Supernatural Religion, Vol. 2 (of 3) / An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation

"We shall now examine, in the same order, the witnesses already cited in connection with the Synoptics, and ascertain what evidence they furnish for the date and authenticity of the fourth Gospel

Apologists do not even allege that there is any reference to the fourth Gospel in the so-called Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians.(1)

A few critics(2) pretend to find a trace of it in the Epistle of Barnabas, in the reference to the brazen Serpent as a type of Jesus. Tischendorf states the case as follows:-

"And when in the same chapter xii. it is shown how Moses in the brazen serpent made a type of Jesus 'who should suffer (die) and yet himself make alive,' the natural inference is that Barnabas connected therewith John iii. 14, f. even if the use of this passage in particular cannot be proved. Although this connection cannot be affirmed, since the author of the Epistle, in this passage as in many others, may be independent, yet it is justifiable to ascribe the greatest probability to its dependence on the passage in John, as the tendency of the Epistle in no way required a particular leaning to the expression of John. The disproportionately more abundant use of express quotations from the Old Testament in Barnabas is, on the contrary, connected most intimately with the tendency of his whole composition."(1)

It will be observed that the suggestion of reference to the fourth Gospel is here advanced in a very hesitating way, and does not indeed go beyond an assertion of probability. We might, therefore, well leave the matter without further notice, as the reference in no case could be of any weight as evidence. On examination of the context, however, we find that there is every reason to conclude that the reference to the brazen serpent is made direct to the Old Testament. The author who delights in typology is bent upon showing that the cross is prefigured in the Old Testament. He gives a number of instances, involving the necessity for a display of ridiculous ingenuity of explanation, which should prepare us to find the comparatively simple type of the brazen serpent naturally selected. After pointing out that Moses, with his arms stretched out in prayer that the Israelites might prevail in the fight, was a type of the

cross, he goes on to say: "Again Moses makes a type of Jesus, that he must suffer and himself make alive [---], whom they will appear to have destroyed, in a figure, while Israel was falling;"(l) and connecting the circumstance that the people were bit by serpents and died with the transgression of Eve by means of the serpent, he goes on to narrate minutely the story of Moses and the brazen serpent, and then winds up with the words: "Thou hast in this the glory of Jesus; that in him are all things and for him."(2) No one can read the whole passage carefully without seeing that the reference is direct to the Old Testament.(3) There is no ground for supposing that the author was acquainted with the fourth Gospel.

To the Pastor of Hermas Tischendorf devotes only two lines, in which he states that "it has neither quotations from the Old nor from the New Testament."(4) Canon

Westcott makes the same statement,(1) but, unlike the German apologist, he proceeds subsequently to affirm that Hermas makes "clear allusions to St. John;" which few or no apologists support. This assertion he elaborates and illustrates as follows:-

"The view which Hermas gives of Christ's nature and work is no less harmonious with apostolic doctrine, and it offers striking analogies to the Gospel of St. John. Not only did the Son 'appoint angels to preserve each of those whom the Father gave to him;' but 'He himself toiled very much and suffered very much to cleanse our sins.... And so when he himself had cleansed the sins of the people, he showed them the paths of life by giving them the Law which he received from his. Father.'(2) He is 'a Rock higher than the mountains, able to hold the whole world, ancient, and yet having a new gate.'(3) 'His name is great and infinite, and the whole world is supported by him.'(4) 'He is older than Creation, so that he took counsel with the Father about the

creation which he made.'(1) 'He is the sole way of access to the Lord; and no one shall enter in unto him otherwise than by his Son.'"(2)

This is all Canon Westcott says on the subject.(3) He does not attempt to point out any precise portions of the fourth Gospel with which to compare these "striking analogies," nor does he produce any instances of similarity of language, or of the use of the same terminology as the Gospel in this apocalyptic allegory. It is evident that such evidence could in no case be of any value for the fourth Gospel.

When we examine more closely, however, it becomes certain that these passages possess no real analogy with the fourth Gospel, and were not derived from it. There is no part of them that has not close parallels in writings antecedent to our Gospel, and there is no use of terminology peculiar to it. The author does not even once use the term Logos. Canon Westcott makes no mention of the fact that the doctrine of the Logos and of the pre-existence of Jesus was enunciated long before the composition of the fourth Gospel, with almost equal clearness and fulness, and that its development can be traced through the Septuagint translation, the "Proverbs of Solomon," some of the Apocryphal works of the Old Testament, the writings of Philo, and in the Apocalypse, Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as the Pauline Epistles. To any one who examines the passages cited from the works of Hennas, and still more to any one acquainted with the history of the Logos doctrine, it will, we fear,

seem wasted time to enter upon any minute refutation of such imaginary "analogies." We shall, however, as briefly as possible refer to each passage quoted.

The first is taken from an elaborate similitude with regard to true fasting, in which the world is likened to a vineyard and, in explaining his parable, the Shepherd says: "God planted the vineyard, that is, he created the people and gave them to his Son: and the Son appointed his angels over them to keep them: and he himself cleansed their sins, having suffered many things and endured many labours.... He himself, therefore, having cleansed the sins of the people, showed them the paths of life by giving them the Law which he received from his Father."(1)

It is difficult indeed to find anything in this passage which is in the slightest degree peculiar to the fourth Gospel, or apart from the whole course of what is taught in the Epistles, and more especially the Epistle to the Hebrews. We may point out a few passages for comparison: Heb. i. 2-4; ii. 10-11; v. 8-9; vii. 12, 17-19; viii. 6-10; x. 10-16; Romans viii. 24-17; Matt. xxi. 33; Mark xii. 1; Isaiah v. 7, liii.

The second passage is taken from an elaborate parable on the building of the Church: [---] "And in the middle of the plain he showed me a great white rock which had risen out of the plain, and the rock was higher than the mountains, rectangular so as to be able to hold the whole world, but that rock was old having a gate [---] hewn out of it, and the hewing out of the gate [---] seemed to me to be recent."(2) Upon this rock the tower of the Church is built. Further on an explanation is given of the similitude, in which occurs another of the

passages referred to.[---] "This rock [---] and this gate [---] are the Son of God. 'How, Lord,' I said, 'is the rock old and the gate new?' 'Listen,' he said, 'and understand, thou ignorant man. [---] The Son of God is older than all of his creation [---], so that he was a councillor with the Father in his work of creation; and for this is he old.' [---] 'And why is the gate new, Lord?' I said; 'Because,' he replied, 'he was manifested at the last days [---] of the dispensation; for this cause the gate was made new, in order that they who shall be saved might enter by it into the kingdom of God.'"(1)

And a few lines lower down the Shepherd further explains, referring to entrance through the gate, and introducing another of the passages cited: [---] "'In this way,' he said, 'no one shall enter into the kingdom of God unless he receive his holy name. If, therefore, you cannot enter into the City unless through its gate, so also,' he said, 'a man cannot enter in any other way into the kingdom of God than by the name of his Son beloved by him'... 'and the gate [---] is the Son of God. This is the one entrance to the Lord.' In no other way, therefore, shall any one enter in to him, except through his Son."(2)

Now with regard to the similitude of a rock we need scarcely say that the Old Testament teems with it; and we need not point to the parable of the house built upon a rock in the first Gospel.(3) A more apt illustration is the famous saying with regard to Peter: "And upon this rock [---] I will build my Church," upon which

indeed the whole similitude of Hermas turns; and in 1 Cor. x. 4, we read: "For they drank of the Spiritual Rock accompanying them; but the Rock was Christ" [---]. There is no such similitude in the fourth Gospel at all.

