The Supernatural in the New Testament, Possible, Credible, and Historical / Or, An Examination of the Validity of Some Recent Objections Against Christianity as a Divine Revelation

by C. A. Row

Or they imagined that He appeared to some of them after His death, but the appearance was a delusion of their imaginations:

Or He rose from the dead as an objective fact.

Other alternatives there are none; and with respect to this particular miracle, the whole apparatus of myth, [pg 397] legend, development and compromise, which is so liberally used to account for the supernatural portions of the Gospels, is simply worthless as a rational account of the origin of the story.

A very bold affirmation has been made, that no contemporary testimony can be adduced for the performance of any miracle recorded in the New Testament. This assertion is founded on the supposition that none of the Gospels can be proved to have been written earlier than the end of the first, or the beginning of the second century. It is alleged that they are of very uncertain authorship, that two of them do not profess to communicate anything but second-hand information; and the proof of the early composition of the other two utterly fails. The three first Gospels being thus quietly assigned to the region of myths and legends, and the fourth affirmed to be a forgery, it is asserted that contemporary evidence for the truth of the supernatural narratives of the Gospels wholly disappears.

What then is contemporaneous testimony to a fact? Few persons who actually witness events compose histories of them. There is scarcely an account of a great battle which has been composed by the general who commanded in it; and when such accounts have been published by persons who were actually present, they could have witnessed but a small portion of the events which they describe. Such is the case with the great mass of facts which constitute the history of the past. The chief actors in them are seldom the historians.

But although such persons rarely compose narratives of events at which they were actually present, yet it is quite possible to possess testimony which for all practical purposes is of equal value. As I have already pointed out, such testimony consists of historical documents [pg 398] composed by persons who lived during the time in question, and who had ample means of procuring information from those who must have known the truth of the occurrences.

We possess contemporaneous testimony of the highest order in the Epistles of St. Paul. I have already observed that no documents are of higher historical value than letters composed by persons actively engaged in the events to which they refer. I must now point out specifically the importance of these letters as historical documents.

First: four of the longest of them are admitted, by every school of unbelievers, who have given any consideration to the subject, to be the genuine productions of the Apostle. The evidence, both external and internal, of his authorship, is of the highest character. If it is not valid to prove that they were written by him, all historical certitude is rendered impossible. They are the two to the Corinthians, and those addressed to the Romans and the Galatians. Their importance is greatly enhanced by their presenting to us a more distinct picture of the innermost life of the Apostle than any others which have been attributed to him. To these may be added four more, viz. the two to the Thessalonians, and those to the Philippians and to Philemon, which, although doubted by some, are yet fully admitted by other unbelievers, among whom is Renan, to be genuine. The internal evidence that the Epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon were written by the same person who composed those to the Corinthians and Galatians, is as strong as such evidence can possibly be. The whole form of thought is instinct with the presence of the same mind. Nor can the two to the Thessalonians admit of any reasonable doubt. To these follow the two to the Colossians and the [pg 399] Ephesians, for which the evidence is certainly less strong; but Renan admits that it greatly preponderates on the side of their being genuine productions of St. Paul. Altogether, then, we have eight letters which are undoubtedly his, and two more which are probably so; instinct with his mind, and placing before us a vivid picture of the innermost life of the early Church.

Secondly, as to their date. Six of them were unquestionably written within twenty-eight years after the crucifixion, by the most active agent in the propagation of Christianity, who had been employed in this work for a period of at least eighteen years previously. Let us consider what such a period of time really means. Twenty-eight years is about the period which lies between the present year and the repeal of the corn-laws. While some of those who effected it have passed away, many of those who took a most active part in it are still living. All the events connected with it lie within the period of the most lively historical recollection. Many persons are still alive who can look back with the most perfect reminiscence to the great events of the anti-corn-law agitation. While these persons live, it will be impossible to encircle the chief actors in it with a halo of myth or legend. In precisely the same position must multitudes have stood to the ministry of Jesus Christ, and the foundation of the Christian Church, when these Epistles were written. The fact is worthy of our deepest attention, that when we read these letters and the various statements they contain, we are in the immediate presence of some of the most important events in history.

Although St. Paul had never seen Jesus himself, yet his age was such when he wrote these letters, that his recollection was good for many years before the commencement of His ministry. Great numbers of persons [pg 400] also were alive whose recollections of events that occurred at a much earlier date must have been distinct and clear. With the early followers of Jesus he had for not less than twenty years every facility for holding communication. Is it to be believed that a man whose entire being was swallowed up in one continuous sacrifice of himself to Jesus Christ, and who was penetrated with the profoundest love towards Him, had not accurately informed himself of the great facts of His earthly life, when during the last twenty years he had enjoyed every means of obtaining information from His followers, and previously had investigated it with the keen scent of an angry persecutor? The idea is incredible. In these letters of St. Paul therefore, as far as they throw light on this subject, we are in the presence of contemporaneous historical evidence of the highest order.