P, always in an eschatological sense. Its only use as a non-eschatological term is in its single appearance outside of the Gospel of Matthew, Lukan P 840. How account for these phenomena? By assuming that the four were in document M as it came to Matthew, and that he changed P under the influence of M? By the theory that all were derived by Matthew from the single non-eschatological instance in P? By assuming that they were neither in M nor were added by the evangelist Matthew, but were added by subsequent editors of the Gospel of Matthew? A decision is inadvisable without a wider basis for deduction. That which is certain is that the Gospel of Matthew presents at these points eschatological features which are not supported by the other witnesses to the sayings of Jesus. 3. THE BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT Is the Matthaean addition in this case one more instance of the tendency in the Gospel of Matthew to give sayings of Jesus an eschatological cast? Why this reference in portion B to the two aeons, unless the writer is moved by certain preconceptions about life in two time periods? What place did this idea have in that Jewish thought contemporary with the production of the Gospel of Matthew? Is its presence here to be accounted for by its currency in certain circles of Christian thought which were under the dominance of Jewish expectations? Whatever the decision as to its origin, certain it is that it adds something to the thought of Jesus as originally expressed.1 4. THE NATURE OF THE SIGN OF JONAH LUKAN P §16 A And when the multitudes were gathering together unto him, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation: it seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah. A B MATTHAEAN P But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. I Since Matthew made at this point in his gospel a junction of this saying from P 821 with document MK §18E (Matt. 12:31, 32), it may be suggested that this addition is the bringing-down of the closing words of MK §18E. In that case the simple, οὐκ ἔχει ἄφεσιν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλὰ ἔνοχος ἔσται αἰωνίου ἁμαρτήματος, of document MK becomes, under the hands of Matthew, οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ οὔτε ἐν τούτῳ τῷ αἰῶνι οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι. In document P §16N it is made clear that the sign of Jonah to which Jesus referred was his prophetic activity in the form of a proclaimed message. Such a sign from himself is the only sign which Jesus will vouchsafe to those who make the request. Even as Jonah became a sign by his message, Jesus became a sign to his generation, PS16L. But in the place of this simple idea there is substituted by Matthew, in taking over this passage, a prophecy by Jesus of his own resurrection. This is a striking instance of the effect of history, as actually experienced, upon the form of a saying of Jesus which in its original wording did not have a reference to the future. 5. THE RETURN OF THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT LUKAN P $16 A The unclean spirit when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will turn back unto my house whence I came out. And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more evil than himself; and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. MATTHAEAN P A But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. Then he saith. I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. B Even so shall it be also unto this evil generation. The Matthaean addition in the last paragraph was seen to be the result of the resurrection experience. May that in portion B here be regarded as the outcome of the sad history through which the Jewish people were passing between the death of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem? or perhaps, indeed, of the destruction of Jerusalem itself? In any event, it is a forecast of the future of the nation which was not made, it would seem, by Jesus himself in this connection. LUKAN P 20 6. PUNISHMENT IN GEHENNA And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. MATTHAEAN P And be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Do these two versions of this saying mean precisely the same thing? Is there anything said about the "soul" in the Lukan version? Is the reference in that version to anything more than two fates for the body, the one its mere death, the other its desecration after death by being consigned to the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem? If this desecration of the body by casting it with the offal of the city and the carcasses of dead animals was a fate reserved for heinous crimes, and the committal to that fate was the prerogative of the highest official of the state, the Lukan form of the saying is simply an exhortation against regarding death as the worst possible fate. To this Jesus opposes the thought that death is a lesser evil than certain forms of sin. Persecution unto death is less to be dreaded than sin unto death, sin so loathsome and vile as to carry with it the committal by the civil authority to the pest spot of the city. That which is to be feared is a course of conduct morally so abnormal that the state takes cognizance of it, and has attached to it the penalty not only of execution, but also of consignment after execution to the depository of municipal refuse. Such seems to be the probable meaning of the saying as it appears in its Lukan