2 There is no parallel to this in the first Gospel. Matt. v. 48, is too
remote in sense as well as language.
3 The first part of v. 45 is quite different from the context in Justin:
"That ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh,"
&c, &c.
{350}
[---Greek---]
{351}
[---Greek---]
{352}
[---Greek---]
{353}
[---Greek---]
{354}
[---Greek---]
{355}
[---Greek---]
{356}
[---Greek---]
{357}
[---Greek---]
We have taken the whole of Justin's quotations from the Sermon on
the Mount not only because, adopting so large a test, there can be no
suspicion that we select passages for any special purpose, but also
because, on the contrary, amongst these quotations are more of the
passages claimed as showing the use of our Gospels than any series which
could have been selected. It will have been observed that most of the
passages follow each other in unbroken sequence in Justin, for with the
exception of a short break between y and 8 the whole extract down to the
end of 0 is continuous, as indeed, after another brief interruption at
the end of i, it is again to the close of the very long and remarkable
passage k. With two exceptions, therefore, the whole of these quotations
from the Sermon on the Mount occur consecutively in two succeeding
chapters of Justin's first Apology, and one passage follows in the next
chapter. Only a single passage comes from a distant part of the dialogue
with Trypho. These passages are bound together by clear unity of idea
and context, and as, where there is a separation of sentences in his
Gospel, Justin clearly marks it by [--Greek--], there is every reason
to decide that those quotations which are continuous in form and in
argument were likewise consecutive in the Memoirs. Now the hypothesis
that these quotations are from the
{358}
Canonical Gospels requires the assumption of the fact that Justin, with
singular care, collected from distant and scattered portions of those
Gospels a series of passages in close sequence to each other, forming a
whole unknown to them but complete in itself, and yet, although this
is carefully performed, he at the same time with the most systematic
carelessness misquoted and materially altered almost every precept he
professes to cite. The order of the Canonical Gospels is as entirely set
at naught as their language is disregarded. As Hilgenfeld has pointed
out, throughout the whole of this portion of his quotations the
undeniable endeavour after accuracy, on the one hand, is in the most
glaring contradiction with the monstrous carelessness on the other, if
it be supposed that our Gospels are the source from which Justin quotes.
Nothing is more improbable than the conjecture that he made use of the
Canonical Gospels, and we must accept the conclusion that Justin quotes
with substantial correctness the expressions in the order in which he
found them in his peculiar Gospel.(1)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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