Chapter VII: Section VI

THE PRINCIPAL WITNESS.--HIS TESTIMONY RESPECTING THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

We have now to consider the various notices in Justin respecting our Lord's Crucifixion, and the events immediately preceding and following it. Justin notices our Lord's entry into Jerusalem:--

"And the prophecy, 'binding His foal to the vine and washing His
robe in the blood of the grape,' was a significant symbol of the
things which were to happen to Christ, and of what He was to do. For
the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a
village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then;
and when it was brought He mounted and sat upon it, and entered
Jerusalem." (Apol. I. ch. xxxii.)

Justin in a subsequent place (Dial. ch. liii.) notices the fact only mentioned in St. Matthew, that Jesus commanded the disciples to bring both an ass and its foal:--

"And truly our Lord Jesus Christ, when He intended to go into
Jerusalem, requested His disciples to bring Him a certain ass, along
with its foal, which was bound in an entrance of a village called
Bethphage; and, having seated Himself on it, He entered into
Jerusalem."

Justin thus describes the institution of the Eucharist:--

"For the Apostles, in the Memoirs composed by them, which are called
Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them;
that Jesus took bread, and, when He had given thanks, said, 'This do
ye in remembrance of me, this is My body;' and that after the same
manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, 'This is My
blood;' and gave it to them alone." (Apol. i. ch. lxvi.)

He thus adverts to the dispersion of the Apostles:--

"Moreover, the prophet Zechariah foretold that this same Christ
would be smitten and His disciples scattered: which also took place.
For after His Crucifixion the disciples that accompanied Him were
dispersed." (Dial. ch. liii.)

He mentions our Lord's agony as the completion of a prophecy in Psalm xxii.:--

"For on the day on which He was to be crucified, having taken three
of His disciples to the hill called Olivet, situated opposite to the
temple at Jerusalem, He prayed in these words: 'Father, if it be
possible, lot this cup pass from Me.' And again He prayed, 'Not as I
will, but as Thou wilt.'" (Dial. xcix.)

His sweating great drops of blood (mentioned only in St. Luke), also in fulfilment of Psalm xxii.--

"For in the memoirs which I say were drawn up by His Apostles, and
those who followed them [it is recorded] that His sweat fell down
like drops of blood while He was praying, and saying, 'If it be
possible, let this cup pass.'" [34:1] (Ch. ciii.)

His being sent to Herod (mentioned only in St. Luke):--

"And when Herod succeeded Archelaus, having received the authority
which had been allotted to him, Pilate sent to him by way of
compliment Jesus bound; and God, foreknowing that this would happen,
had thus spoken, 'And they brought Him to the Assyrian a present to
the king.'" (Ch. ciii.)

His silence before Pilate, also quoted by Justin, in fulfilment of Psalm xxii.:--

"And the statement, 'My strength is become dry like a potsherd, and
my tongue has cleaved to my throat,' was also a prophecy of what
would be done by Him according to the Father's will. For the power
of His strong word, by which He always confuted the Pharisees and
Scribes, and, in short, all your nation's teachers that questioned
Him, had a cessation like a plentiful and strong spring, the waters
of which have been turned off, when He kept silence, and chose to
return no answer to any one in the presence of Pilate; as has been
declared in the Memoirs of His Apostles." (Dial. ch. cii.)

His crucifixion:

"And again, in other words, David in the twenty-first Psalm thus
refers to the suffering and to the cross in a parable of mystery:
'They pierced my hands and my feet; they counted all my bones; they
considered and gazed upon me; they parted my garments among them,
and cast lots upon my vesture.' For when they crucified Him, driving
in the nails, they pierced His hands and feet; and those who
crucified Him parted His garments among themselves, each casting
lots for what he chose to have, and receiving according to the
decision of the lot." (Ch. xcvii.)

The mocking of Him by His enemies:--

"And the following: 'All they that see Me laughed Me to scorn; they
spake with the lips; they shook the head: He trusted in the Lord,
let Him deliver Him since He desires Him;' this likewise He foretold
should happen to Him. For they that saw Him crucified shook their
heads each one of them, and distorted their lips, and, twisting
their noses to each other, they spake in mockery the words which are
recorded in the Memoirs of His Apostles, 'He said He was the Son of
God: let Him come down; let God save Him.'" (Ch. ci.)

His saying, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (reported only in SS. Matthew and Mark):--

"For, when crucified, He spake, 'O God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me?'" (Ch. xcix.)

His saying, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit," reported only in St. Luke:--

"For, when Christ was giving up His spirit on the cross, He said,
'Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,' as I have learned also
from the Memoirs." (Ch. cv.)

His Resurrection and appearance to His Apostles gathered together (found only in SS. Luke and John), and His reminding the same Apostles that before His Death He had foretold it (found only in St. Luke):--

"And that He stood in the midst of His brethren, the Apostles (who
repented of their flight from Him when He was crucified, after He
rose from the dead, and after they were persuaded by Him that before
His Passion He had mentioned to them that He must suffer these
things, and that they were announced beforehand by the prophets)."
[37:1] (Ch. cvi.)

The Jews spreading the report that His disciples had stolen away His Body by night (recorded only by St. Matthew):--

"Yet you not only have not repented, after you learned that He rose
from the dead, but, as I said before, you have sent chosen and
ordained men throughout all the world to proclaim that a godless and
lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whom
we crucified, but His disciples stole Him by night from the tomb,
where He was laid when unfastened from the cross." (Ch. cviii.)

The Apostles seeing the Ascension, and afterwards receiving power from Him in person, and going to every race of men:--

"And when they had seen Him ascending into heaven, and had believed,
and had received power sent thence by Him upon them, and went to
every race of men, they taught these things, and were called
Apostles." (Apol. I. ch. l.)

From all this the reader will see at a glance that Justin's view of the Crucifixion and the events attending it was exactly the same as ours. He will notice that all the events related in Justin are the same as those recorded in the Evangelists Matthew and Luke; and that the circumstances related by Justin, and not to be found in the Synoptics, are of the most trifling character, as, for instance, that the blaspheming bystanders at the cross "screwed up their noses." I think this is the only additional circumstance to which the writer of "Supernatural Religion" draws attention. He will notice that Justin records some events only to be found in St. Matthew and some only in St. Luke. He will notice also how frequently Justin reproduces the narrative rather than quotes it.

The ordinary reader would account for all this by supposing that Justin had our Synoptics (at least the first and third) before him, and reproduced incidents first from one and then from the other as they suited his purpose, and his purpose was not to give an account of the Crucifixion, but to elucidate the prophecies respecting the Crucifixion.

The author of "Supernatural Religion," however, goes through those citations, or supposed citations, seriatim, and attempts to show that each one must have been taken from some lost Gospel, most probably the Gospel of the Hebrews.

Be it so. Here, then, was a Gospel which contained all the separate incidents recorded in SS. Matthew and Luke, and, of course, combined them in one narrative. How is it that so inestimably valuable a Christian document was irretrievably lost, and its place supplied by three others, each far its inferior, each picking and choosing separate parts from the original; and that, about 120 years after the original promulgation of the Gospel, these three forged narratives superseded a Gospel which would have been, in the matter of our Lord's Birth, Death, and Resurrection, a complete and perfect harmony? I leave the author of "Supernatural Religion" to explain so unlikely a fact. One explanation is, however, on our author's own showing, inadmissible, which is, that our present Synoptics were adopted because they pandered more than the superseded one to the growing taste for the supernatural, for the earlier Gospel or Gospels contained supernatural incidents which are wanting in our present Synoptics.