The Life Of Jesus Critically Examined - free ebook by David Friedrich Strauss

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The Life Of Jesus Critically Examined

David Friedrich Strauss

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PRESENT EDITION,

INTRODUCTION TO THE PRESENT EDITION,

BY PROFESSOR OTTO PFLEIDERER, D.D. The Leben Jesu of David Friedrich Strauss, which was published in the year 1835, marked an epoch in the history of theology. On the one hand, this book represents the crisis in theology at which the doubts and critical objections of centuries as to the credibility of the Bible narratives had accumulated in such overwhelming volume as to break through and sweep away all the defences of orthodox apologetics. On the other hand, in the very completeness of the dest

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PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION.

As this new edition of my critical examination of the life of Jesus appears simultaneously with the first volume of my Dogmatik , it will not be expected to contain any essential alterations. Indeed, even in the absence of other labours, I should scarcely have been inclined to undertake such on the present occasion. The critical researches prompted by the appearance of my work have, after the stormy reaction of the first few years, at length entered on that quiet course, which promises the most

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§ 1. INEVITABLE RISE OF DIFFERENT MODES OF EXPLAINING SACRED HISTORIES.

§ 1. INEVITABLE RISE OF DIFFERENT MODES OF EXPLAINING SACRED HISTORIES.

Though the Hellenistic religion cannot be said to have rested upon written records, it became enshrined in the Greek poems, for example, in those of Homer and Hesiod; and these, no less than its orally transmitted legends, did not fail to receive continually varying interpretations, successively adapted to the progressive intellectual culture of the Greeks. At an early period the rigid philosophy of the Greeks, and under its influence even some of the Greek poets, recognized the impossibility of

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§ 2. DIFFERENT EXPLANATIONS OF SACRED LEGENDS AMONG THE GREEKS.

§ 2. DIFFERENT EXPLANATIONS OF SACRED LEGENDS AMONG THE GREEKS.

Whilst, on the one hand, the isolation and stability of the Hebrews served to retard the development of similar manifestations amongst this people, on the other hand, when once actually developed, they were the more marked; because, in proportion to the high degree of authority ascribed to the sacred records, was the skill and caution required in their interpretation. Thus, even in Palestine, subsequent to the exile, and particularly after the time of the Maccabees, many ingenious attempts were

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§ 3. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATIONS AMONG THE HEBREWS.—PHILO.

§ 3. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATIONS AMONG THE HEBREWS.—PHILO.

To the early Christians who, antecedent to the fixing of the christian canon, made especial use of the Old Testament as their principal sacred record, an [ 42 ] allegorical interpretation was the more indispensable, inasmuch as they had made greater advances beyond the views of the Old Testament writers than even the most enlightened of the Jews. It was no wonder therefore that this mode of explanation, already in vogue among the Jews, was almost universally adopted by the primitive christian ch

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§ 4. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATIONS AMONG THE CHRISTIANS.—ORIGEN.

§ 4. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATIONS AMONG THE CHRISTIANS.—ORIGEN.

Thus was developed one of those forms of interpretation to which the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, in common with all other religious records, in relation to their historical contents, became necessarily subjected; that, namely, which recognizes in them the divine, but denies it to have actually manifested itself in so immediate a manner. The other principal mode of interpretation, which, to a certain extent, acknowledges the course of events to have been historically true, but assigns it to

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§ 5. TRANSITION TO MORE MODERN TIMES.—DEISTS AND NATURALISTS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES.—THE WOLFENBÜTTEL FRAGMENTIST.

§ 5. TRANSITION TO MORE MODERN TIMES.—DEISTS AND NATURALISTS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES.—THE WOLFENBÜTTEL FRAGMENTIST.

Whilst the reality of the biblical revelation, together with the divine origin and supernatural character of the Jewish and Christian histories, were tenaciously maintained in opposition to the English deists by numerous English apologists, and in opposition to the Wolfenbüttel Fragmentist by the great majority of German theologians, there arose a distinct class of theologians in [ 47 ] Germany, who struck into a new path. The ancient pagan mythology, as understood by Evemerus, admitted of two m

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§ 6. NATURAL MODE OF EXPLANATION ADOPTED BY THE RATIONALISTS.—EICHHORN.—PAULUS.

§ 6. NATURAL MODE OF EXPLANATION ADOPTED BY THE RATIONALISTS.—EICHHORN.—PAULUS.

This view proposed by Eichhorn, and more completely developed by Paulus, necessarily presupposes the Old and New Testament writings to contain a minute and faithful narration, composed shortly after the occurrence of the events recorded, and derived, wherever this was possible, from the testimony of eye-witnesses. For it is only from an accurate and original report that the ungarbled fact can be disentangled from interwoven opinion. If the report be later and less original, what security is ther

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§ 7. MORAL INTERPRETATION OF KANT.

§ 7. MORAL INTERPRETATION OF KANT.

It was impossible to rest satisfied with modes of proceeding so unhistorical on the one hand, and so unphilosophical on the other. Added to which, the study of mythology, now become far more general and more prolific in its results, exerted an increasing influence on the views taken of biblical history. Eichhorn had indeed insisted that all primitive histories, whether Hebrew or Pagan, should be treated alike, but this equality gradually disappeared; for though the mythical view became more and

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§ 8. RISE OF THE MYTHICAL MODE OF INTERPRETING THE SACRED HISTORY, IN REFERENCE FIRST TO THE OLD TESTAMENT.

§ 8. RISE OF THE MYTHICAL MODE OF INTERPRETING THE SACRED HISTORY, IN REFERENCE FIRST TO THE OLD TESTAMENT.

The natural mode of explanation was still more decidedly opposed by De Wette than by Vater. He advocated the mythical interpretation of a large proportion of the Old Testament histories. In order to test the historical credibility of a narrative, he says, 44 we must ascertain the intention of the narrator. If that intention be not to satisfy the natural thirst for historical truth by a simple narration of facts, but rather to delight or touch the feelings, or to illustrate some philosophical or

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§ 9. THE MYTHICAL MODE OF INTERPRETATION IN REFERENCE TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.

§ 9. THE MYTHICAL MODE OF INTERPRETATION IN REFERENCE TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Thus, indeed, did the mythical view gain application to the biblical history: still the notion of the mythus was for a long time neither clearly apprehended nor applied to a due extent. Not clearly apprehended. The characteristic which had been recognised as constituting the distinction between historical and philosophical mythi, however just that distinction might in itself be, was of a kind which easily betrayed the critic back again into the scarcely abandoned natural explanation. His task, w

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§ 10. THE NOTION OF THE MYTHUS IN ITS APPLICATION TO SACRED HISTORIES NOT CLEARLY APPREHENDED BY THEOLOGIANS.

§ 10. THE NOTION OF THE MYTHUS IN ITS APPLICATION TO SACRED HISTORIES NOT CLEARLY APPREHENDED BY THEOLOGIANS.

George on the contrary has recently attempted not only more accurately to define the notions of the mythus and of the legend, but likewise to demonstrate that the gospel narratives are mythical rather than legendary. Speaking generally, we should say, that he restricts the term mythus to what had previously been distinguished as philosophical mythi; and that he applies the name legend to what had hitherto been denominated historical mythi. He handles the two notions as the antipodes of each othe

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§ 11. THE APPLICATION OF THE NOTION OF THE MYTHUS TOO CIRCUMSCRIBED.

§ 11. THE APPLICATION OF THE NOTION OF THE MYTHUS TOO CIRCUMSCRIBED.

In adopting the mythical point of view as hitherto applied to Biblical history, our theologians had again approximated to the ancient allegorical interpretation. For as both the natural explanations of the Rationalists, and the jesting expositions of the Deists, belong to that form of opinion which, whilst it sacrifices all divine meaning in the sacred record, still upholds its historical character; the mythical mode of interpretation agrees with the allegorical, in relinquishing the historical

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§ 12. OPPOSITION TO THE MYTHICAL VIEW OF THE GOSPEL HISTORY.

§ 12. OPPOSITION TO THE MYTHICAL VIEW OF THE GOSPEL HISTORY.

These, and similar objections against the mythical interpretation of the gospel histories, which occur in recent commentaries and in the numerous writings in opposition to my work on the life of Jesus, will find their place and refutation in the following pages. [ 69 ] The assertion that the Bible contains mythi is, it is true, directly opposed to the convictions of the believing christian. For if his religious view be circumscribed within the limits of his own community, he knows no reason why

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§ 13. THE POSSIBILITY OF THE EXISTENCE OF MYTHI IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCES.

§ 13. THE POSSIBILITY OF THE EXISTENCE OF MYTHI IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCES.

We have the testimony of the same Papias who has the notice concerning Matthew, a testimony from the mouth of John ( πρεσβύτερος ), that Mark, who according to him was the interpreter of Peter ( ἑρμηνευτὴς Πέτρου ), wrote down the discourses and actions of Jesus from his recollections of the instructions of that Apostle. 82 Ecclesiastical writers have likewise assumed that this passage from Papias refers to our second Gospel, though it does not say any thing of the kind, and is besides inapplica

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§ 14. THE POSSIBILITY OF MYTHI IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CONSIDERED ON INTERNAL GROUNDS.

§ 14. THE POSSIBILITY OF MYTHI IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CONSIDERED ON INTERNAL GROUNDS.

Admitting that the biblical history does not equally with the heathen mythology offend our idea of Deity, and that consequently it is not in like manner characterized by this mark of the unhistorical, however far it be from bearing any guarantee of being historical,—we are met by the further question whether it be not less accordant with our idea of the world, and whether such discordancy may not furnish a test of its unhistorical nature. In the ancient world, that is, in the east, the religious

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§ 15. DEFINITION OF THE EVANGELICAL MYTHUS AND ITS DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS.

§ 15. DEFINITION OF THE EVANGELICAL MYTHUS AND ITS DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS.

Having shown the possible existence of the mythical and the legendary in the Gospels, both on extrinsic and intrinsic grounds, and defined their distinctive characteristics, it remains in conclusion to inquire how their actual presence may be recognised in individual cases? The mythus presents two phases: in the first place it is not history; in the second it is fiction, the product of the particular mental tendency of a certain community. These two phases afford the one a negative, the other a

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§ 16. CRITERIA BY WHICH TO DISTINGUISH THE UNHISTORICAL IN THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE.

§ 16. CRITERIA BY WHICH TO DISTINGUISH THE UNHISTORICAL IN THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE.

When on the contrary, the second account, without absolutely contradicting the first, differs from it, the disagreement may be merely between the incidental particulars of the narrative; such as time , (the clearing of the Temple,) place , (the original residence of the parents of Jesus;) number , (the Gadarenes, the angels at the sepulchre;) names , (Matthew and Levi;) or it may concern [ 89 ] the essential substance of the history. In the latter case, sometimes the character and circumstances

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FIRST PART. HISTORY OF THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.

FIRST PART. HISTORY OF THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.

Each of the four Evangelists represents the public ministry of Jesus as preceded by that of John the Baptist; but it is peculiar to Luke to make the Baptist the precursor of the Messiah in reference also to the event of his birth. This account finds a legitimate place in a work devoted exclusively to the consideration of the life of Jesus: firstly, on account of the intimate connexion which it exhibits as subsisting from the very commencement between the life of John and the life of Jesus; and s

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§ 17. ACCOUNT GIVEN BY LUKE.1 IMMEDIATE, SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF THE REPRESENTATION.

§ 17. ACCOUNT GIVEN BY LUKE.1 IMMEDIATE, SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF THE REPRESENTATION.

