Satan from the top of a mountain shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the
earth. This seems to imply belief that the earth is a plane. The
movement of the star of the Nativity seems to imply belief in the
rotation of the heavens.
About the authorship of the Fourth Gospel, and, consequently, about its
title to belief, there has been endless controversy among the learned.
But there are pretty plain indications, in the shape of the omission of
demoniac miracles and some lack of local knowledge, that it is not the
work of a Palestinian Jew. Opening with a reference to the Logos, it
strikes the key of Alexandrian philosophy. It is, indeed, rather
theological than historical, so that it has been not inaptly compared
to the Platonic, in contrast to the Xenophontic, account of Socrates,
the theology seems like that of a post-evangelical era. Martineau's
conclusion is that "the only Gospel which is composed and not merely
compiled and edited, and for which, therefore, a single writer is
responsible, has its birthday in the middle of the second century, and
is not the work of a witness at all." Historically, this Gospel is at
variance with the others in its narrative of the Last Supper. "The
incidents," says the highly orthodox Speaker's Commentary, "are
parallel with sections of the Synoptic Gospels; but there are very few
points of actual correspondence in detail between the narratives of the
Synoptists and of St. John." There appears to have been much
disputation among critics and commentators, but no room for disputation
surely would have been left concerning narratives, equally authentic
and inspired, of a momentous crisis in the life of the Saviour.
"At this point, that is to say the beginning of the Galilean ministry,
we are again met by difficulties in the chronology, which are not only
various, but to the certain solution of which there appears to be no
clue. If we follow exclusively the order given by one Evangelist we
appear to run counter to the scattered indications which may be found
in another. That it should be so will cause no difficulty to the
candid mind. The Evangelists do not profess to be guided by
chronological sequences." So writes Dean Farrar in despair. Is it
likely that such confusion would be found in a Divine revelation?
Would not the narratives have been as well arranged and clear as, by
the admission of orthodoxy, they are the reverse? Would the names of
the authors of the Gospels, their warrants and the sources of their
information, have been withheld? Providence surely was not there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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