We then have the "gate," on which we presume Canon Westcott chiefly relies. The parable in John x. 1-9 is quite different from that of Hermas,(1) and there is a persistent use of different terminology. The door into the sheepfold is always [---], the gate in the rock always [---]. "I am the door,"(2) [---] is twice repeated in the fourth Gospel. "The gate is the Son of God" [---] is the declaration of Hermas. On the other hand, there are numerous passages, elsewhere, analogous to that in the Pastor of Hermas. Every one will remember the injunction in the Sermon on the Mount: Matth. vii. 13, 14. "Enter in through the strait gate [---], for wide is the gate [---], &c., 14. Because narrow is the gate [---] and straitened is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."(3) The limitation to the one way of entrance into the kingdom of God: "by the name of his Son," is also found everywhere throughout the Epistles, and likewise in the Acts of the Apostles; as for instance: Acts iv. 12, "And there is no salvation in any other: for neither is there any other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

The reasons given why the rock is old and the gate new [---] have anything but special analogy with

3 Compare the account of the new Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 12

ff.; cf. xxii. 4, 14. In Simil. ix. 13, it is insisted that,

to enter into the kingdom, not only "his name" must be

borne, but that we must put on certain clothing.

the fourth Gospel. We are, on the contrary, taken directly to the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the pre-existence of Jesus is prominently asserted, and between which and the Pastor, as in a former passage, we find singular linguistic analogies. For instance, take the whole opening portion of Heb. i. 1: "God having at many times and in many manners spoken in times past to the fathers by the prophets, 2. At the end of these days [---] spake to us in the Son whom he appointed heir [---](1) of all things, by whom he also made the worlds, 3. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his substance, upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made by himself a cleansing of our sins sat down at the right hand of Majesty on high, 4. Having become so much better than the angels,"(2) &c., &c; and if we take the different clauses we may also find them elsewhere constantly repeated, as for instance: [---] The son older than all his creation: compare 2 Tim. i. 9, Colossiansi. 15 ("who is... the first born of all creation"-[---], 16, 17, 18, Rev. iii. 14, x. 6. The works of Philo are full of this representation of the Logos. For example: "For the Word of God is over all the universe, and the oldest and most universal of all things created" [---]

[---].(1) Again, as to the second clause, that he assisted the Father in the work of creation, compare Heb. ii. 10, i. 2, xi. 3, Rom. xi. 36, 1 Cor. viii. 6, Coloss. i. 15, 16.(2)

The only remaining passage is the following: "The name of the Son of God is great and infinite and supports the whole world." For the first phrase, compare 2 Tim. iv. 18, Heb. i. 8; and for the second part of the sentence, Heb. i. 3, Coloss. i. 17, and many other passages quoted above.(3)

The whole assertion(4) is devoid of foundation, and might well have been left unnoticed. The attention called to it, however, may not be wasted in observing the kind of evidence with which apologists are compelled to be content.

Tischendorf points out two passages in the Epistles of pseudo-Ignatius which, he considers, show the use of the fourth Gospel.(5) They are as follows-Epistle to the Romans vii.: "I desire the bread of God, the bread of

heaven, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ the son of God, who was born at a later time of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God [---], that is his blood, which is love incorruptible, and eternal life" [---].(1) This is compared with John vi. 41: "I am the bread which came down from heaven" 48.... "I am the bread of life," 51.... "And the bread that I will give is my flesh;" 54. "He who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life" [---]. Scholten has pointed out that the reference to Jesus as "born of the seed of David and Abraham" is not in the spirit of the fourth Gospel; and the use of [---] for the [---] of vi. 55, and [---]; instead of [---] are also opposed to the connection with that Gospel.(3) On the other hand, in the institution of the Supper, the bread is described as the body of Jesus, and the wine as his blood; and reference is made there, and elsewhere, to eating bread and drinking wine in the kingdom of God,(3) and the passage seems to be nothing but a development of this teaching.(4) Nothing could be proved by such an analogy.(5)

The second passage referred to by Tischendorf is in the Epistle to the Philadelphians vii.: "For if some

would have led me astray according to the flesh, yet the Spirit is not led astray, being from God, for it knoweth whence it cometh and whither it goeth, and detecteth the things that are hidden."(1) Teschendorf considers that these words are based upon John iii. 6-8, and the last phrase: "And detecteth the hidden things," upon verse 20. The sense of the Epistle, however, is precisely the reverse of that of the Gospel, which reads: "The wind bloweth where it listeth; and thou hearest the sound thereof but knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit;"(3) whilst the Epistle does not refer to the wind at all, but affirms that the Spirit of God does know whence it cometh, &c. The analogy in verse 20 is still more remote: "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be detected."(3) In 1 Cor. ii. 10, the sense is found more closely: "For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, even the deep things of God."(4) It is evidently unreasonable to assert from such a passage the use of the fourth Gospel.(5) Even Tischendorf recognizes that in themselves the phrases which he points out in pseudo-Ignatius could not, unsupported by other corroboration, possess much weight as testimony for the use of our Gospels. He says: "Were these allusions of Ignatius to Matthew and John a wholly isolated phenomenon, and one which perhaps other undoubted results

of inquiry wholly contradicted, they would hardly have any conclusive weight. But-."(1) Canon Westcott says: "The Ignatian writings, as might be expected, are not without traces of the influence of St. John. The circumstances in which he was placed required a special enunciation of Pauline doctrine; but this is not so expressed as to exclude the parallel lines of Christian thought. Love is 'the stamp of the Christian.' (Ad Magn. v.) 'Faith is the beginning and love the end of life.' (Ad Ephes. xiv.) 'Faith is our guide upward' [---], but love is the road that 'leads to God.' (Ad Eph. ix.) 'The Eternal [---] Word is the manifestation of God' (Ad Magn. viii.), 'the door by which we come to the Father' (Ad Philad. ix., cf. John x. 7), 'and without Him we have not the principle of true life' (Ad Trail, ix.: [---]. cf. Ad Eph. iii.: [---]. The true meat of the Christian is the 'bread of God, the bread of heaven, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ,' and his drink is 'Christ's blood, which is love incorruptible' (Ad Rom. vii., cf. John vi. 32, 51, 53). He has no love of this life; 'his love has been crucified, and he has in him no burning passion for the world, but living water (as the spring of a new life) speaking within him, and bidding him come to his Father' (Ad Rom. 1. c). Meanwhile his enemy is the enemy of his Master, even the 'ruler of this age.' (Ad Rom. 1. c, [---]. Cf. John xii. 31, xvi. 11: [---] and see 1 Cor. ii. 6, 8.(2))"

Part of these references we have already considered;

others of them really do not require any notice whatever, and the only one to which we need to direct our attention for a moment may be the passage from the Epistle to the Philadelphians ix., which reads: "He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the prophets, and the apostles, and the Church."(l) This is compared with John x. 7. "Therefore said Jesus again: Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the Sheep" [---]. We have already referred, a few pages back,(2) to the image of the door. Here again it is obvious that there is a marked difference in the sense of the Epistle from that of the Gospel. In the latter Jesus is said to be the door into the Sheepfold;(3) whilst in the Epistle, he is the door into the Father, through which not only the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles enter, but also the Church itself. Such distant analogy cannot warrant the conclusion that the passage shows any acquaintance with the fourth Gospel.(4) As for the other phrases, they are not only without special bearing upon the fourth Gospel, but they are everywhere found in the canonical Epistles, as well as elsewhere. Regarding love and faith, for instance, compare Gal. v. 6, 14, 22; Rom. xii. 9, 10, viii. 39, xiii. 9; 1 Cor. ii. 9, viii. 3; Ephea iii. 17, v. 1, 2, vi. 23; Philip, i. 9, ii. 2; 2 Thess. iii. 5; 1 Tim. i. 14, vi. 11; 2 Tim. i. 13; Heb. x. 38 f., xi., &c., &c.

We might point out many equally close analogies in

the works of Philo,(1) but it is unnecessary to do so, although we may indicate one or two which first present themselves. Philo equally has "the Eternal Logos" [---],(2) whom he represents as the manifestation of God in every way. "The Word is the likeness of God, by whom the universe was created" [---].(3) He is "the vicegerent" [---] of God,(4) "the heavenly incorruptible food of the soul," "the bread [---] from heaven." In one place he says: "and they who inquired what is the food of the soul... learnt at last that it is the Word of God, and the Divine Logos.... This is the heavenly nourishment, and it is mentioned in the holy Scriptures... saying, 'Lo! I rain upon you bread [---] from heaven.' (Exod. xvi. 4.) 'This is the bread [---] which the Lord has given them to eat'" (Exod. xvi. 15).(5) And again: "For the one indeed raises his eyes towards the sky, contemplating the manna, the divine Word, the heavenly incorruptible food of the longing soul."(6) Elsewhere: "... but it is

taught by the Hierophant and Prophet Moses, who will say: 'This is the bread [---], the nourishment which God gave to the soul'-that he offered his own Word and his own Logos; for this is bread [---] which he has given us to eat, this is the Word [---]."(1) He also says: "Therefore he exhorts him that can run swiftly to strive with breathless eagerness towards the Divine Word who is above all things, the fountain of Wisdom, in order that by drinking of the stream, instead of death he may for his reward obtain eternal life"(2) It is the Logos who guides us to the Father, God "by the same Logos both creating all things and leading up [---] the perfect man from the things of earth to himself."(3) These are very imperfect examples, but it may be asserted that there is not a representation of the Logos in the fourth Gospel which has not close parallels in the works of Philo.