But however worthy of God we might grant the conduct of his messenger to have been, still many of the present day will find an angelic apparition, as such, incredible. Bauer insists that wherever angels appear, both in the New Testament and in the Old, the narrative is mythical. 12 Even admitting the existence of angels, we cannot suppose them capable of manifesting themselves to human beings, since they belong to the invisible world, and spiritual existences are not cognizable by the organs of

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§ 18. NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE NARRATIVE.

§ 18. NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE NARRATIVE.

Again, the natural explanation makes too light of the incredibly accurate fulfilment of a prediction originating, as it supposes, in an unnatural, over-excited state of mind. In no other province of inquiry would the realization of a prediction which owed its birth to a vision be found credible, even by the Rationalist. If Dr. Paulus were to read that a somnambulist, in a state of ecstasy, had foretold the birth of a child, under circumstances in the highest degree improbable; and not only of a

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§ 19. MYTHICAL VIEW OF THE NARRATIVE IN ITS DIFFERENT STAGES.

§ 19. MYTHICAL VIEW OF THE NARRATIVE IN ITS DIFFERENT STAGES.

So that we stand here upon purely mythical-poetical ground; the only historical reality which we can hold fast as positive matter of fact being this:—the impression made by John the Baptist, by virtue of his ministry and his relation to Jesus, was so powerful as to lead to the subsequent glorification of his birth in connection with the birth of the Messiah in the Christian legend. 53 [ 108 ] 1 It may here be observed, once for all, that whenever in the following inquiry the names “Matthew,” “Lu

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§ 20. THE TWO GENEALOGIES OF JESUS CONSIDERED SEPARATELY AND IRRESPECTIVELY OF ONE ANOTHER.

§ 20. THE TWO GENEALOGIES OF JESUS CONSIDERED SEPARATELY AND IRRESPECTIVELY OF ONE ANOTHER.

To complete the comparison: we find the line from Abraham to David, that is, the whole first division of fourteen in our genealogy, in exact accordance with the names of men given in the Old Testament: leaving out however the names of some women, one of which makes a difficulty. It is said v. 5 that Rahab was the mother of Boaz. Not only is this without confirmation in the Old Testament, but even if she be made the great-grandmother of Jesse, the father of David, there are too few generations be

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§ 21. COMPARISON OF THE TWO GENEALOGIES—ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE THEIR CONTRADICTIONS.

§ 21. COMPARISON OF THE TWO GENEALOGIES—ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE THEIR CONTRADICTIONS.

However, this hypothesis, which we have hitherto considered only in general, requires a more detailed examination in order to judge of its admissibility. In considering the proposition of a Levirate marriage, the argument is essentially the same if, with Augustine and Africanus, we ascribe the naming of the natural father to Matthew, or with Schleiermacher, to Luke. As an example we shall adopt the former statement: the rather because Eusebius, according to Africanus, has left us a minute accoun

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§ 22. THE GENEALOGIES UNHISTORICAL.

§ 22. THE GENEALOGIES UNHISTORICAL.

1 Kuinöl, Comm. in Matth. Proleg., p. xxvii. f. ↑ 2 Paulus, p. 292. ↑ 3 Hieron. in Daniel. init. ↑ 4 See Wetstein. ↑ 5 e.g. Fritzsche , Comm. in Matth., p. 13. ↑ 6 Exegt. Handbuch, i. 1, s. 12 f. ↑ 7 The expedient of Kuinöl, Comm. in Matth. p. 3, to distinguish the Rahab here mentioned from the celebrated one, becomes hence superfluous, besides that it is perfectly arbitrary. ↑ 8 Hoffmann, s. 154, according to Hug, Einl., ii. s. 271. ↑ 9 Compare Fritzsche, Comm. in Matth., p. 19; Paulus,

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§ 23. SKETCH OF THE DIFFERENT CANONICAL AND APOCRYPHAL ACCOUNTS.

§ 23. SKETCH OF THE DIFFERENT CANONICAL AND APOCRYPHAL ACCOUNTS.

Since these apocryphal narratives were for a long period held as historical by the church, and were explained, equally with those of the canonical accounts, from the supranaturalistic point of view as miraculous, they were entitled in modern times to share with the New Testament histories the benefit of the natural explanation. If, on the one hand, the belief in the marvellous was so superabundantly strong in the ancient church, that it reached beyond the limits of the New Testament even to the

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§ 24. DISAGREEMENTS OF THE CANONICAL GOSPELS IN RELATION TO THE FORM OF THE ANNUNCIATION.

§ 24. DISAGREEMENTS OF THE CANONICAL GOSPELS IN RELATION TO THE FORM OF THE ANNUNCIATION.

Still more incomprehensible is the conduct of the betrothed parties according to this arrangement of events. Had Mary been visited by an angel, who had made known to her an approaching supernatural pregnancy, would not the first impulse of a delicate woman have been, to hasten to impart to her betrothed the import of the divine message, and by this means to anticipate the humiliating discovery of her situation, and an injurious suspicion on the part of her affianced husband. But exactly this dis

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§ 25. IMPORT OF THE ANGEL’S MESSAGE.—FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH.

§ 25. IMPORT OF THE ANGEL’S MESSAGE.—FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH.

The original sense of this passage in Isaiah is, according to modern research, 25 this. The prophet is desirous of giving Ahaz, who, through fear of the kings of Syria and Israel, was disposed to make a treaty with Assyria, a lively assurance of the speedy destruction of his much dreaded enemies; and he therefore says to him: suppose that an unmarried woman now on the point of becoming a wife 26 shall conceive; or categorically: a certain young woman is, or is about to be with child (perhaps the

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§ 26. JESUS BEGOTTEN OF THE HOLY GHOST. CRITICISM OF THE ORTHODOX OPINION.

§ 26. JESUS BEGOTTEN OF THE HOLY GHOST. CRITICISM OF THE ORTHODOX OPINION.

Though this seems to be the representation intended by the evangelists in the passages referred to concerning the origin of the life of Jesus, still it cannot be completed without considerable difficulties. We may separate what we may term the physico-theological from the historical-exegetical difficulties. The physiological difficulties amount to this, that such a conception would be a most remarkable deviation from all natural laws. However obscure the physiology of the fact, it is proved by a

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§ 27. RETROSPECT OF THE GENEALOGIES.

§ 27. RETROSPECT OF THE GENEALOGIES.

Let it not be objected that the view for which we contend, namely, that the genealogies could not have been composed under the notion that Joseph was not the father of Jesus, leaves no conceivable motive for incorporating them into our present Gospels. The original construction of a genealogy of Jesus, even though in the case before us it consisted simply in the adapting of foreign already existing genealogical tables to Jesus, required a powerful and direct inducement; this was the hope thereby

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§ 28. NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE CONCEPTION.

§ 28. NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE CONCEPTION.

Let us examine rather more accurately the view which this representative of rationalistic interpretation takes of the particulars of the conception of Jesus. He begins with Elizabeth, the patriotic and wise daughter of Aaron, as he styles her. She, having conceived the hope that she might give birth to one of God’s prophets, naturally desired moreover that he might be the first of prophets, the forerunner of the Messiah; and that the latter also might speedily be born. Now there was among her ow

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§ 29. HISTORY OF THE CONCEPTION OF JESUS VIEWED AS A MYTHUS.

§ 29. HISTORY OF THE CONCEPTION OF JESUS VIEWED AS A MYTHUS.

One objection yet remains, which I can no longer designate as peculiar to Olshausen, since other theologians have shown themselves solicitous of sharing the fame. The objection is, that the mythical interpretation of the gospel narrative is especially dangerous, it being only too well fitted to engender, obscurely indeed, profane and blasphemous notions concerning the origin of Jesus; since it cannot fail to favour an opinion destructive of the belief in a Redeemer, namely, that Jesus came into

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§ 30. RELATION OF JOSEPH TO MARY—BROTHERS OF JESUS.

§ 30. RELATION OF JOSEPH TO MARY—BROTHERS OF JESUS.

Some modern theologians agree with the Fathers of the Church in maintaining that no matrimonial connexion subsisted at any time between Joseph and Mary, and believe themselves able to explain the gospel expressions which appear to assert the contrary. In reference to the term firstborn , Olshausen contends that it signifies an only son: no less than the eldest of several. Paulus allows that here he is right, and Clemen 95 and Fritzsche seek in vain to demonstrate the impossibility of this signif

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§ 31. VISIT OF MARY TO ELIZABETH.

§ 31. VISIT OF MARY TO ELIZABETH.

Since then we find all the principal incidents of this visit inconceivable according to the supernatural interpretation; also that they will not bear a natural explanation; we are led to seek a mythical exposition of this as well as the preceding portions of the gospel history. This path has already been entered upon by others. The view of this narrative given by the anonymous E. F. in Henke’s Magazine 109 is, that it does not pourtray events as they actually did occur, but as they might have oc

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§ 32. THE CENSUS.

§ 32. THE CENSUS.

Matthew places the birth of Jesus shortly before the death of Herod the Great, whom he represents ( ii. 19 ) as dying during the abode of Jesus in Egypt. Luke says the same indirectly, for when speaking of the announcement of the birth of the Baptist, he refers it to the days of Herod the Great, and he places the birth of Jesus precisely six months later; so that according to Luke, also, Jesus was born, if not, like John, previous to the death of Herod I., shortly after that event. Now, after th

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§ 33. PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS. THE CIRCUMCISION.

§ 33. PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS. THE CIRCUMCISION.

If we take the circumstances attending the birth of Jesus, narrated by Luke, in a supranaturalistic sense, many difficulties occur. First, it may reasonably be asked, to what end the angelic apparition? The most obvious answer is, to make known the birth of Jesus; but so little did it make it known that, in the neighbouring city of Jerusalem, it is the Magi who give the first information of the new-born king of the Jews; and in the future history of Jesus, no trace of any such occurrence at his

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§ 34. THE MAGI AND THEIR STAR. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT AND THE MURDER OF THE CHILDREN IN BETHLEHEM. CRITICISM OF THE SUPRANATURALISTIC VIEW.

§ 34. THE MAGI AND THEIR STAR. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT AND THE MURDER OF THE CHILDREN IN BETHLEHEM. CRITICISM OF THE SUPRANATURALISTIC VIEW.

The magi leave Jerusalem by night, the favourite time for travelling in the east. The star, which they seem to have lost sight of since their departure from home, again appears and goes before them on the road to Bethlehem, until at length it remains stationary over the house that contains the wondrous child and its parents. The way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem lies southward; now the true path of erratic stars is either from west to east, as that of the planets and of some comets, or from east t

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§ 35. ATTEMPTS AT A NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE MAGI. TRANSITION TO THE MYTHICAL EXPLANATION.

§ 35. ATTEMPTS AT A NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE MAGI. TRANSITION TO THE MYTHICAL EXPLANATION.

The most remarkable supposition adopted by those who regard ἀστὴρ as a conjunction of planets, is that they hereby obtain a fixed point in accredited history, to which the narrative of Matthew may be attached. According to Kepler’s calculation, corrected by Ideler, there occurred, three years before the death of Herod, in the year of Rome 747, a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign Pisces. The conjunction of these planets is repeated in the above sign, to which astrologers attribute a s

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§ 36. THE PURELY MYTHICAL EXPLANATION OF THE NARRATIVE CONCERNING THE MAGI, AND OF THE EVENTS WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED.

§ 36. THE PURELY MYTHICAL EXPLANATION OF THE NARRATIVE CONCERNING THE MAGI, AND OF THE EVENTS WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED.

Against this mythical derivation of the narrative, two objections have been recently urged. First, if the history of the star originated in Balaam’s prophecy, why, it is asked, does not Matthew, fond as he is of showing the fulfilment of Old Testament predictions in the life of Jesus, make the slightest allusion to that prophecy? 112 Because it was not he who wove this history out of the materials furnished in the Old Testament; he received it, already fashioned, from others, who did not communi

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§ 37. CHRONOLOGICAL RELATION BETWEEN THE VISIT OF THE MAGI, TOGETHER WITH THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, AND THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE RECORDED BY LUKE.

