weakness of his argument. Do Wette divides the quotations of Justin
which may be compared with our first and third Gospels into several
categories. Regarding the first class, he says: "Some agree quite
literally, which, however, is seldom: "(1) and under this head he can
only collect three passages of Matthew and refer to one of Luke. Of
the three from Matthew the first is that, viii. 11, 12,(2) also brought
forward by Teschendorf, of which we have already disposed. The second is
Matt. v. 20: "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall
exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven." A parallel passage to this exists in Dial. 105, a
chapter in which there are several quotations not found in our Gospels
at all, with the exception that the first words, "For I say unto you
that," are not in Justin. We shall speak of this passage presently. De
Wette's third passage is Matt. vii. 19: "Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire," which, with the
exception of one word, "but," at the commencement of the sentence in
Justin, also agrees with his quotation.(3) In these two short passages
there are no peculiarities specially pointing to the first Gospel
as their source, and it cannot be too often repeated that the mere
coincidence of short historical sayings in two works by no means
warrants the conclusion that the one is dependent on the other. In
order, however, to enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the
value of the similarity of the two passages above noted, and also at the
same time to examine a considerable body of evidence, selected with
{315}
evident impartiality, we propose to take all Justin's readings of
the Sermon on the Mount, from which the above passages are taken, and
compare them with our Gospels. This should furnish a fair test of the
composition of the Memoirs of the Apostles.
Taking first, for the sake of continuity, the first Apology, we find
that Chapters xv., xvi., xvii., are composed almost entirely of examples
of what Jesus himself taught, introduced by the remark with which
Chapter xiv. closes, that: "Brief and concise sentences were uttered by
him, for he was not a sophist, but his word was the power of God."(1) It
may broadly be affirmed that, with the exception of the few words quoted
above by De Wette, not a single quotation of the words of Jesus in
these three chapters agrees with the Canonical Gospels. We shall however
confine ourselves at present to the Sermon on the Mount. We must mention
that Justin's text is quite continuous, except where we have inserted
asterisks. We subjoin Justin's quotations, together with' the parallel
passages in our Gospels, side by side, for greater facility of
comparison.(2)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account