form. But such an interpretation of the recension which is given by Matthew is impossible. There can be no mistaking the intended application of the saying in its Matthaean wording; it is purely eschatological in outlook. It looks toward the fate of both body and soul, not toward two possible fates for the body. Its interest centers in the future as a time of destiny. Persecution is to be endured in the present because the persecutors are not capable of killing the soul. Therefore they are not to be feared, as is the evil one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. It would seem that there has been at work on this saying, in its Matthaean form, the same tendency which has already been found so frequently in the Gospel of Matthew, the tendency toward an eschatological recasting of the words of Jesus, by which a meaning is given to them which is foreign to the original thought of Jesus. 7. THAT DAY AS THE DAY OF JUDGMENT LUKAN P $4 I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. MATTHAEAN P Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement, than for that city. For the phrase "that day" of the Lukan P, Matthew has substituted the words, "the day of judgement." Is it certain that the two phrases are equivalent? May the term "that day" have meant for Jesus "the day of Jehovah," or, perhaps, "the day of the Son of man"? And if so, were the latter conceived of by Jesus as a time of judgment? This ought not to be assumed, one would say, without I For a complete study of the use of "Gehenna" in the Synoptics, see pp. 25663, where reasons are given for believing that this interpretation is the most probable among the possible meanings for this passage. + a study of the precise thought of Jesus about "that day" as elsewhere recorded. In any case, Matthew has made over a passage, about the meaning of which there may be some doubt, into a form the eschatological cast of which is unmistakable. 8. THE JUDGMENT AS THE DAY OF JUDGMENT For the phrase "the judgement" in portion A of the Lukan P, Matthew has substituted the words "the day of judgement." Are these terms precise equivalents? Is there a suggestion of timedefined and catastrophic method for the judgment in the Matthaean phrase which does not inhere with the Lukan? And what shall be said of the Matthaean addition in portion C to the saying about Capernaum? Is not that saying naturally concluded as it stands in the Lukan P? It does not seem to be intended to duplicate the ChorazinBethsaida form in referring to Capernaum; the contrast here is "unto heaven. . . . unto Hades." But Matthew carries down the previous form as an addition to portion B, though, since the city of Sodom already has perished, it is necessary to apply the fate to "the land of Sodom." Is this enlargement the result of a strong tendency to view all punishment from the eschatological standpoint? 9. THE CONDITIONS OF DISCIPLESHIP TO JESUS LUKAN P $44 If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. MATTHAEAN P He that loveth father or mother more than me in not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew regarded this document P saying as referring to the future, and hence gave it a place in the collection of sayings of Jesus about the mission of the disciples, which he has gathered as his tenth chapter. It is to be observed that in his transfer of it from a place where it is a part of a more complete definition of discipleship, х P §44, he applies to it his literary Principle 9, which has led him to modify the apparent rigor of more than one saying. IO. THE VALIDITY OF THE LAW IN THE FUTURE LUKAN P 851 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fall. MATTHAEAN P Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. Whether this saying was drawn by Matthew from document P, or was found by him also in the document M report of the Sermon on the Mount, does not affect the present purpose, which is to call attention to the Gospel of Matthew addition to the saying in the words "till all things be accomplished." This gives to the Matthaean form two bases of time computation, "till heaven and earth pass away," and "till all things be accomplished." The former alone is in the Lukan thought; the addition of the latter leads to a confusion of the comparison. Do not these words "till all things be accomplished" lead the reader again to that mode of outlook upon the future which is being seen to be so pervasive an element in the Matthaean report of Jesus' words? II. SUBSTANCE AND TREASURE AS OBJECTS OF CONCERN AND AMBITION LUKAN P 8824, 26 A Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. For the life is more than the food, and the body than the raiment. Consider the ravens, that they sow not, neither reap; which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them: of how much more value are ye than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit unto his stature? If then ye are not able to do even that which is least, why are ye anxious concerning the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass in the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more shall he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. Howbeit seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you. MATTHAEAN P A Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for B But Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. C Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth consume, and where thieves break through and steal: |