§ 37. CHRONOLOGICAL RELATION BETWEEN THE VISIT OF THE MAGI, TOGETHER WITH THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, AND THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE RECORDED BY LUKE.

On neither of the above plans, therefore, will the presentation in the temple bear to be placed after the visit of the magi, and the only remaining alternative, [ 180 ] which is embraced by the majority of commentators, 119 is to make the incident noticed by Luke, precede both those narrated by Matthew. This is so far the most natural, that in Matthew there is at least an indirect intimation of a considerable interval between the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the magi. For we are told that H

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§ 38. THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE.

§ 38. THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE.

At this point also, where Luke’s narrative leaves Jesus for a series of years, there is a concluding sentence on the prosperous growth of the child ( v. 40 ); a similar sentence occurs at the corresponding period in the life of the Baptist, and both recall the analogous form of expression found in the history of Samson ( Judg. xiii. 24 f. ). In the foregoing examinations we have called in question the historical credibility of the Gospel narratives concerning the genealogy, birth, and childhood

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§ 39. RETROSPECT. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MATTHEW AND LUKE AS TO THE ORIGINAL RESIDENCE OF THE PARENTS OF JESUS.

§ 39. RETROSPECT. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MATTHEW AND LUKE AS TO THE ORIGINAL RESIDENCE OF THE PARENTS OF JESUS.

Thus the difficulty of reconciling Matthew with Luke, in the present instance, turns upon the impossibility of conceiving how the parents of Jesus could, on their return from Egypt, have it in contemplation to proceed a second time to Bethlehem unless this place had formerly been their home. The efforts of commentators have accordingly been chiefly applied to the task of finding other reasons for the existence of such an inclination in Joseph and Mary. Such efforts are of a very early date. Just

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§ 40. JESUS, WHEN TWELVE YEARS OLD, IN THE TEMPLE.

§ 40. JESUS, WHEN TWELVE YEARS OLD, IN THE TEMPLE.

The narrative proceeds to tell us how the mother of Jesus reproached her son when she had found him thus, asking him why he had not spared his parents the anguish of their sorrowful search? To this Jesus returns an answer which forms the point of the entire narrative; he asks whether they might not have known that he was to be sought nowhere else than in the house of his Father, in the temple? ( v. 48 f. ) One might be inclined to understand this designation of God as τοῦ πατρὸς generally, as im

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§ 41 THIS NARRATIVE ALSO MYTHICAL.

§ 41 THIS NARRATIVE ALSO MYTHICAL.

What were the external conditions under which Jesus lived, from the scene just considered up to the time of his public appearance? On this subject our canonical gospels give scarcely an indication. First, as to his place of residence, all that we learn explicitly is this: that both at the beginning and at the end of this obscure period he dwelt at Nazareth. According to Luke ii. 51 , Jesus when twelve years old returned thither with his parents, and according to Matthew iii. 13 , Mark i. 9 , he,

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§ 42. ON THE EXTERNAL LIFE OF JESUS UP TO THE TIME OF HIS PUBLIC APPEARANCE.

§ 42. ON THE EXTERNAL LIFE OF JESUS UP TO THE TIME OF HIS PUBLIC APPEARANCE.

Apart from these apocryphal descriptions, there are many reasons for believing that the above intimation as to the youthful employment of Jesus is correct. In the first place, it accords with the Jewish custom which prescribed even to one destined to a learned career, or in general to any spiritual occupation, the acquisition of some handicraft; thus Paul, the pupil of the rabbins, was also a tent-maker, σκηνοποιὸς τὴν τέχνην ( Acts xviii. 3 ). Next, as our previous examinations have shown that

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§ 43. THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS.

§ 43. THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS.

Various hypotheses, more or less independent of the intimations given in the New Testament, have been advanced both in ancient and modern times concerning the intellectual development of Jesus: they may be divided into two principal classes, according to their agreement with the natural or the supernatural view. The supernatural view of the person of Jesus requires that he should be the only one of his kind, independent of all external, human influences, self-taught or rather taught of God; henc

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SECOND PART. HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS.

SECOND PART. HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS.

For the ministry of John the Baptist, mentioned in all the Gospels, the second and fourth evangelists fix no epoch; the first gives us an inexact one; the third, one apparently precise. According to Matt. iii. 1 , John appeared as a preacher of repentance, in those days , ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις , that is, if we interpret strictly this reference to the previous narrative, about the time when the parents of Jesus settled at Nazareth, and when Jesus was yet a child. We are told, however, in the c

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§ 44. CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN JOHN AND JESUS.

§ 44. CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN JOHN AND JESUS.

Luke determines the date of John’s appearance by various synchronisms, placing it in the time of Pilate’s government in Judea; in the sovereignty of Herod (Antipas), of Philip and of Lysanias over the other divisions of Palestine; in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas; and, moreover, precisely in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, which, reckoning from the death of Augustus, corresponds with the year 28–29 of our era 4 (iii. 1, 2) . With this last and closest demarcation of time all

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§ 45. APPEARANCE AND DESIGN OF THE BAPTIST. HIS PERSONAL RELATIONS WITH JESUS.

§ 45. APPEARANCE AND DESIGN OF THE BAPTIST. HIS PERSONAL RELATIONS WITH JESUS.

The baptism of John could scarcely have been derived from the baptism of proselytes, 24 for this rite was unquestionably posterior to the rise of Christianity. It was more analogous to the religious lustrations in practice amongst the Jews, especially the Essenes, and was apparently founded chiefly on certain expressions used by several of the prophets in a figurative sense, but afterwards understood literally. According to these expressions, God requires from the Israelitish people, as a condit

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§ 46. WAS JESUS ACKNOWLEDGED BY JOHN AS THE MESSIAH? AND IN WHAT SENSE?

§ 46. WAS JESUS ACKNOWLEDGED BY JOHN AS THE MESSIAH? AND IN WHAT SENSE?

These expedients failing, the original explanation returns upon us; namely, that the inquiry was an expression of uncertainty respecting the messianic dignity of Jesus, which had arisen in the Baptist’s own mind; an explanation which even Neander allows to be the most natural. This writer seeks to account for the transient apostacy of the Baptist from the strong faith in which he gave his earlier testimony, by the supposition that a dark hour of doubt had overtaken the man of God in his dismal p

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§ 47. OPINION OF THE EVANGELISTS AND JESUS CONCERNING THE BAPTIST, WITH HIS OWN JUDGMENT ON HIMSELF. RESULT OF THE INQUIRY INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THESE TWO INDIVIDUALS.

§ 47. OPINION OF THE EVANGELISTS AND JESUS CONCERNING THE BAPTIST, WITH HIS OWN JUDGMENT ON HIMSELF. RESULT OF THE INQUIRY INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THESE TWO INDIVIDUALS.

Another notable passage of the same prophet ( iii. 23 , LXX. iv. 4 : καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστελῶ ὑμῖν Ἠλίαν τὸν Θεσβίτην, πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου, κ.τ.λ. : Behold, I will send you Elijah the Tishbite before the coming of the day of the Lord , etc.) suggested to the Evangelists the assimilation of John the Baptist to Elias. That John, labouring for the reformation of the people, in the spirit and power of Elias, should prepare the way for the Divine visitation in the times of the Messiah, was acc

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§ 48. THE EXECUTION OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

§ 48. THE EXECUTION OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Thus we see that the life of John in the evangelical narratives is, from easily conceived reasons, overspread with mythical lustre on the side which is turned towards Jesus, while on the other its historical lineaments are more visible. [ 237 ] In conformity with the evangelical view of the fact, the customary answer given by the orthodox to this question is, that Jesus, by his submission to John’s baptism, signified his consecration to the messianic office; an explanation which is supported by

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§ 49. WHY DID JESUS RECEIVE BAPTISM FROM JOHN?

§ 49. WHY DID JESUS RECEIVE BAPTISM FROM JOHN?

But the relation hitherto discussed is only one aspect of John’s baptism; the other, which is yet more strongly attested by history, shows it as a βάπτισμα μετανοίας , a baptism of repentance . The Israelites, we are told, Matt. iii. 6 , were baptized of John, confessing their sins : shall we then suppose that Jesus made such a confession? They received the command to repent: did Jesus acknowledge such a command? This difficulty was felt even in the early church. In the Gospel of the Hebrews, ad

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§ 50. THE SCENE AT THE BAPTISM OF JESUS CONSIDERED AS SUPERNATURAL AND AS NATURAL.

§ 50. THE SCENE AT THE BAPTISM OF JESUS CONSIDERED AS SUPERNATURAL AND AS NATURAL.

The narrations directly convey no other meaning, than that the whole scene was externally visible and audible, and thus they have been always understood by the majority of commentators. But in endeavouring to conceive the incident as a real one, a cultivated and reflecting mind must stumble at no insignificant difficulties. First, that for the appearance of a divine being on earth, the visible heavens must divide themselves, to allow of his descent from his accustomed seat, is an idea that can h

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§ 51. AN ATTEMPT AT A CRITICISM AND MYTHICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE NARRATIVES.

§ 51. AN ATTEMPT AT A CRITICISM AND MYTHICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE NARRATIVES.

We proceed to the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove. In this examination we must separate the descent of the Spirit from the form of the dove, and consider the two particulars apart. That the Divine Spirit was to rest in a peculiar measure on the Messiah, was an expectation necessarily resulting from the notion, that the messianic times were to be those of the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh ( Joel iii. 1 ff. ); and in Isaiah xi. 1 f. it was expressly said of the stem of Jesse,

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§ 52. RELATION OF THE SUPERNATURAL AT THE BAPTISM OF JESUS TO THE SUPERNATURAL IN HIS CONCEPTION.

§ 52. RELATION OF THE SUPERNATURAL AT THE BAPTISM OF JESUS TO THE SUPERNATURAL IN HIS CONCEPTION.

We must here give a similar decision to that at which we arrived concerning the genealogies; viz., that in that circle of the early Christian church, in which the narrative of the descent of the πνεῦμα on Jesus at his baptism was formed, the idea that Jesus was generated by the same πνεῦμα cannot have prevailed; and while, at the present day, the communication of the divine nature to Jesus is thought of as cotemporary with his conception, those Christians must have regarded his baptism as the ep

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§ 53. PLACE AND TIME OF THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. DIVERGENCIES OF THE EVANGELISTS ON THIS SUBJECT.

§ 53. PLACE AND TIME OF THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. DIVERGENCIES OF THE EVANGELISTS ON THIS SUBJECT.

The period of forty days is assigned by all three of the synoptical writers [ 251 ] for the residence of Jesus in the wilderness; but to this agreement is annexed the not inconsiderable discrepancy, that, according to Matthew, the temptation by the devil commences after the lapse of the forty days, while, according to the others, it appears to have been going forward during this time; for the words of Mark ( i. 13 ), he was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan , ἦν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἡμέρας τε

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§ 54. THE HISTORY OF THE TEMPTATION CONCEIVED IN THE SENSE OF THE EVANGELISTS.

§ 54. THE HISTORY OF THE TEMPTATION CONCEIVED IN THE SENSE OF THE EVANGELISTS.

But the personal appearance of the devil is the great stumbling-block in [ 254 ] the present narrative. If, it is said, there be a personal devil, he cannot take a visible form; and if that were possible, he would hardly demean himself as he is represented to have done in the gospels. It is with the existence of the devil as with that of angels—even the believers in a revelation are perplexed by it, because the idea did not spring up among the recipients of revelation, but was transplanted by th

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§ 55. THE TEMPTATION CONSIDERED AS A NATURAL OCCURRENCE EITHER INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL; AND ALSO AS A PARABLE.