We have given these passages of the pseudo-Ignatian Epistles which are pointed out as indicating acquaintance with the fourth Gospel, in order that the whole case might be stated and appreciated. The analogies are too distant to prove anything, but were they fifty times more close, they could do little or nothing to establish an early origin for the fourth Gospel, and nothing at all to elucidate the question as to its character and authorship.(4)

4 In general the Epistles follow the Synoptic narratives,

and not the account of the fourth Gospel. See for instance

the reference to the anointing of Jesus, Ad Eph. xvii., cf.

Matt. xxvi. 7 ff.; Mark ziy. 3 flf.; cf. John xii. 1 ff.

The Epistles in which the passages occur are spurious and of no value as evidence for the fourth Gospel. Only-one of them is found in the three Syriac Epistles. We have already stated the facts connected with the so-called Epistles of Ignatius,(1) and no one who has attentively examined them can fail to see that the testimony of such documents cannot be considered of any historic weight, except for a period when evidence of the use of the fourth Gospel ceases to be of any significance.

There are fifteen Epistles ascribed to Ignatius-of these eight are universally recognized to be spurious. Of the remaining seven, there are two Greek and Latin versions, the one much longer than the other. The longer version is almost unanimously rejected as interpolated. The discovery of a still shorter Syriac version of "the three Epistles of Ignatius," convinced the majority of critics that even the shorter Greek version of seven Epistles must be condemned, and that whatever matter could be ascribed to Ignatius himself, if any, must be looked for in these three Epistles alone. The three martyrologies of Ignatius are likewise universally repudiated as mere fictions. From such a mass of forgery, in which it is impossible to identify even a kernel of truth, no testimony could be produced which could in any degree establish the apostolic origin and authenticity of our Gospels.

It is not pretended that the so-called Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians contains any references to the fourth Gospel. Tischendorf, however, affirms that it is weighty testimony for that Gospel, inasmuch as he discovers in it a certain trace of the first "Epistle of

John," and as he maintains that the Epistle and the Gospel are the works of the same author, any evidence for the one is at the same time evidence for the other.(1) We shall hereafter consider the point of the common authorship of the Epistles and fourth Gospel, and here confine ourselves chiefly to the alleged fact of the reference.

The passage to which Teschendorf alludes we subjoin, with the supposed parallel in the Epistle.[---]

This passage does not occur as a quotation, and the utmost that can be said of the few words with which it opens is that a phrase somewhat resembling, but at the same time materially differing from, the Epistle of John is interwoven with the text of the Epistle to the Philippians. If this were really a quotation from the canonical Epistle, it would indeed be singular that, considering the supposed relations of Polycarp and John, the name of the apostle should not have been mentioned, and a quotation have been distinctly and correctly made.(1) On the other hand, there is no earlier trace of the canonical Epistle, and, as Volkmar argues, it may well be doubted whether it may not rather be dependent on the Epistle to the Philippians, than the latter upon the Epistle of John.(2)

We believe with Scholten that neither is dependent on the other, but that both adopted a formula in use in the early Church against various heresies,3 the superficial coincidence of which is without any weight as evidence for the use of either Epistle by the writer of the other. Moreover, it is clear that the writers refer to different classes of heretics. Polycarp attacks the Docet? who deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that is with a human body of flesh and blood; whilst the Epistle of John is directed against those who deny that Jesus who has come in the flesh is the

Christ the Son of God.(1) Volkmar points out that in Polycarp the word "Antichrist" is made a proper name, whilst in the Epistle the expression used is the abstract "Spirit of Antichrist." Polycarp in fact says that whoever denies the flesh of Christ is no Christian but Antichrist, and Volkmar finds this direct assertion more original than the assertion of the Epistle; "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God,"(2) &c. In any case it seems to us clear that in both writings we have only the independent enunciation, with decided difference of language and sense, of a formula current in the Church, and that neither writer can be held to have originated the condemnation, in these words, of heresies which the Church had begun vehemently to oppose, and which were merely an application of ideas already well known, as we see from the expression of the Epistle in reference to the "Spirit of Antichrist, of which ye have heard that it cometh." Whether this phrase be an allusion to the Apocalypse xiii., or to 2 Thessalonians ii., or to traditions current in the Church, we need not inquire; it is sufficient that the Epistle of John avowedly applies a prophecy regarding Antichrist already known amongst Christians, which was equally open to the other writer and probably familiar in the Church. This cannot under any circumstances be admitted as evidence of weight for the use of the 1st Epistle of John. There is no testimony whatever of the existence of the Epistles ascribed to John previous to this date, and that fact would have to

be established on sure grounds before the argument we are considering can have any value.

On the other hand, we have already seen(1) that there is strong reason to doubt the authenticity of the Epistle attributed to Polycarp, and a certainty that in any case it is, in its present form, considerably interpolated. Even if genuine in any part, the use of the 1st Epistle of John, if established, could not be of much value as evidence for the fourth Gospel, of which the writing does not show a trace. So far from there being any evidence that Polycarp knew the fourth Gospel, however, everything points to the opposite conclusion. About A.D. 154-155 we find him taking part in the Paschal controversy,(2) contradicting the statements of the fourth Gospel,(3) and supporting the Synoptic view, contending that the Christian festival should be celebrated on the 14th Nisan, the day on which he affirmed that the Apostle John himself had observed it.(4) Iren?us, who represents Polycarp as the disciple of John, says of him: "For neither was Anicetus able to persuade Polycarp not to observe it (on the 14th) because he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord, and with the rest of the apostles with whom he consorted."(5) Not only, therefore, does Polycarp not refer to the fourth Gospel, but he is on the

2 The date has, hitherto, generally been fixed at A.D. 160,

but the recent investigations referred to in vol. i. p. 274

f. have led to the adoption of this earlier date, and the

visit to Rome must, therefore, probably have taken place

just after the accession of Anicetus to the Roman bishopric.

Cf. Lipsius, Zeitschr. w. Theol. 1874, p. 205 f.

contrary an important witness against it as the work of John, for he represents that apostle as practically contradicting the Gospel of which he is said to be the author.

The fulness with which we have discussed the character of the evangelical quotations of Justin Martyr renders the task of ascertaining whether his works indicate any acquaintance with the fourth Gospel comparatively easy. The detailed statements already made enable us without preliminary explanation directly to attack the problem, and we are freed from the necessity of making extensive quotations to illustrate the facts of the case.

Whilst apologists assert with some boldness that Justin made use of our Synoptics, they are evidently, and with good reason, less confident in maintaining his acquaintance with the fourth Gospel. Canon Westcott states: "His references to St John are uncertain; but this, as has been already remarked, follows from the character of the fourth Gospel. It was unlikely that he should quote its peculiar teaching in apologetic writings addressed to Jews and heathens; and at the same time he exhibits types of language and doctrine which, if not immediately drawn from St. John, yet mark the presence of his influence and the recognition of his authority."(1) This apology for the neglect of the fourth Gospel

illustrates the obvious scantiness of the evidence furnished by Justin.

Tischendorf, however, with his usual temerity, claims Justin as a powerful witness for the fourth Gospel. He says: "According to our judgment there are convincing grounds of proof for the fact that John also was known and used by Justin, provided that an unprejudiced consideration be not made to give way to the antagonistic predilection against the Johannine Gospel." In order fully and fairly to state the case which he puts forward, we shall quote his own words, but to avoid repetition we shall permit ourselves to interrupt him by remarks and by parallel passages from other writings for comparison with Justin. Tischendorf says: "The representation of the person of Christ altogether peculiar to John as it is given particularly in his Prologue i. 1 (" In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"), and verse 14 ("and the word became flesh"), in the designation of him as Logos, as the Word of God, unmistakably re-echoes in not a few passages in Justin; for instance:(1) 'And Jesus Christ is alone the special Son begotten by God, being his Word and first-begotten and power.'"(2)

With this we may compare another passage of Justin from the second Apology. "But his son, who alone is rightly called Son, the Word before the works of creation,

1 Tischendorf uses great liberty in translating some of

these passages, abbreviating and otherwise altering them as

it suits him. We shall therefore give his German translation

below, and we add the Greek which Tischendorf does not

quote-indeed he does not, in most cases, even state where

the passages are to be found.

who was both with him and begotten when in the beginning he created and ordered all things by him,"(1) &c.

