The Philosophy of Faith and the Fourth Gospel (1919). ,The Fourth Gospel (1923). HOLTZMANN, H. J., Evangelium, Briefe, und Offenbarung des Johannes. 3 Aufl. (1908). HOLTZMANN, Hand-Comm. 3 Aufl. von Bauer (1908). HOVEY, A. H., In American Comm. (1885). HOWARD, W. F., The Fourth Gospel in Recent Criticism and Interpretation (1931). IVERACH, JAMES, Gospel of John (Int. Stand. Bible Encycl.). JACKSON, H. L., The Fourth Gospel and Some Recent German Criticism (1906). ,The Problem of the Fourth Gospel (1918). JOHNSTON, J. S., The Philosophy of the Fourth Gospel (1909). KEISKER, The Inner Witness of the Fourth Gospel (1922). KREYENBUHL, Neue Losung der Johanneischen Frage (1905). LARFIELD, Die beide Johannes von Ephesus (1914). LEATHES, STANLEY, The Witness of St. John to Christ. LEPIN, L'origine du quatrieme evangile (1907; 1927). ,La valeur historique du quatrieme euangile (1910). LEWIS, F. G., The Irenaeus Testimony to the Fourth Gospel (1908). LEWIS, F. G., Disarrangements in the Fourth Gospel (1910). LIGHTFOOT, J. B., Biblical Essays (pages 1-198; I-III, 1893). LLOYD, J. P. D., The Son of Thunder (1932). LOISY, A., Le quatrieme evangile (1903). LOWRIE, The Doctrine of John (1899). LYMAN, MARY ELY, The Fourth Gospel and the Life of Today (1931). MANSON, W., The Incarnate Glory (1923). MAURICE, F. D., The Gospel of St. John (1906). McGREGoR, G. H., The Moffatt Commentary (1930). MONTGOMERY, J. A., The Origin of the Gospel According to St. John (1923). MOUSE, Johannes und Paulus (1915). MUIRHEAD, L. A., The Message of the Fourth Gospel (1925). NOLLOTH, C. F., The Fourth Evangelist (1925). NUNN, H. P. V., The Son of Zebedee and the Fourth Gospel (1927). ORR, JAMES, The Authenticity of St. John's Gospel Deduced from Internal Evidence. OVERBECK, Das Johannesevangelium (1911). PLUMMER, A., Cambridge Greek Testament (1913). REVILLE, J., Le quatrieme evangile (1901). REYNOLDS, H. R., Gospel of John (Hastings, D. B., 1899). RICHMOND, W., The Gospel of the Rejection (1906). ROBERTSON, A. T., The Divinity of Christ in the Gospel of John (1916). ROBINSON, A., The Historical Character of St. John's Gospel (1929). ROBINSON, B. W., The Gospel of John (1925). SANDAY, W., Criticism of the Fourth Gospel (1905). SCHLATTER, Die Sprache und Heimath des vierten Evangelisten (1903). SCHMIEDEL, P. W., The Johannine Writings (1908). SCOTT, E. F., The Fourth Gospel: Its Purpose and Theology (1906). SCOTT, E. F., The Historical and Religious Value of the Fourth Gospel (1903). SCOTT-MONCRIEFF, C. E., St. John, Apostle, Evangelist and Prophet (1909). SELBIE, W. B., Belief and Life: Studies in the Thought of the Fourth Gospel (1916). SMITH, J. R., The Teaching of the Fourth Gospel (1903). SMITH, P. V., The Fourth Gospel: Its Historical Importance (1926). SPEER, R. E., The Greatest Book in the World (1915). SPITTA, F., Das Johannesevangelium als Quelle der Geschichte Jesu (1910). STANGE, Die Eigenart des Johanneischen Produktion (1914). STANTON, V. H., The Fourth Gospel (Part III of Gospels as Hist. Documents, 1921). STEVENS, G. B., The Johannine Theology (1898). STRACHAN, R. H., Gospel of John (Hastings, D C G 1906). ,The Fourth Gospel: Its Significance and Environ- ment (1917). ,The Fourth Evangelist: Dramatist or Historian (1925). TILLMANN, FRITZ, Das Johannesevangelium Uebersetzt und Erklart (1931). VEDDER, H. C., The Johannine Writings and the Johannine Problems (1917). WARSCHAUER, J., The Problem of the Fourth Gospel. WATKINS, W. H., Modern Criticism Considered in its Rela- tion to the Fourth Gospel (1890). WATSON, H. A., The Mysticism of St. John's Gospel (1916). WEARING, The World View of the Fourth Gospel (1918). WEISS, B., Meyer Komm. 9 Aufl. (1902). ,Das Johannesevangelium als einheitliches Werk (1911). WELLHAUSEN, J., Das Evangelium Johannis (1908). WENDT, H. H., The Gospel according to St. John: An Inquiry into its Genesis and Historical Value (1911). ,Die Schichten im vierten Evangelium (1911). WESTCOTT, B. F., The Gospel according to St. John (2 vols., 1908). WHITELAW, The Gospel of John (1888). WINDISCH, H., Johannes und die Synoptiker (1927). WORSLEY, The Fourth Gospel and the Synoptists (1911). WREDE, W., Charakter und Tendenz del Johannesevangelium (1903). ZAHN, TH., _Dal Evangelium Johannis (1908). 6 Aufl. (1921).
John 1