§ 55. THE TEMPTATION CONSIDERED AS A NATURAL OCCURRENCE EITHER INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL; AND ALSO AS A PARABLE.

It is further alleged against the above explanations, that Jesus does not [ 257 ] seem to have been at any other time subject to ecstasies, and that he nowhere else attaches importance to a dream, or even recapitulates one. 70 To what end God should have excited such a vision in Jesus, it is difficult to conceive, or how the devil should have had power and permission to produce it; especially in Christ. The orthodox, too, should not forget that, admitting the temptation to be a dream, resulting

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§ 56. THE HISTORY OF THE TEMPTATION AS A MYTHUS.

§ 56. THE HISTORY OF THE TEMPTATION AS A MYTHUS.

But what had the Messiah to do in the wilderness? That the Messiah, the second Saviour, should like his typical predecessor, Moses, on Mount Sinai, submit himself to the holy discipline of fasting, was an idea the more [ 261 ] inviting, because it furnished a suitable introduction to the first temptation which presupposed extreme hunger. The type of Moses and that of Elias ( 1 Kings xix. 8 ), determined also the duration of this fast in the wilderness, for they too had fasted forty days; moreove

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§ 57. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SYNOPTICAL WRITERS AND JOHN, AS TO THE CUSTOMARY SCENE OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS.

§ 57. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SYNOPTICAL WRITERS AND JOHN, AS TO THE CUSTOMARY SCENE OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS.

Thus, according to the synoptical writers, Jesus, from his return after being baptized by John, to his final journey to Jerusalem, never goes beyond the limits of North Palestine, but traverses the countries west and east of the Galilean sea and the upper Jordan, in the dominions of Herod Antipas and Philip, without touching on Samaria to the south, still less Judea, or the country under the immediate administration of the Romans. And within those limits, to be still more precise, it is the land

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§ 58. THE RESIDENCE OF JESUS AT CAPERNAUM.

§ 58. THE RESIDENCE OF JESUS AT CAPERNAUM.

The fulness and particularity of Luke’s description of the scene, contrasted [ 274 ] with the summary style in which it is given by the other two Evangelists, has generally won for the former the praise of superior accuracy. 24 Let us look more closely, and we shall find that the greater particularity of Luke shows itself chiefly in this, that he is not satisfied with a merely general mention of the discourse delivered by Jesus in the synagogue, but cites the Old Testament passage on which he en

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§ 59. DIVERGENCIES OF THE EVANGELISTS AS TO THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF JESUS. DURATION OF HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY.

§ 59. DIVERGENCIES OF THE EVANGELISTS AS TO THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF JESUS. DURATION OF HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY.

It may be urged in opposition to the calculations, built on the representations of John, that the synoptical writers give no reasons for limiting the term of the public ministry of Jesus to a single year: 41 but this objection rests on a supposition borrowed from John himself, namely that Jesus, Galilean though he was, made it a rule to attend every Passover: a supposition, again, which is overturned by the same writer’s own representation. According to him, Jesus left unobserved the passover me

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§ 60. THE ATTEMPTS AT A CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE PARTICULAR EVENTS IN THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS.

§ 60. THE ATTEMPTS AT A CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE PARTICULAR EVENTS IN THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS.

In treating of the relation in which Jesus conceived himself to stand to the messianic idea, we can distinguish his dicta concerning his own person from those concerning the work he had undertaken. The appellation which Jesus commonly gives himself in the Gospels is, the Son of man , ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου . The exactly corresponding Hebrew expression ‏בֶּן־אָדָם‎ is in the Old Testament a frequent designation of man in general, and thus we might be induced to understand it in the mouth of Jesus. T

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§ 61. JESUS, THE SON OF MAN.

§ 61. JESUS, THE SON OF MAN.

How so apparently vague an appellation came to be appropriated to the Messiah, we gather from Matt. xxvi. 64 parall., where the Son of man is depicted as coming in the clouds of heaven . This is evidently an allusion to Dan. vii. 13 f. where after having treated of the fall of the four beasts, the writer says: I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man ( ‏כְּבַר אֱנָשׁ‎ ὡς υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου , LXX.) came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days. And there was gi

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§ 62. HOW SOON DID JESUS CONCEIVE HIMSELF TO BE THE MESSIAH, AND FIND RECOGNITION AS SUCH FROM OTHERS?

§ 62. HOW SOON DID JESUS CONCEIVE HIMSELF TO BE THE MESSIAH, AND FIND RECOGNITION AS SUCH FROM OTHERS?

There is a third equally serious discrepancy, relative to the declarations of Jesus concerning his Messiahship. According to John he sanctions the homage which Nathanael renders to him as the Son of God and King of Israel, in the very commencement of his public career, and immediately proceeds to speak of himself under the messianic title, Son of Man ( i. 51 f. ): to the Samaritans also after his first visit to the passover ( iv. 26 , 39 ff. ), and to the Jews on the second ( v. 46 ), he makes h

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§ 63. JESUS, THE SON OF GOD.

§ 63. JESUS, THE SON OF GOD.

If, then, such was the original historical signification of the epithet, Son of God , as applied to the Messiah, we have to ask: is it possible that Jesus used it of himself in this signification only, or did he use it also in either of the three senses previously adduced? The narrowest, the merely physical import of the term is not put into the mouth of Jesus, but into that of the annunciating angel, Luke i. 35 ; and for this the Evangelist alone is responsible. In the intermediate, metaphysica

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§ 64. THE DIVINE MISSION AND AUTHORITY OF JESUS. HIS PRE-EXISTENCE.

§ 64. THE DIVINE MISSION AND AUTHORITY OF JESUS. HIS PRE-EXISTENCE.

It has been already conjectured 25 that these expressions, or at least the adaptation of them to a real pre-existence, are derived, not from Jesus, but from the author of the fourth gospel, with whose opinions, as propounded in his introduction, they specifically agree; for if the Word was in the beginning with God ( ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θέον ), Jesus, in whom it was made flesh , might attribute to himself an existence before Abraham, and a participation of glory with the Father before the foundatio

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§ 65. THE MESSIANIC PLAN OF JESUS. INDICATIONS OF A POLITICAL ELEMENT.

§ 65. THE MESSIANIC PLAN OF JESUS. INDICATIONS OF A POLITICAL ELEMENT.

Nowhere in our evangelical narratives is there a trace of Jesus having sought to form a political party. On the contrary, he withdraws from the eagerness of the people to make him a king ( John vi. 15 ); he declares that the messianic kingdom comes not with observation, but is to be sought for in the recesses of the soul ( Luke xvii. 20 f. ); it is his principle to unite obedience to God with obedience to temporal authority, even when heathen ( Matt. xxii. 21 ); on his solemn entry into the capi

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§ 66. DATA FOR THE PURE SPIRITUALITY OF THE MESSIANIC PLAN OF JESUS. BALANCE.

§ 66. DATA FOR THE PURE SPIRITUALITY OF THE MESSIANIC PLAN OF JESUS. BALANCE.

With respect to that which awaits the righteous after judgment,—everlasting life in the kingdom of the Father,—it is true that Jesus, in accordance with Jewish notions, 44 compares it to a feast ( Matt. viii. 11 , xxii. 2 ff. ), at which he hopes himself to taste the fruit of the vine ( Matt. xxvi. 29 ), and to celebrate the Passover ( Luke xxii. 16 ); but his declaration that in the αἰὼν μέλλων the organic relation between the sexes will cease, and men will be like the angels ( ἰσάγγελοι , Luke

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§ 67. THE RELATION OF JESUS TO THE MOSAIC LAW.

§ 67. THE RELATION OF JESUS TO THE MOSAIC LAW.

Hence others have made a distinction between the moral and the ritual law, and referred the declaration of Jesus that he wished not to abrogate the law, to the former alone, which he extricated from a web of trivial ceremonies, [ 299 ] and embodied in his own example. 55 But such a distinction is not found in those striking passages from the Sermon on the Mount; rather in the νόμος and προφῆται , the law and the prophets , we have the most comprehensive designation of the whole religious constit

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§ 68. SCOPE OF THE MESSIANIC PLAN OF JESUS. RELATION TO THE GENTILES.

§ 68. SCOPE OF THE MESSIANIC PLAN OF JESUS. RELATION TO THE GENTILES.

There is the same apparent contradiction in the position which Jesus took, and prescribed to his disciples, towards the inhabitants of Samaria. While in his instructions to his disciples ( Matt. x. 5 ), he forbids them to visit any city of the Samaritans, we read in John ( iv. ) that Jesus himself in his journey through Samaria laboured as the Messiah with great effect, and ultimately stayed two days in a Samaritan town; and in the Acts ( i. 8 ), that before his ascension he charged the disciple

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§ 69. RELATION OF THE MESSIANIC PLAN OF JESUS TO THE SAMARITANS. HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA.

§ 69. RELATION OF THE MESSIANIC PLAN OF JESUS TO THE SAMARITANS. HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA.

Jesus evinces ( v. 17 ) an acquaintance with the past history and present position of the woman. The rationalists have endeavoured to explain this by the supposition, that while Jesus sat at the well, and the woman was advancing from the city, some passer-by hinted to him that he had better not engage in conversation with her, as she was on the watch to obtain a sixth husband. 75 But not to insist on the improbability that a passer-by should hold a colloquy with Jesus on the character of an obsc

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§ 70. CALLING OF THE FIRST COMPANIONS OF JESUS. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FIRST TWO EVANGELISTS AND THE FOURTH.

§ 70. CALLING OF THE FIRST COMPANIONS OF JESUS. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FIRST TWO EVANGELISTS AND THE FOURTH.

The rationalistic commentators perceive a special advantage in their position of the two narratives. It accounts, say they, for what must otherwise be in the highest degree surprising, namely, that Jesus merely in passing, and at the first glance, should choose four fishermen for his disciples, and that among them he should have alighted on the two most distinguished apostles; that, moreover, these four men, actively employed in their business, should leave it on the instant of their receiving a

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§ 71. PETER’S DRAUGHT OF FISHES.

§ 71. PETER’S DRAUGHT OF FISHES.

The drift of the narrative, then, obliges us to admit that the writer intended to signalize a miracle. This miracle may be viewed either as one of power, or of knowledge. If the former, we are to conceive that Jesus by his supernatural power, caused the fish to congregate in that part of the sea where he commanded Peter to cast in his net. Now that Jesus should be able, by the immediate action of his will, to influence men, in the nature of whose minds his spiritual energy might find a fulcrum,

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§ 72. CALLING OF MATTHEW. CONNEXION OF JESUS WITH THE PUBLICANS.

§ 72. CALLING OF MATTHEW. CONNEXION OF JESUS WITH THE PUBLICANS.

It is not less astonishing that the publican should have a great feast in readiness for Jesus immediately after his call. For that this feast was not prepared until the following day, 35 is directly opposed to the narratives, the two first especially. But it is entirely in the tone of the legend to demonstrate the joy of the publican, and the condescension of Jesus, and to create an occasion for the reproaches cast on the latter on account of his intimacy with sinners, by inventing a great feast

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§ 73. THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

§ 73. THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

The destination of the twelve is only generally intimated in John (xv. 16) ; in Mark, on the contrary, it is particularly, and without doubt accurately, stated. He ordained twelve , it is here said, that they should be with him , that is, that he might not be without companionship, aid, and attendance on his journeys; and accordingly we find them helpful to him in procuring lodgings ( Luke ix. 32 ; Matt. xxvi. 17 f. ), food ( John iv. 8 ), and other travelling requisites ( Matt. xxi. 1 ff. ); bu

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§ 74. THE TWELVE CONSIDERED INDIVIDUALLY. THE THREE OR FOUR MOST CONFIDENTIAL DISCIPLES OF JESUS.