Now the same words and ideas are to be found throughout the Canonical Epistles and other writings, as well as in earlier works. In the Apocalypse,(2) the only book of the New Testament mentioned by Justin, and which is directly ascribed by him to John,(3) the term Logos is applied to Jesus "the Lamb," (xix. 13): "and his name is called the Word of God" [---]. Elsewhere (iii. 14) he is called "the Beginning of the Creation of God" [---]; and again in the same book (i. 5) he is "the first-begotten of the dead" [---]. In Heb. i 6 he is the "first-born" [---], as in Coloss. i. 15 he is "the first-born of every creature" [---]; and in 1 Cor. i. 24 we have: "Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God"[---], and it will be remembered that "Wisdom" was the earlier term which became an alternative with "Word" for the intermediate Being. In Heb. i. 2, God is represented as speaking to us "in the Son.... by whom he also made the worlds" [---]. In 2 Tim. i. 9, he is "before all worlds" [---], cf. Heb. L 10, ii. 10, Kom. xi. 36, 1 Cor. viii. 6, Ephes. iii. 9.

The works of Philo are filled with similar representations of the Logos, but we must restrict ourselves to a very

few. God as a Shepherd and King governs the universe "having appointed his true Logos, his first begotten Son, to have the care of this sacred flock, as the Vicegerent of-a great King."(1) In another place Philo exhorts men to strive to become like God's "first begotten Word" [---],(2) and he adds, a few lines further on: "for the most ancient Word is the image of God" [---]. The high priest of God in the world is "the divine Word, his first-begotten son" [---].(3) Speaking of the creation of the world Philo says: "The instrument by which it was formed is the Word of God" [---].(4) Elsewhere: "For the Word is the image of God by which the whole world was created" [---].(5) These passages might be indefinitely multiplied.

Tischendorf's next passage is: "The first power [---] after the Father of all and God the Lord, and Son, is the Word [---]; in what manner having been made flesh [---] he became man, we shall in what follows relate."(6)

We find everywhere parallels for this passage without seeking them in the fourth Gospel. In 1 Cor. i. 24, "Christ the Power [---] of God and the Wisdom of God;" cf. Heb. i. 2, 3, 4, 6, 8; ii. 8. In Heb. ii. 14-18, there is a distinct account of his becoming flesh; cf. verse 7. In Phil. ii. 6-8: "Who (Jesus Christ) being in the form of God, deemed it not grasping to be equal with God, (7) But gave himself up, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men," &c. In Rom. viii. 3 we have: "God sending his own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin," &c. [---] It must be borne in mind that the terminology of John i. 14, "and the word became flesh" [---] is different from that of Justin, who uses the word [---]. The sense and language here is, therefore, quite as close as that of the fourth Gospel We have also another parallel in 1 Tim. iii. 16, "Who (God) was manifested in the flesh" [---], cf. 1 Cor. xv. 4, 47.

In like manner we find many similar passages in the Works of Philo. He says in one place that man was not made in the likeness of the most high God the Father of the universe, but in that of the "Second God who is his Word" [---].(1) In another place the Logos is said to be the interpreter of the highest God, and he continues: "that must be God of us imperfect beings" [---].(2)

Elsewhere he says: "But the

divine Word which is above these (the Winged Cherubim).... but being itself the image of God, at once the most ancient of all conceivable things, and the one placed nearest to the only true and absolute existence without any separation or distance between them ";(1) and a few lines further on he explains the cities of refuge to be: "The Word of the Governor (of all things) and his creative and kingly power, for of these are the heavens and the whole world."(2) "The Logos of God is above all things in the world, and is the most ancient and the most universal of all things which are."(3) The Word is also the "Ambassador sent by the Governor (of the universe) to his subject (man)" [---].(4) Such views of the Logos are everywhere met with in the pages of Philo.

Tischendorf continues: "The Word (Logos) of God is his Son."(5) We have already in the preceding paragraphs abundantly illustrated this sentence, and may proceed to the next: "But since they did not know all things concerning the Logos, which is Christ, they have frequently contradicted each other."(6) These words are

used with reference to Lawgivers and philosophers. Justin, who frankly admits the delight he took in the writings of Plato(1) and other Greek philosophers, held the view that Socrates and Plato had in an elementary form enunciated the doctrine of the Logos,(2) although he contends that they borrowed it from the writings of Moses, and with a largeness of mind very uncommon in the early Church, and indeed, we might add, in any age, he believed Socrates and such philosophers to have been Christians, even although they had been considered Atheists.(3) As they did not of course know Christ to be the Logos, he makes the assertion just quoted. Now the only point in the passage which requires notice is the identification of the Logos with Jesus, which has already been dealt with, and as this was asserted in the Apocalypse xix. 13, before the fourth Gospel was written, no evidence in its favour is deducible from the statement. We shall have more to say regarding this presently.

Tischendorf continues: "But in what manner through the Word of God, Jesus Christ our Saviour having been made flesh,"(4) &c.

It must be apparent that the doctrine here is not that of the fourth Gospel which makes "the word become flesh" simply, whilst Justin, representing a less advanced form, and more uncertain stage, of its development, draws a distinction between the Logos and Jesus, and describes Jesus Christ as being made flesh by the power

of the Logos. This is no accidental use of words, for he repeatedly states the same fact, as for instance: "But why through the power of the Word, according to the will of God the Father and Lord of all, he was born a man of a Virgin,"(1) &c.

Tischendorf continues: "To these passages out of the short second Apology we extract from the first (cap. 33).(2) By the Spirit, therefore, and power of God (in reference to Luke i. 35: 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee') we have nothing else to understand but the Logos, which is the first-born of God."(3)

Here again we have the same difference from the doctrine of the fourth Gospel which we have just pointed out, which is, however, so completely in agreement with the views of Philo,(4) and characteristic of a less developed form of the idea. We shall further refer to the terminology hereafter, and meantime we proceed to the last illustration given by Tischendorf.

"Out of the Dialogue (c. 105): 'For that he was the only-begotten of the Father of all, in peculiar wise begotten of him as Word and Power [---], and afterwards became man through the Virgin, as we have learnt from the Memoirs, I have already stated.'"(5)

The allusion here is to the preceding chapters of the Dialogue, wherein, with special reference (c. 100) to the passage which has a parallel in Luke i. 35, quoted by Tischendorf in the preceding illustration, Justin narrates the birth of Jesus.

This reference very appropriately leads us to a more general discussion of the real source of the terminology and Logos doctrine of Justin. We do not propose, in this work, to enter fully into the history of the Logos doctrine, and we must confine ourselves strictly to showing, in the most simple manner possible, that not only is there no evidence whatever that Justin derived his ideas regarding it from the fourth Gospel, but that, on the contrary, his terminology and doctrine may be traced to another source. Now, in the very chapter (100) from which this last illustration is taken, Justin shows clearly whence he derives the expression: "only-begotten."

In chap. 97 he refers to the Ps. xxii. (Sept. xxi.) as a prophecy applying to Jesus, quotes the whole Psalm, and comments upon it in the following chapters; refers to Ps. ii. 7: "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee," uttered by the voice at the baptism, in ch. 103, in illustration of it; and in ch. 105 he arrives, in his exposition of it, at Verse 20: "Deliver my soul from the sword, and my(1) only-begotten [---] from the hand of the dog." Then follows the passage we are discussing, in which Justin affirms that

1 This should probably be "thy."

he has proved that he was the only-begotten [---] of the Father, and at the close he again quotes the verse as indicative of his sufferings. The Memoirs are referred to in regard to the fulfilment of this prophecy, and his birth as man through the Virgin. The phrase in Justin is quite different from that in the fourth Gospel, i. 14: "And the Word became flesh [---] and tabernacled among us, find we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father" [---], &c.

In Justin he is "the only-begotten of the Father of all" [---], and he "became man [---] through the Virgin," and Justin never once employs the peculiar terminology of the fourth Gospel, [---], in any part of his writings.

