[11] Origin and History of the Books of the New Testament, by Prof. C. E. Stowe, A.D. 1867, pp. 31, 62.
[12] In Scribner’s Monthly for February, 1881, p. 617.
[13] An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the rules of Evidence administered in Courts of Justice, etc. By Simon Greenleaf, LL.D., Royal Professor of Law in Harvard University (A.D. 1846), p. 28.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE CREDIBILITY OF THE EVANGELISTS.
The question of their credibility is before that of their inspiration. If uninspired, they may have given us everything essential to the determination of Christ’s resurrection. If inspired, inspiration may have been bestowed in such a manner as to leave them subject to some of the limitations of human testimony. If reliable accounts of the life, teachings, death, and resurrection, of our Lord, were to be published to the world, it was of the last importance that they should not carry upon their face the appearance of collusion and contrivance. Let any one who is disturbed by any seeming contradictions or errors, consider for a moment what would be the consequence if they did not exist. If each writer narrated the same occurrences and teachings and in the same terms, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to believe that they were independent witnesses. And so, if each should give all of the same occurrences and teachings, although in different terms, or a part of them, but in the same terms, it would be almost as difficult to believe that we have independent witnesses. As it is, no question can arise. Neither of them covers the whole ground, and where the same matters appear, it is, in general, except in brief passages easily remembered, in different terms. We are sure there was no collusion. We are sure we have the testimony of independent writers. This is conceded. Says Judge Waite (pp. 311, 313): That the Gospels “are not merely copied one from the other, with changes, is the almost unanimous verdict of Biblical scholars.” And in this, he expresses the verdict of those who reject, not less than of those who accept the Gospels. Among the limitations attending mere human testimony, are, that, ordinarily, no witness will state the whole of any transaction, and no two witnesses will state it in precisely the same terms, unless there is fraud or collusion, and the testimony of each is but the recital of something that has been committed to memory. Another limitation is, that even with two or more witnesses, errors to some extent will come in. There will be some lack of correct observation, or some misrecollection,—not only the omission of a part, but positive misstatement by one or more of the witnesses. The whole transaction is to be gathered from all the witnesses. And the law, having respect to human infirmities, says it is enough in all cases to prove the substance of words alleged to have been spoken, or the substance of the issue, in any civil or criminal cause; immaterial errors of time, or place, or distance, or other circumstance, will be disregarded. Now it is conceivable that the Evangelists, under the guidance of the Divine Spirit, may have been left (to some extent) subject to these limitations, in order that their testimony, conforming to these laws of observation and memory, be the more credible. Hence, whether the Evangelists, in this stage of the inquiry, be regarded as inspired or uninspired, it is labor lost, to adduce alleged errors[1] or contradictions which, if made out, could not seriously affect their honesty and general competency. In order that a witness receive our confidence, we should be satisfied of his means of knowledge, his capacity to ascertain the facts, and his disposition to give a correct account of them. Two of the writers, Matthew and John, were of the twelve (and John was the beloved disciple) and hence they had the best possible means of knowing the facts. Matthew, from his business of a tax-gatherer, may be presumed to have been sharp, shrewd and observant. John, from his most intimate association, was pre-eminently qualified to give testimony. He gives it with solemnity equal to an oath: “And he that saw bare record, and his record is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe” (c. xix. 35). “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name” (c. xx. 30, 31). Again, after stating what Peter asked concerning the disciple “whom Jesus loved,” and what followed, it is said: “This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and who wrote these things; and we[2] know that his testimony is true” (c. xxi. 20-24). This Gospel, obviously written later than the others, omits much that is contained in them, and is, so to speak, of higher order. The first incident mentioned in it, is the witness borne to Christ by the Baptist. It gives none of the parables, so abundant in the Synoptics.[3] It relates but two of the miracles recorded in them, i. e. the feeding of the five thousand, and the walking upon the water, (c. vi. 1-21). It adds six miracles not recorded in the Synoptics (among which is the raising of Lazarus), numerous conversations and discourses of the greatest interest, and facts relating to the crucifixion and resurrection, of great weight as evidence. It is written in purer Greek than the others; its style[4] is elegant and graceful; it gives every indication of calm, thoughtful and deliberate composition, and in these respects tends to confirm the uniform tradition that it was the ripe product of a mind and heart, enriched, quickened, and vitalized, by familiar intercourse with our Lord and the truths which he declared, as well as by the Spirit promised to the Apostles. Men with favorable native gifts, become educated fast under such influences.
It affords about the only means for a connected chronological history of our Lord’s ministry, which is seen to have embraced a longer[5] period, than could have been ascertained from the Synoptics.
Although Mark was not one of the twelve, the character of his Gospel in its life-like description of events, and its omitting nothing[A] where Peter was prominent, confirms the tradition, that he was an attendant upon Peter’s ministry, and was his interpreter. Nine-tenths[6] of the incidents related in Mark are also recorded in the other Gospels.
Luke was an educated man, and, as he incidentally discloses, a companion of Paul in a part of his journeyings. His Gospel was evidently drawn up with great care. In the prologue (c. i. 1-5) he gives a reason for his writing, and the sources of his information. “Many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us.” These things, he says, “were delivered unto us by those who from the beginning were eye witnesses and ministers of the Word.” He was stimulated to give an additional narrative (“having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first”) for the satisfaction of his friend, Theophilus, and in order that he might know “the certainty of those things,” wherein he had been instructed. No historian could enter upon his work in a better spirit, or with more excellent qualifications and opportunities. In a subsequent treatise which in terms refers to the former, he finds nothing to retract or qualify. Can any one tell why Luke, as a historian, is not entitled to as much credit as Josephus?
In comparing the Gospels with each other, or with Josephus, it should be constantly borne in mind, that omission (except under special circumstances) is not contradiction. The facts of history, like the conclusions of a jury, are to be drawn from all credible sources, and the transaction deemed to be as shown upon all the evidence. Positive testimony from a single witness may prove a fact against the negative testimony of any number of witnesses, who are silent upon the subject.