THE
CHRIST
A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His Existence
By
JOHN E. REMSBURG
“We must get rid of that Christ.”
—Emerson
New York
THE TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY
Forty-nine Vesey Street.
To My Wife
Nora M. Remsburg
This Volume is Inscribed
Humbly he came,
Veiling his horrible Godhead in the shape
Of man, scorned by the world, his name unheard
Save by the rabble of his native town,
Even as a parish demagogue. He led
The crowd; he taught them justice, truth, and peace,
In semblance; but he lit within their souls
The quenchless flames of zeal, and blessed the sword
He brought on earth to satiate with the blood
Of truth and freedom his malignant soul.
At length his mortal frame was led to death.
I stood beside him; on the torturing cross
No pain assailed his unterrestrial sense;
And yet he groaned. Indignantly I summed
The massacres and miseries which his name
Had sanctioned in my country, and I cried
“Go! Go!” in mockery.
PREFACE.
“We must get rid of that Christ, we must get rid of that Christ!” So spake one of the wisest, one of the most lovable of men, Ralph Waldo Emerson. “If I had my way,” said Thomas Carlyle, “the world would hear a pretty stern command—Exit Christ.” Since Emerson and Carlyle spoke a revolution has taken place in the thoughts of men. The more enlightened of them are now rid of Christ. From their minds he has made his exit. To quote the words of Prof. Goldwin Smith, “The mighty and supreme Jesus, who was to transfigure all humanity by his divine wit and grace—this Jesus has flown.” The supernatural Christ of the New Testament, the god of orthodox Christianity, is dead. But priestcraft lives and conjures up the ghost of this dead god to frighten and enslave the masses of mankind. The name of Christ has caused more persecutions, wars, and miseries than any other name has caused. The darkest wrongs are still inspired by it. The wails of anguish that went up from Kishenev, Odessa, and Bialystok still vibrate in our ears.
Two notable works controverting the divinity of Christ appeared in the last century, the Leben Jesu of Strauss, and the Vie de Jesus of Renan. Strauss in his work, one of the masterpieces of Freethought literature, endeavors to prove, and proves to the satisfaction of a majority of his readers, that Jesus Christ is a historical myth. This work possesses permanent value, but it was written for the scholar and not for the general reader. In the German and Latin versions, and in the admirable English translation of Marian Evans (George Eliot), the citations from the Gospels—and they are many—are in Greek.
Renan’s “Life of Jesus,” written in Palestine, has had, especially in its abridged form, an immense circulation, and has been a potent factor in the dethronement of Christ. It is a charming book and displays great learning. But it is a romance, not a biography. The Jesus of Renan, like the Satan of Milton, while suggested by the Bible, is a modern creation. The warp is to be found in the Four Gospels, but the woof was spun in the brain of the brilliant Frenchman. Of this book Renan’s fellow-countryman, Dr. Jules Soury, thus writes:
“It is to be feared that the beautiful, the ‘divine,’ dream, as he would say, which the eminent scholar experienced in the very country of the Gospel, will have the fate of the ‘Joconda’ of Da Vinci, and many of the religious pictures of Raphael and Michael Angelo. Such dreams are admirable, but they are bound to fade.... The Jesus who rises up and comes out from those old Judaizing writings (Synoptics) is truly no idyllic personage, no meek dreamer, no mild and amiable moralist; on the contrary, he is very much more of a Jew fanatic, attacking without measure the society of his time, a narrow and obstinate visionary, a half-lucid thaumaturge, subject to fits of passion, which caused him to be looked upon as crazy by his own people. In the eyes of his contemporaries and fellow-countrymen he was all that, and he is the same in ours.”
Renan himself repudiated to a considerable extent his earlier views regarding Jesus. When he wrote his work he accepted as authentic the Gospel of John, and to this Gospel he was indebted largely for the more admirable traits of his hero. John he subsequently rejected. Mark he accepted as the oldest and most authentic of the Gospels. Alluding to Mark he says:
“It cannot be denied that Jesus is portrayed in this gospel not as a meek moralist worthy of our affection, but as a dreadful magician.”
This volume on “The Christ” was written by one who recognizes in the Jesus of Strauss and Renan a transitional step, but not the ultimate step, between orthodox Christianity and radical Freethought. By the Christ is understood the Jesus of the New Testament. The Jesus of the New Testament is the Christ of Christianity. The Jesus of the New Testament is a supernatural being. He is, like the Christ, a myth. He is the Christ myth. Originally the word Christ, the Greek for the Jewish Messiah, “the anointed,” meant the office or title of a person, while Jesus was the name of the person on whom his followers had bestowed this title. Gradually the title took the place of the name, so that Jesus, Jesus Christ, and Christ became interchangeable terms—synonyms. Such they are to the Christian world, and such, by the law of common usage, they are to the secular world.
It may be conceded as possible, and even probable, that a religious enthusiast of Galilee, named Jesus, was the germ of this mythical Jesus Christ. But this is an assumption rather than a demonstrated fact. Certain it is, this person, if he existed, was not a realization of the Perfect Man, as his admirers claim. There are passages in the Gospels which ascribe to him a lofty and noble character, but these, for the most part, betray too well their Pagan origin. The dedication of temples to him and the worship of him by those who deny his divinity is as irrational as it will prove ephemeral. One of the most philosophic and one of the most far-seeing minds of Germany, Dr. Edward von Hartmann, says:
“When liberal Protestantism demands religious reverence for the man Jesus, it is disgusting and shocking. They cannot themselves believe that the respect in which Jesus is held by the people and which they have made use of in such an unprotestant manner, can be maintained for any length of time after the nimbus of divinity has been destroyed, and they may reflect on the insufficiency of the momentary subterfuge. The Protestant principle in its last consequences, disposes of all kinds of dogmatic authority in a remorseless manner, and its supporters must, whether they like it or not, dispense with the authority of Christ.”
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
[Christ’s Real Existence Impossible] 13
CHAPTER II.
[Silence of Contemporary Writers] 24
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
[His Character and Teachings] 340
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
[Sources of the Christ Myth—Ancient Religions] 444
CHAPTER XI.
[Sources of the Christ Myth—Pagan Divinities] 499
CHAPTER XII.
[Sources of the Christ Myth—Conclusion] 566
THE CHRIST.
CHAPTER I.
Christ’s Real Existence Impossible.
The reader who accepts as divine the prevailing religion of our land may consider this criticism on “The Christ” irreverent and unjust. And yet for man’s true saviors I have no lack of reverence. For him who lives and labors to uplift his fellow men I have the deepest reverence and respect, and at the grave of him who upon the altar of immortal truth has sacrificed his life I would gladly pay the sincere tribute of a mourner’s tears. It is not against the man Jesus that I write, but against the Christ Jesus of theology; a being in whose name an Atlantic of innocent blood has been shed; a being in whose name the whole black catalogue of crime has been exhausted; a being in whose name five hundred thousand priests are now enlisted to keep
“Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne.”
Jesus of Nazareth, the Jesus of humanity, the pathetic story of whose humble life and tragic death has awakened the sympathies of millions, is a possible character and may have existed; but the Jesus of Bethlehem, the Christ of Christianity, is an impossible character and does not exist.
From the beginning to the end of this Christ’s earthly career he is represented by his alleged biographers as a supernatural being endowed with superhuman powers. He is conceived without a natural father: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When, as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” ([Matt. i, 18]).
His ministry is a succession of miracles. With a few loaves and fishes he feeds a multitude: “And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men” ([Mark vi, 41–44]).
He walks for miles upon the waters of the sea: “And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea” ([Matt. xiv, 22–25]).
He bids a raging tempest cease and it obeys him: “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.... And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” ([Mark, iv, 37–39]).
He withers with a curse the barren fig tree: “And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee, henceforth, forever. And presently the fig tree withered away” ([Matt. xxi, 19]).
He casts out devils: “And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil.... And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him and hurt him not” ([Luke iv, 33, 35]).
He cures the incurable: “And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off; and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed” ([Luke xvii, 12–14]).
He restores to life a widow’s only son: “And when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and much people of the city were with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier; and they that bore him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother” ([Luke vii, 12–15]).
He revivifies the decaying corpse of Lazarus: “Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.... Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.... And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth” ([John xi, 14–44]).
At his crucifixion nature is convulsed, and the inanimate dust of the grave is transformed into living beings who walk the streets of Jerusalem: “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints, which slept, arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” ([Matt. xxvii, 50–53]).
He rises from the dead: “And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.... And, behold, there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door.... And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail” ([Matt. xxvii, 59, 60]; [xxviii, 2, 9]).
He ascends bodily into heaven: “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven” ([Luke xxiv, 50, 51]).
These and a hundred other miracles make up to a great extent this so-called Gospel History of Christ. To disprove the existence of these miracles is to disprove the existence of this Christ.
Canon Farrar makes this frank admission: “If miracles be incredible, Christianity is false. If Christ wrought no miracles, then the Gospels are untrustworthy” (Witness of History to Christ, p. 25).
Dean Mansel thus acknowledges the consequences of the successful denial of miracles: “The whole system of Christian belief with its evidences, ... all Christianity in short, so far as it has any title to that name, so far as it has any special relation to the person or the teaching of Christ, is overthrown” (Aids to Faith, p. 3).
Dr. Westcott says: “The essence of Christianity lies in a miracle; and if it can be shown that a miracle is either impossible or incredible, all further inquiry into the details of its history is superfluous” (Gospel of the Resurrection, p. 34).
A miracle, in the orthodox sense of the term, is impossible and incredible. To accept a miracle is to reject a demonstrated truth. The world is governed, not by chance, not by caprice, not by special providences, but by the laws of nature; and if there be one truth which the scientist and the philosopher have established, it is this: THE LAWS OF NATURE ARE IMMUTABLE. If the laws of Nature are immutable, they cannot be suspended; for if they could be suspended, even by a god, they would not be immutable. A single suspension of these laws would prove their mutability. Now these alleged miracles of Christ required a suspension of Nature’s laws; and the suspension of these laws being impossible the miracles were impossible, and not performed. If these miracles were not performed, then the existence of this supernatural and miracle-performing Christ, except as a creature of the human imagination, is incredible and impossible.
Hume’s masterly argument against miracles has never been refuted: “A miracle is a violation of the laws of Nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined. Why is it more than probable that all men must die; that lead cannot of itself remain suspended in the air; that fire consumes wood, and is extinguished by water; unless it be that these events are found agreeable to the laws of Nature, and there is required a violation of these laws, or, in other words, a miracle, to prevent them? Nothing is esteemed a miracle if it ever happens in the common course of Nature. It is no miracle that a man, seemingly in good health, should die suddenly; because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has yet been frequently observed to happen. But it is a miracle that a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed in any age or country. There must, therefore, be a uniform experience against any miraculous event, otherwise the event would not merit the appellation. And as a uniform experience amounts to a proof, there is here a direct and full proof, from the nature of the fact, against the existence of any miracle” (Essay on Miracles).
Alluding to Christ’s miracles, M. Renan, a reverential admirer of Jesus of Nazareth, says: “Observation, which has never been once falsified, teaches us that miracles never happen but in times and countries in which they are believed, and before persons disposed to believe them. No miracle ever occurred in the presence of men capable of testing its miraculous character..... It is not, then, in the name of this or that philosophy, but in the name of universal experience, that we banish miracles from history” (Life of Jesus, p. 29).
Christianity arose in what was preeminently a miracle-working age. Everything was attested by miracles, because nearly everybody believed in miracles and demanded them. Every religious teacher was a worker of miracles; and however trifling the miracle might be when wrought, in this atmosphere of unbounded credulity, the breath of exaggeration soon expanded it into marvelous proportions.
To show more clearly the character of the age which Christ illustrates, let us take another example, the Pythagorean teacher, Apollonius of Tyana, a contemporary of the Galilean. According to his biographers—and they are as worthy of credence as the Evangelists—his career, particularly in the miraculous events attending it, bore a remarkable resemblance to that of Christ. Like Christ, he was a divine incarnation; like Christ his miraculous conception was announced before his birth; like Christ he possessed in childhood the wisdom of a sage; like Christ he is said to have led a blameless life; like Christ his moral teachings were declared to be the best the world had known; like Christ he remained a celibate; like Christ he was averse to riches; like Christ he purified the religious temples; like Christ he predicted future events; like Christ he performed miracles, cast out devils, healed the sick, and restored the dead to life; like Christ he died, rose from the grave, ascended to heaven, and was worshiped as a god.
The Christian rejects the miraculous in Apollonius because it is incredible; the Rationalist rejects the miraculous in Christ for the same reason. In proof of the human character of the religion of Apollonius and the divine character of that of Christ it may be urged that the former has perished, while the latter has survived. But this, if it proves anything, proves too much. If the survival of Christianity proves its divinity, then the survival of the miracle-attested faiths of Buddhism and Mohammedanism, its powerful and nourishing rivals, must prove their divinity also. The religion of Apollonius languished and died because the conditions for its development were unfavorable; while the religions of Buddha, Christ, and Mohammed lived and thrived because of the propitious circumstances which favored their development.
With the advancement of knowledge the belief in the supernatural is disappearing. Those freed from Ignorance, and her dark sister, Superstition, know that miracles are myths. In the words of Matthew Arnold, “Miracles are doomed; they will drop out like fairies and witchcraft, from among the matter which serious people believe” (Literature and Dogma).
What proved the strength of Christianity in an age of ignorance is proving its weakness in an age of intelligence. Christian scholars themselves, recognizing the indefensibility and absurdity of miracles, endeavor to explain away the difficulties attending their acceptance by affirming that they are not real, but only apparent, violations of Nature’s laws; thus putting the miracles of Christ in the same class with those performed by the jugglers of India and Japan. They resolve the supernatural into the natural, that the incredible may appear credible. With invincible logic and pitiless sarcasm Colonel Ingersoll exposes the lameness of this attempt to retain the shadow of the supernatural when the substance is gone:
“Believers in miracles should not try to explain them. There is but one way to explain anything, and that is to account for it by natural agencies. The moment you explain a miracle it disappears. You should not depend upon explanation, but assertion. You should not be driven from the field because the miracle is shown to be unreasonable. Neither should you be in the least disheartened if it is shown to be impossible. The possible is not miraculous.”
Miracles must be dismissed from the domain of fact and relegated to the realm of fiction. A miracle, I repeat, is impossible. Above all this chief of miracles, The Christ, is impossible, and does not, and never did, exist.
CHAPTER II.
Silence of Contemporary Writers.
Another proof that the Christ of Christianity is a fabulous and not a historical character is the silence of the writers who lived during and immediately following the time he is said to have existed.
That a man named Jesus, an obscure religious teacher, the basis of this fabulous Christ, lived in Palestine about nineteen hundred years ago, may be true. But of this man we know nothing. His biography has not been written. E. Renan and others have attempted to write it, but have failed—have failed because no materials for such a work exist. Contemporary writers have left us not one word concerning him. For generations afterward, outside of a few theological epistles, we find no mention of him.
The following is a list of writers who lived and wrote during the time, or within a century after the time, that Christ is said to have lived and performed his wonderful works:
- Josephus,
- Philo-Judaeus,
- Seneca,
- Pliny the Elder,
- Arrian,
- Petronius,
- Dion Pruseus,
- Paterculus,
- Suetonius,
- Juvenal,
- Martial,
- Persius,
- Plutarch,
- Justus of Tiberius,
- Apollonius,
- Pliny the Younger,
- Tacitus,
- Quintilian,
- Lucanus,
- Epictetus,
- Silius Italicus,
- Statius,
- Ptolemy,
- Hermogones,
- Valerius Maximus,
- Appian,
- Theon of Smyrna,
- Phlegon,
- Pompon Mela,
- Quintius Curtius
- Lucian,
- Pausanias,
- Valerius Flaccus,
- Florus Lucius,
- Favorinus,
- Phaedrus,
- Damis,
- Aulus Gellius,
- Columella,
- Dio Chrysostom,
- Lysias,
- Appion of Alexandria.
Enough of the writings of the authors named in the foregoing list remains to form a library. Yet in this mass of Jewish and Pagan literature, aside from two forged passages in the works of a Jewish author, and two disputed passages in the works of Roman writers, there is to be found no mention of Jesus Christ.