There can be no doubt that, however the Christian doctrine of the Logos may at one period of its development have been influenced by Greek philosophy, it was in its central idea mainly of Jewish origin, and the mere application to an individual of a theory which had long occupied the Hebrew mind. After the original simplicity which represented God as holding personal intercourse with the Patriarchs, and communing face to face with the great leaders of Israel, had been outgrown, an increasing tendency set in to shroud the Divinity in impenetrable mystery, and to regard him as unapproachable and undiscernible by man. This led to the recognition of a Divine representative and substitute of the Highest God and Father, who communicated with his creatures, and through whom alone he revealed himself. A new system of interpretation of the ancient traditions of the nation was rendered necessary, and in the Septuagint translation of the Bible we are fortunately able to trace

the progress of the theory which culminated in the Christian doctrine of the Logos. Wherever in the sacred records God had been represented as holding intercourse with man, the translators either symbolized the appearance or interposed an angel, who was afterwards understood to be the Divine Word. The first name under which the Divine Mediator was known in the Old Testament was Wisdom [---], although in its Apocrypha the term Logos was not unknown. The personification of the idea was very rapidly effected, and in the Book of Proverbs, as well as in the later Apocrypha based upon it: the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Sirach, "Ecclesiasticus:" we find it in ever increasing clearness and concretion. In the School of Alexandria the active Jewish intellect eagerly occupied itself with the speculation, and in the writings of Philo especially we find the doctrine of the Logos-the term which by that time had almost entirely supplanted that of Wisdom-elaborated to almost its final point, and wanting little or nothing but its application in an incarnate form to an individual man to represent the doctrine of the earlier Canonical writings of the New Testament, and notably the Epistle to the Hebrews,-the work of a Christian Philo,(1)-the Pauline Epistles, and lastly the fourth Gospel(2)

In Proverbs viii. 22 ff., we have a representation of Wisdom corresponding closely with the prelude to the fourth Gospel, and still more so with the doctrine enunciated by Justin: 22. "The Lord created me the Beginning of his ways for his works. 23. Before the ages he established me, in the beginning before he made the earth. 24. And before he made the abysses, before the springs of the waters issued forth. 25. Before the mountains were settled, and before all the hills he begets me. 26. The Lord made the lands, both those which are uninhabited and the inhabited heights of the earth beneath the sky. 27. When he prepared the heavens I was present with him, and when he set his throne upon the winds, 28, and made strong the high clouds, and the deeps under the heaven made secure, 29, and made strong the foundations of the earth, 30, I was with him adjusting, I was that in which he delighted; daily I rejoiced in his presence at all times."(1) In the "Wisdom of Solomon" we find the writer addressing God: ix. 1... "Who madest all things by thy Word" [---]; and further on in the same chapter, v. 9, "And Wisdom was with thee who knoweth thy works, and was present when thou madest the world, and knew what was acceptable

in thy sight, and right in thy commandments. "(1) In verse 4, the writer prays: "Give me Wisdom that sitteth by thy thrones" [---].(2) In a similar way the son of Sirach makes Wisdom say (Ecclesiast. xxiv. 9): "He (the Most High) created me from the beginning before the world, and as long as the world I shall not fail."(3) We have already incidentally seen how these thoughts grew into an elaborate doctrine of the Logos in the works of Philo.

Now Justin, whilst he nowhere adopts the terminology of the fourth Gospel, and nowhere refers to its introductory condensed statement of the Logos doctrine, closely follows Philo and, like him, traces it back to the Old Testament in the most direct way, accounting for the interposition of the divine Mediator in precisely the same manner as Philo, and expressing the views which had led the Seventy to modify the statement of the Hebrew original in their Greek translation. He is, in fact, thoroughly acquainted with the history of the Logos doctrine and its earlier enunciation under the symbol of Wisdom, and his knowledge of it is clearly independent of, and antecedent to, the statements of the fourth Gospel.

Referring to various episodes of the Old Testament in which God is represented as appearing to Moses and the Patriarchs, and in which it is said that "God went up from Abraham,"(4) or "The Lord spake to Moses,"(5) or "The Lord came down to behold the town," &c.,(6) or "God

shut Noah into the ark,"(1) and so on, Justin warns his antagonist that he is not to suppose that "the unbegotten God" [---] did any of these things, for he has neither to come to any place, nor walks, but from his own place, wherever it may be, knows everything although he has neither eyes nor ears. Therefore he. could not talk with anyone, nor be seen by anyone, and none of the Patriarchs saw the Father at all, but they saw "him who was according to his will both his Son (being God) and the Angel, in that he ministered to his purpose, whom also he willed to be born man by the Virgin, who became fire when he spoke with Moses from the bush."(2) He refers throughout his writings to the various appearances of God to the Patriarchs, all of which he ascribes to the pre-existent Jesus, the Word,(3) and in the very next chapter, after alluding to some of these, he says: "he is called Angel because he came to men, since by him the decrees of the Father are announced to men... At other times he is also called Man and human being, because he appears clothed in these forms as the Father wills, and they call him Logos because

he bears the communications of the Father to mankind."(1)

Justin, moreover, repeatedly refers to the fact that he was called Wisdom by Solomon, and quotes the passage we have indicated in Proverbs. In one place he says, in proof of his assertion that the God who appeared to Moses and the Patriarchs was distinguished from the Father, and was in fact the Word (ch. 66-70): "Another testimony I will give you, my friends, I said, from the Scriptures that God begat before all of the creatures [---] a Beginning [---],(2) a certain rational Power [---] out of himself, who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the Lord, then the Son, again Wisdom, again Angel, again God, and again Lord and Logos;" &c., and a little further on: "The Word of Wisdom will testify to me, who is himself this God begotten of the Father of the universe, being Word, and Wisdom, and Power [---], and the Glory of the Begetter," &c.,(3) and he quotes, from the Septuagint version, Proverbs viii. 22-36, part of which we have given above, and indeed, elsewhere (ch. 129), he quotes the passage a second time as evidence, with a similar context. Justin refers to it

again in the next chapter, and the peculiarity of his terminology in all these passages, so markedly different from, and indeed opposed to, that of the fourth Gospel, will naturally strike the reader: "But this offspring [---] being truly brought forth by the Father was with the Father before all created beings [---], and the Father communes with him, as the Logos declared through Solomon, that this same, who is called Wisdom by Solomon, had been begotten of God before all created beings [---], both Beginning [---] and Offspring [---]," &C.(1) In another place after quoting the words: "No man knoweth the Father but the Son, nor the Son but the Father, and they to whom the Son will reveal him," Justin continues: "Therefore he revealed to us all that we have by his grace understood out of the Scriptures, recognizing him to be indeed the first-begotten [---] of God, and before all creatures [---].... and calling him Son, we have understood that he proceeded from the Father by his power and will before all created beings [---], for in one form or another he is spoken of in the writings of the prophets as Wisdom," &c.;(2) and again, in two other places he refers to the same fact.(3) On further examination, we find on every side still

stronger confirmation of the conclusion that Justin derived his Logos doctrine from the Old Testament and Philo, together with early New Testament writings. We have quoted several passages in which Justin details the various names of the Logos, and we may add one more. Referring to Ps. lxxii., which the Jews apply to Solomon, but which Justin maintains to be applicable to Christ, he says: "For Christ is King, and Priest, and God, and Lord, and Angel, and Man, and Captain, and Stone, and a Son born [---], &c. &c., as I prove by all of the Scriptures."(1) Now these representations, which are constantly repeated throughout Justin's writings, are quite opposed to the Spirit of the fourth Gospel, but are on the other hand equally common in the works of Philo, and many of them also to be found in the Philonian Epistle to the Hebrews. Taking the chief amongst them we may briefly illustrate them. The Logos as King, Justin avowedly derives from Ps. lxxii., in which he finds that reference is made to the "Everlasting King, that is to say Christ."(2) We find this representation of the Logos throughout the writings of Philo. In one place already briefly referred to,(3) but which we shall now more fully quote, he says: "For God as Shepherd and King governs according to Law and justice like a flock of sheep, the earth, and water, and air, and fire, and all the plants and living things that are in them, whether they be mortal or divine, as well as the course of heaven, and the periods of sun and moon, and the variations and harmonious revolutions of the other stars; having appointed his true Word [---]

[---] his first-begotten Son [---] to have the care of this sacred flock as the Vicegerent of a great King;"(1) and a little further on, he says: "very reasonably, therefore, he will assume the name of a King, being addressed as a Shepherd."(2) In another place, Philo speaks of the "Logos of the Governor, and his creative and kingly power, for of these is the heaven and the whole world."(3)