§ 74. THE TWELVE CONSIDERED INDIVIDUALLY. THE THREE OR FOUR MOST CONFIDENTIAL DISCIPLES OF JESUS.

The two sons of Zebedee are the only disciples whose distinction rivals that of Peter. Like him, they evince an ardent and somewhat rash zeal ( Luke ix. 54 ; once John is named alone, Mark ix. 38 ; Luke ix. 49 ); and it was to this disposition, apparently, that they owed the surname Sons of Thunder , ‏בני רנש‎ υἱοὶ βροντῆς ( Mark iii. 17 ), 53 conferred on them by Jesus. So high did they stand among the twelve, that either they ( Mark xi. 35 ff. ), or their mother for them ( Matt. xx. 20 ff. ),

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§ 75. THE REST OF THE TWELVE, AND THE SEVENTY DISCIPLES.

§ 75. THE REST OF THE TWELVE, AND THE SEVENTY DISCIPLES.

The third quaternion is uniformly opened by James the son of Alpheus, of whom we have already spoken. After him comes in both Luke’s lists, Simon, whom he calls Zelotes, or the zealot, but whom Matthew and Mark (in whose catalogues he is placed one degree lower) distinguish as the Cannanite ὁ κανανίτης (from ‏קָנָא‎ , to be zealous ). This surname seems to mark him as a former adherent of the Jewish sect of zealots for religion, 65 a party which, it is true, did not attain consistence until the

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§ 76. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

§ 76. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

The difference as to the length and contents of the discourse is susceptible of three explanations: either the concise record of Luke is a mere extract from the entire discourse which Matthew gives without abridgment; or Matthew has incorporated many sayings belonging properly to other occasions; or, lastly, both these causes of variety have concurred. He who, with Tholuck , wishes to preserve intact the fides divina , or with Paulus, the fides humana of the Evangelists, will prefer the first su

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§ 77. INSTRUCTIONS TO THE TWELVE. LAMENTATIONS OVER THE GALILEAN CITIES. JOY OVER THE CALLING OF THE SIMPLE.

§ 77. INSTRUCTIONS TO THE TWELVE. LAMENTATIONS OVER THE GALILEAN CITIES. JOY OVER THE CALLING OF THE SIMPLE.

It is on the occasion of the mission of the seventy, that Luke ( x. 2 ) puts into the mouth of Jesus the words which Matthew gives ( ix. 37 f. ) as the motive for sending forth the twelve, namely, the apothegm, The harvest truly is ready, but the labourers are few ; also the declaration that the labourer is worthy of his hire ( v. 7 , comp. Matt x. 10 ); the discourse on the apostolic salutation and its effect ( Matt. v. 12 f. ; Luke v. 5 f. ); the denunciation of those who should reject the apo

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§ 78. THE PARABLES.

§ 78. THE PARABLES.

Mark, who ( iv. 1 ) depicts the same scene by the sea-side, as Matthew, has in connexion with it only three parables, of which the first and third correspond to the first and third of Matthew, but the middle one is commonly deemed peculiar to Mark. 54 Matthew has in its place the parable wherein the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares among it, which grew up with the wheat. The servants know not from whence t

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§ 79. MISCELLANEOUS INSTRUCTIONS AND CONTROVERSIES OF JESUS.

§ 79. MISCELLANEOUS INSTRUCTIONS AND CONTROVERSIES OF JESUS.

To the exhortation to receive such little children, Matthew annexes the warning against offending one of these little ones , σκανδαλίζειν ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων , an epithet which, in x. 42 , is applied to the disciples of Jesus, but in this passage, apparently, to children. 80 Mark (v. 42) has the same continuation, notwithstanding the interruption above noticed, probably because he forsook Luke (who here breaks off the discourse, and does not introduce the admonition against offences until late

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§ 80. CONVERSATION OF JESUS WITH NICODEMUS.

§ 80. CONVERSATION OF JESUS WITH NICODEMUS.

These considerations, however, should not create any prejudice against the ensuing conversation, which is the proper object of our investigations. This may still be in the main genuine; Jesus may have held such a conversation with one of his adherents, and our Evangelist may have embellished it no further than by making this interlocutor a man of rank. Neither will we, with the author of the Probabilia, take umbrage at the opening address of Nicodemus, nor complain, with him, that there is a wan

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§ 81. THE DISCOURSES OF JESUS, JOHN V.–XII.

§ 81. THE DISCOURSES OF JESUS, JOHN V.–XII.

The discourse above considered, also bears the form of a dialogue, and it exhibits strikingly the type of dialogue which especially belongs to the fourth gospel: that, namely, in which language intended spiritually, is understood carnally. In the first place ( v. 34 ), the Jews (as the woman of Samaria in relation to the water) suppose that by the bread which cometh down from heaven , Jesus means some material food, and entreat him evermore to supply them with such. Such a misapprehension was ce

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§ 82. ISOLATED MAXIMS OF JESUS, COMMON TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL AND THE SYNOPTICAL ONES.

§ 82. ISOLATED MAXIMS OF JESUS, COMMON TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL AND THE SYNOPTICAL ONES.

The declaration xiii. 20 , He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me , has an almost verbal parallel in Matt. x. 40 . In John, it is preceded by the prediction of the betrayal of Jesus, and his explanation to his disciples that he had told them this before it came to pass, in order that when his prediction was fulfilled, they might believe in him as the Messiah. What is the connexion between these subjects and the above declaration, or between the la

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§ 83. THE MODERN DISCUSSIONS ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE DISCOURSES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. RESULT.

§ 83. THE MODERN DISCUSSIONS ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE DISCOURSES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. RESULT.

The external relation of the discourses of Jesus in John’s gospel is also twofold; for they may be compared both with those discourses which the synoptists put into the mouth of Jesus, and with the manner in which the author of the fourth gospel expresses himself when he is avowedly the speaker. As a result of the former comparison, critics have pointed out the important difference that exists between the respective discourses in their matter, as well as in their form. In the first three gospels

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§ 84. GENERAL COMPARISON OF THE MANNER OF NARRATION THAT DISTINGUISHES THE SEVERAL EVANGELISTS.

§ 84. GENERAL COMPARISON OF THE MANNER OF NARRATION THAT DISTINGUISHES THE SEVERAL EVANGELISTS.

These facts are, in the opinion of our latest critics, a confirmation of the fourth Evangelist’s claim to the character of an eye-witness, and of the greater proximity of the second and third Evangelists to the scenes they describe, than can be attributed to the first. But, even allowing that one who does not narrate graphically cannot be an eye-witness, this does not involve the proposition that whoever does narrate graphically must be an eye-witness. In all cases in which there are extant two

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§ 85. ISOLATED GROUPS OF ANECDOTES. IMPUTATION OF A LEAGUE WITH BEELZEBUB, AND DEMAND OF A SIGN.

§ 85. ISOLATED GROUPS OF ANECDOTES. IMPUTATION OF A LEAGUE WITH BEELZEBUB, AND DEMAND OF A SIGN.

All the synoptists mention a visit of the mother and brethren of Jesus, on being apprised of which Jesus points to his disciples, and declares that they who do the will of God are his mother and his brethren ( Matt. xii. 46 ff. ; Mark iii. 31 ff. ; Luke viii. 19 ff. ). Matthew and Luke do not tell us the object of this visit, nor, consequently, whether this declaration of Jesus, which appears to imply a disowning of his relatives, was occasioned by any special circumstance. On this subject Mark

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§ 86. VISIT OF THE MOTHER AND BRETHREN OF JESUS. THE WOMAN WHO PRONOUNCES THE MOTHER OF JESUS BLESSED.

§ 86. VISIT OF THE MOTHER AND BRETHREN OF JESUS. THE WOMAN WHO PRONOUNCES THE MOTHER OF JESUS BLESSED.

The three first Evangelists narrate several contentions for pre-eminence which arose among the disciples, with the manner in which Jesus composed these differences. One such contention, which is said to have arisen among the disciples after the transfiguration, and the first prediction of the passion, is common to all the gospels ( Matt. xviii. 1 ff. ; Mark ix. 33 ff. ; Luke ix. 46 ff. ). There are indeed divergencies in the narratives, but the identity of the incident on which they are founded

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§ 87. CONTENTIONS FOR PRE-EMINENCE AMONG THE DISCIPLES. THE LOVE OF JESUS FOR CHILDREN.

§ 87. CONTENTIONS FOR PRE-EMINENCE AMONG THE DISCIPLES. THE LOVE OF JESUS FOR CHILDREN.

With the above contentions for pre-eminence, another anecdote is indirectly connected by means of the child which is put forward on one of those occasions. Children are brought to Jesus that he may bless them; the disciples wish to prevent it, but Jesus speaks the encouraging words, Suffer little children to come unto me , and adds that only for children, and those who resemble children, is the kingdom of heaven destined ( Matt. xix. 13 ff. ; Mark x. 13 ff. ; Luke xviii. 15 ff. ). This narrative

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§ 88. THE PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE.

§ 88. THE PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE.

On which side lies the error? We may know beforehand how the criticism of the present day will decide on this question: namely, in favour of the fourth gospel. According to Lücke, the scourge, the diversified treatment of the different classes of traders, the more indirect allusion to the Old Testament passage, are so many indications that the writer was an eye and ear witness of the scene he describes; while as to chronology, it is well known that this is in no degree regarded by the synoptists

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§ 89. NARRATIVES OF THE ANOINTING OF JESUS BY A WOMAN.

§ 89. NARRATIVES OF THE ANOINTING OF JESUS BY A WOMAN.

Thus between the narrative of John, and that of Matthew and Mark, there is scarcely less difference than between the account of these three collectively, and that of Luke: whoever supposes two distinct occurrences in the one case, must, to be consistent, do so in the other; and thus, with Origen, hold, at [ 404 ] least conditionally, that there were three separate anointings. So soon, however, as this consequence is more closely examined, it must create a difficulty, for how improbable is it tha

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§ 90. THE NARRATIVES OF THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY, AND OF MARY AND MARTHA.

§ 90. THE NARRATIVES OF THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY, AND OF MARY AND MARTHA.

Having thus accounted for one modification of the narrative concerning the anointing woman, namely, her degradation into a sinner, by the influence of another and somewhat similar anecdote, which was current in the first age of Christianity, we may proceed to consider, experimentally, whether a like external influence may not have helped to produce the opposite modification of the unknown into Mary of Bethany: a modification which, for the rest, we have already seen to be easy of explanation. Su

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§ 91. JESUS CONSIDERED AS A WORKER OF MIRACLES.

§ 91. JESUS CONSIDERED AS A WORKER OF MIRACLES.

That Jesus censures the seeking for miracles ( John iv. 48 ) and refuses to comply with any one of the demands for a sign, does not in itself prove that he might not have voluntarily worked miracles in other cases, when they appeared to him to be more seasonable. When in relation to the demand of the Pharisees, Mark viii. 12 , he declares that there shall be no sign given to this generation τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῇ , or Matt xii. 39 f. , xvi. 4 ; Luke xi. 29 f. , that there shall no sign be given to it bu

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§ 92. THE DEMONIACS, CONSIDERED GENERALLY.

§ 92. THE DEMONIACS, CONSIDERED GENERALLY.