Philo was born before the beginning of the Christian era, and lived until long after the reputed death of Christ. He wrote an account of the Jews covering the entire time that Christ is said to have existed on earth. He was living in or near Jerusalem when Christ’s miraculous birth and the Herodian massacre occurred. He was there when Christ made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He was there when the crucifixion with its attendant earthquake, supernatural darkness, and resurrection of the dead took place—when Christ himself rose from the dead, and in the presence of many witnesses ascended into heaven. These marvelous events which must have filled the world with amazement, had they really occurred, were unknown to him. It was Philo who developed the doctrine of the Logos, or Word, and although this Word incarnate dwelt in that very land and in the presence of multitudes revealed himself and demonstrated his divine powers, Philo saw it not.
Josephus, the renowned Jewish historian, was a native of Judea. He was born in 37 A. D., and was a contemporary of the Apostles. He was, for a time, Governor of Galilee, the province in which Christ lived and taught. He traversed every part of this province and visited the places where but a generation before Christ had performed his prodigies. He resided in Cana, the very city in which Christ is said to have wrought his first miracle. He mentions every noted personage of Palestine and describes every important event which occurred there during the first seventy years of the Christian era. But Christ was of too little consequence and his deeds too trivial to merit a line from this historian’s pen.
Justus of Tiberius was a native of Christ’s own country, Galilee. He wrote a history covering the time of Christ’s reputed existence. This work has perished, but Photius, a Christian scholar and critic of the ninth century, who was acquainted with it, says: “He [Justus] makes not the least mention of the appearance of Christ, of what things happened to him, or of the wonderful works that he did” (Photius’ Bibliotheca, code 33).
Judea, where occurred the miraculous beginning and marvelous ending of Christ’s earthly career, was a Roman province, and all of Palestine is intimately associated with Roman history. But the Roman records of that age contain no mention of Christ and his works. The Greek writers of Greece and Alexandria who lived not far from Palestine and who were familiar with its events, are silent also.
Josephus.
Late in the first century Josephus wrote his celebrated work, “The Antiquities of the Jews,” giving a history of his race from the earliest ages down to his own time. Modern versions of this work contain the following passage:
“Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works; a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day” (Book XVIII, Chap. iii, sec. 3).
For nearly sixteen hundred years Christians have been citing this passage as a testimonial, not merely to the historical existence, but to the divine character of Jesus Christ. And yet a ranker forgery was never penned.
Its language is Christian. Every line proclaims it the work of a Christian writer. “If it be lawful to call him a man.” “He was the Christ.” “He appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.” These are the words of a Christian, a believer in the divinity of Christ. Josephus was a Jew, a devout believer in the Jewish faith—the last man in the world to acknowledge the divinity of Christ. The inconsistency of this evidence was early recognized, and Ambrose, writing in the generation succeeding its first appearance (360 A. D.) offers the following explanation, which only a theologian could frame: “If the Jews do not believe us, let them, at least, believe their own writers. Josephus, whom they esteem a very great man, hath said this, and yet hath he spoken truth after such a manner; and so far was his mind wandered from the right way, that even he was not a believer as to what he himself said; but thus he spake, in order to deliver historical truth, because he thought it not lawful for him to deceive, while yet he was no believer, because of the hardness of his heart, and his perfidious intention.”
Its brevity disproves its authenticity. Josephus’ work is voluminous and exhaustive. It comprises twenty books. Whole pages are devoted to petty robbers and obscure seditious leaders. Nearly forty chapters are devoted to the life of a single king. Yet this remarkable being, the greatest product of his race, a being of whom the prophets foretold ten thousand wonderful things, a being greater than any earthly king, is dismissed with a dozen lines.
It interrupts the narrative. Section 2 of the chapter containing it gives an account of a Jewish sedition which was suppressed by Pilate with great slaughter. The account ends as follows: “There were a great number of them slain by this means, and others of them ran away wounded; and thus an end was put to this sedition.” Section 4, as now numbered, begins with these words: “About the same time also another sad calamity put the Jews into disorder.” The one section naturally and logically follows the other. Yet between these two closely connected paragraphs the one relating to Christ is placed; thus making the words, “another sad calamity,” refer to the advent of this wise and wonderful being.
The early Christian fathers were not acquainted with it. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen all would have quoted this passage had it existed in their time. The failure of even one of these fathers to notice it would be sufficient to throw doubt upon its genuineness; the failure of all of them to notice it proves conclusively that it is spurious, that it was not in existence during the second and third centuries.
As this passage first appeared in the writings of the ecclesiastical historian, Eusebius, as this author openly advocated the use of fraud and deception in furthering the interests of the church, as he is known to have mutilated and perverted the text of Josephus in other instances, and as the manner of its presentation is calculated to excite suspicion, the forgery has generally been charged to him. In his “Evangelical Demonstration,” written early in the fourth century, after citing all the known evidences of Christianity, he thus introduces the Jewish historian: “Certainly the attestations I have already produced concerning our Savior may be sufficient. However, it may not be amiss, if, over and above, we make use of Josephus the Jew for a further witness” (Book III, p. 124).
Chrysostom and Photius both reject this passage. Chrysostom, a reader of Josephus, who preached and wrote in the latter part of the fourth century, in his defense of Christianity, needed this evidence, but was too honest or too wise to use it. Photius, who made a revision of Josephus, writing five hundred years after the time of Eusebius, ignores the passage, and admits that Josephus has made no mention of Christ.
Modern Christian scholars generally concede that the passage is a forgery. Dr. Lardner, one of the ablest defenders of Christianity, adduces the following arguments against its genuineness:
“I do not perceive that we at all want the suspected testimony to Jesus, which was never quoted by any of our Christian ancestors before Eusebius.
“Nor do I recollect that Josephus has anywhere mentioned the name or word Christ, in any of his works; except the testimony above mentioned, and the passage concerning James, the Lord’s brother.
“It interrupts the narrative.
“The language is quite Christian.
“It is not quoted by Chrysostom, though he often refers to Josephus, and could not have omitted quoting it had it been then in the text.
“It is not quoted by Photius, though he has three articles concerning Josephus.
“Under the article Justus of Tiberias, this author (Photius) expressly states that the historian [Josephus], being a Jew, has not taken the least notice of Christ.
“Neither Justin in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, nor Clemens Alexandrinus, who made so many extracts from ancient authors, nor Origen against Celsus, has ever mentioned this testimony.
“But, on the contrary, in chapter xxxv of the first book of that work, Origen openly affirms that Josephus, who had mentioned John the Baptist, did not acknowledge Christ” (Answer to Dr. Chandler).
Again Dr. Lardner says: “This passage is not quoted nor referred to by any Christian writer before Eusebius, who flourished at the beginning of the fourth century. If it had been originally in the works of Josephus it would have been highly proper to produce it in their disputes with Jews and Gentiles. But it is never quoted by Justin Martyr, or Clement of Alexandria, nor by Tertullian or Origen, men of great learning, and well acquainted with the works of Josephus. It was certainly very proper to urge it against the Jews. It might also have been fitly urged against the Gentiles. A testimony so favorable to Jesus in the works of Josephus, who lived so soon after our Savior, who was so well acquainted with the transactions of his own country, who had received so many favors from Vespasian and Titus, would not be overlooked or neglected by any Christian apologist” (Lardner’s Works, vol. I, chap. iv).
Bishop Warburton declares it to be a forgery: “If a Jew owned the truth of Christianity, he must needs embrace it. We, therefore, certainly conclude that the paragraph where Josephus, who was as much a Jew as the religion of Moses could make him, is made to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, in terms as strong as words could do it, is a rank forgery, and a very stupid one, too” (Quoted by Lardner, Works, Vol. I, chap. iv).
The Rev. Dr. Giles, of the Established Church of England, says:
“Those who are best acquainted with the character of Josephus, and the style of his writings, have no hesitation in condemning this passage as a forgery, interpolated in the text during the third century by some pious Christian, who was scandalized that so famous a writer as Josephus should have taken no notice of the gospels, or of Christ, their subject. But the zeal of the interpolator has outrun his discretion, for we might as well expect to gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles, as to find this notice of Christ among the Judaizing writings of Josephus. It is well known that this author was a zealous Jew, devoted to the laws of Moses and the traditions of his countrymen. How, then, could he have written that Jesus was the Christ? Such an admission would have proved him to be a Christian himself, in which case the passage under consideration, too long for a Jew, would have been far too short for a believer in the new religion, and thus the passage stands forth, like an ill-set jewel, contrasting most inharmoniously with everything around it. If it had been genuine, we might be sure that Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Chrysostom would have quoted it in their controversies with the Jews, and that Origen or Photius would have mentioned it. But Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian (I, 11), is the first who quotes it, and our reliance on the judgment or even honesty of this writer is not so great as to allow our considering everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine” (Christian Records, p. 30).
The Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in his “Lost and Hostile Gospels,” says:
“This passage is first quoted by Eusebius (fl. A. D. 315) in two places (Hist. Eccl., lib. i, c. xi; Demonst. Evang., lib. iii); but it was unknown to Justin Martyr (fl. A. D. 140), Clement of Alexandria (fl. A. D. 192), Tertullian (fl. A. D. 193), and Origen (fl. A. D. 230). Such a testimony would certainly have been produced by Justin in his apology or in his controversy with Trypho the Jew, had it existed in the copies of Josephus at his time. The silence of Origen is still more significant. Celsus, in his book against Christianity, introduces a Jew. Origen attacks the argument of Celsus and his Jew. He could not have failed to quote the words of Josephus, whose writings he knew, had the passage existed in the genuine text. He, indeed, distinctly affirms that Josephus did not believe in Christ (Contr. Cels. i).”
Dr. Chalmers ignores it, and admits that Josephus is silent regarding Christ. He says: “The entire silence of Josephus upon the subject of Christianity, though he wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem, and gives us the history of that period in which Christ and his Apostles lived, is certainly a very striking circumstance” (Kneeland’s Review, p. 169).
Referring to this passage, Dean Milman, in his “Gibbon’s Rome” (Vol. II, p. 285, note) says: “It is interpolated with many additional clauses.”
Canon Farrar, who has written the ablest Christian life of Christ yet penned, repudiates it. He says: “The single passage in which he [Josephus] alludes to him is interpolated, if not wholly spurious” (Life of Christ, Vol. I, p. 46).
The following, from Dr. Farrar’s pen, is to be found in the “Encyclopedia Britannica”: “That Josephus wrote the whole passage as it now stands no sane critic can believe.”
“There are, however, two reasons which are alone sufficient to prove that the whole passage is spurious—one that it was unknown to Origen and the earlier fathers, and the other that its place in the text is uncertain” (Ibid).
Theodor Keim, a German-Christian writer on Jesus, says: “The passage cannot be maintained; it has first appeared in this form in the Catholic church of the Jews and Gentiles, and under the dominion of the Fourth Gospel, and hardly before the third century, probably before Eusebius, and after Origen, whose bitter criticisms of Josephus may have given cause for it” (Jesus of Nazara, p. 25).
Concerning this passage, Hausrath, another German writer, says it “must have been penned at a peculiarly shameless hour.”
The Rev. Dr. Hooykaas, of Holland, says: “Flavius Josephus, the well known historian of the Jewish people, was born in A. D. 37, only two years after the death of Jesus; but though his work is of inestimable value as our chief authority for the circumstances of the times in which Jesus and his Apostles came forward, yet he does not seem to have mentioned Jesus himself. At any rate, the passage in his ‘Jewish Antiquities’ that refers to him is certainly spurious, and was inserted by a later and a Christian hand” (Bible for Learners, Vol. III, p. 27). This conclusion of Dr. Hooykaas is endorsed by the eminent Dutch critic, Dr. Kuenen.
Dr. Alexander Campbell, one of America’s ablest Christian apologists, says: “Josephus, the Jewish historian, was contemporary with the Apostles, having been born in the year 37. From his situation and habits, he had every access to know all that took place at the rise of the Christian religion.
“Respecting the founder of this religion, Josephus has thought fit to be silent in history. The present copies of his work contain one passage which speaks very respectfully of Jesus Christ, and ascribes to him the character of the Messiah. But as Josephus did not embrace Christianity, and as this passage is not quoted or referred to until the beginning of the fourth century, it is, for these and other reasons, generally accounted spurious” (Evidences of Christianity, from Campbell-Owen Debate, p. 312).
Another passage in Josephus, relating to the younger Ananus, who was high priest of the Jews in 62 A. D., reads as follows:
“But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper and very insolent; he was also of the sect of Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all of the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity. Festus was dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrim of judges and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned” (Antiquities, Book XX, chap. ix, sec. 1).
This passage is probably genuine with the exception of the clause, “who was called Christ,” which is undoubtedly an interpolation, and is generally regarded as such. Nearly all the authorities that I have quoted reject it. It was originally probably a marginal note. Some Christian reader of Josephus believing that the James mentioned was the brother of Jesus made a note of his belief in the manuscript before him, and this a transcriber afterward incorporated with the text, a very common practice in that age when purity of text was a matter of secondary importance.
The fact that the early fathers, who were acquainted with Josephus, and who would have hailed with joy even this evidence of Christ’s existence, do not cite it, while Origen expressly declares that Josephus has not mentioned Christ, is conclusive proof that it did not exist until the middle of the third century or later.
Those who affirm the genuineness of this clause argue that the James mentioned by Josephus was a person of less prominence than the Jesus mentioned by him, which would be true of James, the brother of Jesus Christ. Now some of the most prominent Jews living at this time were named Jesus. Jesus, the son of Damneus, succeeded Ananus as high priest that very year; and Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, a little later succeeded to the same office.
To identify the James of Josephus with James the Just, the brother of Jesus, is to reject the accepted history of the primitive church which declares that James the Just died in 69 A. D., seven years after the James of Josephus was condemned to death by the Sanhedrim.
Whiston himself, the translator of Josephus, referring to the event narrated by the Jewish historian, admits that James, the brother of Jesus Christ, “did not die till long afterward.”
The brief “Discourse Concerning Hades,” appended to the writings of Josephus, is universally conceded to be the product of some other writer—“obviously of Christian origin”—says the “Encyclopedia Britannica.”
Tacitus.
In July, 64 A. D., a great conflagration occurred in Rome. There is a tradition to the effect that this conflagration was the work of an incendiary and that the Emperor Nero himself was believed to be the incendiary. Modern editions of the “Annals” of Tacitus contain the following passage in reference to this:
“Nero, in order to stifle the rumor, ascribed it to those people who were abhorred for their crimes and commonly called Christians: These he punished exquisitely. The founder of that name was Christus, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was punished as a criminal by the procurator, Pontius Pilate. This pernicious superstition, thus checked for awhile, broke out again; and spread not only over Judea, the source of this evil, but reached the city also: whither flow from all quarters all things vile and shameful, and where they find shelter and encouragement. At first, only those were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect; afterwards, a vast multitude were detected by them, all of whom were condemned, not so much for the crime of burning the city, as their hatred of mankind. Their executions were so contrived as to expose them to derision and contempt. Some were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, and torn to pieces by dogs; some were crucified. Others, having been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up as lights in the night time, and thus burned to death. Nero made use of his own gardens as a theatre on this occasion, and also exhibited the diversions of the circus, sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator, in the habit of a charioteer; at other times driving a chariot himself, till at length those men, though really criminal, and deserving exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated as people who were destroyed, not out of regard to the public welfare, but only to gratify the cruelty of one man” (Annals, Book XV, sec. 44).
This passage, accepted as authentic by many, must be declared doubtful, if not spurious, for the following reasons:
1. It is not quoted by the Christian fathers.
2. Tertullian was familiar with the writings of Tacitus, and his arguments demanded the citation of this evidence had it existed.
3. Clement of Alexandria, at the beginning of the third century, made a compilation of all the recognitions of Christ and Christianity that had been made by Pagan writers up to his time. The writings of Tacitus furnished no recognition of them.
4. Origen, in his controversy with Celsus, would undoubtedly have used it had it existed.
5. The ecclesiastical historian Eusebius, in the fourth century, cites all the evidences of Christianity obtainable from Jewish and Pagan sources, but makes no mention of Tacitus.
6. It is not quoted by any Christian writer prior to the fifteenth century.
7. At this time but one copy of the “Annals” existed, and this copy, it is claimed, was made in the eighth century—600 years after the time of Tacitus.