Then if we take the second epithet, the Logos as Priest [---], which is quite foreign to the fourth Gospel, we find it repeated by Justin, as for instance: "Christ the eternal Priest" [---],(4) and it is not only a favourite representation of Philo, but is almost the leading idea of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in connection with the episode of Melchisedec, in whom also both Philo,(5) and Justin,(6) recognize the Logos. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, vii. 3, speaking of Melchisedec: "but likened to the Son of God, abideth a Priest for ever:"(7) again in iv. 14: "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son

of God," &c.;(1) ix. 11: "Christ having appeared a High Priest of the good things to come;"(2) xii. 21: "Thou art a Priest for ever."(3) The passages are indeed far too numerous to quote.(4) They are equally numerous in the writings of Philo. In one place already quoted,(5) he says: "For there are as it seems two temples of God, one of which is this world, in which the High Priest is the divine Word, his first-begotten Son" [---].(6) Elsewhere, speaking of the period for the return of fugitives, the death of the high priest, which taken literally would embarrass him in his allegory, Philo says: "For we maintain the High Priest not to be a man, but the divine Word, who is without participation not only in voluntary but also in involuntary sins;"(7) and he goes on to speak of this priest as "the most sacred Word" [---].(8) Indeed, in many long passages he descants upon the "high priest Word" [---].(9) Proceeding to the next representations of the Logos

as "God and Lord," we meet with the idea everywhere. In Hebrews i. 8: "But regarding the Son he saith: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever" [---], and again in the Epistle to the Philippians, ii. 6, "Who (Jesus Christ) being in the form of God, deemed it not grasping to be equal with God" [---].(1) Philo, in the fragment preserved by Eusebius, to which we have already referred,(2) calls the Logos the "Second God" [---].(3) In another passage he has: "But he calls the most ancient God his present Logos," &c. [---];(4) and a little further on, speaking of the inability of men to look on the Father himself: "thus they regard the image of God, his Angel Word, as himself" [---].(5) Elsewhere discussing the possibility of God's swearing by himself, which he applies to the Logos, he says: "For in regard to us imperfect beings he will be a God, but in regard to wise and perfect beings the first. And yet Moses, in awe of the superiority of the unbegotten [---] God, says: 'And thou shalt swear by his name,' not by himself; for it is sufficient for the creature to receive assurance and testimony by the divine Word."(6)

It must be remarked, however, that both Justin and

Philo place the Logos in a position more clearly secondary to God the Father, than the prelude to the fourth Gospel i. 1. Both Justin and Philo apply the term [---] to the Logos without the article. Justin distinctly says that Christians worship Jesus Christ as the Son of the true God, holding him in the second place [---],(1) and this secondary position is systematically defined through Justin's writings in a very decided way, as it is in the works of Philo by the contrast of the begotten Logos with the unbegotten God. Justin speaks of the Word as "the first-born of the unbegotten God" [---],(2) and the distinctive appellation of the "unbegotten God" applied to the Father is most common throughout his writings.(3) We may in continuation of this remark point out another phrase of Justin which is continually repeated, but is thoroughly opposed both to the spirit and to the terminology of the fourth Gospel, and which likewise indicates the secondary consideration in which he held the Logos. He calls the Word constantly "the first-born of all created beings" [---] "the first-born of all creation," echoing the expression of Col. i. 15. (The Son) "who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation" [---].

This is a totally different view from that of the fourth Gospel, which in so emphatic a manner

enunciates the doctrine: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," a statement which Justin, with Philo, only makes in a very modified sense.

To return, however, the next representation of the Logos by Justin is as "Angel." This perpetually recurs in his writings.(1) In one place, to which we have already referred, he says: "The Word of God is his Son, as we have already stated, and he is also called Messenger [---] and Apostle, for he brings the message of all we need to know, and is sent an Apostle to declare all the message contains."(2) In the same chapter reference is again made to passages quoted for the sake of proving: "that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Apostle, being aforetime the Word and having appeared now in the form of fire, and now in the likeness of incorporeal beings;"(3) and he gives many illustrations.(4) The passages, however, in which the Logos is called Angel, are too numerous to be more fully dealt with here. It is scarcely necessary to point out that this representation of the Logos as Angel, is not only foreign to, but opposed to the spirit of, the fourth Gospel, although it is thoroughly in harmony with the writings of Philo. Before illustrating this, however, we may incidentally remark that the ascription to the Logos of the name "Apostle" which occurs in the two passages just quoted above, as well as in other parts of the writings of Justin,(5)

is likewise opposed to the fourth Gospel, although it is found in earlier writings, exhibiting a less developed form of the Logos doctrine; for the Epistle to the Hebrews iii. 1, has: "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus," &c. [---]. We are, in fact, constantly directed by the remarks of Justin to other sources of the Logos doctrine, and never to the fourth Gospel, with which his tone and terminology do not agree. Everywhere in the writings of Philo we meet with the Logos as Angel. He speaks "of the Angel Word of God" in a sentence already quoted,(1) and elsewhere in a passage, one of many others, upon which the lines of Justin which we are now considering (as well as several similar passages)(2) are in all probability moulded. Philo calls upon men to "strive earnestly to be fashioned according to God's first-begotten Word, the eldest Angel, who is the Archangel bearing many names, for he is called

the Beginning [---], and Name of God, and Logos, and the Man according to his image, and the Seer of Israel."(1) Elsewhere, in a remarkable passage, he says: "To his Archangel and eldest Word, the Father, who created the universe, gave the supreme gift that having stood on the confine he may separate the creature from the Creator. The same is an intercessor on behalf of the ever wasting mortal to the immortal; he is also the ambassador of the Ruler to his subjects. And he rejoices in the gift, and the majesty of it he describes, saying: 'And I stood in the midst between the Lord and you' (Numbers xvi 48); being neither unbegotten like God, nor begotten like you, but between the two extremes," &c.(2) We have been tempted to give more of this passage than is necessary for our immediate purpose, because it affords the reader another glimpse of Philo's doctrine of the Logos, and generally illustrates its position in connection with the Christian doctrine.

The last of Justin's names which we shall here notice is the Logos as "Man" as well as God. In another place Justin explains that he is sometimes called a Man and human being, because he appears in these forms as the Father wills.(3) But here confining ourselves merely

to the concrete idea, we find a striking representation of it in 1 Tim. ii. 5: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus; [---]; and again in Rom. v. 15: "... by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ" [---], as well as other passages.(1) We have already seen in the passage quoted above from "De Confus. Ling." § 28, that Philo mentions, among the many names of the Logos, that of "the Man according to (God's) image" [---],(2) or "the typical man"). If, however, we pass to the application of the Logos doctrine to Jesus, we have the strongest reason for inferring Justin's total independence of the fourth Gospel. We have already pointed out that the title of Logos is given to Jesus in New Testament writings earlier than the fourth Gospel. We have remarked that, although the passages are innumerable in which Justin speaks of the Word having become man through the Virgin, he never once throughout his writings makes use of the peculiar expression of the fourth Gospel: "the Word became flesh" [---].

On the few occasions on which he speaks of the Word having been made flesh, he uses the term [---].(3) In one instance he has [---],(4) and speaking of the Eucharist Justin once explains that it is in memory of Christ's having made himself body, [---]5 Justin's most common phrase,

however, and he repeats it in numberless instances, is that the Logos submitted to be born, and become man [---], by a Virgin, or he uses variously the expressions: [---].(1) In several places he speaks of him as the first production or offspring [---] of God before all created beings, as, for instance: "The Logos... who is the first offspring of God" [---];(2) and again, "and that this offspring was begotten of the Father absolutely before all creatures the Word was declaring" [---].(3) We need not say more of the expressions: "first-born" [---], "first-begotten" [---], so constantly applied to the Logos by Justin, in agreement with Philo; nor to "only begotten" [---], directly derived from Ps. xxii*. 20 (Ps. xxi. 20, Sept.).

