JOHN. 19 And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No. 22 They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderd ness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. 24 And they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the prophet? 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not, 27 even he that cometh after me, e the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. 28 These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is become before me: for he was before me. 31 And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing with water. 32 And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a b dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. *b Pg. ii., b. 34 iii The verbal coincidences here on page I may not at first sight appear to be great; but the fact that the portions of the Gospels given on the page may be divided into paragraphs most of which have parallel paragraphs in one or both of the other books, is a remarkable one. Independent accounts of the same events are not thus related. And these paragraphs may be still further subdivided into shorter passages of three or four lines in extent, each one of which has its corresponding passage in the other Gospels, and Occupying much the same position. On page II, the order of the passages a, b, c, etc. is more striking; and the verbal agreement is more marked, probably because there is more narrative. The Between c and d on page 11, there is in Luke a genealogy differing materially from the genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew. passage in Luke has the appearance—judging from comparison with the other two booksof being an interpolation. Now the question has been many times asked, why the three Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke should so closely resemble each other on the one hand, and yet differ as they do on the other. The answer of course depends wholly the solution of the question as to the origin upon of the books. Any explanation that does not account for both similarities and differences is necessarily weak. The verbal agreement has led many into the belief that the books were copied from some common pre-existing source or sources; and this will account for the differences as well if we admit that many and great changes were made in copying from the originals. And this admission must include the admission that passages were often transposed, or transferred from one position to another; and that not infrequently accounts, even of considerable length, were inserted bodily into a copy of a manuscript when they had no place in the original. And now if Matthew, Mark and Luke, in this first section of them, represent three versions of some one manuscript which preceded them, let us see if we can trace out their history. Opposite page II, there is a cut, the first bar on the left being intended as a representation of the original I; and comprising about what is set in straight Roman type on the three pages. Let us suppose that some one copied this manuscript and added to it, f-g on page 1, and d-g on page III. copy would be represented by the second bar, I,1. Then suppose that some other person made a copy of the same manuscript, adding to it h-k on page I, and f and g-o on page II. His copy would be represented by the third bar, I,2. His f Pre. 3 12 whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. 13 Then cometh Jesus from a Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John would have hin dered him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 But Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffereth him. 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway from * b* the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him; 17 and lo, a voice out C of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 4 Then was Jesus led up of d the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. 3 And the tempter came and said ung to him, If thou art the Son * * * Pre. 1 9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came a from Nazareth of b* * Galilee, and was * asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon * him: 11 and a voice came out of the heavens, Thou art C my beloved Son, in thee I am well * pleased. 12 And straightway the d Spirit driveth him e forth into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days * tempted of Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels min- * Pistered unto him. of God, command that these stones become bread. 4 But he hanswered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pininacle of the temple, 6 and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: 7 Jesus said unto him, Again it is k written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him unto 1 an exceeding high mountain, and * sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 and he said unto him, All these Im things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then * saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou n shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 O Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and minPistered unto him. *b John 1:32, Pg. i. Fol. * g Fol. f a Pre. 3 17 whose fan is in his hand, throughly to cleanse his threshing-floor, and to gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. 18 With many other exhortations therefore preached he good · tidings unto the people; 19 but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, 20 added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. 21 Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heavben was opened, 22 and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, C Thou art my beloved Son; in * thee I am well pleased. 4 Ver. 23-38 omitted. See And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the d Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 during forty days, being tempted e of the devil. And he did eat nothing in those days: and when they were completed, he hungered. 3 And the devil said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command this stone that it become bread. 4 And Jesus anh swered unto him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. 5 And he led him up, and shewed him 1 all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, To thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it hath m been delivered unto me; and to whom7 If thou theresoever I will I give it. * * g с የ Then suppose again, perhaps after some little time had elapsed, that still another copy was made by some one who had by him when he wrote both I,1 and 1,2, and that he put into his manuscript what was in both of them. His copy would be represented by the fourth bar, 1,3. Now 1,3, 1,1 and 1,2 respectively are very fair illustrations of the actual condition of Matthew, Mark and Luke in this first section, with the exception that some further additions were made to Matthew and Luke, probably at still a later time. These last are conspicuous in Luke. Mark contains none of them of any note, except the latter part of the second verse on page 1. It is hardly possible that the differences between the books were produced by as few transcriptions as depicted above. They must have been rewritten many times. It will be seen that there is more verbal agreement between those passages which are common to two of the Gospels only than between those which are in all three of them. An explanation is found by supposing that the passages were of later date, and that they suffered less modification at the hands of copyists. Pre. 4 12 Now when he heard that a John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee; b e 13 and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali: 14 that it might be fulfilled which Pre. 1 14 Now after that John was delivered up, Jesus came ina to Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the was spoken by Isaiah the proph- b kingdom of God is et, saying, 15 The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, Toward the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 The people which sat in darkness Saw a great light, And to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, To them did light spring up. 17 From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18 And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men. 29 And they straightway left the nets, and followed him. 21 And going on from thence he f saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they straightway left the boat and their father, and followed him. The Sermon on the 7 28 And it came to pass, when the multitudes ished at his teaching: 29 for were aston Che taught them as one having at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel. Pre. 4 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galia lee and a fame went out con cerning him through all the region round about. 15 And b he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this Scripture been fulfilled in your ears, 22 And all bear him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth: and they said, Is not this Joseph's son? 23 And he said unto them, Doubtless ye will say unto me this parable, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in thine own country. 24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is acceptable in his own country. 25 But of a truth I say unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; 26 and unto none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but Naaman the Syrian. 28 And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things; 29 and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. 30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way. as 22 And they were astonished at his teaching for he them C taught having authority, and not as the scribes. Fol. iv 4 43 But he said unto them, I must preach the good a tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also for therefore was I sent. b 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. 5 Now it came to pass, while the multitude pressed upon him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and he saw two boats standing by the lake: but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And he entered into one of the boats, which was Simor's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes out of the boat. 4 And when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answered and said, Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the nets. 6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking; 7 and they beckoned unto their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken; 10 and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left all, and followed him. i 1 35 Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his disciples; 36 and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God! 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where abidest thou? 39 He saith unto them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day: it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 42 He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him, and said, Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter). It On the page opposite, the passage c is worthy of special attention. is so related to the passage d-g above it, in Matthew and Mark, that these portions of the two books are worth repeating; as follows: ᎷᎪᎢᎢᎻᎬᎳ . And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left the nets, and followed him. And going on from thence he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they straightway left the boat and their father, and followed him. The Sermon on the Mount. the multitudes were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. MARK. And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they left the nets, and followed him. And going on a little further, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending the nets. And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him. And they go into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. These last two sentences are parts of different accounts; but there is a very striking parallelism between them. It is a matter of considerable significance that a similarly worded passage is not found elsewhere in the Gospels. |