8. As this single copy was in the possession of a Christian the insertion of a forgery was easy.
9. Its severe criticisms of Christianity do not necessarily disprove its Christian origin. No ancient witness was more desirable than Tacitus, but his introduction at so late a period would make rejection certain unless Christian forgery could be made to appear improbable.
10. It is admitted by Christian writers that the works of Tacitus have not been preserved with any considerable degree of fidelity. In the writings ascribed to him are believed to be some of the writings of Quintilian.
11. The blood-curdling story about the frightful orgies of Nero reads like some Christian romance of the dark ages, and not like Tacitus.
12. In fact, this story, in nearly the same words, omitting the reference to Christ, is to be found in the writings of Sulpicius Severus, a Christian of the fifth century.
13. Suetonius, while mercilessly condemning the reign of Nero, says that in his public entertainments he took particular care that no human lives should be sacrificed, “not even those of condemned criminals.”
14. At the time that the conflagration occurred, Tacitus himself declares that Nero was not in Rome, but at Antium.
Many who accept the authenticity of this section of the “Annals” believe that the sentence which declares that Christ was punished in the reign of Pontius Pilate, and which I have italicized, is an interpolation. Whatever may be said of the remainder of this passage, this sentence bears the unmistakable stamp of Christian forgery. It interrupts the narrative; it disconnects two closely related statements. Eliminate this sentence, and there is no break in the narrative. In all the Roman records there was to be found no evidence that Christ was put to death by Pontius Pilate. This sentence, if genuine, is the most important evidence in Pagan literature. That it existed in the works of the greatest and best known of Roman historians, and was ignored or overlooked by Christian apologists for 1,360 years, no intelligent critic can believe. Tacitus did not write this sentence.
Pliny the Younger.
This Roman author, early in the second century, while serving as a pro-consul under Trajan in Bithynia, is reputed to have written a letter to his Emperor concerning his treatment of Christians. This letter contains the following:
“I have laid down this rule in dealing with those who were brought before me for being Christians. I asked whether they were Christians; if they confessed, I asked them a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; if they persevered, I ordered them to be executed.... They assured me that their only crime or error was this, that they were wont to come together on a certain day before it was light, and to sing in turn, among themselves, a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath—not to do anything that was wicked, that they would commit no theft, robbery, or adultery, nor break their word, nor deny that anything had been entrusted to them when called upon to restore it.... I therefore deemed it the more necessary to enquire of two servant maids, who were said to be attendants, what was the real truth, and to apply the torture. But I found it was nothing but a bad and excessive superstition.”
Notwithstanding an alleged reply to this letter from Trajan, cited by Tertullian and Eusebius, its genuineness may well be questioned, and for the following reasons:
1. The Roman laws accorded religious liberty to all, and the Roman government tolerated and protected every religious belief. Renan says: “Among the Roman laws, anterior to Constantine, there was not a single ordinance directed against freedom of thought; in the history of the Pagan emperors not a single persecution on account of mere doctrines or creeds” (The Apostles). Gibbon says: “The religious tenets of the Galileans, or Christians, were never made a subject of punishment, or even of inquiry” (Rome, Vol. II, p. 215).
2. Trajan was one of the most tolerant and benevolent of Roman emperors.
3. Pliny, the reputed author of the letter, is universally conceded to have been one of the most humane and philanthropic of men.
4. It represents the distant province of Bithynia as containing, at this time, a large Christian population, which is improbable.
5. It assumes that the Emperor Trajan was little acquainted with Christian beliefs and customs, which cannot be harmonized with the supposed historical fact that the most powerful of primitive churches flourished in Trajan’s capital and had existed for fifty years.
6. Pliny represents the Christians as declaring that they were in the habit of meeting and singing hymns “to Christ as to a god.” The early Christians did not recognize Christ as a god, and it was not until after the time of Pliny that he was worshiped as such.
7. “I asked whether they were Christians; if they confessed, I asked them a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; if they persevered I ordered them to be executed.” That this wise and good man rewarded lying with liberty and truthfulness with death is difficult to believe.
8. “I therefore deemed it more necessary to inquire of two servant maids, who were said to be attendants, what was the real truth, and to apply the torture.” Never have the person and character of woman been held more sacred than they were in Pagan Rome. That one of the noblest of Romans should have put to torture young women guiltless of crime is incredible.
9. The declaration of the Christians that they took a solemn obligation “not to do anything that was wicked; that they would commit no theft, robbery, or adultery, nor break their word,” etc., looks like an ingenious attempt to parade the virtues of primitive Christians.
10. This letter, it is claimed, is to be found in but one ancient copy of Pliny.
11. It was first quoted by Tertullian, and the age immediately preceding Tertullian was notorious for Christian forgeries.
12. Some of the best German critics reject it. Gibbon, while not denying its authenticity, pronounces it a “very curious epistle”; and Dr. Whiston, who considers it too valuable to discard, applies to its contents such epithets as “amazing doctrine!” “amazing stupidity!”
Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny—these are the disinterested witnesses adduced by the church to prove the historical existence of Jesus Christ; the one writing nearly one hundred years, the others one hundred and ten years after his alleged birth; the testimony of two of them self-evident forgeries, and that of the third a probable forgery.
But even if the doubtful and hostile letter of Pliny be genuine, it was not written until the second century, so that there is not to be found in all the records of profane history prior to the second century a single allusion to the reputed founder of Christianity.
To these witnesses is sometimes, though rarely, added a fourth, Suetonius, a Roman historian who, like Tacitus and Pliny, wrote in the second century. In his “Life of Nero,” Suetonius says: “The Christians, a race of men of a new and villainous superstition, were punished.” In his “Life of Claudius,” he says: “He [Claudius] drove the Jews, who at the instigation of Chrestus were constantly rioting, out of Rome.” Of course no candid Christian will contend that Christ was inciting Jewish riots at Rome fifteen years after he was crucified at Jerusalem.
Significant is the silence of the forty Jewish and Pagan writers named in this chapter. This silence alone disproves Christ’s existence. Had this wonderful being really existed the earth would have resounded with his fame. His mighty deeds would have engrossed every historian’s pen. The pages of other writers would have abounded with references to him. Think of going through the literature of the nineteenth century and searching in vain for the name of Napoleon Bonaparte! Yet Napoleon was a pigmy and his deeds trifles compared with this Christ and the deeds he is said to have performed.
With withering irony Gibbon notes this ominous silence: “But how shall we excuse the supine inattention of the Pagan and philosophic world, to those evidences which were represented by the hand of Omnipotence, not to their reason, but to their senses? During the age of Christ, of his apostles, and of their first disciples, the doctrine which they preached was confirmed by innumerable prodigies. The lame walked, the blind saw, the sick were healed, the dead were raised, demons were expelled, and the laws of Nature were frequently suspended for the benefit of the church. But the sages of Greece and Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupations of life and study, appeared unconscious of any alterations in the moral or physical government of the world. Under the reign of Tiberius, the whole earth, or at least a celebrated province of the Roman empire, was involved in a preternatural darkness of three hours. Even this miraculous event, which ought to have excited the wonder, the curiosity, and the devotion of mankind, passed without notice in an age of science and history. It happened during the lifetime of Seneca and the elder Pliny, who must have experienced the immediate effects, or received the earliest intelligence of the prodigy. Each of these philosophers, in a laborious work, has recorded all the great phenomena of Nature, earthquakes, meteors, comets, and eclipses, which his indefatigable curiosity could collect. Both the one and the other have omitted to mention the greatest phenomenon to which the mortal eye has been witness since the creation of the globe” (Rome, Vol. I, pp. 588–590).
Even conceding, for the sake of argument, both the authenticity and the credibility of these passages attributed to the Roman historians, what do they prove? Do they prove that Christ was divine—that he was a supernatural being, as claimed? No more than do the writings of Paine and Voltaire, which also contain his name. This evidence is favorable not to the adherents, but to the opponents, of Christianity. If these passages be genuine, and their authors have penned historical truths, it simply confirms what most Rationalists admit, that a religious sect called Christians, who recognized Christ as their founder, existed as early as the first century; and confirms what some have charged, but what the church is loath to admit, that primitive Christians, who have been declared the highest exemplars of human virtue, were the most depraved of villains.
An unlettered and credulous enthusiast, named Jones, imagines that he has had a revelation, and proceeds to found a new religious sect. He gathers about him a band of “disciples” as ignorant and credulous as himself. He soon gets into trouble and is killed. But the Jonesists increase—increase in numbers and in meanness—until at length they become sufficiently notorious to receive a paragraph from an annalist who, after holding them up to ridicule and scorn, accounts for their origin by stating that they take their name from one Jones who, during the administration of President Roosevelt, was hanged as a criminal. The world contains two billions of inhabitants—mostly fools, as Carlyle would say—and as the religion of this sect is a little more foolish than that of any other sect, it continues to spread until at the end of two thousand years it covers the globe. Then think of the adherents of this religion citing the uncomplimentary allusion of this annalist to prove that Jones was a god!
CHAPTER III.
Christian Evidence.
The Four Gospels.
Farrar, in his “Life of Christ,” concedes and deplores the dearth of evidence concerning the subject of his work. He says: “It is little short of amazing that neither history nor tradition should have embalmed for us one certain or precious saying or circumstance in the life of the Savior of Mankind, except the comparatively few events recorded in four very brief biographies.”
With these four brief biographies, the Four Gospels, Christianity must stand or fall. These four documents, it is admitted, contain practically all the evidence which can be adduced in proof of the existence and divinity of Jesus Christ. Profane history, as we have seen, affords no proof of this. The so-called apocryphal literature of the early church has been discarded by the church itself. Even the remaining canonical books of the New Testament are of little consequence if the testimony of the Four Evangelists be successfully impeached. Disprove the authenticity and credibility of these documents and this Christian deity is removed to the mythical realm of Apollo, Odin, and Osiris.
In a previous work, “The Bible,” I have shown that the books of the New Testament, with a few exceptions, are not authentic. This evidence cannot be reproduced here in full. A brief summary of it must suffice.
The Four Gospels, it is claimed, were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, two of them apostles, and two companions of the apostles of Christ. If this claim be true the other writings of the apostles, the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, and the writings of the early Christian Fathers, ought to contain some evidences of the fact.
Twenty books—nearly all of the remaining books of the New Testament—are said to have been written by the three apostles, Peter, John, and Paul, a portion of them after the first three Gospels were written; but it is admitted that they contain no evidence whatever of the existence of these Gospels.
There are extant writings accredited to the Apostolic Fathers, Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp; written, for the most part, early in the second century. These writings contain no mention of the Four Gospels. This also is admitted by Christian scholars. Dr. Dodwell says: “We have at this day certain most authentic ecclesiastical writers of the times, as Clemens Romanus, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, who wrote in the order wherein I have named them, and after all the writers of the New Testament. But in Hermas you will not find one passage or any mention of the New Testament, nor in all the rest is any one of the Evangelists named” (Dissertations upon Irenaeus).
The Four Gospels were unknown to the early Christian Fathers. Justin Martyr, the most eminent of the early Fathers, wrote about the middle of the second century. His writings in proof of the divinity of Christ demanded the use of these Gospels had they existed in his time. He makes more than three hundred quotations from the books of the Old Testament, and nearly one hundred from the Apocryphal books of the New Testament; but none from the Four Gospels. The Rev. Dr. Giles says: “The very names of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are never mentioned by him [Justin]—do not occur once in all his writings” (Christian Records, p. 71).
Papias, another noted Father, was a contemporary of Justin. He refers to writings of Matthew and Mark, but his allusions to them clearly indicate that they were not the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Dr. Davidson, the highest English authority on the canon, says: “He [Papias] neither felt the want nor knew the existence of inspired Gospels” (Canon of the Bible, p. 123).
Theophilus, who wrote after the middle of the latter half of the second century, mentions the Gospel of John, and Irenaeus, who wrote a little later, mentions all of the Gospels, and makes numerous quotations from them. In the latter half of the second century, then, between the time of Justin and Papias, and the time of Theophilus and Irenaeus, the Four Gospels were undoubtedly written or compiled.
These books are anonymous. They do not purport to have been written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Their titles do not affirm it. They simply imply that they are “according” to the supposed teachings of these Evangelists. As Renan says, “They merely signify that these were the traditions proceeding from each of these Apostles, and claiming their authority.” Concerning their authorship the Rev. Dr. Hooykaas says: “They appeared anonymously. The titles placed above them in our Bibles owe their origin to a later ecclesiastical tradition which deserves no confidence whatever” (Bible for Learners, Vol. III, p. 24).
It is claimed that the Gospel of Matthew originally appeared in Hebrew. Our version is a translation of a Greek work. Regarding this St. Jerome says: “Who afterwards translated it into Greek is not sufficiently certain.” The consequences of this admission are thus expressed by Michaelis: “If the original text of Matthew is lost, and we have nothing but a Greek translation; then, frankly, we cannot ascribe any divine inspiration to the words.”
The contents of these books refute the claim that they were written by the Evangelists named. They narrate events and contain doctrinal teachings which belong to a later age. Matthew ascribes to Christ the following language: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” ([xvi, 18]). This Gospel is a Roman Catholic Gospel, and was written after the beginning of the establishment of this hierarchy to uphold the supremacy of the Petrine Church of Rome. Of this Gospel Dr. Davidson says: “The author, indeed, must ever remain unknown” (Introduction to New Testament, p. 72).
The Gospel of Luke is addressed to Theophilus. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, who is believed to be the person addressed, flourished in the latter half of the second century.
Dr. Schleiermacher, one of Germany’s greatest theologians, after a critical analysis of Luke, concludes that it is merely a compilation, made up of thirty-three preexisting manuscripts. Bishop Thirlwall’s Schleiermacher says: “He [Luke] is from beginning to end no more than the compiler and arranger of documents which he found in existence” (p. 313).
The basis of this Gospel is generally believed to be the Gospel of Marcion, a Pauline compilation, made about the middle of the second century. Concerning this Gospel, the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in his “Lost and Hostile Gospels,” says: “The arrangement is so similar that we are forced to the conclusion that it was either used by St. Luke or that it was his original composition. If he used it then his right to the title of author of the Third Gospel falls to the ground, as what he added was of small amount.”
Mark, according to Renan, is the oldest of the Gospels; but Mark, according to Strauss, was written after the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were written. He says: “It is evidently a compilation, whether made from memory or otherwise, from the first and third Gospels” (Leben Jesu, p. 51). Judge Waite, in his “History of Christianity,” says that all but twenty-four verses of this Gospel have their parallels in Matthew and Luke. Davidson declares it to be an anonymous work. “The author,” he says, “is unknown.”
Omitting the last twelve verses of Mark, which all Christian critics pronounce spurious, the book contains no mention of the two great miracles which mark the limits of Christ’s earthly career, his miraculous birth and his ascension.
Concerning the first three Gospels, the “Encyclopedia Britannica” says: “It is certain that the Synoptic Gospels took their present form only by degrees.” Of these books Dr. Westcott says: “Their substance is evidently much older than their form.” Professor Robertson Smith pronounces them “unapostolic digests of the second century.”
The internal evidence against the authenticity of the Fourth Gospel is conclusive. The Apostle John did not write it. John, the apostle, was a Jew; the author of the Fourth Gospel was not a Jew. John was born at Bethsaida; the author of the Fourth Gospel did not know where Bethsaida was located. John was an uneducated fisherman; the author of this Gospel was an accomplished scholar. Some of the most important events in the life of Jesus, the Synoptics declare, were witnessed by John; the author of this knows nothing of these events. The Apostle John witnessed the crucifixion; the author of this Gospel did not. The Apostles, including John, believed Jesus to be a man; the author of the Fourth Gospel believed him to be a god.
Regarding the authorship of the Fourth Gospel, Dr. Davidson says: “The Johannine authorship has receded before the tide of modern criticism, and though this tide is arbitrary at times, it is here irresistible” (Canon of the Bible, p. 127).
That the authenticity of the Four Gospels cannot be maintained is conceded by every impartial critic. The author of “Supernatural Religion,” in one of the most profound and exhaustive works on this subject ever written, expresses the result of his labors in the following words: “After having exhausted the literature and the testimony bearing on the point, we have not found a single distinct trace of any of those Gospels during the first century and a half after the death of Jesus” (Supernatural Religion, Vol. II, p. 248).