It must be apparent to everyone who seriously examines the subject, that Justin's terminology is markedly different from, and in spirit sometimes opposed to, that of the fourth Gospel, and in fact that the peculiarities of the Gospel are not found in Justin's writings at all.(4) On the

other hand, his doctrine of the Logos is precisely that of Philo,(1) and of writings long antecedent to the fourth Gospel, and there can be no doubt, we think, that it was derived from them.(2)

We may now proceed to consider other passages adduced by Tischendorf to support his assertion that Justin made use of the fourth Gospel. He says: "Passages of the Johannine Gospel, however, are also not wanting to which passages in Justin refer back. In the Dialogue, ch. 88, he writes of John the Baptist: 'The people believed that he was the Christ, but he cried to them: I am not the Christ, but the voice of a preacher.' This is connected with John i. 20 and 23; for no other Evangelist has reported the first words in the Baptist's reply."(1) Now the passage in Justin, with its context, reads as follows: "For John sat by the Jordan [---] and preached the Baptism of repentance, wearing only a leathern girdle and raiment of camel's hair, and eating nothing but locusts and wild honey; men supposed [---] him to be the Christ, wherefore he himself cried to them: 'I am not the Christ, but the voice of one crying: For he shall come [---] who is stronger than I, whose shoes I am not meet [---] to bear.'"(2) Now the only ground upon which this passage can be compared with the fourth Gospel is the reply: "I am not the Christ" [---], which in John i. 20 reads:[---]

[---]: and it is perfectly clear that, if the direct negation occurred in any other Gospel, the difference of the whole passage in the Dialogue would prevent even an apologist from advancing any claim to its dependence on that Gospel. In order to appreciate the nature of the two passages, it may be well to collect the nearest parallels in the Gospel, and compare them with Justin's narrative. [---]

The introductory description of John's dress and habits is quite contrary to the fourth Gospel, but corresponds to some extent with Matt. iii. 4. It is difficult to conceive two accounts more fundamentally different, and the discrepancy becomes more apparent when we consider the scene and actors in the episode. In Justin, it is evident that the hearers of John had received the impression that he was the Christ, and the Baptist becoming aware of it voluntarily disabused their minds of this idea. In the fourth Gospel the words of John are extracted from him ("he confessed and denied not") by emissaries sent by the Pharisees of Jerusalem specially to question him on the subject. The account of Justin betrays no knowledge of any such interrogation. The utter difference is brought to a climax by the concluding statement of the fourth Gospel:- [---]

In fact the scene in the two narratives is as little the same as their details. One can scarcely avoid the conclusion, in reading the fourth Gospel, that it quotes some other account and does not pretend to report the scene direct. For instance, i. 15, "John beareth witness of him, and cried, saying: 'This was he of whom I said: He that cometh after me is become before me, because he was before me,'" &c. V. 19: "And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him: Who art thou? and he confessed and denied not, and confessed that I am not the Christ," &c. Now, as usual, the Gospel which Justin uses more nearly approximates to our first Synoptic

than the other Gospels, although it differs in very important points from that also-still, taken in connection with the third Synoptic, and Acts xiii. 25, this indicates the great probability of the existence of other writings combining the particulars as they occur in Justin. Luke iii. 15, reads: "And as the people were in expectation, and all mused in their hearts concerning John whether he were the Christ, 16. John answered, saying to them all: I indeed baptize you with water, but he that is stronger than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire," &c.

Whilst, however, with the sole exception of the simple statement of the Baptist that he was not the Christ, which in all the accounts is clearly involved in the rest of the reply, there is no analogy whatever between the parallel in the fourth Gospel and the passage in Justin, many important circumstances render it certain that Justin did not derive his narrative from that source. We have already(1) fully discussed the peculiarities of Justin's account of the Baptist, and in the context to the very passage before us there are details quite foreign to our Gospels which show that Justin made use of another and different work. When Jesus stepped into the water to be baptized a fire was kindled in the Jordan, and the voice from heaven makes use of words not found in our Gospels; but both the incident and the words are known to have been contained in the Gospel according to the Hebrews and other works. Justin likewise states, in immediate continuation of the passage before us, that Jesus was considered the son of

Joseph the carpenter, and himself was a carpenter and accustomed to make ploughs and yokes.(1) The Evangelical work of which Justin made use was obviously different from our Gospels, therefore, and the evident conclusion to which any impartial mind must arrive is, that there is not only not the slightest ground for affirming that Justin quoted the passage before us from the fourth Gospel, from which he so fundamentally differs, but every reason on the contrary to believe that he derived it from a Gospel different from ours.(2)

The next point advanced by Tischendorf is, that on two occasions he speaks of the restoration of sight to persons born blind,3 the only instance of which in our Gospels is that recorded, John ix. 1. The references in Justin are very vague and general. In the first place he is speaking of the analogies in the life of Jesus with events believed in connection with mythological deities, and he says that he would appear to relate acts very similar to those attributed to ?sculapius when he says that Jesus "healed the lame and paralytic, and the maimed from birth [---], and raised the dead."(4) In the Dialogue, again referring to ?sculapius, he says that Christ "healed those who were from birth and according to the flesh blind [---], and deaf, and lame."(5) In the fourth Gospel

the born-blind is described as [---]. There is a variation it will be observed in the term employed by Justin, and that such a remark should be seized upon as an argument for the use of the fourth Gospel serves to show the poverty of the evidence for the existence of that work. Without seeking any further, we might at once reply that such general references as those of Justin might well be referred to the common tradition of the Church, which certainly ascribed all kinds of marvellous cures and miracles to Jesus. It is moreover unreasonable to suppose that the only Gospel in which the cure of one born blind was narrated was that which is the fourth in our Canon. Such a miracle may have formed part of a dozen similar collections extant at the time of Justin, and in no case could such an allusion be recognized as evidence of the use of the fourth Gospel. But in the Dialogue, along with this remark, Justin couples the statement that although the people saw such cures: "They asserted them to be magical illusion; for they also ventured to call him a magician and deceiver of the people."(1) This is not found in our Gospels, but traces of the same tradition are met with elsewhere, as we have already mentioned;(2) and it is probable that Justin either found all these particulars in the Gospel of which he made use, or that he refers to traditions familiar amongst the early Christians.

Tischendorfs next point is that Justin quotes the words of Zechariah xii. 10, with the same variation from the text of the Septuagint as John xix. 37-"They shall look on him whom they pierced" [---]

[---] instead of [---], arising out of an emendation of the translation of the Hebrew original. Tischendorf says: "Nothing can be more opposed to probability, than the supposition that John and Justin have here, independently of each other, followed a translation of the Hebrew text which elsewhere has remained unknown to us."(2) The fact is, however, that the translation which has been followed is not elsewhere unknown. We meet with the same variation, much earlier, in the only book of the New Testament which Justin mentions, and with which, therefore, he was beyond any doubt well acquainted, Rev. i. 7: "Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him [---], and they which pierced [---] him, and all the tribes of the earth shall bewail him. Yea, Amen." This is a direct reference to the passage in Zech. xii. 10. It will be remembered that the quotation in the Gospel: "They shall look upon him whom they pierced," is made solely in reference to the thrust of the lance in the side of Jesus, while that of the Apocalypse is a connection of the prophecy with the second coming of Christ, which, except in a spiritual sense, is opposed to the fourth Gospel. Now, Justin upon each occasion quotes the whole passage also in reference to the second coming of Christ as the Apocalypse does, and this alone settles the point so far as these two sources are concerned. If Justin derived his variation from either of the Canonical works,

therefore, we should be bound to conclude that it must have been from the Apocalypse. The correction of the Septuagint version, which has thus been traced back as far as a.d. 68 when the Apocalypse was composed, was noticed by Jerome in his Commentary on the text;(1) and Aquila, a contemporary of Iren?us, and later Symmachus and Theodotion, as well as others, similarly adopted [---]. Ten important MSS., of the Septuagint, at least, have the reading of Justin and of the Apocalypse, and these MSS. likewise frequently agree with the other peculiarities of Justin's text. In all probability, as Credner, who long ago pointed out all these circumstances, conjectured, an emendation of the rendering of the LXX. had early been made, partly in Christian interest and partly for the critical improvement of the text,(2) and this amended version was used by Justin and earlier Christian writers. Ewald(3)3 and some others suggest that probably [---] originally stood in the Septuagint text. Every consideration is opposed to the dependence of Justin upon the fourth Gospel for the variation.(4)

The next and last point advanced by Tischendorf is a passage in Apol. i. 61, which is compared with John iii.

