The first reference alluded to consists of the following two phrases: "But one only is good [———]..... the alone good Father" [———]. This is compared with Matt. xix. 17:{1} "Why askest thou me concerning good? there is one that is good" [———].(2) Now the passage in the epistle, if a reference to any parallel episode, such as Matt. xix. 17, indicates with certainty the reading: "One is good the Father" [———]. There is no such reading in any of our Gospels. But although this reading does not exist in any of the Canonical Gospels, it is well known that it did exist in uncanonical Gospels no longer extant, and that the passage was one upon which various sects of so-called heretics laid great stress. Irenseus quotes it as one of
the texts to which the Marcosians, who made use of apocryphal Gospels,(1) and notably of the Gospel according to the Hebrews, gave a different colouring: [———](2) Epiphanius also quotes this reading as one of the variations of the Marcionites: [———].(3) Origen, likewise, remarks that this passage is misused by some Heretics: "Velut proprie sibi datum scutum putant (hæretici) quod dixit Dominus in Evangelio: Nemo bonus nisi unus Deus pater."(4) Justin Martyr quotes the same reading from a source different from our Gospels,(5) [———](6) and in agreement with the repeated similar readings of the Clementine Homilies, which likewise derived it from an extra canonical source,(7) [———.8 The use of a similar expression by Clement of Alexandria,9 as well as by Origen, only serves to prove the existence of the reading in extinct Gospels, although it is not found in any MS. of any of our Gospels.
The second of the supposed references is more diffuse: "One is good and through him alone will the heart be enabled to become pure [———]... but when the alone good Father has visited it, it is sanctified and shines through with light, and the possessor of such a heart becomes so blessed, that he shall see God" [———]
[———]. This is compared(1) with Matthew v. 8: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" [———]. It might be argued that this is quite as much a reference to Psalm xxiv. 3-6 as to Matt. v. 8, but even if treated as a reference to the Sermon on the Mount, nothing is more certain than the fact that this discourse had its place in much older forms of the Gospel than our present Canonical Gospels,(2) and that it formed part of the Gospel according to the Hebrews and other evangelical writings in circulation in the early Church. Such a reference as this is absolutely worthless as evidence of special acquaintance with our first Synoptic.(3)
Tischendorf does not appeal at all to these supposed references contained in the passages preserved by Clement, but both the German and the English apologist join in relying upon the testimony of Hippolytus,(4) with regard to the use of the Gospels by Valentinus, although it must be admitted that the former does so with greater fairness of treatment than Canon Westcott. Tischendorf does refer to, and admit, some of the difficulties of the case, as we shall presently see, whilst Canon Westcott, as in the case of Basilides, boldly makes his assertion, and totally ignores all adverse facts. The only Gospel
reference which can be adduced even in the Philosophumena, exclusive of one asserted to be to the fourth Gospel, which will be separately considered hereafter, is advanced by Canon Westcott, for Teschendorf does not refer to it, but confines himself solely to the supposed reference to the fourth Gospel. The passage is the same as one also imputed to Basilides: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;" which happens to agree with the words in Luke i. 35; but, as we have seen in connection with Justin, there is good reason for concluding that the narrative to which it belongs was contained in other Gospels.(1) In this instance, however, the quotation is carried further and presents an important variation from the text of Luke. "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore the thing begotten of thee shall be called holy"(2) [———]. The reading of Luke is: "Therefore also the holy thing begotten shall be called the Son of God" [———]. It is probable that the passage referred to in connection with the followers of Basilides may have ended in the same way as this, and been derived from the same source. Nothing, however, can be clearer than the fact that this quotation, by whoever made, is not taken from our third Synoptic, inasmuch as there does not exist a single MS. which contains such a passage.
We again, however, come to the question: Who really made the quotations which Hippolytus introduces so indefinitely? We have already, in speaking of Basilides,