Fifteen hundred years ago, Bishop Faustus, a heretical Christian theologian, referring to this so-called Gospel history, wrote: “It is allowed not to have been written by the son himself nor by his apostles, but long after by some unknown men who, lest they should be suspected of writing things they knew nothing of, gave to their books the names of the Apostles.”
The following is the verdict of the world’s greatest Bible critic, Baur: “These Gospels are spurious, and were written in the second century.”
Acts, Catholic Epistles, and Revelation.
The Acts of the Apostles is supposed to have been written by the author of the Third Gospel. Like this book it is anonymous and of late origin. It contains historical inaccuracies, contradicts the Gospel of Matthew, and conflicts with the writings of Paul. Concerning the last, the “Bible for Learners” (Vol. III, p. 25) says: “In the first two chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians, he [Paul] gives us several details of his own past life; and no sooner do we place his story side by side with that of the Acts than we clearly perceive that this book contains an incorrect account, and that its inaccuracy is not the result of accident or ignorance, but of a deliberate design.”
This book purports to be the product chiefly of three minds: that of the author who gives a historical sketch of the early church, and those of Peter and Paul whose discourses are reported. And yet the three compositions are clearly the products of one mind—that of the author. The evident purpose of the work is to heal the bitter dissensions which existed between the Petrine and Pauline churches, and this points unmistakably to the latter part of the second century as the date of its appearance, when the work of uniting the various Christian sects into the Catholic church began. Renan considers this the most faulty book of the New Testament.
The seven Catholic Epistles, James, First and Second Peter, First, Second and Third John, and Jude, have never been held in very high esteem by the church. Many of the Christian Fathers rejected them, while modern Christian scholars have generally considered them of doubtful authenticity. The first and last of these were rejected by Martin Luther. “St. James’ Epistle,” says Luther, “is truly an epistle of straw” (Preface to Luther’s New Testament, ed. 1524). Jude, he says, “is an abstract or copy of St. Peter’s Second, and allegeth stories and sayings which have no place in Scripture” (Standing Preface).
The First Epistle of Peter and the First Epistle of John have generally been accorded a higher degree of authority than the others; but even these were not written by apostles, nor in the first century. Dr. Soury says that First Peter “dates, in all probability, from the year 130 A. D., at the earliest” (Jesus and the Gospels, p. 32). Irenaeus, the founder of the New Testament canon, rejected it. The Dutch critics, who deny the Johannine authorship of the Fourth Gospel, and assign its composition to the second century, say: “The First Epistle of John soon issued from the same school in imitation of the Gospel” (Bible for Learners, Vol. III, p. 692).
Second Peter is a forgery. Westcott says there is no proof of its existence prior to 170 A. D. Smith’s “Bible Dictionary” says “Many reject the epistle as altogether spurious.” The brief epistles of Second and Third John are anonymous and of very late origin. They do not purport to be the writings of John. The superscriptions declare them to be from an elder, and this precludes the claim that they are from an apostle. The early Fathers ignored them.
Revelation is the only book in the Bible which claims to be the word of God. At the same time it is the book of which Christians have always been the most suspicious. It is addressed to the seven churches of Asia, but the seven churches of Asia rejected it. Concerning the attitude of ancient churchmen toward it, Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, says: “Divers of our predecessors have wholly refused and rejected this book, and by discussing the several parts thereof have found it obscure and void of reason and the title forged.”
“The most learned and intelligent of Protestant divines,” says the Edinburgh Review, “almost all doubted or denied the canonicity of the book of Revelation.” It is a book which, Dr. South said, “either found a man mad or left him so.” Calvin and Beza both forbade their clergy to attempt an explanation of its contents. Luther says: “In the Revelation of John much is wanting to let me deem it either prophetic or apostolical” (Preface to N. T., 1524).
Considered as evidences of Christ’s historical existence and divinity these nine books are of no value. They are all anonymous writings or forgeries, and, with the possible exception of Revelation, of very late origin. While they affirm Christ’s existence they are almost entirely silent regarding his life and miracles.
The Epistles of Paul.
Of the fourteen epistles ascribed to Paul, seven—Ephesians, Colossians, Second Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews—are conceded by nearly all critics to be spurious, while three others—Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon—are generally classed as doubtful.
The general verdict concerning the first seven is thus expressed by the Rev. Dr. Hooykaas: “Fourteen epistles are said to be Paul’s; but we must at once strike off one, namely, that to the Hebrews, which does not bear his name at all. ... The two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus were certainly composed long after the death of Paul.... It is more than possible that the letters to the Ephesians and Colossians are also unauthentic, and the same suspicion rests, perhaps, on the first, but certainly on the second of the Epistles to the Thessalonians” (Bible for Learners, Vol. III, p. 23).
The author of Second Thessalonians, whose epistle is a self-evident forgery, declares First Thessalonians to be a forgery. Baur and the Tubingen school reject both Epistles. Baur also rejects Philippians: “The Epistles to the Colossians and to the Philippians ... are spurious, and were written by the Catholic school near the end of the second century, to heal the strife between the Jew and the Gentile factions” (Paulus). Dr. Kuenen and the other Dutch critics admit that Philippians and Philemon, as well as First Thessalonians, are doubtful.
That the Pastoral Epistles are forgeries is now conceded by all critics. According to the German critics they belong to the second century. Hebrews does not purport to be a Pauline document. Luther says: “The Epistle to the Hebrews is not by St. Paul, nor, indeed, by any apostle” (Standing Preface to Luther’s N. T.).
Four Epistles—Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and Galatians—while rejected by a few critics, are generally admitted to be the genuine writings of Paul. These books were written, it is claimed, about a quarter of a century after the death of Christ. They are the only books of the New Testament whose authenticity can be maintained.
Admitting the authenticity of these books, however, is not admitting the historical existence of Christ and the divine origin of Christianity. Paul was not a witness of the alleged events upon which Christianity rests. He did not become a convert to Christianity until many years after the death of Christ. He did not see Christ (save in a vision); he did not listen to his teachings; he did not learn from his disciples. “The Gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it” ([Gal. i, 11, 12]). Paul accepted only to a very small extent the religion of Christ’s disciples. He professed to derive his knowledge from supernatural sources—from trances and visions. Regarding the value of such testimony the author of “Supernatural Religion” (p. 970) says: “No one can deny, and medical and psychological annals prove, that many men have been subject to visions and hallucinations which have never been seriously attributed to supernatural causes. There is not one single valid reason removing the ecstatic visions and trances of the Apostle Paul from this class.”
The corporeal existence of the Christ of the Evangelists receives slight confirmation in the writings of Paul. His Christ was not the incarnate Word of John, nor the demi-god of Matthew and Luke. Of the immaculate conception of Jesus he knew nothing. To him Christ was the son of God in a spiritual rather than in a physical sense. “His son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” ([Rom. i, 3, 4]). “God sent forth his son, made of a woman [but not of a virgin], made under the law” ([Gal. iv, 4]).
With the Evangelists the proofs of Christ’s divinity are his miracles. Their books teem with accounts of these. But Paul evidently knows nothing of these miracles. With him the evidences of Christ’s divine mission are his resurrection and the spiritual gifts conferred on those who accept him.
The Evangelists teach a material resurrection. When the women visited his tomb “they entered in and found not the body of Jesus” ([Luke xxiv, 3]). The divine messengers said to them, “He is not here, but is risen” ([6]). “He sat at meat” with his disciples; “he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them” ([30]). “Then he said to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side” ([John xx, 27]). This is entirely at variance with the teachings of Paul. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” ([1 Cor. xv, 20, 21]). “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be” ([35–37]). “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body” ([44]). “Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” ([50]).
The Christ that Paul saw in a vision was a spiritual being—an apparition; and this appearance he considers of exactly the same character as the post mortem appearances of Christ to his disciples. “He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; ... after that, he was seen of James; then of all the Apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also” ([1 Cor. xv, 5–8]).
CHAPTER IV.
The Infancy of Christ.
We have seen that the Four Gospels are not authentic, that they are anonymous writings which appeared late in the second century. If their contents seemed credible and their statements harmonized with each other this want of authenticity would invalidate their authority, because the testimony of an unknown witness cannot be accepted as authoritative. On the other hand, if their authenticity could be established, if it could be shown that they were written by the authors claimed, the incredible and contradictory character of their contents would destroy their authority.
As historical documents these books are hardly worthy of credit. The “Arabian Nights” is almost as worthy of credit as the Four Gospels. In both are to be found accounts of things possible and of things impossible. To believe the impossible is gross superstition; to believe the possible, simply because it is possible, is blind credulity. These books are adduced as the credentials of Christ. A critical analysis of these credentials reveals hundreds of errors. A presentation of these errors will occupy the five succeeding chapters of this work. If it can be shown that they contain errors, however trivial some of them may appear, this refutes the claim of inerrancy and divinity. If it can be shown that they abound with errors, this destroys their credibility as historical documents. Destroy the credibility of the Four Gospels and you destroy all proofs of Christ’s divinity—all proofs of his existence.
1
When was Jesus born?
Matthew: “In the days of Herod” ([ii, 1]).
Luke: “When Cyrenius was governor of Syria” ([ii, 1–7]).
Nearly every biographer gives the date of his subject’s birth. Yet not one of the Evangelists gives the date of Jesus’ birth. Two, Matthew and Luke, attempt to give the time approximately. But between these two attempts there is a discrepancy of at least ten years; for Herod died 4 B. C., while Cyrenius did not become governor of Syria until 7 A. D.
A reconciliation of these statements is impossible. Matthew clearly states that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod. Luke states that Augustus Caesar issued a decree that the world should be taxed, that “this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria,” and that Jesus was born at the time of this taxing.
The following extracts from Josephus, the renowned historian of the race and country to which Jesus belonged, give the date of this taxing and the time that elapsed between the death of Herod and the taxing, and which reckoned backward from this gives the date of Herod’s death:
“And now Herod altered his testament upon the alteration of his mind; for he appointed Antipas, to whom he had before left his kingdom, to be tetrarch of Galilee and Berea, and granted the kingdom to Archelaus.... When he had done these things he died” (Antiquities, B. xvii, ch. 8, sec. 1).
“But in the tenth year of Archelaus’s government, both his brethren, and the principal men of Judea and Samaria, not being able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical usage of them, accused him before Caesar.... And when he was come [to Rome], Caesar, upon hearing what certain accusers of his had to say, and what reply he could make, both banished him, and appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the place of his habitation, and took his money away from him” (Ibid, ch. 13, sec. 2).
“Archelaus’s country was laid to the province of Syria; and Cyrenius, one that had been consul, was sent by Caesar to take account of people’s effects in Syria, and to sell the house of Archelaus” (Ib. sec. 5).
“When Cyrenius had now disposed of Archelaus’s money, and when the taxings were come to a conclusion, which were made in the thirty-seventh of Caesar’s victory over Antony at Actium,” etc. (Ib., B. xviii, ch. 2, sec. 1).
The battle of Actium was fought September 2, B. C. 31. The thirty-seventh year from this battle comprehended the time elapsing between September 2, A. D. 6, and September 2, A. D. 7, the mean of which was March 2, A. D. 7. The mean of the tenth year preceding this—the year in which Herod died—was September 2, B. C. 4.
It has been suggested by some unacquainted with Roman history that Cyrenius [Quirinus] may have been twice governor of Syria. Cyrenius was but once governor of Syria, and this not until 7 A. D. During the last years of Herod’s reign, and during all the years of Archelaus’s reign, Sentius Saturninus and Quintilius Varus held this office. Even if Cyrenius had previously held the office the events related by Luke could not have occurred then because Judea prior to 7 A. D. was not a part of Syria.
The second chapter of Luke which narrates the birth and infancy of Jesus, conflicts with the first chapter of this book. In this chapter it is expressly stated that Zacharias, the priest, lived in the time of Herod and, inferentially, that the conceptions of John and Jesus occurred at this time.
Christian chronology, by which events are supposed to be reckoned from the birth of Christ, agrees with neither Matthew nor Luke, but dates from a point nearly intermediate between the two. According to Matthew, Christ was born at least five years before the beginning of the Christian era; according to Luke he was born at least six years after the beginning of the Christian era. This is 1907: but according to Matthew Christ was born not later than 1912 years ago; while according to Luke he was born not earlier than 1901 years ago.
At least ten different opinions regarding the year of Christ’s birth have been advanced by Christian scholars. Dodwell places it in 6 B. C., Chrysostom 5 B. C., Usher, whose opinion is most commonly received, 4 B. C., Irenaeus 3 B. C., Jerome 2 B. C., Tertullian 1 B. C. Some modern authorities place it in 1 A. D., others in 2 A. D., and still others in 3 A. D.; while those who accept Luke as infallible authority must place it as late as 7 A. D.
2
It is generally assumed that Jesus was born in the last year of Herod’s reign. How long before the close of Herod’s reign was he born?
Matthew: At least two years ([ii, 1–16]).
Matthew says that when the wise men visited Herod he diligently inquired of them the time when the star which announced the birth of Jesus first appeared. When he determined to destroy Jesus and massacred the infants of Bethlehem and the surrounding country, he slew those “from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men,” clearly indicating that Jesus was nearly or quite two years old at this time.
In attempting to reconcile Matthew’s visit of the wise men to Jesus at Bethlehem with the narrative of Luke, which makes his stay there less than six weeks, it has been assumed that this visit occurred immediately after his birth, whereas, according to Matthew, it did not occur until about two years after his birth.
3
In what month and on what day of the month was he born?
Not one of his biographers is prepared to tell; primitive Christians did not know; the church has never been able to determine this. A hundred different opinions regarding it have been expressed by Christian scholars. Wagenseil places it in February, Paulius in March, Greswell in April, Lichtenstein in June, Strong in August, Lightfoot in September, and Newcome in October. Clinton says that he was born in the Spring; Larchur says that he was born in the Fall. Some early Christians believed that it occurred on the 5th of January; others the 19th of April; others still on the 20th of May. The Eastern church believed that he was born on the 7th of January. The church of Rome, in the fourth century, selected the 25th of December on which to celebrate the anniversary of his birth; and this date has been accepted by the greater portion of the Christian world.
4
What determined the selection of this date?
“There was a double reason for selecting this day. In the first place it had been observed from a hoary antiquity as a heathen festival, following the longest night of the winter solstice, and was called ‘the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun.’ It was a fine thought to celebrate on that day the birth of him whom the Gospel called “the light of the world”.... The second reason was, that at Rome the days from the 17th to the 23d of December were devoted to unbridled merrymaking. These days were called the Saturnalia.... Now the church was always anxious to meet the heathen, whom she had converted or was beginning to convert, half-way, by allowing them to retain the feasts they were accustomed to, only giving them a Christian dress, or attaching a new and Christian signification to them” (Bible for Learners, vol. iii, pp. 66, 67).
Gibbon says: “The Roman Christians, ignorant of the real time of the birth of Jesus, fixed the solemn festival on the 25th of December, the winter solstice when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of the sun.”
5
What precludes the acceptance of this date?
Luke: At the time of his birth “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night” ([ii, 8]).
Shepherds did not abide in the field with their flocks at night in mid-winter. The Rev. Cunningham Geikie, D. D., a leading English orthodox authority on Christ, says:
“One knows how wretched even Rome is in winter and Palestine is much worse during hard weather. Nor is it likely that shepherds would lie out through the night, except during unseasonably fine weather” (Christmas at Bethlehem, in Deems’ Holydays and Holidays, p. 405).
“The nativity of Jesus in December should be given up.”—Dr. Adam Clarke.
In regard to the date of Christ’s birth Dr. Farrar says: “It must be admitted that we cannot demonstrate the exact year of the nativity.... As to the day and month of the nativity it is certain that they can never be recovered; they were absolutely unknown to the early fathers, and there is scarcely one month of the year which has not been fixed upon as probable by modern critics.”
The inability of Christians to determine the date of Christ’s birth is one of the strongest proofs of his non-existence as a historical character. Were the story of his miraculous birth and marvelous life true the date of his birth would have been preserved and would be today, the best authenticated fact in history.
6
Where was Jesus born?
Matthew and Luke: In Bethlehem of Judea ([Matt. ii, 1]; [Luke ii, 1–7]).
