[———].(1) Again, as to the second clause, that he assisted the Father in the work of creation, compare Heb. ii. 10, i. 2, xi. 3, Rom. xi. 36, 1 Cor. viii. 6, Coloss. i. 15, 16.(2)
The only remaining passage is the following: "The name of the Son of God is great and infinite and supports the whole world." For the first phrase, compare 2 Tim. iv. 18, Heb. i. 8; and for the second part of the sentence, Heb. i. 3, Coloss. i. 17, and many other passages quoted above.(3)
The whole assertion(4) is devoid of foundation, and might well have been left unnoticed. The attention called to it, however, may not be wasted in observing the kind of evidence with which apologists are compelled to be content.
Tischendorf points out two passages in the Epistles of pseudo-Ignatius which, he considers, show the use of the fourth Gospel.(5) They are as follows—Epistle to the Romans vii.: "I desire the bread of God, the bread of
heaven, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ the son of God, who was born at a later time of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God [———], that is his blood, which is love incorruptible, and eternal life" [———].(1) This is compared with John vi. 41: "I am the bread which came down from heaven" 48.... "I am the bread of life," 51.... "And the bread that I will give is my flesh;" 54. "He who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life" [———]. Scholten has pointed out that the reference to Jesus as "born of the seed of David and Abraham" is not in the spirit of the fourth Gospel; and the use of [———] for the [———] of vi. 55, and [———]; instead of [———] are also opposed to the connection with that Gospel.(3) On the other hand, in the institution of the Supper, the bread is described as the body of Jesus, and the wine as his blood; and reference is made there, and elsewhere, to eating bread and drinking wine in the kingdom of God,(3) and the passage seems to be nothing but a development of this teaching.(4) Nothing could be proved by such an analogy.(5)
The second passage referred to by Tischendorf is in the Epistle to the Philadelphians vii.: "For if some
would have led me astray according to the flesh, yet the Spirit is not led astray, being from God, for it knoweth whence it cometh and whither it goeth, and detecteth the things that are hidden."(1) Teschendorf considers that these words are based upon John iii. 6—8, and the last phrase: "And detecteth the hidden things," upon verse 20. The sense of the Epistle, however, is precisely the reverse of that of the Gospel, which reads: "The wind bloweth where it listeth; and thou hearest the sound thereof but knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit;"(3) whilst the Epistle does not refer to the wind at all, but affirms that the Spirit of God does know whence it cometh, &c. The analogy in verse 20 is still more remote: "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be detected."(3) In 1 Cor. ii. 10, the sense is found more closely: "For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, even the deep things of God."(4) It is evidently unreasonable to assert from such a passage the use of the fourth Gospel.(5) Even Tischendorf recognizes that in themselves the phrases which he points out in pseudo-Ignatius could not, unsupported by other corroboration, possess much weight as testimony for the use of our Gospels. He says: "Were these allusions of Ignatius to Matthew and John a wholly isolated phenomenon, and one which perhaps other undoubted results