The idea of these sufferers presupposed in the gospels and shared by their authors, is that a wicked, unclean spirit ( δαιμόνιον, πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον ), or several have taken possession of them (hence their condition is described by the expressions δαιμόνιον ἔχειν , δαιμονίζεσθαι , to have a demon , to be a demoniac ), speak through their organs (thus Matt. viii. 31 , οἱ δαίμονες παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν λέγοντες ), and put their limbs in motion at pleasure (thus Mark ix. 20 , τὸ πνεῦμα ἐσπάραξεν αὐτὸν ),

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§ 93. CASES OF THE EXPULSION OF DEMONS BY JESUS, CONSIDERED SINGLY.

§ 93. CASES OF THE EXPULSION OF DEMONS BY JESUS, CONSIDERED SINGLY.

In the above history of the cure of a demoniac, we have a case of the simplest kind; the cure of the possessed Gadarenes on the contrary ( Matt. viii. 28 ff. ; Mark v. 1 ff. ; Luke viii. 26 ff. ) is a very complex one, for in this instance we have, together with several divergencies of the Evangelists, instead of one demon, many, and instead of a simple departure of these demons, their entrance into a herd of swine. After a stormy passage across the sea of Galilee to its eastern shore, Jesus [ 4

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§ 94. CURES OF LEPERS.

§ 94. CURES OF LEPERS.

Here, in the first place, the supposition that the leper was precisely at the crisis of healing is foreign to the text, which in the two first Evangelists speaks merely of leprosy, while the πλήρης λέπρας of the third can mean nothing else than the Old Testament expression ‏מְצֹרָע כַּשָּׁלֶג‎ ( Exod. iv. 6 , Num. xii. 10 ; 2 Kings v. 27 ), which, according to the connexion in every instance, signifies the worst stage of leprosy. That the word καθαρίζειν in the Hebraic and Hellenistic use of the

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§ 95. CURES OF THE BLIND.

§ 95. CURES OF THE BLIND.

It seems probable that Matthew was led to add a second blind man by his recollection of a previous cure of two blind men narrated by him alone ( ix. 27 ff. ). Here, likewise, when Jesus is in the act of departure,—from the place, namely, where he had raised the ruler’s daughter,—two blind men follow him (those at Jericho are sitting by the way side), and in a similar manner cry for mercy of the Son of David, who here also, as in the other instance, according to Matthew, immediately cures them by

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§ 96. CURES OF PARALYTICS. DID JESUS REGARD DISEASES AS PUNISHMENTS?

§ 96. CURES OF PARALYTICS. DID JESUS REGARD DISEASES AS PUNISHMENTS?

But another passage, and that a synoptical one, is adduced in vindication of the superiority of Jesus to the popular opinion in question. This passage is Luke xiii. 1 ff. , where Jesus is told of the Galileans whom Pilate had caused to be slain while they were in the act of sacrificing, and of others who were killed by the falling of a tower. From what follows, we must suppose the informants to have intimated their opinion that these calamities were to be regarded as a divine visitation for the

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§ 97. INVOLUNTARY CURES.

§ 97. INVOLUNTARY CURES.

As regards the common substance of the narratives, it has in recent times been a difficulty to all theologians, whether orthodox or rationalistic, that the curative power of Jesus should have been exhibited apart from his volition. Paulus and Olshausen agree in the opinion, 153 that the agency of Jesus is thus reduced too completely into the domain of physical nature; that Jesus would then be like a magnetiser who in operating on a nervous patient is conscious of a diminution of strength, or lik

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§ 98. CURES AT A DISTANCE.

§ 98. CURES AT A DISTANCE.

Now the narrative of the fourth Evangelist which is most generally held to be distinct, has not only an affinity with the synoptical narratives in the outline already given; but in many remarkable details either one or the other of the synoptists agrees more closely with John than with his fellow synoptist. Thus, while in designating the patient as παῖς , Matthew may be held to accord with the υἱὸς of John, at least as probably as with the δοῦλος of Luke; Matthew and John decidedly agree in this

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§ 99. CURES ON THE SABBATH.

§ 99. CURES ON THE SABBATH.

Decisive evidence, alike for the necessity of viewing this as a miraculous cure, and for the possibility of explaining the origin of the anecdote, is to be obtained by a closer examination of the Old Testament narrative already mentioned, 1 Kings xiii. 1 ff. . A prophet out of Judah threatened Jeroboam, while offering incense on his idolatrous altar, with the destruction of the altar and the overthrow of his false worship; the king with outstretched hand commanded that this prophet of evil shoul

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§ 100. RESUSCITATIONS OF THE DEAD.

§ 100. RESUSCITATIONS OF THE DEAD.

As in general, at least according to the representations of the three first Evangelists the country around the Galilean sea was the chief theatre of the ministry of Jesus; so a considerable number of his miracles have an immediate reference to the sea. One of this class, the miraculous draught of fishes granted to Peter, has already presented itself for our consideration; besides this, there are the miraculous stilling of the storm which had arisen on the sea while Jesus slept, in the three syno

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§ 101. ANECDOTES HAVING RELATION TO THE SEA.

§ 101. ANECDOTES HAVING RELATION TO THE SEA.

Still it is altogether without any sure precedent, that a mythical addition should be engrafted on the stem of a real incident, so as to leave the latter totally unmodified. And there is one feature, even in the part hitherto assumed to be historical, which, more narrowly examined, might just as probably have been invented by the legend as have really happened. That Jesus, before the storm breaks out, is sleeping, and even when it arises, does not immediately awake, is not his voluntary deed, bu

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§ 102. THE MIRACULOUS MULTIPLICATION OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES.

§ 102. THE MIRACULOUS MULTIPLICATION OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES.

To evade the pre-eminently magical appearance which this miracle presents, Olshausen gives it a relation to the moral state of the participants, and supposes that the miraculous feeding of the multitude was effected through the intermediation of their spiritual hunger. But this is ambiguous language, which, on the first attempt to determine its meaning, vanishes into nothing. For in cures, for example, the intermediation here appealed to consists in the opening of the patient’s mind to the influ

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§ 103. JESUS TURNS WATER INTO WINE.

§ 103. JESUS TURNS WATER INTO WINE.

Again, the disproportionate quantity of wine with which Jesus supplies the guests, must excite astonishment. Six vessels, each containing from two to three μετρητὰς , supposing the Attic μετρητὴς , corresponding to the Hebrew bath , to be equivalent to 1½ Roman amphoræ , or twenty-one Wirtemberg measures, 325 would yield 252–378 measures. 326 What a quantity for a company who had already drunk freely! What enormous vessels! exclaims Dr. Paulus, and leaves no effort untried to reduce the statemen

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§ 104. JESUS CURSES A BARREN FIG-TREE.

§ 104. JESUS CURSES A BARREN FIG-TREE.

Thus we are inexorably thrown back from the naturalistic attempt at an explanation, to the conception of the supranaturalists, pre-eminently difficult as this is in the history before us. We pass over what might be said against the physical possibility of such an influence as is there presupposed; not, indeed, because, with Hase, we could comprehend it through the medium of natural magic, 346 but because another difficulty beforehand excludes the inquiry, and does not allow us to come to the con

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§ 105. THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS CONSIDERED AS A MIRACULOUS EXTERNAL EVENT.

§ 105. THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS CONSIDERED AS A MIRACULOUS EXTERNAL EVENT.

It has been sought to escape from the difficulties of the opinion which regards the transfiguration of Jesus as not only a miraculous, but also an external event, by confining the entire incident to the internal experience of the parties concerned. In adopting this position, the miraculous is not at once relinquished; it is only transferred to the internal workings of the human mind, as being thus more simple and conceivable. Accordingly it is supposed, that by divine influence the spiritual nat

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§ 106. THE NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE NARRATIVE IN VARIOUS FORMS.

§ 106. THE NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE NARRATIVE IN VARIOUS FORMS.

Not only, however, does the interpretation which sees in the transfiguration only a natural dream of the apostles, fail as to its main support, but it has [ 539 ] besides a multitude of internal difficulties. It presupposes only the three disciples to have been dreaming, leaving Jesus awake, and thus not included in the illusion. But the whole tenor of the evangelical narrative implies that Jesus as well as the disciples saw the appearance; and what is still more decisive, had the whole been a m

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§ 107. THE HISTORY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION CONSIDERED AS A MYTHUS.

§ 107. THE HISTORY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION CONSIDERED AS A MYTHUS.

In order next to understand how such a narrative could arise in a legendary manner, the first feature to be considered, on the examination of which that of all the rest will most easily follow, is the sun-like splendour of the countenance of Jesus, and the bright lustre of his clothes. To the oriental, and more particularly to the Hebrew imagination, the beautiful, the majestic, is the luminous; the poet of the Song of Songs compares his beloved to the hues of morning, to the moon, to the sun (

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§ 108. DIVERGING ACCOUNTS CONCERNING THE LAST JOURNEY OF JESUS TO JERUSALEM.

§ 108. DIVERGING ACCOUNTS CONCERNING THE LAST JOURNEY OF JESUS TO JERUSALEM.

Thus there is indeed a difference between the synoptists with regard to the way taken by Jesus; but still they agree as to the first point of departure, and [ 548 ] the last stage of the road; the account of John, however, diverges from them in both respects. According to him, it is not Galilee from whence Jesus sets out to attend the last passover, for so early as before the feast of tabernacles of the previous year, he had left that province, apparently for the last time ( vii. 1 , 10 ); that

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§ 109. DIVERGENCIES OF THE GOSPELS, IN RELATION TO THE POINT FROM WHICH JESUS MADE HIS ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM.

§ 109. DIVERGENCIES OF THE GOSPELS, IN RELATION TO THE POINT FROM WHICH JESUS MADE HIS ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM.

On the first glance, indeed, the supposition of two entrances seems to find support in the fact, that John makes his entrance take place the day after the meal in Bethany, at which Jesus was anointed under memorable circumstances; whereas the two first synoptists (for Luke knows nothing of a meal at Bethany in this period of the life of Jesus) make their entrance precede this meal: and thus, quite in accordance with the above supposition, the synoptical entrance would appear the earlier, that of

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§ 110. MORE PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ENTRANCE. ITS OBJECT AND HISTORICAL REALITY.

§ 110. MORE PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ENTRANCE. ITS OBJECT AND HISTORICAL REALITY.

But how was Matthew led into this singular statement? Its true source has been pointed out, though in a curious manner, by those who conjecture, that Jesus in his instructions to the two disciples, and Matthew in his original writing, following the passage of Zechariah ( ix. 9 ), made use of several expressions for the one idea of the ass, which expressions were by the Greek translator of the first gospel misconstrued to mean more than one animal. 58 Undoubtedly it was the accumulated designatio

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THIRD PART. HISTORY OF THE PASSION, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

THIRD PART. HISTORY OF THE PASSION, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

According to the gospels, Jesus more than once, and while the result was yet distant, 1 predicted to his disciples that sufferings and a violent death awaited him. Moreover, if we trust the synoptical accounts, he did not predict his fate merely in general terms, but specified beforehand the place of his passion, namely, Jerusalem; the time, namely, the approaching passover; the persons from whom he would have to suffer, namely, the chief priests, scribes and Gentiles; the essential form of his

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§ 111. DID JESUS IN PRECISE TERMS PREDICT HIS PASSION AND DEATH?

§ 111. DID JESUS IN PRECISE TERMS PREDICT HIS PASSION AND DEATH?

According to this opinion, 8 there was no difficulty in foreseeing that it would be the ruling sacerdotal party to which Jesus must succumb, since, on the one hand, it was pre-eminently embittered against Jesus, on the other, it was in possession of the necessary power; and equally obvious was it that they would make Jerusalem the theatre of his judgment and execution, since this was the centre of their strength; that after being sentenced by the rulers of his people, he would be delivered to th

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§ 112. THE PREDICTIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING HIS DEATH IN GENERAL; THEIR RELATION TO THE JEWISH IDEA OF THE MESSIAH: DECLARATIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING THE OBJECT AND EFFECTS OF HIS DEATH.