Aside from these stories in Matthew and Luke concerning the nativity, which are clearly of later origin than the remaining documents composing the books and which many Christian scholars reject, there is not a word in the Four Gospels to confirm the claim that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Every statement in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as Acts, concerning his nativity, is to the effect that he was born in Nazareth of Galilee. He is never called “Jesus of Bethlehem,” but always “Jesus of Nazareth.” According to modern usage “Jesus of Nazareth” might merely signify that Nazareth was the place of his residence and not necessarily the place of his birth. But this usage was unknown to the Jews. Had he been born at Bethlehem, he would, according to the Jewish custom, have been called “Jesus of Bethlehem,” because the place of birth always determined this distinguishing adjunct, and the fact of his having removed to another place would not have changed it.
Peter ([Acts ii, 22]; [iii, 6]); Paul ([Acts xxvi, 9]), Philip ([John i, 45]), Cleopas and his companion ([Luke xxiv, 19]), Pilate ([John xix, 19]), Judas and the band sent to arrest Jesus ([John xviii, 5, 7]), the High Priest’s maid ([Mark xiv, 67]), blind Bartimaeus ([Mark x, 47]), the unclean spirits ([Mark i, 24]; [Luke iv, 34]), the multitudes that attended his meetings ([Matt. xxi, 11]; [Luke xviii, 37]), all declared him to be a native of Nazareth.
To the foregoing may be added the testimony of Jesus himself. When Paul asked him who he was he answered: “I am Jesus of Nazareth” ([Acts xxii, 8]).
Many of the Jews rejected Christ because he was born in Galilee and not in Bethlehem. “Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scriptures said, That Christ cometh out of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” ([John vii, 41, 42]).
Concerning this subject the “Bible for Learners” says: “The primitive tradition declared emphatically that Nazareth was the place from which Jesus came. We may still see this distinctly enough in our Gospels. Jesus is constantly called the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth. This was certainly the name by which he was known in his own time; and of course such local names were given to men from the place of their birth, and not from the place in which they lived, which might constantly be changing. Nazareth is called in so many words his own, that is his native city, and he himself declares it so” (vol. iii, pp. 39, 40).
That Jesus the man, if such a being existed, was not born at Bethlehem is affirmed by all critics. That he could not have been born at Nazareth is urged by many. Nazareth, it is asserted, did not exist at this time. Christian scholars admit that there is no proof of its existence at the beginning of the Christian era outside of the New Testament. The Encyclopedia Biblica, a leading Christian authority, says: “We cannot perhaps venture to assert positively that there was a city called Nazareth in Jesus’ time.”
7
His reputed birth at Bethlehem was in fulfillment of what prophecy?
“And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel” ([Matthew ii, 6]).
This is a misquotation of [Micah v, 2]. The passage as it appears in our version of the Old Testament is itself a mistranslation. Correctly rendered it does not mean that this ruler shall come from Bethlehem, but simply that he shall be a descendant of David whose family belonged to Bethlehem.
Concerning this prophecy it may be said, 1. That Jesus never became governor or ruler of Israel; 2. That the ruler referred to was to be a military leader who should deliver Israel from the Assyrians. “And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into the land ... thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian” ([Micah v, 5, 6]).
8
Jesus is called the Son of David. Why?
Matthew and Luke: Because Joseph, who was not his father, but merely his guardian or foster father, was descended from David.
The Jews expected a Messiah. This expectation was realized, it is claimed, in Jesus Christ. His Messianic marks, however, were not discernible and the Jews, for the most part, rejected him. This Messiah must be a son of David. Before Jesus’ claims could even be considered his Davidic descent must be established. This Matthew and Luke attempt to do. Each gives what purports to be a genealogy of him. If these genealogies agree they may be false; if they do not agree one must be false.
9
How many generations were there from David to Jesus?
Matthew: Twenty-eight ([i, 6–16]).
Luke: Forty-three ([iii, 23–31]).
Luke makes two more generations from David to Jesus in a period of one thousand years than Matthew does from Abraham to Jesus in a period of two thousand years.
10
How many generations were there from Abraham to Jesus?
Matthew: “From Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations”—in all, forty-two generations ([i, 17]).
Here Matthew contradicts his own record given in the preceding sixteen verses; for, including both Abraham and Jesus, he names but forty-one generations: 1. Abraham, 2. Isaac, 3. Jacob, 4. Judas, 5. Phares, 6. Ezrom, 7. Aram, 8. Aminadab, 9. Naason, 10. Salmon, 11. Booz, 12. Obed, 13. Jesse, 14. David, 15. Solomon, 16. Roboam, 17. Abia, 18. Asa, 19. Josaphat, 20. Joram, 21. Ozias, 22. Joatham, 23. Achaz, 24. Ezekias, 25. Manasses, 26. Amon, 27. Josias, 28. Jechonias, 29. Salathiel, 30. Zorobabel, 31. Abiud, 32. Eliakim, 33. Azor, 34. Sadoc, 35. Achim, 36. Eliud, 37. Eleazer, 38. Matthan, 39. Jacob, 40. Joseph, 41. Jesus Christ.
11
Does Luke’s genealogy agree with the Old Testament?
It does not. Luke gives twenty generations from Adam to Abraham, while Genesis ([v, 3–32]; [xi, 10–26]) and Chronicles ([1 Ch. i, 1–4]; [24–27]) each gives but nineteen.
12
How many generations were there from Abraham to David?
Matthew: “From Abraham to David are fourteen generations” ([i, 17]).
From Abraham to David are not fourteen, but thirteen generations; for David does not belong to this period. The genealogical table of Matthew naturally and logically comprises three divisions which he recognizes. The first division comprises the generations preceding the establishment of the Kingdom of David, beginning with Abraham; the second comprises the kings of Judah, beginning with David the first and ending with Jechonias the last; the third comprises the generations following the kings of Judah, from the Captivity to Christ.
13
How many generations were there from David to the Captivity?
Matthew: “From David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations” ([i, 17]).
In order to obtain a uniformity of numbers—three periods of double seven (seven was the sacred number of the Jews) each—Matthew purposely falsifies the records of the Old Testament. A reference to the Davidic genealogy ([1 Chronicles iii]) shows that he omits the generations of Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, and Jehoiakim, four Jewish kings, lineal descendants of David, whose combined reigns amount to over eighty years.
| Matthew. | Chronicles. |
| David, | David, |
| Solomon, | Solomon, |
| Reboam, | Rehoboam, |
| Abia, | Abia, |
| Asa, | Asa, |
| Josaphat, | Jehoshaphat, |
| Joram, | Joram, |
| Ahaziah, | |
| Joash, | |
| Amaziah, | |
| Ozias, | Azariah, |
| Joatham, | Jotham, |
| Achaz, | Ahaz, |
| Ezekias, | Hezekiah, |
| Manasses, | Manasseh, |
| Amon, | Amon, |
| Josias, | Josiah, |
| Jehoiakim, | |
| Jechonias. | Jechoniah. |
The first three omissions are thus explained by Augustine: “Ochozias [Ahaziah], Joash, and Amazias were excluded from the number, because their wickedness was continuous and without interval.”
As if the exclusion of their names from a genealogical list would expunge their records from history and drain their blood from the veins of their descendants. But aside from the absurdity of this explanation, the premises are false. Those whose names are excluded from the list were not men whose “wickedness was continuous and without interval,” while some whose names are not excluded were. Ahaziah reigned but one year. Joash reigned forty years and both Kings and Chronicles affirm that “He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord” ([2 Kings xii, 2]; [2 Chron. xxiv, 2]). Amaziah reigned twenty-nine years, and he, too, “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord” ([2 Kings xiv, 3]). On the other hand, Rehoboam, Joram and Jechonias, whose names are retained in Matthew’s table, are represented as monsters of wickedness.
14
Name the generations from David to the Captivity.
15
How many generations were there from the Captivity to Christ?
Matthew: “From the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations” ([i, 17]).
Matthew is again guilty of deception. A reference to his table shows that there were but thirteen generations. In order to carry out his numerical system of fourteen generations to each period he counts the generation of Jechonias in this period which he has already counted in the preceding period; thus performing the mathematical feat of dividing 27 by 2 and obtaining 14 for a quotient.
Had Matthew given a true summary of this genealogy, assuming the generations from the close of the Old Testament record to Christ to be correct, instead of these periods of double seven each, we would have the following: “So all the generations from Abraham to David are thirteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are nineteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are thirteen generations.”
16
Name the generations from the Captivity to Christ.
| Matthew. | Luke. | Chronicles. |
| Salathiel, | Salathiel, | Pediah, |
| Zorobabel, | Zorobabel, | Zerubabel, |
| Abiud, | Rhesa, | Hananiah, |
| Eliakim, | Joanna, | Schecania, |
| Azor, | Juda, | Shemaiah, |
| Sadoc, | Joseph, | Neariah, |
| Achim, | Semei, | Elioenai, |
| Eliud, | Mattathias, | Hodaiah, |
| Eleazer, | Maath, | (Here the genealogy ofChronicles ends.) |
| Matthan, | Nagge, | |
| Jacob, | Esli, | |
| Joseph, | Naum, | |
| Jesus. | Amos, | |
| Mattathias, | ||
| Joseph, | ||
| Janna, | ||
| Melchi, | ||
| Levi, | ||
| Heli, | ||
| Matthat, | ||
| Joseph, | ||
| Jesus. |
17
According to the accepted chronology, what was the average age of each generation from David to Jesus?
Luke: Twenty-five years.
Matthew: Forty years.
18
What was the average age from David to the Captivity?
Matthew: Thirty-seven years.
According to Chronicles the average age of the same line for the same period was but twenty-six years.
19
What was the average age from the Captivity to Jesus?
Luke: Twenty-eight years.
Matthew: Fifty years.
While the average age from David to the Captivity by way of Solomon was but twenty-six years the average age from the Captivity to Jesus by the same line, according to Matthew, was fifty years. This proves the falsity of Matthew’s genealogy from the Captivity to Jesus.
20
What was the average length of each generation from Abraham to David?
Matthew and Luke: Seventy years.
Seventy years is said to constitute the natural life of man. According to these Evangelists Christ’s Pre-Davidic ancestors only reached maturity at seventy. How slow was man’s development then—a babe in his mother’s arms at twenty; a playful child at forty; at sixty an ardent youth wooing a blushing maiden of half a hundred years; at three score years and ten a fond young father rejoicing at the birth of his first-born!
21
What was the average length of each generation from Adam to Abraham?
22
How many generations were there from Adam to Abraham?
Luke: Twenty ([iii, 34–38]).
Luke makes less than half as many generations from Adam to Abraham in a period of two thousand years as he does from David to Jesus in a period of one thousand years.
23
How many generations were there between Rachab, the mother of Booz, and David?
Matthew: Three—Booz, Obed and Jesse ([i, 5, 6]).
Rachab lived at Jericho when it was taken by the Israelites. Jericho was taken 1451 B. C., the year that Moses died. David was born 1085 B. C.—nearly four centuries later.
24
Assuming the generations following the Captivity in Matthew and Chronicles to run parallel, how many generations were there between the last generation named in Chronicles and Jesus?
Matthew: Four.
Yet Chronicles was written, it is claimed, from 458 to 604 years before Christ.
“If the Chronicles were written by Ezra, the date of their composition was not far from B. C. 458, the year of the return from the Captivity. If by Daniel, the earlier period of from 604 to 534 must be adopted.”—Rev. Dr. Hitchcock.
25
Name the first ten ancestors of Jesus.
Luke: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Maleleel, Jared, Enoch, Mathusala, Lamech, Noe ([iii, 36–38]).
Archeological researches have shown these to be ten Babylonian kings.
26
Who was Sala?
Luke: “Sala, which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad” ([iii, 35, 36]).
“And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years and begat Salah” ([Genesis xi, 12]).
According to Luke Sala was the grand-son of Arphaxad; according to Genesis he was the son of Arphaxad.
27
Who begat Ozias?
Matthew: “Joram begat Ozias” ([i, 8]).
“Ahaziah his [Joram’s] son, Joash his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah [Ozias] his son” ([1 Chronicles iii, 11, 12]).
According to the New Testament Ozias was the son of Joram; according to the Old Testament he was the great great-grandson of Joram.
28
Who was Josiah’s successor?
Matthew: Jechonias ([i, 11]).
“Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead” ([2 Chronicles xxxvi, 1]).
“For thus saith the Lord touching Shallum, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah, his father” ([Jeremiah xxii, 11]).
“And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah, his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim” ([2 Kings xxiii, 34]).
According to Matthew, Josiah’s successor was Jechonias; according to Chronicles, Jehoahaz; according to Jeremiah, Shallum; according to Kings, Jehoiakim.
29
Who was the father of Jechonias?
Matthew: “Josias begat Jechonias” ([i, 11]).
Josias was not the father but the grandfather of Jechonias. “And the sons of Josiah were, ... the second Jehoiakim.... And the sons of Jehoiakim: Jechoniah, his son” ([1 Chron. iii, 15, 16]).
30
When did Josias beget Jechonias?
Matthew: “And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away into Babylon” ([i, 11]).
Josiah became king 641 B. C. and died 610 B. C. Jechonias was carried to Babylon 588 B. C., 22 years after Josiah died.
31
Did Jechonias have a son?
Matthew: “And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel” ([i, 12]).
“As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah [Jechonias], the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence.... O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling no more in Judah” ([Jeremiah xxii, 24–30]).
This curse was pronounced upon Jechonias before he was taken to Babylon. By this divine oath Jesus is precluded from becoming an heir to the throne of David. God swears that Jechonias shall be childless, and that no descendant of his shall ever sit upon the throne. Yet Matthew, in the face of this oath, declares that Jechonias did not remain childless, that he begat a son, Salathiel, the progenitor of Jesus. In attempting to make Jesus an heir to David’s throne Matthew makes God a liar and perjurer.
32
Matthew says that Salathiel was the son of Jechonias. Who does Luke declare him to be?
“The son of Neri” ([iii, 27]).
33
Who was the father of Zorobabel?
Matthew: “And Salathiel begat Zorobabel” ([i, 12]).
Luke: “Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel” ([iii, 27]).
Here both Evangelists agree—agree to disagree with Chronicles which says that Zorobabel was the son of Pedaiah, the brother of Salathiel. “And the sons of Pedaiah were Zerubbabel and Shimei” ([1 Chron. iii, 19]).
34
Who was the son of Zorobabel?
Matthew: “And Zorobabel begat Abiud” ([i, 13]).
Luke: “Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel” ([iii, 27]).
Each contradicts the other, and both contradict the Old Testament ([1 Chron. iii, 19, 20]).
35
Who was the father of Joseph?
Matthew: “And Jacob begat Joseph” ([i, 16]).
Luke: “Joseph, which was the son of Heli” ([iii, 23]).
36
If Jesus was descended from David, the descent was through one of David’s sons. Which one?
Matthew: Solomon ([i, 6–16]).
Luke: Nathan ([iii, 23–31]).
Luke reaches the same person by way of one brother that Matthew does by way of the other.
37
Many commentators attempt to reconcile these discordant genealogies by assuming that Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, while Luke gives the genealogy of Mary. What do the Evangelists themselves declare?
Matthew: “And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ,” etc. ([i, 16]).
Luke: “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,” etc. ([iii, 23]).
Dr. Geikie, in his “Life of Christ” (vol. i, p. 531, note), says: “The genealogies given by both Matthew and Luke seem unquestionably to refer to Joseph.”
Regarding this the Rev. Dr. McNaught says: “Let the reader bear in mind how Matthew states that ‘Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary,’ and how Luke’s words are ‘Joseph which was the son of Heli,’ and then let him say whether it is truthful to allege that these different genealogies belong to different individuals. Is it not plain that each of them professes to trace the lineal descent of one and the same man, Joseph?”
William Rathbone Greg says: “The circumstance that any man could suppose that Matthew when he said, ‘Jacob begat Joseph,’ or Luke, when he said, ‘Joseph was the son of Heli,’ could refer to the wife of the one, or the daughter-in-law of the other, shows to what desperate stratagems polemical orthodoxy will resort in order to defend an untenable position.”
Smith’s “Bible Dictionary” offers the following explanation: “They are both the genealogies of Joseph, i. e., of Jesus Christ, as the reputed and legal son of Joseph and Mary. The genealogy of St. Matthew is Joseph’s genealogy as legal successor to the throne of David. St. Luke’s is Joseph’s private genealogy, exhibiting his real birth, as David’s son, and thus showing why he was heir to Solomon’s crown. The simple principle that one Evangelist exhibits that genealogy which contained the successive heirs to David’s and Solomon’s throne, while the other exhibits the paternal stem of him who was the heir, explains all the anomalies of the two pedigrees.”
