We have now discussed practically all the test instances advanced by Mr.
Rendel Harris, and the result at which we arrive is, that he has not
succeeded in proving that the Gospel of Peter betrays such traces of a
“highly evolved prophetic gnosis” as require us to assign to it a later
date than the canonical Gospels. If this system of elaborate and perverted
ingenuity were applied to these Gospels, as it has been to the fragment,
and every kind of false exegesis, childish reasoning, and wild
interpretation, such as was current amongst the Fathers, brought forward
to explain the construction of the four canonical works, the consequence
would be terribly surprising to pious readers. That this exegesis began
early is quite undeniable, and it is not too much to say that it is
palpably visible on the very surface of most of the books of the New
Testament. It had, as Mr. Harris must admit and does admit, practical
effect on the composition of the Gospels as they have come down to us, but
it is fully displayed in some of the Epistles of Paul, still more in those
passing under his name, is supreme in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and as
for the Acts, the Apostles are, from the very opening, made to express the
highly evolved prophetic gnosis of the author. We do not, of course, argue
that the writer of the fragment is free from it, but merely that he shares
it equally with the other Evangelists, however much their canonicity,
derived from the very Fathers who are steeped in this gnosis, may protect
them from Mr. Harris’s dangerous attack. Without going into an explanation
of the genesis of various important points in the story, which would
require a volume, we may just glance at some of the points at which the
Evangelists frankly declare the source of the gnosis, and allow the
process to be seen.
Let us take for instance the first Synoptic. The events previous to the
birth of Jesus (i. 18 if.) take place “that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call his
name Immanuel,” and it is only an illustration of the _naïveté_ of the
period that two verses further on they call the son, not Immanuel, but
Jesus. The chief priests and scribes inform Herod (ii. 5 f.) that the
Christ should be born in Bethlehem of Judaea, because it was written by
the prophet: “And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, Art in no wise least
among the princes of Judah: For out of thee shall come forth a governor,
Which shall be shepherd of my people Israel.” Joseph takes the young child
and his mother into Egypt (ii. 15 f.), “that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt did I
call my son.” Herod slays all the male children in Bethlehem and in all
the borders thereof (ii. 16 f.) and “then was fulfilled that which was
spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children,” &c. On
returning from Egypt they settle in Galilee, in a city called Nazareth
(ii. 23), “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets,
that he should be called a Nazarene.” John the Baptist comes preaching “in
the wilderness” (iii. 1 f.), “for this is he that was spoken of by Isaiah
the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” &c. The
temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is based upon three texts: (iv. 1
ff.) “Man shall not live by bread alone,” &c.; “He shall give his angels
charge concerning thee,” &c., and “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,”
&c. When John is delivered up (iv. 12 ff.) Jesus leaves Nazareth and
dwells “in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and
Naphtali: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the
sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in
darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death, to them did light spring up.” In the episode of John in prison
sending his disciples to Jesus (xi. 2 ff.), the whole reply is based
indirectly on prophetic gnosis, and the _v._ 10 directly: “This is he, of
whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, Who shall
prepare thy way before thee,” and _v._ 14, “And if ye are willing to
receive it, this is Elijah, which is to come.” When the Pharisees take
counsel to destroy him (xii. 14 f.), and Jesus withdraws, healing the sick
and enjoining them that they should not make him known, it is “that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold
my servant,” &c. There is an exhibition of “highly evolved prophetic
gnosis” (xii. 39 ff.) when a sign is asked for, and the sign of Jonah the
prophet is given, “for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the
belly of the whale, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth,” a gnosis which helped to shape the
representation of the entombment. The speaking in parables is justified,
not originated (xiii. 14 f.), as a fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah,
“By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand,” &c, and (_v._
35) “I will open my mouth in parables,” &c. Of course, as Mr. Harris says,
“no sane person would take St. Matthew’s quotation as the cause of the
Sermon on the Mount, or the parabolic discourse;”(138) but, as he admits,
the prophetic passages were in the author’s mind, and are amongst “the
first faint shadows cast by the prophecy [?] upon the history,” and they
certainly led to the representation that those who heard the parabolic
teaching, and notably the disciples, did not understand the most luminous
discourses, and required a private explanation of the clearest allegories.
The entry into Jerusalem (xxi. 2 f.) is arranged “that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of
Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and riding upon an ass, and
upon a colt the foal of an ass;” and the writer, not appreciating the
duplication of Hebrew poetry, is literal enough to relate (_v._ 2) that
Jesus tells the disciples they shall find “an ass tied, and a colt with
her,” which they are to bring, and (_v._ 7) “they brought the ass and the
colt, and put on them their garments; _and he sat upon them_” (ἐπάνω
αὐτῶν): a representation which has ever since given much trouble to pious
commentators. It is not difficult to see that the “cleansing of the
temple” (xxi. 12 f.) takes place because “it is written, My house shall be
called a house of prayer, but ye make it a den of robbers.” The trials
when “the abomination of desolation (xxiv. 16 f.), which was spoken of by
Daniel the prophet,” is seen “standing in the holy place (_let him that
readeth understand_),” is an example of the prophetic gnosis. The
preparation for the passion commences (xxvi. 2), “Ye know that after two
days the passover cometh, and the Son of man is delivered up to be
crucified.” Jesus is represented (_v._ 31) as saying to the disciples:
“All ye shall be offended in me this night: for it is written, I will
smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad;”
and the curious phrase which follows is worth consideration: “But after I
am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee,” which seems to have
slipped in here out of its place. The events which take place at the
arrest, and their coming out with swords and staves as against a robber to
take him (xxvi. 66), “All this is come to pass that the Scriptures of the
prophets might be fulfilled;” and Jesus could not pray for legions of
angels to help him, for (_v._ 66), “How then could the Scriptures be
fulfilled?” The conduct of Judas after he had betrayed his master, when he
took back the pieces of silver, the price of his betrayal, to the priests
(xxvii. 3 f.), fulfils “that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet,
saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that
was priced, whom certain of the children of Israel did price; and they
gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.”