THE BIBLE
I. AUTHENTICITY
II. CREDIBILITY
III. MORALITY
By
JOHN E. REMSBURG
"Somebody ought to tell the truth about the Bible."
--Ingersoll.
New York
THE TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY
62 Vesey Street
1907
In memory of
my
mother,
Sarah A. Bruner.
PREFACE.
In January, 1901, the following announcement appeared in The Truth
Seeker, of New York:
To the Readers of The Truth Seeker: Two years ago that able
and sagacious Liberal leader, L. K. Washburn, wrote: "The next
great moral revolution of the world will be a crusade against
the Christian Bible." The church expects this and is preparing
for it. In an address before the Methodist ministers of Chicago,
the Rev. Dr. Curry, a distinguished Methodist divine, said: "We are
standing on the eve of the most stupendous revolution in reference
to the doctrines of the Bible that the church has ever known." In
this long war with bibliolaters the younger readers of The Truth
Seeker will take a prominent part. To call their attention to the
impending struggle, and to aid in a small way in fitting them for
it, the editor of The Truth Seeker has invited me to open a sort
of Bible school in his paper. For nearly a quarter of a century I
have been writing and lecturing and debating against the divinity
of the Bible. My opposition from the trained defenders of the
book has been at times both keen and bitter. I was compelled to
become and remain a diligent student of the Bible and of Biblical
criticism. As far as possible I collected all of the damaging facts
obtainable. I digested and classified them and filed them away
in the labeled pigeon-holes of my brain for use when needed. I am
growing old. My hair which was black when I began my work will soon
be white. I have at the most but a few more years to labor. This
arsenal of facts which I have gathered and the arguments that
I have formulated from them I wish to place within the reach of
others. Whether the thought be a Spiritualistic assurance or an
Irish bull, it will be a pleasure to me when I am dead to know
that I am still of some service to the cause.
In the next issue of The Truth Seeker I shall begin a series
of some thirty lessons or chapters on "The Bible." The chief
purpose of the work will be to combat the dogmas of the divine
origin and infallibility of the Christian Bible. The points of
attack will be three: 1. Its Authenticity; 2. Its Credibility;
3. Its Morality. I shall endeavor to disprove in a large degree
the authenticity of its books, the credibility of its statements,
and the morality of its teachings.
John E. Remsburg.
These chapters were published in weekly installments in The Truth
Seeker, their publication extending through a period of twenty
months. The matter was electrotyped as published and the work will now
be given to the public in book form. To those interested in Biblical
criticism, and especially to the Freethought propagandist and to the
Christian investigator, it is hoped that its contents may be useful.
The facts presented in this volume, while known to many Christian
scholars, are, as far as possible, kept from the lower orders of the
clergy and from the laity. Divines enjoying high honors and large
salaries may be cognizant of them without endangering their faith;
but the humbler ministers who receive small pay, and the laity who
support the church, are liable to have their faith impaired by a
knowledge of them.
In Part II., devoted to the Credibility of the Bible, less space is
given to the errors of the New Testament than to those of the Old
Testament. This is not because the New contains less errors than
the Old, but because the author has prepared another volume on this
subject. In "The Christ," a sequel to "The Bible," a more exhaustive
exposition of the errors of the New Testament, particularly of the
Four Gospels, is given.
While denying the infallibility of the writers of the Bible the author
is not unconscious of his own fallibility.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
AUTHENTICITY.
Chapter I.
Sacred Books of the World, 5
Chapter II.
The Christian Bible, 12
Chapter III.
Formation of the Canon, 21
Chapter IV.
Different Versions of the Bible, 39
Chapter V.
Authorship and Dates, 45
Chapter VI.
The Pentateuch, 50
Chapter VII.
The Prophets, 76
Chapter VIII.
The Hagiographa, 94
Chapter IX.
The Four Gospels, 108
Chapter X.
Acts, Catholic Epistles, and Revelation, 140
Chapter XI.