This “simple principle” necessitates three disagreeable postulates. 1. That the lineage of Nathan, who is not the recorded possessor of even one wife, survived, while that of Solomon who had seven hundred wives became extinct. 2. That Joseph was legal successor to the throne of David, when Heli, his father, was not. 3. That the first chapter of Matthew contains more than a score of errors. That little word “begat” is fatal to the above theory. Matthew declares that Jacob begat Joseph. If Jacob begat Joseph, then Jacob, and not Heli, was the father of Joseph. According to Matthew, the royal line descends from David to Joseph unbroken; each heir begetting the succeeding one, thus precluding the possibility of a collateral branch inheriting the throne.
The hypothesis that Jesus was merely the adopted son and legal heir of Joseph and yet fulfilled the Messianic requirements is untenable. Strauss says: “Adoption might indeed suffice to secure to the adopted son the reversion of certain external family rights and inheritances; but such a relationship could in no wise lend a claim to the Messianic dignity, which was attached to the true blood and lineage of David” (Leben Jesu, p. 122).
The Messiah must be a natural and lineal descendant of David, which Peter expressly declares Jesus to be: “God had sworn with an oath to him [David], that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne” ([Acts ii, 30]).
It is assumed by some that a Levirate marriage had taken place between the parents of Joseph, and that the one genealogy belonged to the natural, the others to the legal father of Joseph. By a Levirate marriage if a man died without heirs his remaining brother married his widow and raised up heirs to him. But in this case the brothers would have the same father, and the genealogies would differ only in the father of Joseph. It is only by a succession of Levirate marriages and a juggling of words, which no intelligent critic can seriously entertain, that such a hypothesis can be considered possible, even waiving the Old Testament writers, and the Evangelists themselves, whose language forbids it.
Eusebius advances an explanation characteristic of this ecclesiastical historian and of the early church whose history he professes to record. The Jews, it is said, were divided in their opinions regarding the descent of the Messiah. While some contended that his descent must be through the royal line, others believed that because of the excessive wickedness of the kings the descent would be through another line. Eusebius says: “Matthew gives his opinion, Luke repeats the common opinion of many, not his own.... This last view Luke takes, though conscious that Matthew gives the real truth of the genealogy.”
Matthew’s genealogy is self-evidently false; while Luke’s according to the admission of the historian of the primitive church, is merely a fabrication of early Christians, designed to influence those who rejected Matthew’s genealogy of the Messiah.
38
If the miraculous conception be true the Davidic descent could only be through Mary. Was Mary descended from David?
“We are wholly ignorant of the name and occupation of St. Mary’s parents. She was, like Joseph, of the tribe of Judah, and of the lineage of David ([Ps. cxxxii, 11]; [Luke i, 32]; [Rom. i, 3]).”—Smith’s Bible Dictionary.
Three passages are cited in support of this claim:
1. “The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it. Of the fruit of thy body will I sit upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore” ([Ps. cxxxii, 11, 12]).
2. “He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David” ([Luke i, 32]).
3. “Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh” ([Rom. i, 3]).
The second and third passages do not refer to Mary; the first passage refers neither to Jesus nor Mary. There is no evidence to prove that Mary was descended from David. On the contrary there is evidence to prove that she was not descended from him.
1. “The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary” ([Luke i, 27]). Joseph, and not Mary is declared to be of the house of David.
2. It is stated that Joseph went to Bethlehem “to be taxed with Mary,” not because they, but “because he was of the house and lineage of David” ([Luke ii, 4, 5]).
3. Mary was the cousin of Elizabeth ([Luke i, 3]), and Elizabeth “was of the daughters of Aaron” ([i, 5]), i. e., descended from Levi, while the house of David was descended from Judah.
This desperate, yet ineffectual, effort to establish the Davidic descent of Mary is virtually an abandonment of the genealogical tables of Matthew and Luke, and a falling back upon this pitiable argumentum in circulo: Mary was descended from David because the Messiah was to be descended from David, and Jesus was the Messiah because Mary was descended from David.
These genealogies do not give the lineage of Mary who is said to have been his only earthly parent, but the lineage of Joseph who, it is claimed, was not his father. But if Joseph was not the father of Jesus, what is the use of giving his pedigree? If Joseph was not the father of Jesus how does proving that he was descended from David prove that Jesus was descended from David? If these genealogies run through Joseph to Jesus, as stated by Matthew and Luke, then Joseph must have been the father of Jesus; and if he was the father of Jesus the story of the miraculous conception is false.
The Synoptics, as we have seen, are for the most part, mere compilations, made up of preexisting documents. These documents belonged to different ages of the primitive church. In the first ages of the church Christians believed that Jesus was simply a man—the son of Joseph and Mary. The genealogies of Matthew and Luke, which trace his descent from David through Joseph, belonged to this age. The story of the miraculous conception was the product of a later age.
If the dogma of the miraculous conception be true, if God, and not Joseph, was the father of Jesus as taught, these genealogies, being genealogies of Joseph, fail to prove what they are intended to prove, the royal descent of Jesus from David. The genealogies of Matthew and Luke and their accounts of the miraculous conception mutually exclude each other.
39
Did Jesus believe himself to be descended from David?
Synoptics: He did not ([Matt. xxii, 41–46]; [Mark xii, 35–37]; [Luke xx, 41–44]).
A principal objection to accepting Jesus as the Messiah by the Jews was the fact that he was not descended from David. He tacitly admitted that he was not, and the whole burden of his argument was to convince them that it was not necessary that he should be.
40
The miraculous conception was in fulfillment of what prophecy?
Matthew: “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel” ([i, 22, 23]).
This is esteemed the “Gem of the Prophecies,” and may be found in the seventh chapter of Isaiah. The facts are these: Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, had declared war against Ahaz, king of Judah. God assured Ahaz that they should not succeed, but that their own kingdoms should be destroyed by the Assyrians. To convince him of the truth of this he requested Ahaz to demand a sign. “But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.... Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.... Before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.”
In the succeeding chapter the fulfillment of this prophecy is recorded: “And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus [the capital of Rezin’s kingdom] and the spoils of Samaria [the capital of Pekah’s kingdom] shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.” Rezin and Pekah were overthrown by the Assyrians about 720 B. C.
One of the most convincing proofs of Christ’s divinity, with many, is the supposed fact that he was born of a virgin and that his miraculous birth was foretold by a prophet seven hundred years before the event occurred. Now, there is not a passage in the Jewish Scriptures declaring that a child should be born of a virgin. The word translated “virgin” does not mean a virgin in the accepted sense of the term, but simply a young woman, either married or single. The whole passage is a mistranslation. The words rendered “a virgin shall conceive and bear a son” should read, “a young woman is with child and beareth a son.” In this so-called prophecy there is not the remotest reference to a miraculous conception and a virgin-born child. The Jews themselves did not regard this passage as a Messianic prophecy; neither did they believe that the Messiah was to be born of a virgin.
Next to the preceding the following is most frequently cited as a Messianic prophecy: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, ... until Shiloh come” ([Genesis xlix, 10]).
If Shiloh refers to Christ the prophecy was not fulfilled, for the sceptre did depart from Judah 600 years before Christ came. But Shiloh does not refer to a Messiah, nor to any man. Shiloh was the seat of the national sanctuary before it was removed to Jerusalem. This so-called prophecy, like the preceding, is a mistranslation. The correct reading is as follows: “The preeminence shall not depart from Judah so long as the people resort to Shiloh.”
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be declared Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” ([Isaiah ix, 6]).
Prof. Cheyne, the highest authority on Isaiah, pronounces this a forgery. Every honest Christian scholar must admit this. It is a self-evident forgery. No Jewish writer could have written it. To have declared even the Messiah to be “The mighty God, the everlasting Father” would have been the rankest blasphemy, a crime the punishment of which was death.
These alleged Messianic prophecies are, in their present form, Christian rather than Jewish. Christian translators and exegetists have altered their language and perverted their meaning to make them appear to refer to Christ. The following is an example:
“I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” ([Jeremiah xxiii, 5, 6]).
The correct rendering of this passage is as follows:
“I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby they shall call themselves: The Eternal is our righteousness.”
To make a Messianic prophecy of this passage and give it effect no less than eight pieces of deception were employed by the editors of our Authorized Version:
1. The word “branch” is made to begin with a capital letter.
2. The word “king” also begins with a capital.
3. “The name” is rendered “his name.”
4. The pronoun “they,” relating to the people of Judah and Israel, is changed to “he.”
5. The word “Eternal” is translated “Lord.”
6. “The Lord our righteousness” is printed in capitals.
7. In the table of contents, at the head of the chapter, are the words “Christ shall rule and save them.”
8. At the top of the page are the words “Christ promised.”
Another example of this Messianic prophecy making is the following:
“Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks” ([Daniel ix, 25]).
The term “week,” it is claimed, means a period of seven years, and assumed that by Messiah is meant Christ. Seven weeks and three score and two weeks are sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years, the time that was to elapse from the command to rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of Christ, if the prophecy was fulfilled. The decree of Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple was made 536 B. C. According to the accepted chronology Christ was born 4 B. C. From the decree of Cyrus, then, to the coming of Christ was 532 years instead of 483 years, a period of seven weeks, or forty-nine years, longer than that named by Daniel. Ezra, the priest, went to Jerusalem 457 B. C. This event, however, had nothing whatever to do with the decree for rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple. It occurred 79 years after the decree was issued, and 58 years after the temple was finished. But a searcher for Messianic prophecies found that from the time of Ezra to the beginning of Christ’s ministry was about 483 years, or sixty-nine prophetic weeks; and notwithstanding there was a deficiency of 79 years at one end of the period, and an excess of 30 years at the other, it was declared to fit exactly.
Christian theologians pretend to recognize in the Old Testament two kinds of Messianic prophecies: 1. Specific predictions concerning Christ which were literally fulfilled; 2. Passages in which the writer refers to other persons or events, but which God, without the writer’s knowledge, designed as types of Christ. The fallaciousness of the former having been exposed—it having been shown that there is not a text in the Jewish Scriptures predicting the coming of Christ—they now rely chiefly upon the latter to support their claims. These “prophecies” are almost limitless; for a firm believer in prophecy can, with a vivid imagination, take almost any passage and point out a fancied resemblance between the thing it refers to and the thing he wants confirmed; apparently oblivious to the fact that the passage is equally applicable to a thousand other things. Had the Mormons accepted Joe Smith as a Messiah instead of a prophet they would have no lack of prophecies to support their claims; and by translating and revising the Scriptures to suit their views, as Christians did, these prophecies would fit him as well as they do the Christ.
41
What name was to be given the child mentioned in Isaiah’s prophecy?
“They shall call his name Emmanuel” ([Matthew i, 23]).
What name was to be given Mary’s son?
“Thou shalt call his name Jesus” ([Matt. i, 21]).
In the naming of the Christian Messiah Isaiah’s prophecy was not fulfilled. He was never called Emmanuel, but Jesus.
42
To whom did the angel announcing the miraculous conception appear?
Matthew: To Joseph ([i, 20, 21]).
Luke: To Mary ([i, 26–38]).
“An angel did not appear, first to Mary, and also afterwards to Joseph; he can only have appeared either to the one or to the other. Consequently, it is only the one or the other relation which can be regarded as historical. And here different considerations would conduct to opposite decisions.... Every criticism which might determine the adoption of the one, and the rejection of the other, disappears; and we find ourselves, in reference to both accounts, driven back by necessity to the mythical view.”—Strauss.
43
For what purpose was the Annunciation made?
Luke: Simply to acquaint Mary with the heavenly decree that she had been chosen to become the mother of the coming Messiah ([i, 26–33]).
Matthew: To allay the suspicions of Joseph respecting Mary’s chastity and prevent him from putting her away ([i, 18–20]).
44
Did the Annunciation take place before or after Mary’s conception?
Luke: Before ([i, 26–31]).
Matthew: After ([i, 18–20]).
45
Who was declared to be the father of Jesus?
Matthew: The Holy Ghost ([i, 18, 20]).
With the Jews the Holy Ghost (Spirit) was of feminine gender; with the Greeks, of masculine gender. The belief that the Holy Ghost was the father of Jesus originated, not with the Jewish Christians of Palestine, as claimed, but with the Greek Christians of Alexandria.
46
What prediction did the angel Gabriel make to Mary concerning Jesus?
“The Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David” ([Luke i, 32]).
Respecting this prediction the Rev. Dr. Hooykaas, of Holland, says: “If a messenger from Heaven had really come to bring a divine revelation to Mary, the result must have confirmed his prediction; and since Jesus never fulfilled these expectations it is obvious that the revelation was never made.”
47
When Mary visited Elizabeth what did she do?
Luke: She uttered a hymn of praise ([i, 46–55]).
Had Mary uttered such a hymn we would suppose that it would have been original and inspired by the Almighty Father of her unborn child. Yet the hymn which Luke puts into her mouth was borrowed from the song of Hannah.
| Hannah. | Mary. |
| “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord” ([1 Sam. ii, 1]). | “My spirit hath rejoiced in God” ([Luke i, 47]). |
| “If thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid” ([i, 11]). | “For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden” ([48]). |
| “Talk no more so exceeding proudly” ([ii, 3]). | “He hath scattered the proud” ([51]). |
| “The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength ([4]). | “He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree” ([52]). |
| “They that were full hath hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased” ([5]). | “He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away” ([53]). |
48
What decree is said to have been issued by Caesar Augustus immediately preceding the birth of Christ?
Luke: “That all the world should be taxed” ([ii, 1]).
No such decree was issued by Augustus, nor even one that the Roman world should be taxed. The taxation of different provinces of the empire was made at various times, no general decree ever having been issued and no uniform assessment ever having been attempted by Augustus. An enrollment of Roman citizens for the purpose of taxation was made in Syria 7 A. D.
49
Of what king was Joseph a subject when Jesus was born?
Matthew: Of Herod.
If Jesus was born during the reign of Herod, Joseph, whether a resident of Judea or of Galilee, could not have been taxed by Augustus, for neither province was then a part of Syria. Both provinces belonged to Herod’s kingdom and Herod’s subjects were not taxed by the Roman government.
50
Of what province was Joseph a resident?
Matthew: Of Judea.
Luke: Of Galilee.
If he was a resident of Galilee he could not have been taxed by Augustus, even in the time of Cyrenius, for Galilee was not a Roman province, but an independent state, and had no political connection with Syria.
Again, this decree could not have applied to Judea prior to the banishment of Archelaus, ten years after the time of Herod; for Judea did not become a Roman province until that time; and while Archelaus had paid tribute to Rome the assessments of the people were made by him and not by Augustus.
51
Why was Joseph with his wife obliged to leave Galilee and go to Bethlehem of Judea to be enrolled?
Luke: “Because he was of the house and lineage of David,” and Bethlehem was the “city of David” ([ii, 4]).
Even if he had been subject to taxation there was no law or custom requiring him to leave his own country and go to that of his ancestors to be enrolled. The assessment, according to the Roman custom, was made at the residence of the person taxed. Nothing surpasses in absurdity this story of Luke, that a woman, on the eve of confinement, and the subject of another ruler, was dragged across two provinces to be enrolled for taxation.
In regard to this taxation Dr. Hooykaas says: “But here again we are met by overwhelming difficulties. In itself, the Evangelist’s account of the manner in which the census was carried out is entirely incredible. Only fancy the indescribable confusion that would have arisen if every one, through the length and breadth of the land of the Jews, had left his abode to go and enroll himself in the city or village from which his family originally came, even supposing he knew where it was. The census under David was conducted after a very different fashion. But it is still more important to note that the Evangelist falls into the most extraordinary mistakes throughout. In the first place history is silent as to a census of the whole (Roman) world ever having been made at all. In the next place, though Quirinus [Cyrenius] certainly did make such a register in Judea and Samaria, it did not extend to Galilee; so that Joseph’s household was not affected by it. Besides it did not take place till ten years after the death of Herod, when his son Archelaus was deposed by the Emperor, and the districts of Judea and Samaria were thrown into a Roman province. Under the reign of Herod nothing of the kind took place, nor was there any occasion for it. Finally, at the time of the birth of Jesus the governor of Syria was not Quirinus, but Quintus Sentius Saturninus” (Bible for Learners, vol. iii, pp. 55, 56).