§ 112. THE PREDICTIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING HIS DEATH IN GENERAL; THEIR RELATION TO THE JEWISH IDEA OF THE MESSIAH: DECLARATIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING THE OBJECT AND EFFECTS OF HIS DEATH.

In order to decide between these alternatives, we must first examine whether, prior to the death of Jesus, and independently of that event, the messianic ideas of the age included the characteristics of suffering and death. If already in the lifetime of Jesus it was the Jewish opinion that the Messiah must die a violent death, then it is highly probable that Jesus imbibed this idea as a part of his convictions, and communicated it to his disciples; who, in that case, could so much the less have

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§ 113. PRECISE DECLARATIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING HIS FUTURE RESURRECTION.

§ 113. PRECISE DECLARATIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING HIS FUTURE RESURRECTION.

It is true, that as the conduct of the disciples, after the death of Jesus, speaks against such a prediction on the part of Jesus, so the conduct of his enemies appears to speak for it. For when, according to Matt. xxvii. 62 ff. , the chief priests and Pharisees entreat Pilate to set a watch at the grave of Jesus, they allege as a reason for their request, that Jesus while yet alive had said: After three days I will rise again , μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἐγείπομαι . But this [ 575 ] narrative of the fir

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§ 114. FIGURATIVE DISCOURSES, IN WHICH JESUS IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE ANNOUNCED HIS RESURRECTION.

§ 114. FIGURATIVE DISCOURSES, IN WHICH JESUS IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE ANNOUNCED HIS RESURRECTION.

By these difficulties modern exegetists have felt constrained to renounce John’s explanation of the words of Jesus, as erroneous and made ex eventu , and to attempt to penetrate, independently of the Evangelist’s explanation, into the sense of the enigmatical saying which he attributes to Jesus. 49 The construction put upon it by the Jews, who refer the words of Jesus to a real destruction and rebuilding of the national sanctuary, cannot be approved without imputing to Jesus an extravagant examp

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§ 115. THE DISCOURSES OF JESUS ON HIS SECOND ADVENT. CRITICISM OF THE DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS.

§ 115. THE DISCOURSES OF JESUS ON HIS SECOND ADVENT. CRITICISM OF THE DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS.

Some of the Fathers of the Church, as Irenæus and Hilary—yet living in the primitive expectation of the return of Christ, and at the same time not so practised in regular exegesis, as to be incapable of overlooking certain difficulties attendant on a desirable interpretation—referred the entire prediction, from its commencement in Matt. xxiv. to its end in Matt. xxv. , to the still future return of Christ to judgment. 66 But as this interpretation admits that Jesus in the commencement of his dis

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§ 116. ORIGIN OF THE DISCOURSES ON THE SECOND ADVENT.

§ 116. ORIGIN OF THE DISCOURSES ON THE SECOND ADVENT.

When on the orthodox point of view, from the impossibility of foreseeing such particulars in a natural manner, it is concluded that Jesus had a supernatural insight into the future; this conclusion is here attended not only with the same difficulty as above, in connection with the announcement of his death and resurrection, but with another also. In the first place, according to Matthew ( xxiv. 15 ), and Mark ( xiii. 14 ), Jesus represented the first stage of the catastrophe as a fulfilment of t

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§ 117. DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELATION OF JESUS TO HIS ENEMIES.

§ 117. DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELATION OF JESUS TO HIS ENEMIES.

With regard to this difference modern criticism observes, that we should not at all comprehend the tragical turn of the fate of Jesus from the synoptical accounts, and that John alone opens to us a glance into the manner in which, step by step, the breach between the hierarchical party and Jesus was widened; in short, that in this point also the representation of the fourth gospel shows itself a pragmatical one, which that of the other gospels is not. 2 But what it is in which the Gospel of John

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§ 118. JESUS AND HIS BETRAYER.

§ 118. JESUS AND HIS BETRAYER.

Concerning the motives which induced Judas to league himself with the enemies of Jesus, we learn from the three first gospels no more than that he received money from the chief priests. This would indicate that he was actuated by covetousness, especially according to the narrative in Matthew, where Judas, before he promises to betray Jesus, puts the question, What will ye give me? Clearer light is thrown on this subject by the statement of the fourth gospel ( xii. 4 ff. ), that on the occasion o

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§ 119. DIFFERENT OPINIONS CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JUDAS, AND THE MOTIVES OF HIS TREACHERY.

§ 119. DIFFERENT OPINIONS CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JUDAS, AND THE MOTIVES OF HIS TREACHERY.

That covetousness, considered as such an immediate motive, suffices to explain the deed of Judas, I will not maintain; I only contend that any other motives are neither stated nor anywhere intimated in the gospels, and that consequently every hypothesis as to their existence is built on the air. 38 [ 611 ] On the first day of unleavened bread, in the evening of which the paschal lamb was to be slain, consequently, the day before the feast properly speaking, which however commenced on that evenin

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§ 120. PREPARATION FOR THE PASSOVER.

§ 120. PREPARATION FOR THE PASSOVER.

The present narrative, indeed, is so strikingly allied to the earlier one just [ 613 ] mentioned, that in relation to their historical reality, the same judgment must be passed on both. In the one as in the other, Jesus has a want, the speedy supply of which is so cared for by God, that Jesus foreknows to the minutest particular the manner in which it is to be supplied; in the one he needs a guest chamber, as in the other an animal on which to ride; in the one as in the other, he sends out two d

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§ 121. DIVERGENT STATEMENTS RESPECTING THE TIME OF THE LAST SUPPER.

§ 121. DIVERGENT STATEMENTS RESPECTING THE TIME OF THE LAST SUPPER.

These divergencies are so important, that many expositors, in order to prevent the Evangelists from falling into contradiction with each other, have here also tried the old expedient of supposing that they do not speak of the same thing—that John intends to describe an altogether different repast from [ 615 ] that of the synoptists. According to this view, the δεῖπνον of John was an ordinary evening meal, doubtless in Bethany; on this occasion Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, spoke of the betra

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§ 122. DIVERGENCIES IN RELATION TO THE OCCURRENCES AT THE LAST MEAL OF JESUS.

§ 122. DIVERGENCIES IN RELATION TO THE OCCURRENCES AT THE LAST MEAL OF JESUS.

Thus, viewing the subject generally, there is no conceivable motive why John, if he spoke of this last evening at all, should have omitted the institution of the Lord’s supper; while, on descending to a particular consideration, there is in the course of his narrative no point where it could be inserted: hence nothing remains but to conclude that he does not mention it because it was unknown to him. But as a means of resisting this conclusion, theologians, even such as acknowledge themselves una

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§ 123. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE BETRAYAL AND THE DENIAL.

§ 123. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE BETRAYAL AND THE DENIAL.

Alter thus renouncing what is narrated of a personal designation of the traitor by Jesus, as composed post eventum , there yet remains to us the general precognition and prediction on the part of Jesus, that one of his disciples and companions at table would betray him. But even this is attended with difficulties. That Jesus received any external notification of treason brooding against him in the circle of his confidential friends, there is no indication in the gospels: he appears to have gathe

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§ 124. THE INSTITUTION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER.

§ 124. THE INSTITUTION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER.

The controversy between the different confessions as to the meaning of these words,—whether they signify a transmutation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, or a presence of the body and blood of Christ with and beneath those elements, or lastly, the symbolizing of the body and blood of Christ by bread and wine,—may be pronounced obsolete, and ought not to be any longer pursued, at least exegetically, because it is founded on a misplaced distinction. It is only when transmitted

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§ 125. AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN.

§ 125. AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN.

But such a cause for the trouble of Jesus is not found in the text; on the contrary, here as elsewhere ( Matt. xx. 22 f. parall.), the cup ποτήριον for the removal of which Jesus prays, must be understood of his own bodily sufferings and death. Moreover, the above ecclesiastical opinion is founded on an unscriptural conception of the vicarious office of Jesus. It is true that even in the conception of the synoptists, the suffering of Jesus is a vicarious one for the sins of many; but the substit

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§ 126. RELATION OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL TO THE EVENTS IN GETHSEMANE. THE FAREWELL DISCOURSES IN JOHN, AND THE SCENE FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREEKS.

§ 126. RELATION OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL TO THE EVENTS IN GETHSEMANE. THE FAREWELL DISCOURSES IN JOHN, AND THE SCENE FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREEKS.

It is true that we are here referred to the alternation of mental states, which naturally becomes more rapid in proportion as the decisive moment approaches; 36 to the fact that not seldom in the life of believers there occurs a sudden withdrawal of the higher sustenance of the soul, an abandonment of them by God, which alone renders the victory nevertheless achieved truly great and admirable. 37 But this latter opinion at once betrays its unintelligent origin from a purely imaginative species o

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§ 127. ARREST OF JESUS.

§ 127. ARREST OF JESUS.

According to the three first Evangelists, Judas steps forth and kisses Jesus, in order by this preconcerted sign to indicate him to the approaching band as the individual whom they were to seize: according to the fourth gospel, on the contrary, Jesus advances apparently out of the garden ( ἐξελθὼν ) to meet them, and presents himself as the person whom they seek. In order to reconcile this divergency, some have conceived the occurrences thus: Jesus, to prevent his disciples from being taken, fir

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§ 128. EXAMINATION OF JESUS BEFORE THE HIGH PRIEST.

§ 128. EXAMINATION OF JESUS BEFORE THE HIGH PRIEST.

We turn, therefore, to the account of the synoptists, and among them also, namely, between the two first and the third, we find numerous divergencies. According to the former, when Jesus was brought into the palace of the high priest, the scribes and elders were already assembled, and while it was still night proceeded to hold a trial, in which first witnesses appeared, and then the high priest addressed to him the decisive question, on the answer to which the assembly declared him worthy of dea

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§ 129. THE DENIAL OF PETER.

§ 129. THE DENIAL OF PETER.

So to adjust these very differently narrated denials in such a manner that no Evangelist may be taxed with having given an incorrect or even a merely inexact account, was no light labour for the harmonists. Not only did the older, supranaturalistic expositors, such as Bengel, undertake this task, but even recently, Paulus has given himself much trouble to bring the various acts of denial recounted by the Evangelists into appropriate order, and thus to show that they have a natural sequence. Acco

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§ 130. THE DEATH OF THE BETRAYER.

§ 130. THE DEATH OF THE BETRAYER.

After thus witnessing the total failure of the attempts at reconciliation in relation to the first difference; we have now to inquire whether the other, relative to the acquisition of the piece of ground, can be more easily adjusted. It consists in this: according to Matthew, it is the members of the Sanhedrim [ 664 ] who, after the suicide of Judas, purchase a field with the money which he had left behind (from a potter moreover—a particular which is wanting in the Acts); whereas, according to

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§ 131. JESUS BEFORE PILATE AND HEROD.

§ 131. JESUS BEFORE PILATE AND HEROD.

If in this manner the narrative of Luke enables us to understand how Pilate could at once put to Jesus the question whether he were the king of the Jews; it leaves us in all the greater darkness as to how Pilate, immediately on the affirmative answer of Jesus, could without any further inquiries declare to the accusers that he found no fault in the accused. He must first have ascertained the grounds or the want of grounds for the charge of exciting the populace, and also have informed himself as

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§ 132. THE CRUCIFIXION.

§ 132. THE CRUCIFIXION.