Pauline Epistles, 152
PART II.
CREDIBILITY.
Chapter XII.
Textual Errors, 163
Chapter XIII.
Two Cosmogonies of Genesis, 181
Chapter XIV.
The Patriarchal Age, 188
Chapter XV.
The Jewish Kings, 198
Chapter XVI.
When Did Jehoshaphat Die? 210
Chapter XVII.
Inspired Numbers, 231
Chapter XVIII.
Harmony of the Gospels, 238
Chapter XIX.
Paul and the Apostles, 247
Chapter XX.
The Bible and History, 260
Chapter XXI.
The Bible and Science, 271
Chapter XXII.
Prophecies, 293
Chapter XXIII.
Miracles, 306
Chapter XXIV.
The Bible God, 317
PART III.
MORALITY.
Chapter XXV.
The Bible Not a Moral Guide, 329
Chapter XXVI.
Lying--Cheating--Stealing, 339
Chapter XXVII.
Murder--War, 351
Chapter XXVIII.
Human Sacrifices--Cannibalism--Witchcraft 361
Chapter XXIX.
Slavery--Polygamy, 374
Chapter XXX.
Adultery--Obscenity 388
Chapter XXXI.
Intemperance--Vagrancy--Ignorance, 394
Chapter XXXII.
Injustice to Women--Unkindness to Children--Cruelty to Animals,
404
Chapter XXXIII.
Tyranny--Intolerance, 415
Chapter XXXIV.
Conclusion, 423
APPENDIX.
Arguments Against the Divine Origin and in Support of the Human Origin
of the Bible, 433
Index, 463
THE BIBLE.
PART I.--AUTHENTICITY.
CHAPTER I.
SACRED BOOKS OF THE WORLD.
Asia has been the fruitful source of religions and Bibles. The seven
great religions of the world, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Confucianism,
Zoroastrianism, Mohammedanism, Judaism, and Christianity--all had
their birth in Asia; and the so-called sacred books which are used to
uphold and propagate these faiths were nearly all written by Asiatic
priests and prophets. A brief description of the most important of
these books will be presented in this chapter.
Sacred Books of India.
Vedas.--The Vedas are the oldest Bibles in the world. There are
four of them, the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, and the
Atharvaveda. Devout Hindoos believe that these books have always
existed--that they are co-eternal with God. Scholars agree that they
are very old, that the Rigveda, the oldest of the four, and one of
the oldest books extant, was composed between 3,000 and 4,000 years
ago. Each Veda is complete in itself, and consists of religious
teachings, prayers, and hymns.
Puranas.--The Vedas and Puranas are the most important of the
sacred books of the Hindoos. The Puranas, more than any other works,
have contributed to mould the doctrines of the popular Brahmanical
religion of India. They are eighteen in number, of which the Bhagavata,
containing a history of Chrisna, is the one best known.
Tripitaka.--This is the Buddhist Bible. It was compiled 300 years
before the Christian era. Self conquest and universal charity are
its fundamental teachings.
Upanishads.--These are sacred books which treat of the Creation, of
the Supreme Being or Spirit, Brahma, and of the nature of the human
soul and its relation to Brahma.
Tantras.--The Tantras are sacred books relating chiefly to the
God Siva.
Ramayana.--The Ramayana is one of the great epic poems of the world. It
gives the history of Rama, one of the incarnations of the God Vishnu.
Mahabharata.--This is another epic poem, a larger one, containing
more than 100,000 verses. Like the Ramayana, it is believed to be of
divine origin. It has been described as "the great manual of all that
is moral, useful, and agreeable."
Institutes of Menu.--Menu is regarded as the law-giver of the Hindoos,
as Moses is of the Jews. The Institutes of Menu are in many respects
similar to the so-called laws of Moses.
Sacred Books of China.
Yih King.--This book contains a cosmological treatise and a compendium
on morals. It was written 1143 B.C.