52
Was Jesus born in a house or in a stable?
Matthew: “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother” ([ii, 11]).
Luke: “And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger” ([ii, 7]).
Nothing can be clearer than that the author of Matthew supposes that Jesus was born in a house. The author of Luke, on the other hand, expressly declares that he was born in a stable. Luke’s story concerning the place of Mary’s accouchement has been received, while that of Matthew has been ignored.
Christ’s birth in a manger and death on the cross are the lodestones that have attracted the sympathies of the world, and kept him on the throne of Christendom; for sentiment rather than reason dominates mankind. Referring to Luke’s story, the “Bible for Learners” says: “Such is the well-known story of the birth of Jesus, one of the sweetest and most deeply significant of all the legends of the Bible. That it is a legend, without even the smallest historical foundation, we must, of course, admit” (vol. iii, p. 54).
Justin Martyr states that Jesus was born in a cave, and this statement Farrar is disposed to accept: “Justin Martyr, the Apologist, who, from his birth at Shechem, was familiar with Palestine, and who lived less than a century after the time of our Lord, places the scene of the nativity in a cave. This is, indeed, the ancient and constant tradition both of the Eastern and the Western churches, and it is one of the few to which, though unrecorded in the Gospel history, we may attach a reasonable probability” (Life of Christ, p. 3).
53
Why did Joseph and his wife take shelter in a stable?
Luke: “Because there was no room for them in the inn” ([ii, 7]).
Luke states that there was an inn at Bethlehem. There was no inn in the place. Dr. Geikie says: “We must not moreover think of Joseph seeking an inn at Bethlehem, for inns were unknown among the Jews” (Christmas at Bethlehem).
54
What celestial phenomenon attended Christ’s birth?
Matthew: A new star appeared and stood in the heavens above him ([ii, 1–9]).
Luke: An angelic choir appeared and sang praises to God ([ii, 13, 14]).
Matthew’s story of the star and the Magi, even to the language itself, was borrowed from the writings of the Persians; Luke’s story of the celestial visitants was taken from Pagan mythology.
55
Who visited him after his birth?
Matthew: Wise men from the East ([ii, 1–11]).
Luke: Shepherds from a neighboring field ([ii, 8–20]).
Matthew makes no mention of the shepherds’ visit; Luke is evidently ignorant of the visit of the wise men.
56
From where did the wise men come?
Matthew: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him” ([ii, 1, 2]).
By the “East” was meant Persia or India, and from one of these countries the Magi are popularly supposed to have come.
Justin Martyr says: “When a star rose in heaven at the time of his birth, as is recorded in the ‘Memoirs’ of his Apostles, the Magi from Arabia, recognizing the sign by this, came and worshiped him” (Dialogues, cvi).
If they came from Arabia, as this Christian father declares, they came not from the East, but from the South.
57
What announcement did the angel make to the shepherds?
“For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” ([Luke ii, 10]).
According to Luke the visit of the angels is to proclaim to the world the birth of the new-born Messiah. Had the celestial phenomenon reported by this Evangelist really occurred the news of it would have quickly spread over Palestine. Yet the people of Jerusalem, only a few miles away, learn nothing of it; for, according to Matthew, the first intimation that Herod has of Christ’s birth is from the wise men who visit him at a much later period. The inhabitants of Bethlehem themselves are ignorant of it. Could they have discovered to Herod this wonderful babe, or the place where his parents abode while there if they had departed, it would have saved their own children from the wrath of this monarch. But they knew nothing of him.
58
What effect had the announcement of Christ’s birth upon Herod and the people of Jerusalem?
Matthew: “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” ([ii, 3]).
According to Matthew the announcement filled with alarm the entire populace, and the most diligent efforts were made to discover and destroy the babe. In strange contrast to this statement of Matthew is Luke’s narrative ([ii, 22–27]), which declares that Jesus, when forty days old, was brought to Jerusalem and publicly exhibited in Herod’s own temple, without exciting any alarm or provoking any hostility.
59
What did his parents do with him?
Matthew: They fled with him into Egypt ([ii, 13, 15]).
Luke: They remained with him in Palestine ([ii, 22–52]).
“All attempts to reconcile these two contradictory statements, seem only elaborate efforts of art.”—Dr. Schleiermacher.
60
When unable to discover Jesus what did Herod do?
Matthew: “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under” ([ii, 16]).
If this statement be true hundreds of innocent babes (the Greek Calendar says fourteen thousand) must have perished, a crime the enormity of which is almost without a parallel in the annals of history. It is strange that Mark, Luke, and John make no mention of this frightful tragedy. Luke’s silence is especially significant. It is passing strange that the Roman historians and Rabbinical writers of that age, who wrote of Herod, should be silent regarding it. Josephus devotes nearly forty chapters to the life of Herod. He narrates with much particularity every important event in his life. He detested this monarch and dwells upon his crimes and errors. Yet Josephus knew nothing of this massacre.
In this silence of Josephus Dr. Farrar recognizes a difficulty too damaging to ignore. He says: “Why then, it has been asked, does Josephus make no mention of so infamous an atrocity? Perhaps because it was performed so secretly that he did not even know of it. Perhaps because, in those terrible days, the murder of a score of children, in consequence of a transient suspicion, would have been regarded as an item utterly insignificant in the list of Herod’s murders. Perhaps because it was passed over in silence by Nikolaus of Damascus, who, writing in the true spirit of those Hellenizing courtiers, who wanted to make a political Messiah out of a corrupt and blood-stained usurper, magnified all his patron’s achievements, and concealed or palliated all his crimes. But the more probable reason is that Josephus, whom, in spite of all the immense literary debt which we owe to him, we can only regard as a renegade and a sycophant, did not choose to make any allusion to facts which were even remotely connected with the life of Christ” (Life of Christ, pp. 22, 23).
A more absurd reason than the first advanced by Farrar it is difficult to conceive. The second, that it was a matter of too little consequence to record, an explanation which other Christian apologists have assigned, is as unreasonable as it is heartless. The silence of Nikolaus, who wrote of Herod after his death, is also significant, and the excuse offered by Farrar that he omitted it because he was the friend of Herod, even if admitted, cannot apply to Josephus, who abhorred the memory of this monarch. The contention that Josephus purposely ignored the existence of Christ because he saw in him a menace to his faith is childish. Jesus Christ, admitting his existence, had made no history to record. His birth was attended by no prodigies, and there was nothing in his advent to excite the fear or envy of a king. Josephus mentions no Herodian massacre at Bethlehem because none occurred. Had Herod slain a single child in the manner stated the fact would be attested by a score of authors whose writings are extant. Herod did not slay one babe. This story is false.
Herod’s massacre of the infants of Bethlehem and the escape of Jesus was probably suggested by Kansa’s massacre of the infants of Matura and the escape of Krishna. Pharaoh’s slaughter of the first born in Egypt may also have suggested it.
61
What was the real cause of Herod’s massacre?
Matthew: The visit of the wise men and the disclosures made by them ([ii, 1–16]).
These wise men, it is claimed, were under divine guidance. In view of this terrible slaughter their visit must be regarded as a divine blunder.
62
In the massacre of the innocents what prophecy was fulfilled?
Matthew: “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not” ([ii, 17, 18]).
This so-called prophecy is in [Jeremiah xxxi, 15]. It was written at the time of the Babylonian captivity and refers to the captive Jews. In the next verse Jeremiah says: “They shall come again from the land of the enemy.”
63
When Herod died what did the Lord command Joseph to do?
“Arise, and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child’s life” ([Matthew ii, 20]).
“And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return to Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life” ([Exodus iv, 19]).
64
The sojourn of Joseph and Mary with Jesus in Egypt was in fulfillment of what prophecy?
Matthew: That “spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son” ([ii, 15]).
This may be found in [Hosea xi, 1], and clearly refers to the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.
65
Jesus was subsequently taken to Nazareth. Why?
Matthew: “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, He shall be called a Nazarene” ([ii, 23]).
The Bible contains no such prophecy. Fleetwood admits that “the words are not to be found” in “the prophetical writings,” and Farrar says, “It is well known that no such passage occurs in any extant prophecy” (Life of Christ, p. 33). The only passage to which the above can refer is [Judges xiii, 5]. Here the child referred to was not to be called a Nazarene, but a Nazarite, and Matthew knew that “Nazarene” and “Nazarite” were no more synonymous than “Jew” and “priest.” A Nazarene was a native of Nazareth; a Nazarite was one consecrated to the service of the Lord. Matthew likewise knew that this Nazarite referred to in Judges was Samson.
66
Had Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth previous to the birth of Jesus?
Luke: They had.
Matthew: They had not.
“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, ... to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife.... And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth” ([Luke ii, 4, 5], [39]).
“When he [Joseph] arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: and was there until the death of Herod.... But when Herod was dead, ... he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. And when he heard that Archelaus did reign in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth” ([Matthew ii, 14–23]).
According to Luke their home was in Nazareth of Galilee; according to Matthew their home was in Bethlehem of Judea. Luke states that they merely visited Bethlehem to be enrolled for taxation and fulfill a certain Messianic prophecy. Matthew states that after the flight into Egypt and the death of Herod they were returning to Judea when fearing Archelaus they turned aside into Galilee to avoid this ruler and fulfill another Messianic prophecy.
67
How did the parents of Jesus receive the predictions of Simeon concerning him?
Luke: “And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him” ([ii, 33]).
Why should they marvel at the predictions of Simeon when long before they had been apprised of the same thing by the angel Gabriel?
68
Does the name “Joseph” belong in the text quoted above?
It does not. The correct reading is: “And his father and his mother were marvelling at the things which were spoken concerning him.” It declares Joseph to be the father of Jesus, and as this did not harmonize with the story of the miraculous conception the makers of our version substituted “Joseph” for “father.”
69
What does Luke say regarding the infancy of John and Jesus?
“And the child [John] grew and waxed strong in spirit” ([i, 80]).
“And the child [Jesus] grew and waxed strong in spirit” ([ii, 40]).
Between the growth of the man John and the growth of the God Jesus there is, according to the Evangelist, no difference, and the growth of each is identical with that of the demi-god Samson.
70
What custom did Jesus’s parents observe?
Luke: “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover” ([ii, 41]).
The preceding verse ([40]) shows that Luke means every year following the birth of Jesus. In the succeeding verse ([42]) it is clearly implied that Jesus always accompanied them. It is impossible to reconcile this statement of Luke, who evidently knows nothing of the enmity of Herod and Archelaus, with the statements of Matthew who declares them to have been his mortal enemies.
71
On one of these occasions where did they find him?
Luke: “They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions” ([ii, 46]).
Not until the time of Gamaliel, who lived as late as the middle of the first century, was a child allowed to sit in the presence of the rabbis. He was always required to stand, and those acquainted with the Jewish history of that age know that the rabbis were the most rigid sticklers for ecclesiastical formalities, the slightest breach of which was never tolerated. The author of the third Gospel is familiar with the later, but not with the earlier custom.
72
What was the medium of communication through which the will of Heaven was revealed to the participants in this drama?
Matthew: A dream ([i, 20]; [ii, 12, 13, 19, 22]).
Luke: An angel ([i, 11], [26]; [ii, 9]).
In Matthew every message respecting the child Jesus is communicated by means of a dream; in Luke every announcement is made through the agency of an angel. Yet, after all, these Evangelists differ only in terms; for Luke’s angels are created out of the same stuff that Matthew’s dreams are made of, and the world is fast coming to a realization of the fact that this whole theological structure, founded on sleepers’ dreams and angels’ tales, is but “The baseless fabric of a vision.”
CHAPTER V.
The Ministry of Christ.
73
When, and at what age, did Jesus begin his ministry?
Luke: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” ([iii, 1]). “Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age” ([23]).
In the fifteenth year of Tiberius, who began his reign in August, 14 A. D., Jesus, according to Matthew, was at least thirty-three years of age; according to Luke, about twenty-two.
Regarding this subject, Dr. Geikie writes as follows: “The age of Jesus at his entrance on his public work has been variously estimated. Ewald supposes that he was about thirty-four, fixing his birth three years before the death of Herod. Wieseler, on the contrary, believes him to have been in his thirty-first year, setting his birth a few months before Herod’s death. Bunsen, Anger, Winer, Schurer, and Renan agree with this. Lichtenstein makes him thirty-two. Hausrath and Keim, on the other hand, think that he began his ministry in the year A. D. 34, but they do not give any supposed date for his birth, though if that of Ewald be taken as a medium he must have been forty years old, while, if Wieseler’s date be preferred, he would only have been thirty-seven.... Amidst such difference, exactness is impossible” (Life of Christ, vol. i, pp. 455, 456).
74
John the Baptist is said to have been the person sent to announce the mission of Christ. Who was John the Baptist?
Jesus: “This is Elias, which was for to come” ([Matthew xi, 14]).
John: “And they asked him [John], what then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not” ([i, 21]).
A question of veracity between Jesus and John.
75
The advent of John was in fulfillment of what prophecy?
Mark: “As it is written in the prophets, Behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee” ([i, 2]).
This passage is quoted from Malachi ([iii, 1]): God threatens to destroy the world, and says ([iv, 5]), “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” John expressly declared that he was not Elijah (Elias), and the destruction of the world did not follow his appearance.
76
What was predicted concerning John?
“He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb” ([Luke i, 15]).
For the above Luke was indebted to the biographer of Samson. “Both [Samson and John] were to be consecrated to God from the womb, and the same diet was prescribed for both.”—Strauss.
77
When the conception of John was announced what punishment was inflicted upon Zacharias for his doubt?
Luke: “And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; ... And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things be performed” ([i, 19, 20]).
This was evidently suggested by a passage in Daniel: “And when he [Gabriel] had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb” ([x, 15]).
78
Where was John baptizing when he announced his mission to the Jews?
John (New Ver.): “In Bethany beyond Jordan” ([i, 28]).
Bethany was a suburb of Jerusalem and was not beyond Jordan.
The Authorized Version reads “Bethabara,” conceded to be an interpolation, regarding which Geikie says: “The most ancient MSS. read Bethany instead of Bethabara, but no site of that name is now known on the Jordan. Bethabara was introduced into the text by Origen” (Life of Christ, vol. i, p. 566).
79
How old was Jesus when John began his ministry?
Luke: “About thirty years of age” ([iii, 2, 3], [23]).
Matthew: “In those days [when Jesus’ parents brought him out of Egypt and settled in Nazareth, he being then about two years of age] came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea” ([ii, 19–23]; [iii, 1]).
Matthew, it is claimed, was written only ten or twenty years after Jesus’ baptism. If so, the phrase “in those days” clearly implies that he was but a child when John began his ministry. If the phrase was intended to comprehend a period of thirty years this gospel, it must be admitted, was written at least one hundred years after the event described.
80
Were Jesus and John related?
Luke: They were, their mothers being cousins ([i, 36]).
Mary had visited the mother of John, and each was acquainted with the character of the other’s child. John before his birth is declared to have recognized and acknowledged the divinity of the unborn Jesus ([Luke i, 41–44]). Yet, according to the Fourth Gospel, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry John said, “I know him not” ([i, 33]).
81
When Jesus desired John to baptize him, what did the latter do?
Matthew: “John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee” ([iii, 14]).
According to Matthew, John was not only acquainted with Jesus, but cognizant of his divine mission, which cannot be harmonized with his statement in the Fourth Gospel.
Dr. Geikie admits that John and Jesus were strangers to each other. He says: “Though cousins, the Baptist and the Son of Mary had never seen each other” (Life of Christ, vol. i, p. 389).
This is not only a rejection of Matthew’s statement, but a repudiation of the first chapter of Luke, one of the most important chapters of the New Testament; for it is utterly impossible for reason to harmonize these alleged revelations concerning the miraculous conceptions and divine missions of John and Jesus to their parents and the fact that John remained for thirty years in absolute ignorance of Jesus’ existence.
82
What did John say regarding Jesus?
“He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear” ([Matthew iii, 11]).
“There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose” ([Mark i, 7]).
83
What other testimony did he bear concerning Jesus?
“And of his fulness have all we received” ([John i, 16]).
This was uttered prior to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and before he had been baptized with the Holy Ghost. At this time “his fulness” had not been received, and the words are an anachronism.
