The Wave of Scepticism and the Rock of Truth

by M. H. Habershon

It is impossible to doubt that Polycarp would have learned from John himself whether he was the author of a Gospel; and if Irenæus had never heard Polycarp allude to the Gospel as John's, he could not have believed in it as he did, and have plainly stated that John wrote it and the Apocalypse. There would have been in this case a justifiable inference from "silence." If Polycarp in his teaching had never alluded to John's Gospel, it would have been so strange that Irenæus would have deemed it spurious altogether, and unworthy of the estimation with which he regarded it; for it is one of the four Gospels that he fancifully likens to the four corners of the earth, the four principal winds, and the four wings of the Seraphim. It is to be remembered that our author acknowledges Irenæus so regarded all the four Gospels, for he alludes (p. 91) to "the arbitrary assumption of exclusive originality and priority for the four Gospels" by Irenæus, Tertullian, and Epiphanius. It is evident that this Fourth Gospel could not have first appeared as late as A.D. 150, but must have been in existence long before; and on the testimony of Irenæus, through Polycarp, from John himself, its authenticity may be considered established.

The evidence from the work of Hippolytus, entitled, "The Refutation of all Heresies," that Basilides quoted from the Fourth Gospel, our author dismisses in one paragraph (p. 371), having fully referred to the testimony from that writer in treating of the Synoptics. There are, however, two very distinct passages which cannot be objected to as quotations, and the attempt to get rid of them by the substitution of the plural pronoun "they" for the singular one "he," in the text of Hippolytus, is an utter failure. The first is from John i. 9, "The true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;" and the words in "The Refutation," by Hippolytus, are, "And this, he says, is that which has been stated in the Gospels, 'He was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.'" The other is, "Mine hour is not yet come," agreeing with John ii. 4. The discovery of the work, "The Refutation of all Heresies," in the year 1841, at Mount Athos, by the erudite Minoides Mynas, a Greek, in the employ of the French Government, was important as bearing on this question, for it proves that the Fourth Gospel was in existence thirty years earlier than the Tübingen criticism asserted. Our author's want of appreciation of the evidence found in Hippolytus is one of the weakest points in his book.

Is the Fourth Gospel quoted by Justin Martyr? Our author says, No! I say, Yes! to the question. In his Dialogue with Tryphon (p. 316) occur the words, "I am not the Christ, but the voice of one crying," which is evidently from that Gospel, for we know of no other which makes John the Baptist say the same. He says "the evangelical work of which Justin made use was obviously different from our Gospels, and the evident conclusion to which any impartial mind must arrive is, that there is not only not the slightest ground for affirming that Justin quoted the passage (as above) from the Fourth Gospel, from which he so fundamentally differs, but every reason on the contrary to believe that he derived it from a particular Gospel, in all probability the Gospel according to the Hebrews" (p. 302). I remark, that the words, "I am not the Christ, but the voice of one crying," could not be quoted from the Gospel according to the Hebrews if that supposed independent book did not contain them, and there is no evidence that it did. On the contrary, our Gospel of Matthew, compiled, as we suppose, partly from it, would have in that case had the words; and as it has not, and as only John's Gospel has them, the inference is clear that Justin had seen the latter, as well as the other Gospel or Gospels from which the earlier part of the sentence is taken. The whole of Justin's sentence is as follows: "For John sat by the Jordan and preached the baptism of repentance, wearing only a leathern girdle and raiment of camel's hair, and eating nothing but locusts and wild honey." Men supposed him to be the Christ, wherefore he cries to them, "I am not Christ, but the voice of one crying (or preaching). For he cometh who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not meet to bear."

We find in the second "Apology" (p. 94) these words: "Christ said, 'Except ye be born again ye may not enter into the kingdom of heaven;" and in the very same line is continued the reference to the conversation with Nicodemus, in these words: "But that it is impossible for those who have been once born to enter into their mother's womb, is plain to all." I scarce need remind you how the statement of Christ and the question of Nicodemus are as close together in the Fourth Gospel. The passage there is, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" The two sentences, coming together in both, leaves no doubt that Justin used the Fourth Gospel, for there is nothing like them in any of the other Gospels.

It is something to have from Justin Martyr the evidence that Jesus taught Nicodemus that a man cannot see the kingdom of God without being born of the Holy Ghost. If Justin quoted from an earlier Gospel, it is against our author's non-superhuman theory; and if from our Gospels, it is equally so. But, supposing that he could prove that Justin did not quote, that would not prove that the books were not in existence. Paul's Epistles, 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, and Romans, all written not later than the year 58, are they quoted, as we might suppose they would be, by Justin? We know nothing as to the extent of his library. He might have had copies of all these Gospels and Epistles, or none at hand to quote verbatim from. Was there a concordance, to help a writer to be exact, after the modern demand?