3-5, and in order to show the exact character of the two passages, we shall at once place them in parallel columns:-[---]

This is the most important passage by which apologists endeavour to establish the use by Justin of the

fourth Gospel, and it is that upon which the whole claim may be said to rest. We shall be able to appreciate the nature of the case by the weakness of its strongest evidence. The first point which must have struck any attentive reader, must have been the singular difference of the language of Justin, and the absence of the characteristic peculiarities of the Johannine Gospel. The double "verily, verily," which occurs twice even in these three verses, and constantly throughout the Gospel(1), is absent in Justin; and apart from the total difference of the form in which the whole passage is given (the episode of Nicodemus being entirely ignored), and omitting minor differences, the following linguistic variations occur: Justin has: [---]

Indeed it is almost impossible to imagine a more complete difference, both in form and language, and it seems to us that there does not exist a single linguistic trace by which the passage in Justin can be connected with the fourth Gospel. The fact that Justin knows nothing of the expression [---] ("born from above"), upon which the whole statement in the fourth Gospel turns, but uses a totally different word, [---] (born again),

is of great significance. Tischendorf wishes to translate [---] "anew" (or again), as the version of Luther and the authorised English translation read, and thus render the [---] of Justin a fair equivalent for it; but even this would not alter the fact that so little does Justin quote the fourth Gospel, that he has not even the test word of the passage. The word [---], however, certainly cannot here be taken to signify anything but "from above"(l)-from God, from heaven,-and this is not only its natural meaning, but the term is several times used in other parts of the fourth Gospel, always with this same sense,(2) and there is nothing which warrants a different interpretation in this place. On the contrary, the same signification is manifestly indicated by the context, and forms the point of the whole lesson. "Except a man be born of water and of Spirit(3) he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6. That which hath been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which hath been born of the Spirit is Spirit. 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee: ye must be born from above" [---].

The explanation of [---] is given in verse 6. The birth "of the Spirit" is the birth "from above," which is essential to entrance into the kingdom of God.(4)

The sense of the passage in Justin is different and much more simple. He is speaking of regeneration through baptism, and the manner in which converts are consecrated to God when they are made new [---] through Christ. After they are taught to fast and pray for the remission of their sins, he says: "They are then taken by us where there is water, that they may be regenerated ("born again," [---]), by the same manner of regeneration (being born again, [---]) by which we also were regenerated (born again, [---]. For in the name of the Father of the Universe the Lord God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit they then make the washing with the water. For the Christ also said, 'unless ye be born again [---], ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven., Now that it is impossible for those who have once been born to go into the matrices of the parents is evident to all." And then he quotes Isaiah i. 16-20, "Wash you, make you clean, &c.," and then proceeds: "And regarding this (Baptism) we have been taught this reason. Since at our first birth we were born without our knowledge, and perforce, &c., and brought up in evil habits and wicked ways, therefore in order that we should not continue children of necessity and ignorance, but become children of election and knowledge, and obtain in the water remission of sins which we had previously committed, the name of the Father of the Universe and Lord God is pronounced over him who desires to be born again [---], and has repented of his sins, &c."(1) Now it is clear that whereas Justin speaks simply of regeneration by baptism, the fourth Gospel indicates a later development of the doctrine by spiritualizing the idea,

and requiring not only regeneration through the water ("Except a man be born of water"), but that a man should be born from above ("and of the Spirit"), not merely [---], but [---]. The word used by Justin is that which was commonly employed in the Church for regeneration, and other instances of it occur in the New Testament.(1)

The idea of regeneration or being born again, as essential to conversion, was quite familiar to the Jews themselves, and Lightfoot gives instances of this from Talmudic writings: "If any one become a proselyte he is like a child 'new born.' The Gentile that is made a proselyte and the servant that is made free he is like a child new born."(2) This is, of course, based upon the belief in special privileges granted to the Jews, and the Gentile convert admitted to a share in the benefits of the Messiah became a Jew by spiritual new birth. Justin in giving the words of Jesus clearly professed to make an exact quotation:(3) "For Christ also said: Unless ye be born again, &c." It must be remembered, however, that Justin is addressing the Roman emperors, who would not understand the expression that it was necessary to be "born again" in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. He, therefore, explains that he does not mean a physical new birth by men already born; and this explanation may be regarded as natural, under the circumstances, and independent of any written source. In any case, the striking difference of his language from that of the fourth Gospel at least forbids the inference that it must necessarily have been derived from that Gospel.

To argue otherwise would be to assume the utterly untenable premiss that sayings of Jesus which are maintained to be historical were not recorded in more than four Gospels, and indeed in this instance were limited to one. This is not only in itself inadmissible, but historically untrue,(1) and a moment of consideration must convince every impartial mind that it cannot legitimately be asserted that an express quotation of a supposed historical saying must have been taken from a parallel in one of our Gospels, from which it differs so materially in language and circumstance, simply because that Gospel happens to be the only one now surviving which contains particulars somewhat similar. The express quotation fundamentally differs from the fourth Gospel, and the natural explanation of Justin which follows is not a quotation at all, and likewise fundamentally differs from the Johannine parallel. Justin not only ignores the peculiar episode in the fourth Gospel in which the passage occurs, but neither here nor anywhere throughout his writings makes any mention of Nicodemus. The accident of survival is almost the only justification of the affirmation that the fourth Gospel is the source of Justin's quotation. On the other hand, we have many strong indications of another source. In our first Synoptic (xviii. 3), we find traces of another version of the saying of Jesus, much more nearly corresponding with the quotation of Justin: "And he said, verily I say unto you: Except ye be turned and become as the little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."(2) The last phrase of this saying is literally the same as the quotation of Justin,

and gives his expression, "kingdom of heaven," so characteristic of his Gospel, and so foreign to the Johannine. We meet with a similar quotation in connection with baptism, still more closely agreeing with Justin, in the Clementine Homilies, xi. 26: "Verily I say unto you: Except ye be born again [---] by living water in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."(1) Here again we have both the [---], and the [---] as well as the reference only to water in the baptism, and this is strong confirmation of the existence of a version of the passage, different from the Johannine, from which Justin quotes. As both the author of the Clementines and Justin probably made use of the Gospel according to the Hebrews, some most competent critics have, with reason, adopted the conclusion that the passage we are discussing was probably derived from that Gospel; at any rate it cannot be maintained as a quotation from our fourth Gospel,(2) and it is, therefore, of no value as evidence even

for its existence. "Were it successfully traced to that work, however, the passage would throw no light on the authorship and character of the fourth Gospel.

If we turn for a moment from this last of the points of evidence adduced by Tischendorf for the use of the fourth Gospel by Justin, to consider how far the circumstances of the history of Jesus narrated by Justin bear upon this quotation, we have a striking confirmation of the results we have otherwise attained. Not only is there a total absence from his writings of the peculiar terminology and characteristic expressions of the fourth Gospel, but there is not an allusion made to any one of the occurrences exclusively narrated by that Gospel, although many of these, and many parts of the Johannine discourses of Jesus, would have been peculiarly suitable for his purpose. We have already pointed out the remarkable absence of any use of the expressions by which the Logos doctrine is stated in the prologue. We may now point out that Justin makes no reference whatever to any of the special miracles of the fourth Gospel. He is apparently quite ignorant even of the raising of Lazarus: on the other hand, he gives representations of the birth, life, and death of Jesus, which are ignored by the Johannine Gospel, and are indeed opposed to its whole conception of Jesus as the Logos; and when he refers to circumstances which are also narrated in that Gospel, his account is different from that which it gives. Justin perpetually refers to the birth of Jesus by the Virgin of the race of David and the Patriarchs; his Logos thus becomes man,(1) (not "flesh"-[---],not [---]); he is born in a cave in Bethlehem;(2) he grows in stature and intellect by the use of ordinary means like other men; he is accounted

the son of Joseph the carpenter and Mary: he himself works as a carpenter, and makes ploughs and yokes.(1) When Jesus is baptized by John, a fire is kindled in Jordan; and Justin evidently knows nothing of John's express declaration in the fourth Gospel, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.(2) Justin refers to the change of name of Simon in connection with his recognition of the Master as "Christ the Son of God,"(3) which is narrated quite differently in the fourth Gospel (i. 40-42), where, indeed, such a declaration is put into the mouth of Nathaniel (i. 49), which Justin ignores. Justin does not mention Nicodemus either in connection with the statement regarding the necessity of being "born from above," or with the entombment (xix. 39). He has the prayer and agony in the garden,(4) which the fourth Gospel excludes, as well as the cries on the cross, which that Gospel ignores. Then, according to Justin, the last supper takes place on the 14th Nisan,(5) whilst the fourth Gospel, ignoring the Passover and last supper, represents the last meal as eaten on the 13th Nisan (John xiii. 1 f., cf. xviii. 28). He likewise contradicts the fourth Gospel, in limiting the work of Jesus to one year. In fact, it is impossible for writings, so full of quotations of the words of Jesus and of allusions to the events of his life, more completely to ignore or vary from the fourth Gospel throughout; and if it could be shown that Justin was acquainted with such a work, it would follow certainly that he did not consider it an Apostolical or authoritative composition.

5 "And it is written that on the day of the Passover you

seized him, and likewise during the Passover you crucified

him." Dial., Ill; cf. Dial. 70; Matt, xxvi. 2, 17 ff., 30,