84
At Jesus’ baptism there came a voice from heaven. To whom were its words addressed?
Matthew: To those who stood by. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” ([iii, 17]).
Luke: To Jesus himself. “Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” ([iii, 22]).
85
John heard this voice from heaven; did he believe it?
Matthew: He evidently did not; for he afterwards sent two of his disciples to ascertain if Jesus were the Christ. “Now when John had heard in prison the words of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come or do we look for another?” ([xi, 2, 3]).
86
Do all the Evangelists record Jesus’ baptism by John?
They do not. According to the Synoptics, John’s baptism of Jesus was the initial act in his ministry, and one of the most important events in his career. But of this baptism the author of the Fourth Gospel knows nothing. In regard to this omission the author of “Supernatural Religion” says: “According to the Synoptics, Jesus is baptized by John, and as he goes out of the water the Holy Ghost descends upon him like a dove. The Fourth Gospel knows nothing of the baptism, and makes John the Baptist narrate vaguely that he saw the Holy Ghost descend like a dove and rest upon Jesus, as a sign previously indicated to him by God by which to recognize the Lamb of God” (p. 681).
87
With what did John say Jesus would baptize?
Mark and John: “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” ([Mark i, 8]; [John i, 33]).
Matthew and Luke: “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” ([Matt. iii, 11]; [Luke iii, 16]).
88
How many were baptized by John?
Matthew and Mark: “Jerusalem and all Judea” ([Matt. iii, 5]; [Mark i, 5]).
John, if the account in Josephus is to be credited, made some converts; but all the inhabitants of Judea were not baptized by him.
Is John the Baptist a historical character? Aside from the anonymous and apocryphal writings of the church, which appeared in the second century, the only evidence of his existence is a passage in Josephus (Antiquities, B. xviii, ch. v, sec. 2). The language of this passage, while not avowedly Christian like the passage pertaining to Christ, is yet of such a character as to excite suspicion regarding its genuineness. Its position strongly suggests an interpolation. Josephus gives an account of the troubles that arose between Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, and Aretas, king of Arabia Petrea. Herod had married the daughter of Aretas; but becoming infatuated with Herodias, his sister-in-law, he resolved to put her away and marry Herodias. Discovering his intentions his wife obtained permission to visit her father, who when he had been informed of Herod’s perfidy, made war upon him and defeated him in battle. Herod appealed to the Emperor Tiberius, who was his friend, and who ordered Vitellius, governor of Syria, to invade the dominions of Aretas and capture or slay him. I quote the concluding portion of section 1 and the opening sentence of section 3 of the chapter containing this history, separating the two with an ellipsis:
“So Herod wrote about these affairs to Tiberius, who, being very angry at the attempt made by Aretas, wrote to Vitellius to make war upon him, and either to take him alive, and bring him in bonds, or to kill him, and send him his head. This was the charge that Tiberius gave to the president of Syria.... So Vitellius prepared to make war with Aretas, having with him two legions of armed men.”
It will be readily observed that the two sections are closely connected, the one naturally and logically following the other. Yet between these two closely connected sections, the section containing the account of John the Baptist is inserted.
89
Who held the office of high priest at the time Jesus began his ministry?
Luke: “Annas and Caiaphas” ([iii, 2]).
If the writer were to declare that Washington and Monroe were presidents of the United States at the same time it would be no more erroneous than the declaration of Luke that Annas and Caiaphas were high priests at the same time. Two priests never held this office jointly. Caiaphas was high priest at this time, and three others had held the office previous to him and subsequent to Annas. Referring to Pontius Pilate’s predecessor, Gratus, who was procurator of Judea from 15 to 26 A. D., Josephus says:
“This man deprived Ananus [Annas] of the high priesthood, and appointed Ishmael, the son of Phabi, to be high priest. He also deprived him in a little time, and ordained Eleazer, the son of Ananus, who had been high priest before, to be high priest; which office, when he had held for a year, Gratus deprived him of it, and gave the high priesthood to Simon, the son of Camithus, and, when he had possessed the dignity no longer than a year, Joseph Caiaphas was made his successor” (Antiquities B. xviii, ch. ii, sec. 2).
90
Who was tetrarch of Abilene at this time?
Luke: Lysanias ([iii, 1]).
Lysanias was put to death at the instigation of Cleopatra sixty years before Jesus began his ministry. “She [Cleopatra] hurried Antony on perpetually to deprive others of their dominions, and give them to her; and as she went over Syria with him, she contrived to get it into her possession; so he slew Lysanias” (Josephus, Antiq., B. xv, ch. iv, sec. 1).
At the time mentioned by Luke the territory of Abila, or Abilene, was no longer a tetrarchy.
91
Where was Jesus three days after he began his ministry?
Synoptics: In the wilderness fasting ([Matt. iv, 1]; [Mark i, 9–13]; [Luke iv, 1]).
John: At a wedding in Cana, feasting ([i], [ii]).
92
Was he led, or driven by the spirit into the wilderness?
Matthew and Luke: “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness” ([Matt. iv, 1]; [Luke iv, 1]).
Mark: “And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness” ([i, 12]).
93
When did the temptation take place?
Mark: During the forty days’ fast. “And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan” ([i, 13]).
Matthew: After the fast. “And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights ... the tempter came to him” ([iv, 2, 3]).
94
During the temptation the devil is said to have set him on the temple. On what part of the temple did he set him?
Matthew and Luke: “On a pinnacle” ([Matt. iv, 5]; [Luke iv, 9]).
The indefinite article “a” clearly implies that the temple had several pinnacles, whereas it had but one. After eighteen hundred years the Holy Ghost discovered his mistake and moved the Oxford revisers to substitute “the” for “a.”
95
What did the devil next do?
Matthew: “The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world” ([iv, 8]). It must have been “an exceedingly high mountain” to have enabled him to see the kingdoms of the opposite hemisphere.
96
What did the devil propose?
“All these things will I give thee [Jesus], if thou wilt fall down and worship me” ([Matthew iv, 9]).
If Jesus was the Christ, and Christ was God, as claimed, who owned “these things,” he or the devil? Think of a tramp offering you a quit-claim deed to your home for a meal.
97
Where did the devil take him first, to the temple, or to the mountain?
Matthew: To the temple ([iv, 5–8]).
Luke: To the mountain ([iv, 5–9]).
Concerning this discrepancy, Farrar says: “The order of the temptation is given differently by St. Matthew and St. Luke, St. Matthew placing second the scene on the pinnacle of the temple, and St. Luke the vision of the kingdoms of the world. Both orders cannot be right” (Life of Christ, p. 70).
Some of the ablest Christian scholars have refused to accept the Temptation as historical. Farrar says: “From Origen down to Schleiermacher some have regarded it as a vision or allegory—the symbolic description of a purely inward struggle; and even so literal a commentator as Calvin has embraced this view” (Ibid, p. 65).
98
Had John been cast into prison when Jesus began his ministry?
Matthew: He had.
John: He had not.
Matthew says that immediately after his temptation, and before he began his ministry, “Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison” ([iv, 12]). Then “he departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum” ([12, 13]). “From that time Jesus began to preach” ([17]). This was the beginning of his ministry.
According to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus had called his disciples; had traveled over Galilee and Judea; had baptized ([iii, 22]); had performed miracles ([ii, 1–11], [23]; [iii, 2]); had held controversies with the Jews ([ii, 18–21]; [iii, 1–21]); had attended the Passover ([ii, 13–23]); had purged the temple ([ii, 13–16]); and after all these things “John was not yet cast into prison” ([iii, 24]).
99
Name the Twelve Apostles.
John does not name the Twelve Apostles and this important omission is admitted to be a grave defect in the Fourth Gospel.
100
Relate the circumstances attending the calling of Peter.
Matthew: “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him” ([iv, 18–20]).
Luke: “He [Jesus] stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake; but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught” ([v, 1–4]).
“And when they had this done they inclosed a great multitude of fishes” ([6]).
“And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they [Peter, James and John] had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him” ([10, 11]).
John: “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus” ([i, 35–37]).
“They came and saw where he [Jesus] dwelt, and abode with him that day.... One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias.... And he brought him to Jesus” ([40–42]).
Here are three accounts of the calling of Peter, each entirely at variance with the others.
101
In what country were they when Peter was called?
Synoptics: In Galilee.
John (Old Ver.): In Perea ([i, 28–42]).
Bethabara and the territory beyond Jordan were in Perea.
John (New Ver.): In Judea.
Bethany and all the country surrounding it were in Judea.
102
Who did Jesus declare Peter to be?
“Thou art Simon the son of Jona” ([John i, 42]).
“Simon, son of Jonas” ([John xxi, 15]).
“Thou art Simon the son of John” (John, New Ver., [i, 42]; [xxi, 15]).
There is no relation whatever between “Jona,” or “Jonas,” and “John.” Jona (Jonah), or Jonas, means a dove; John means the grace of God.
103
Jesus gave Simon (Peter) the name of Cephas. What meaning did he attach to the word Cephas?
“Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone” ([John i, 42]).
“Thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter)” (Ibid, New Ver.).
Here Jesus is represented as interpreting the meaning of an Aramaic word, with which his hearers were familiar, by the use of a Greek word of whose meaning they were ignorant, the incongruity of which must be apparent to every reader.
104
When were James and John called?
Matthew: After Peter was called.
After giving an account of the calling of Peter and Andrew, Matthew says: “And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him” ([iv, 21, 22]).
Luke: At the time that Peter was called.
Luke states that James and John were partners of Peter, and with him on the lake, in another boat, when the miraculous draught of fishes was made, that both boats were filled with the fish, “And when they [Peter, James and John] had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him” ([v, 1–11]).
105
Where was Jesus when he called Peter, James and John?
Matthew: “Walking by the sea of Galilee” ([iv, 18–21]).
Luke: On the lake in a ship ([v, 1–11]).
In regard to Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of the calling of Peter, James and John, Strauss says: “Neither will bear the other to precede, or to follow it—in short, they exclude each other” (Leben Jesu, p. 337).
106
Was Andrew called when Peter was called?
Matthew and Mark: He was ([Matt. iv, 18–20]; [Mark i, 16–18]).
According to Luke, Andrew was not called when Peter was called, but after he was called. According to John ([i, 35–42]) Andrew was the first to follow Jesus.
107
Who was called from the receipt of custom?
Matthew: “A man named Matthew” ([ix, 9]).
Luke: “A publican named Levi” ([v, 27]).
Orthodox scholars claim that Matthew and Levi are the same person. Dr. Hooykaas does not believe that they are the same, and does not believe that any one of the Apostles was called from the receipt of custom. He says: “It is in reality very unlikely that Levi and Matthew are the same man, or that one of the Twelve was a tax-gatherer” (Bible for Learners, vol. iii, p. 201).
108
Who was the mother of James the Less and Joses?
In the earlier parts of their narratives, Matthew ([xiii, 55]) and Mark ([vi, 3]) declare them to be sons of the Virgin Mary and brothers of Jesus. Paul ([Gal. i, 19]) affirms that James was the brother of Jesus. Later Matthew ([xxvii, 56]) and Mark ([xv, 40]) state that James and Joses were sons of Mary, the sister of the Virgin.
109
Who was their father?
If they were sons of the Virgin Mary, Joseph must have been their father. But Matthew ([x, 3]) and Mark ([iii, 18]) state that James the Less was “the son of Alpheus.” According to John (compare [John xix, 25] with [Matthew xxvii, 56]) Cleophas was their father.
Referring to this and the preceding discrepancy, Smith’s “Bible Dictionary” says: “This is one of the most difficult questions in the Gospel history.”
110
Were Matthew and James the Less brothers?
It is not admitted that they were. Yet it is claimed that Matthew and Levi were the same; Mark ([ii, 14]) declares that Levi was “the son of Alpheus”; while both Matthew and Mark ([Matt. x, 3]; [Mark iii, 18]) declare that James was “the son of Alpheus.”
111
To what city did John belong, and where was it located?
John: “Bethsaida of Galilee” ([xii, 21]).
John states that Peter was a resident of Bethsaida ([i, 44]), and as John and Peter were partners ([Luke v, 10]), they must have belonged to the same city. But Bethsaida was not in Galilee, but in Gaulonitis. Hence if John wrote the Gospel ascribed to him, he did not know the location of his own city.
It is remarkable with what ease theologians harmonize the most discordant statements. In this case the only thing required was, in drawing the map of Palestine, to make two dots instead of one and write the word Bethsaida twice.
112
Who was the tenth apostle?
Mark: Thaddeus ([iii, 18]).
Matthew: “Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus” ([x, 3]).
In the earlier manuscripts of Matthew, the words, “whose surname was Thaddeus,” are not to be found. Subsequent transcribers added them to reconcile his Gospel with Mark.
113
How many of the apostles bore the name of Judas?
Matthew and Mark: But one ([Matt. x, 1–4]; [Mark iii, 14–19]).
Luke: Two ([vi, 16]).
114
One of these was Judas Iscariot. Who was the other?
Luke (Old Ver.): “The brother of James” ([vi, 16]).
Luke (New Ver.): “The son of James.”
115
Name the chief apostles.
Synoptics: Peter, James and John.
John: Peter and John.
In the Synoptics, Peter, James and John constitute an inner circle or group who are with their master on every important occasion. In John this group is limited to Peter and John.
116
Who was Jesus’ favorite apostle?
Synoptics: Peter.
John: John.
From the Synoptics the conclusion is inevitable that if there was one disciple whom Jesus esteemed higher than the others it was Peter whom he is declared to have chosen for the head of his church. John, on the other hand, assuming that he wrote the Fourth Gospel, as claimed, takes frequent occasion to impress us with the idea that he was the bright particular star in the Apostolic galaxy. Four times ([xiii, 23]; [xix, 26]; [xx, 2]; [xxi, 20]) he declares himself to be “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
If John wrote the Fourth Gospel this self-glorification proves him to have been a despicable egotist; if he did not write it the book is a forgery. The first assumption, if correct, impairs its credibility; the latter destroys its authenticity.
117
Is the Apostle James mentioned in John?
He is not. This omission is the more remarkable when we remember that James was not only one of the chief apostles, but the brother of John.
Respecting this omission, Strauss says: “Is it at all probable that the real John would so unbecomingly neglect the well-founded claims of his brother James to special notice? and is not such an omission rather indicative of a late Hellenistic author, who scarcely had heard the name of the brother so early martyred?” (Leben Jesu, p. 353.)
118
What other disciples besides the Twelve did Jesus send out?
Luke: “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come” ([x, 1]).
In not one of the other twenty-six books of the New Testament is this important feature of Christ’s ministry mentioned. The seventy elders of Moses doubtless suggested it. “And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke unto him [Moses], and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders” ([Num. xi, 25]).
Seventy was a sacred number with the Jews and is of frequent occurrence in their writings. “And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls” ([Ex. i, 5]). Abimelech had “seventy brethren” ([Jud. ix, 56]). “Ahab had seventy sons” ([2 K. x. 1]). Isaiah prophesied that “Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years” ([xxiii, 15]). Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews were to “serve the king of Babylon seventy years” ([xxv, 11]). In Ezekiel’s vision there stood before the idols of Israel “seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel” ([viii, 11]). In Daniel’s vision “seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy city [Jerusalem]” ([ix, 24]).
119
What charge did Jesus make to his disciples?
“Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not” ([Matt. x, 5]).
“Then cometh he [with his disciples] to a city of Samaria” ([John iv, 5]). “And he abode there two days” ([40]).
120
Did Jesus have a habitation of his own?
Matthew: “And leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum” ([iv, 13]).
Mark: “Jesus sat at meat in his [Jesus’] house” ([ii, 15]).
Luke: “And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” ([ix, 58]).
121
His residence in Capernaum was in fulfillment of what prophecy?
Matthew: “The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthali, by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death is light sprung up” ([iv, 15, 16]).
The “prophecy” which Matthew pretends to quote is in Isaiah ([ix, 1, 2]), and reads as follows: “Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulon, and the land of Naphtali, and afterwards did more grievously afflict her by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”
Matthew both misquotes and misapplies this passage. He eliminates the facts and alters the language to make a Messianic prophecy. The words were not intended as a prophecy. The events mentioned by Isaiah had occurred when he wrote. The “great light,” which they had already seen, referred to his own work in destroying witchcraft and idolatry.