(xxvii.) Lastly, “κατακρίνω (in ver. 16), instead of κρίνω, is Mark's word, (comp. x. 33: xiv. 64).” The simple verb which is used four times by S. Matthew, five times by S. Luke, nineteen times by S. John, is never at all employed by S. Mark: whereas the compound verb he has oftener in proportion than S. Matthew,—more than twice as often as either S. Luke or S. John.
Strange,—that there should be exactly “xxvii” notes of genuineness discoverable in these twelve verses, instead of “XXVII” grounds of suspicion!
But enough of all this. Here, we may with advantage review the progress hitherto made in this inquiry.
I claim to have demonstrated long since that all those imposing assertions respecting the “Style” and “Phraseology” of this section of the Gospel which were rehearsed at the outset,[301]—are destitute of foundation. But from this discovery alone there results a settled conviction which it will be found difficult henceforth to disturb. A page of Scripture which has been able to endure so severe an ordeal of hostile inquiry, has been proved to be above suspicion. That character is rightly accounted blameless which comes out unsullied after Calumny has done her worst; done it systematically; done it with a will; done it for a hundred years.
But this is not an adequate statement of the facts of the case in respect of the conclusion of S. Mark's Gospel. Something more is certain than that the charges which have been so industriously brought against this portion of the Gospel are without foundation. It has been also proved that instead of there being discovered twenty-seven suspicious words and phrases scattered up and down these twelve verses of the Gospel, there actually exist exactly as many words and phrases which attest with more or less certainty that those verses are nothing else but the work of the Evangelist.
IV. And now it is high time to explain that though I have hitherto condescended to adopt the method of my opponents, I have only done so in order to shew that it proves fatal to themselves. I am, to say the truth, ashamed of what has last been written,—so untrustworthy do I deem the method which, (following the example of those who have preceded me in this inquiry,) I have hitherto pursued. The “Concordance test,”—(for that is probably as apt and intelligible a designation as can be devised for the purely mechanical process whereby it is proposed by a certain school of Critics to judge of the authorship of Scripture,)—is about the coarsest as well as about the most delusive that could be [pg 174] devised. By means of this clumsy and vulgar instrument, especially when applied, (as in the case before us,) without skill and discrimination, it would be just as easy to prove that the first twelve verses of S. Mark's Gospel are of a suspicious character as the last.[302] In truth, except in very skilful hands, it is no test at all, and can only mislead.
Thus, (in ver. 1,) we should be informed (i.) that “Mark nowhere uses the appellation Jesus Christ:” and (ii.) that “εὐαγγέλιον Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ” is “Pauline”—We should be reminded (iii.) that this Evangelist nowhere introduces any of the Prophets by name, and that therefore the mention of “Isaiah”[303] (in ver. 2) is a suspicious circumstance:—(iv.) that a quotation from the Old Testament is “foreign to his manner,”—(for writers of this class would not hesitate to assume that S. Mark xv. 28 is no part of the Gospel;)—and (v.) that the fact that here are quotations from two different prophets, betrays an unskilful hand.—(vi.) Because S. Mark three times calls Judæa by its usual name (Ιουδαια, viz. in iii. 7: x. 1: xiii. 14), the unique designation, ἡ Ἰουδαία χώρα (in ver. 5) would be pronounced decisive against “the authorship of Mark.”—(vii.) The same thing would be said of the unique [pg 175] expression, ἐν Ἰορδάνη ποταμῷ, which is found in ver. 5,—seeing that this Evangelist three times designates Jordan simply as Ἰορδάνης (i. 9: iii. 8: x. 1).—(viii.) That entire expression in ver. 7 (unique, it must be confessed, in the Gospel,) οὖ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανος—ὑποδημάτων αὐτοῦ, would be pronounced “abhorrent to the style of Mark.”—(ix.) τὸ Πνεῦμα twice, (viz. in ver. 10 and ver. 12) we should be told is never used by the Evangelist absolutely for the Holy Ghost: but always τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον (as in ch. iii. 29: xii. 36: xiii. 11).—(x.) The same would be said of οἱ Ἱεροσολυμῖται (in ver. 5) for “the inhabitants of Jerusalem:” we should be assured that S. Mark's phrase would rather be οἱ ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων,—as in ch. iii. 8 and 22.—And (xi.) the expression πιστεύειν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῷ (ver. 15), we should be informed “cannot be Mark's;”—who either employs εἰς and the accusative (as in ch. ix. 92), or else makes the verb take a dative (as in ch. xi. 31: xvi. 13, 14.)—We should also probably be told that the ten following words are all “unknown to Mark:”—(xii.) τρίχες,—(xiii.) δερματίνη,—(xiv.) ὀσφύς,—(xv.) ἀκρίδες,—(xvi.) μέλι,—(xvii.) ἄγριος,(six instances in a single verse (ver. 6): a highly suspicious circumstance!),—(xviii.) κύπτειν,—(xix.) ἱμάς,—(xx.) ὑποδήματα, (all three instances in ver. 7!)—(xxi.) εὐδοκεῖν,—(xxii.) καὶ ἐγένετο ... ἦλθεν (ver. 9),—unique in S. Mark!—(xxiii.) βαπτίζεσθαι εἰς (ver 9), another unique phrase!—(xxiv.) οἱ οὐρανοί twice, (viz. in verses 10, 11) yet elsewhere, when S. Mark speaks of Heaven, (ch. vi. 41: vii. 34: viii. 11: xvi. 19) he always uses the singular.—Lastly, (xxv.) the same sorry objection which was brought against the “last twelve verses,” (that πάλιν, a favourite adverb with S. Mark, is not found there,) is here even more conspicuous.
Turning away from all this,—(not, however, without an apology for having lingered over such frivolous details so long,)—I desire to point out that we have reverently to look below the surface, if we would ascertain how far it is to be presumed from internal considerations whether S. Mark was indeed the author of this portion of his Gospel, or not.
V. We must devise, I say, some more delicate, more philosophical, more real test than the coarse, uncritical expedient [pg 176] which has been hitherto considered of ascertaining by reference to the pages of a Greek Concordance whether a certain word which is found in this section of the Gospel is, or is not, used elsewhere by S. Mark. And I suppose it will be generally allowed to be deserving of attention,—in fact, to be a singularly corroborative circumstance,—that within the narrow compass of these Twelve Verses we meet with every principal characteristic of S. Mark's manner:—Thus,
(i.) Though he is the Author of the shortest of the Gospels, and though to all appearance he often merely reproduces what S. Matthew has said before him, or else anticipates something, which is afterwards delivered by S. Luke,—it is surprising how often we are indebted to S. Mark for precious pieces of information which we look for in vain elsewhere. Now, this is a feature of the Evangelist's manner which is susceptible of memorable illustration from the section before us.