Shu King.--This contains the teachings and maxims of certain ancient
Chinese kings. There are documents in it over 4,000 years old.
Shi King.--This is the Chinese hymn book. It contains three hundred
sacred songs and poems, some of which are very old.
Le King.--The Le King is a text book on manners, customs, and
ceremonies. It has been one of the chief agents in moulding the social
and religious life of China.
Chun Tsien.--The Chun Tsien is a historical work compiled by
Confucius. It gives a record of his own times and those immediately
preceding him.
The above books, called the Five Kings, are the canonical books of
Confucianism, the religion of the educated classes of China. With
the exceptions noted, they were mostly written or compiled about
500 B.C. They are considered sacred by the Chinese, but not, like
other sacred books, a revelation from God. Confucius recognized no
God. His religion is preeminently the religion of this world, and
is thus summed up by him: "The observance of the three fundamental
laws of relation between sovereign and subject, father and child,
husband and wife, and the five capital virtues--universal charity,
impartial justice, conformity to ceremonies and established usages,
rectitude of heart and mind, and pure sincerity."
Sacred Books of Persia.
Zend Avesta.--This is one of the most important of all the Bibles of
the world, although the religion which it teaches numbers but a few
adherents. It was written by Zoroaster and his disciples about 3,000
years ago. It was an enormous work in size, covering, it is said,
12,000 parchments. The Zend Avesta proper consisted of twenty-one
books. All of these, save one and some fragments of the others,
have perished. They dealt chiefly with religion, but touched upon
almost every subject of interest to mankind. They were believed to
be a faithful record of the words spoken to the great prophet by God
himself. Both Jews and Christians borrowed much from the Zend Avesta.
Sadder.--The Sadder is the Bible of the modern Parsees, and contains,
in an abridged form, the religious teachings of Zoroaster.
Sacred Books of Islam.
Koran.--The Mohammedans believe that divine revelations were given
to Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and Mohammed,
and that each successive revelation in a measure superseded the
preceding one. The books given to Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Abraham
have been lost. The Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Four Gospels
are accepted by them, but the interpolations and corruptions of Jews
and Christians, they claim, have greatly impaired their value. The
Koran is with them the book of books--God's last and best revelation
to man. It was written in rays of light on a tablet before the throne
of God. A copy bound in white silk and bedecked with gems was carried
by Gabriel to the lowest heaven, where from time to time, during a
period of twenty years, portions of it were transmitted to Mohammed
until the whole was given to the world. The book is divided into
114 chapters. It is elegant in style, and, like most other Bibles,
contains, along with a great deal that is fabulous and puerile,
some admirable moral teachings.
Sunna.--The Sunna is a large work containing many thousand legends
of Mohammed. It is a sacred book, but of less authority than the Koran.
Sacred Books of the Jews.
Torah.--The Book of the Law, now commonly called the Pentateuch,
is the most sacred of all Jewish books. Jews as well as Christians
believe that it was written by Moses and dictated by God. It was not
divided into five books as we have it. In the oldest Hebrew manuscripts
the entire work forms but one book. It was subsequently divided into
parshiyoth, or chapters, and these into sedarim, or sections.
Nebiim.--The Law and the Prophets were the chief authorities of the
Jews. The books of the Prophets, called Nebiim, were believed by
the orthodox Jews to be divinely inspired, but were esteemed of less
importance than the Torah.
Cethubim.--This collection of writings comprised the hymns, poems,
and other books now known as the Hagiographa.
Talmud.--The Talmud, while not regarded as a divine revelation, like
the Law and the Prophets, is in some respects the most important of
Jewish works. It is almost a library in itself, and constitutes a vast
storehouse of information pertaining to Jewish history and theology.
Sacred Book of Christians.
Holy Bible.--The Christian Bible consists of two collections of small
books, one called the Old Testament, the other the New Testament. The
Old Testament comprises the Torah, Nebiim, and Cethubim of the Jews. It
is divided into 39 books (including the Apocryphal books accepted by
the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, about 50). The New Testament
is a collection of 27 early Christian writings, which originally
appeared in the various churches of Asia, Africa and Europe.