The place of execution is named by all the Evangelists Golgotha , the Chaldaic ‏גֻּלְגָּלְתָּא‎ , and they all interpret this designation by κρανίου τόπος the place of a skull , or κρανίον a skull ( Matt. v. 33 parall.). From the latter name it might appear that the place was so called because it resembled a skull in form; whereas the former interpretation, and indeed the nature of the case, [ 678 ] renders it probable that it owed its name to its destination as a place of execution, and to the

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§ 133. PRODIGIES ATTENDANT ON THE DEATH OF JESUS.

§ 133. PRODIGIES ATTENDANT ON THE DEATH OF JESUS.

The second prodigy is the rending of the veil of the temple, doubtless the inner veil before the Holy of Holies, since the word ‏פָּרֹכֶת‎ , used to designate this, is generally rendered in the LXX. by καταπέτασμα . It was thought possible to interpret this rending of the veil also as a natural event, by regarding it as an effect of the earthquake. But, as Lightfoot has already justly observed, it is more conceivable that an earthquake should rend stationary fixed bodies such as the rocks subseq

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§ 134. THE WOUND BY A SPEAR IN THE SIDE OF JESUS.

§ 134. THE WOUND BY A SPEAR IN THE SIDE OF JESUS.

But this result of the wound is in fact the subject on which there is the least unanimity. The fathers of the Church, on the ground that blood no longer flows from corpses, regarded the blood and water , αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ , which flowed from the corpse of Jesus as a miracle, a sign of his superhuman nature. 31 More modern theologians, founding on the same experience, have interpreted the expression as a hendiadys, implying that the blood still flowed, and that this was a sign that death had not yet,

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§ 135. BURIAL OF JESUS.

§ 135. BURIAL OF JESUS.

Here it has been thought possible to reconcile the difference between Mark and Luke in relation to the time of the purchase of the spices, by drawing over one of the two narrators to the side of the other. It appeared the most easy to accommodate Mark to Luke by the supposition of an enallage temporum ; his verb ἠγόρασαν , they bought , used in connexion with the day after the sabbath, being taken as the pluperfect, and understood to imply, in accordance with the statement of Luke, that the wome

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§ 136. THE WATCH AT THE GRAVE OF JESUS.

§ 136. THE WATCH AT THE GRAVE OF JESUS.

Paulus correctly points out how Matthew himself, by the statement: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews to this day ,—indicates a calumnious Jewish report as the source of his narrative. But when this theologian expresses the opinion that the Jews themselves propagated the story, that they had placed a watch at the grave of Jesus, but that the guards had permitted his body to be stolen: this is as perverted a view as that of Hase, when he conjectures that the report in question pr

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§ 137. FIRST TIDINGS OF THE RESURRECTION.

§ 137. FIRST TIDINGS OF THE RESURRECTION.

It has been thought possible to reconcile the greater part of these divergencies by supposing, instead of one scene variously described, a multiplicity of different scenes; for which purpose the ordinary grammatical and other artifices of the harmonists were pressed into the service. That Mark might not contradict the σκοτίας ἔτι οὔσης while it was yet dark of John, the apologists did not scruple to translate the words ἀνατείλαντος τοῦ ἡλίου by orituro sole ; 75 the contradiction between Matthew

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§ 138. APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN JESUS IN GALILEE AND IN JUDEA, INCLUDING THOSE MENTIONED BY PAUL AND BY APOCRYPHAL WRITINGS.

§ 138. APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN JESUS IN GALILEE AND IN JUDEA, INCLUDING THOSE MENTIONED BY PAUL AND BY APOCRYPHAL WRITINGS.

According to this we must agree with the latest criticism of the gospel of Matthew, in acknowledging the contradiction between it and the rest in relation to the locality of the appearances of Jesus after the resurrection: but, it must be asked, can we also approve the verdict of this criticism when it at once renounces the representation of the first gospel in favour of that of the other Evangelists. 110 If, setting aside all presuppositions as to the apostolic origin of this or that gospel, we

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§ 139. QUALITY OF THE BODY AND LIFE OF JESUS AFTER THE RESURRECTION.

§ 139. QUALITY OF THE BODY AND LIFE OF JESUS AFTER THE RESURRECTION.

In the fourth gospel Jesus first stands behind Mary Magdalene as she is turning away from the grave; she however, does not recognize him even when he speaks to her, but takes him for the gardener, until he (in the tone so familiar to her) calls her by her name. When on this she attempts to manifest her veneration, Jesus prevents her by the words: Touch me not , μή μου ἅπτου , and sends her with a message to the disciples. The second appearance of Jesus in John occurred under peculiarly remarkabl

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§ 140. DEBATES CONCERNING THE REALITY OF THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

§ 140. DEBATES CONCERNING THE REALITY OF THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

If we compare with this account of the resurrection of Jesus, the precise and internally consistent attestation of his death: we must incline to the other side of the dilemma above stated, and be induced to doubt the reality of the resurrection rather than that of the death. Hence Celsus chose this alternative, deriving the alleged appearance of Jesus after the resurrection, from the self-delusion of the disciples, especially the women, either dreaming or waking; or from what appeared to him sti

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§ 141. THE LAST COMMANDS AND PROMISES OF JESUS.

§ 141. THE LAST COMMANDS AND PROMISES OF JESUS.

The promises which Jesus gives to his adherents in parting from them, are in Matthew, where they are directed exclusively to the eleven, limited simply to the assurance that he, to whom as the exalted Messiah all power was delivered both in heaven and on earth, would be invisibly with them during the present age , αἰὼν , until at the consummation συντέλεια of this term, he should enter into permanent visible communion with them: precisely the expression of the belief which was formed in the firs

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§ 142. THE SO-CALLED ASCENSION CONSIDERED AS A SUPERNATURAL AND AS A NATURAL EVENT.

§ 142. THE SO-CALLED ASCENSION CONSIDERED AS A SUPERNATURAL AND AS A NATURAL EVENT.

The first impression from this narrative is clearly this: that it is intended as a description of a miraculous event, an actual exaltation of Jesus into heaven, as the dwelling-place of God, and an attestation of this by angels; as orthodox theologians, both ancient and modern, correctly maintain. The only question is, whether they can also help us to surmount the difficulties which stand in our way when we attempt to form a conception of such an event? One main difficulty is this: how can a pal

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§ 143. INSUFFICIENCY OF THE NARRATIVES OF THE ASCENSION. MYTHICAL CONCEPTION OF THOSE NARRATIVES.

§ 143. INSUFFICIENCY OF THE NARRATIVES OF THE ASCENSION. MYTHICAL CONCEPTION OF THOSE NARRATIVES.

Commentators have, it is true, taken all possible pains to explain the want of a narrative of the ascension in the first and fourth gospels, in a way which may not prove inimical either to the authority of the writings, or to the historical value of the fact. They maintain that the Evangelists who are silent on the subject, held it either unnecessary, or impossible, to narrate the ascension. They held it unnecessary, say these expositors, either intrinsically, from the minor importance of the ev

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§ 144. NECESSARY TRANSITION FROM CRITICISM TO DOGMA.

§ 144. NECESSARY TRANSITION FROM CRITICISM TO DOGMA.

The dogmatic import of the life of Jesus implicitly received, and developed on this basis, constitutes the orthodox doctrine of the Christ. Its fundamental principles are found in the New Testament. The root of faith in Jesus was the conviction of his resurrection. He who had been put to death, however great during his life, could not, it was thought, be the Messiah: his miraculous restoration to life proved so much the more strongly that he was the Messiah. Freed by his resurrection from the ki

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§ 145. THE CHRISTOLOGY OF THE ORTHODOX SYSTEM.

§ 145. THE CHRISTOLOGY OF THE ORTHODOX SYSTEM.

The baptismal formula ( Matt. xxviii. 19 ), by its allocation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, presented a sort of framework in which to arrange the materials of the new faith. On this basis was constructed in the first centuries what was called the rule of faith, regula fidei , which in divers forms, some more concise, others more diffuse, some more popular, others more subtle, is found in the different fathers. 1 The more popular form at length settled into what is called the creed of the apost

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§ 146. OBJECTIONS TO THE CHRISTOLOGY OF THE CHURCH.

§ 146. OBJECTIONS TO THE CHRISTOLOGY OF THE CHURCH.

The Rationalists, rejecting the doctrine of the Church concerning Christ, his person, and his work, as self-contradictory, useless, nay, even hurtful to the true morality of the religious sentiment, propounded in its stead a system which, while it avoided all contradictions, yet in a certain sense retained for Jesus the character of a divine manifestation, which even, rightly considered, placed him far higher, and moreover embodied the strongest motives to practical piety. 27 According to them,

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§ 147. THE CHRISTOLOGY OF RATIONALISM.

§ 147. THE CHRISTOLOGY OF RATIONALISM.

It is the effort of this theologian to avoid both these ungrateful results, and without prejudice to the faith, to form such a conception of the doctrine of the Christ as may be proof against the attacks of science. 30 On the one hand, he has adopted in its fullest extent the negative criticism directed by Rationalism against the doctrine of the Church, nay, he has rendered it even more searching; on the other hand, he has sought to retain what Rationalism had lost, [ 769 ] the essential part of

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§ 148. THE ECLECTIC CHRISTOLOGY OF SCHLEIERMACHER.

§ 148. THE ECLECTIC CHRISTOLOGY OF SCHLEIERMACHER.

This comparison suggests the observation made by Braniss, namely, that it would be contrary to the laws of all development to regard the initial member of a series as the greatest—to suppose that in Christ, the founder of that community, the object of which is the strengthening of the consciousness of God, the strength of this consciousness was absolute, a perfection which is rather the infinitely distant goal of the progressive development of the community founded by him. Schleiermacher does in

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§ 149. CHRISTOLOGY INTERPRETED SYMBOLICALLY. KANT. DE WETTE.

§ 149. CHRISTOLOGY INTERPRETED SYMBOLICALLY. KANT. DE WETTE.

At an earlier period, Horst presented this symbolical view of the history of Jesus with singular clearness. Whether, he says, all that is narrated of Christ happened precisely so, historically, is a question indifferent to us, nor can it now be settled. Nay, if we would be candid with ourselves, that which was once sacred history for the Christian believer, is, for the enlightened portion of our cotemporaries, only fable: the narratives of the supernatural birth of Christ, of his miracles, of hi

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§ 150. THE SPECULATIVE CHRISTOLOGY.

§ 150. THE SPECULATIVE CHRISTOLOGY.

Thus by a higher mode of argumentation, from the idea of God and man in their reciprocal relation, the truth of the conception which the church forms of Christ appears to be confirmed, and we seem to be reconducted to the orthodox point of view, though by an inverted path: for while there, the truth of the conceptions of the church concerning Christ is deduced from the correctness of the evangelical history; here, the veracity of the history is deduced from the truth of those conceptions. That w

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§ 151. LAST DILEMMA.

§ 151. LAST DILEMMA.

Schleiermacher has said, that when he reflected on the approaching crisis in theology, and imagined himself obliged to choose one of two alternatives, either to surrender the Christian history, like every common history, as a spoil to criticism, or to hold his faith in fee to the speculative system; his decision was, that for himself, considered singly, he would embrace the latter, but that, regarding himself as a member of the church, and especially as one of its teachers, he should be induced

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§ 152. RELATION OF THE CRITICAL AND SPECULATIVE THEOLOGY TO THE CHURCH.

§ 152. RELATION OF THE CRITICAL AND SPECULATIVE THEOLOGY TO THE CHURCH.

He will therefore seek another expedient; and as such there presents itself a fourth, which is not, like the two first, one-sided, nor like the third, merely negative, but which offers a positive mode of reconciling the two extremes—the consciousness of the theologian, and that of the church. In his discourses to the church, he will indeed adhere to the forms of the popular conception, but on every opportunity he will exhibit their spiritual significance, which to him constitutes their sole trut

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Abbreviations

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