Bible. Gospels -- Evidences, authority, etc.; Tischendorf, Constantin von, 1815-1874. Wann wurden unsere Evangelien verfasst? English
The account of the calling of Peter is replete with contradictions.
According to Matthew, when Jesus first saw Peter, the latter was in a
vessel fishing with his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea of
Galilee. Jesus walking by the sea said to them--"Follow me, and I will
make you fishers of men." The two brothers did so, and they became
Christ's disciples. When Jesus called Peter no one was with him but his
brother Andrew. A little further on, the two sons of Zebedee were in a
ship with their father mending nets, and these latter were separately
called. From John, we learn that Andrew was originally a disciple of
John the Baptist, and that when Andrew first saw Jesus, Peter was not
present, but Andrew went and found Peter who, if fishing, must have been
angling on land, telling him "we have found the Messiah," and that
Andrew then brought Peter to Jesus, who said, "Thou art Simon, the son
of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas." There is no mention in John of
the sons of Zebedee being a little further on, or of any fishing in the
sea of Galilee. This call is clearly on land. Luke's Gospel states that
when the call took place, Jesus and Peter were both at sea. Jesus had
been preaching to the people, who pressing upon him, he got into Simon's
ship, from which he preached. After this he directed Simon to put out
into the deep and let down the nets. Simon answered, "Master, we have
toiled all night and taken nothing; nevertheless at thy word I will let
down the net." No sooner was this done, than the net was filled to
breaking, and Simon's partners, the two sons of Zebedee, came to help,
when at the call of Jesus, they brought their ships to land, and
followed him.
Is it credible that there were three several calls, or that the Gospels
being inspired, you could have three contradictory versions of the
same event? Has the story been here "painfully modified," or how do Dr.
Tischendorf and the Religious Tract Society clear up the matter? Is it
credible that, as stated in Luke, Jesus had visited Simon's house, and
cured Simon's wife's mother, before the call of Simon, but did not go
to Simon's house for that purpose, until after the call of Simon, as
related in Matthew? It is useless to reply that the date of Jesus's
visit is utterly unimportant, when we are told that it is upon the
credibility of the complete narrative that Christianity must rest. Each
stone is important to the building, and it is not competent for the
Christian advocate to regard as useless any word which the Holy Ghost
has considered important enough to reveal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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