The internal evidence of the Fourth Gospel is, perhaps, not so appreciable by our author as the external, on account of his foregone conclusion that the superhuman is incredible. But as "there is no feasible explanation of the Divine origin of Christianity without acknowledging the Divine mission of Jesus," so is there no possible explanation of the Fourth Gospel without a recognition of the evangelical doctrine of the triune in the Divine Nature—the threefold manifestation of the one God. Exclude from the Fourth Gospel the idea of the Holy Spirit having inspired John to write it, and there naturally follows the attempt to exclude the book from its historical and authoritative position. It has a perfectly harmonious place in the superhuman means by which spiritual truth is exhibited and enforced for the benefit of mankind, but that place is an advanced one. It was the last of inspired utterances, and it presupposes the development that it supplements, and which it designs to promote. The Holy Spirit, "the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant," to make us "perfect in every good work to do His will," must be recognised and duly honoured if the Bible is to be understood and Christianity successfully exhibited and defended. Let us turn to the book. It opens with allusions to the dignity of Christ the Messiah which no philosophy known in Alexandria had a conception of. Philo and his Platonic school discoursed of the Logos; but their doctrine is distinct from that of this Gospel. Justin takes up their idea, as our author shows (p. 278), and draws a distinction between the Logos and Jesus, describing Jesus Christ as being made flesh by the power of the Logos; for Justin says,—"Through the power of the Word, according to the will of God the Father and Lord of all, he was born a man of a virgin."[58] Philo says,[59]—"The Logos of God is above all things in the word, and is the most ancient and most universal of all things created." I do not deny that Justin got ideas of the Logos from the Old Testament and from the writings of Philo, as shown by our author, but I submit that he confused their doctrine with the more developed truth of the New Testament. "It is certain," he says (p. 291), "that both Justin and Philo, unlike the prelude to the Fourth Gospel, place the Logos in a secondary position to God the Father, indicating a less advanced stage in the doctrine. 'He calls the Word constantly the first-born of all created beings'" (p. 292). Our author says,—"We do not propose in this work to enter fully into the history of the Logos doctrine" (p. 280). Had he done so, he could not have shown that the doctrine reached to the height of the apostolic conception. There is no allusion to the Divinity of the Logos, as John and Paul assert; and no reference to the unquestionable statement of Scripture that, in the Word made flesh, we have a revelation of the mysterious triune nature of Jehovah. A vague notion of it is found in many idolatrous systems of religious worship, and its prevalence is an indication of the truth which tradition, from primitive revelation, has handed down; but the mystery, as Paul says, was hidden for ages and generations, and was not made manifest until, in the fulness of time, the scheme of Redemption was fully unfolded. The gospel is called by Paul "the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by a clear interpretation of the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith."[60] To concentrate the doctrine in the Fourth Gospel and Paul's later epistles, and then repudiate the writings, is a mode of sustaining the denial of it which is far from being successful. This doctrine is evidently one of the essential elements of Christian truth. As the bread which sustains our bodily life, so the bread of the life of the soul, may be decomposed, but none of the elements must be left out of it if it is to be of use. In the Old Testament we find many passages which show the plurality in the Divine nature. The doctrine, it is true, was not so revealed as to be conspicuous at the time, for if it had been, it would have been misunderstood, and thus tended to interfere with the schooling which the Jews were undergoing to cure them of their proneness to idolatry; but with the New Testament in our hand we see what, without it, would be still hidden in obscurity. As we read the Fourth Gospel in the light of this doctrine, how it harmonises with the "plan of salvation" which believers in all evangelical Churches call Christianity! The book professes to be written that men, believing in Jesus Christ, may have eternal life; records the testimony of John the Baptist that Jesus was the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world (i. 29); and announces the important dogma that the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit is indispensable to overcome the unwillingness of the soul of man to receive the truths of the Divine revelation. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (vi. 44). "Except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." It testifies to the Divine nature of Jesus in the most explicit manner. "Therefore the Jews sought to kill him," because he said "God was his Father, making himself equal with God" (v. 18). "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (v. 23). "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also" (viii. 19). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (viii. 58). "It is he (the Son of God) that talketh with thee. And he (the man who had been blind) said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him" (ix. 38). "I and my Father are one" (x. 30). "For blasphemy" (we stone thee), "and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God" (x. 36). "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (xi. 25, 26). "Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him" (xiii. 32). "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (xiv. 9).

The doctrine of what we call (not having a better word) the personality of the Holy Spirit is clearly indicated in such passages as the following:—"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you" (xiv. 17). "But the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (xiv. 26). "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (xvi. 7). "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come" (xvi. 13). The seventeenth chapter I will not refer to in part, but specify entire, begging the reader to meditate on its marvellous comprehensiveness and expressiveness.

Much of the teaching of Jesus would be so far above the comprehension of the disciples when they heard it, that it would not be likely to be impressed on their memory. The Holy Spirit was to be sent, to bring all things to their remembrance; and it is only by this promise being fulfilled that we can understand the inspired words of the Fourth Gospel.

Could Jesus have said what He is described in this book to have said, if God had not been with Him as He never was with any other man? If such a question be pertinent, how utterly needless the further question, Could the book have been written by the nameless unknown some one whom the hypothesis of its non-Johannine origin substitutes as the author?

Whatever difference there is between the composition of the Fourth Gospel and the Apocalyse, there is, at all events, a striking analogy between the opening verses of the former and those in the latter, where the faithful and true witness is referred to as "the beginning of the creation of God,"[61] and as being set down with His Father upon His throne. In the preface to each of the addresses to the seven Churches Christ assumes the attributes and prerogatives of the Deity. The prominence given to the mysterious doctrine of the Divinity of Christ is as great in the one as the other.