The Bible is but one of many books for which divinity is
claimed. Christians deny the divinity of the other books, however,
and affirm that they are of human origin--that their book is God's
only revelation to mankind. The orthodox claim respecting its divinity
is expressed in the following words:
"Behind the human authors stood the divine Spirit, controlling,
guiding, and suggesting every part of their different messages"
(Birks).
CHAPTER II.
THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE.
The title Bible, from Ta Biblia, meaning The Book, or more properly
The Books, was given to the sacred book of Christians, it is claimed,
by Chrysostom in the fifth century.
For a period of one hundred and fifty years the sacred books of the
Jews alone constituted the Christian Bible. They consisted of the
following three collections of books which form the
Old Testament.
The Law.
Genesis,
Exodus,
Leviticus,
Numbers,
Deuteronomy.
The Prophets.
Joshua,
Judges,
1 Samuel,
2 Samuel,
1 Kings,
2 Kings,
Isaiah,
Jeremiah,
Ezekiel,
Hosea,
Joel,
Amos,
Obadiah,
Jonah,
Micah,
Nahum,
Habakkuk,
Zephaniah,
Haggai,
Zechariah,
Malachi.
Hagiographa.
Psalms,
Proverbs,
Job,
Song of Solomon,
Ruth,
Lamentations,
Ecclesiastes,
Esther,
Daniel,
Ezra,
Nehemiah,
1 Chronicles,
2 Chronicles.
To the above thirty-nine books of the Old Testament were subsequently
added the following twenty-seven books of the
New Testament.
Matthew,
Mark,
Luke,
John,
Acts,
Romans,
1 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians,
Galatians,
Ephesians,
Philippians,
Colossians,
1 Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians,
1 Timothy,
2 Timothy,
Titus,
Philemon,
Hebrews,
James,
1 Peter,
2 Peter,
1 John,
2 John,
3 John,
Jude,
Revelation.
The books of the Old Testament were called The Scripture, or
Scriptures, by early Christians. After the books of the New Testament
were recognized as canonical and inspired, the terms Old and New
Testaments were employed to distinguish the two divisions. Tertullian,
at the beginning of the third century, was the first to use the term
New Testament.
The proper arrangement of the books of the Old Testament is in
the order named in the foregoing list. Both Jews and Christians,
however, have varied the order. The books of the Hagiographa, with the
exceptions of Ruth which follows Judges, Lamentations which follows
Jeremiah, and Daniel which appears among the Prophets, have been placed
between the Earlier and Later Prophets. In later Jewish versions
the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther,
called the five rolls, come immediately after the Pentateuch. In the
Christian Bibles of the Eastern churches, including the two most noted
ancient manuscripts, the Vatican and Alexandrian, the seven Catholic
Epistles, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude,
follow Acts and precede the Pauline Epistles.
In the accepted Hebrew the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament
formed but twenty-two, corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the
Hebrew alphabet. Judges and Ruth formed one book, First and Second
Samuel one, First and Second Kings one, First and Second Chronicles
one, Ezra and Nehemiah one, Jeremiah and Lamentations one, and the
twelve Minor Prophets one.
The books of the Pentateuch (Pente, five; teuchos, volume) now bear
the Greek names given them by the Septuagint translators, with the
exception of the fourth, Arithmoi, which is called by the English name,
Numbers. The Hebrew names for these, as well as many other books of the
Old Testament, are the initial words of the books. The name of Genesis,
as translated, is "In the Beginning;" Exodus, "These Are the Words;"
Leviticus, "And He Called;" Numbers, "And He Spake;" Deuteronomy,
"These Are the Words." Joshua originally belonged to this collection,
and to the six books modern scholars have given the name Hexateuch.
About one-half of the books of the Bible, Joshua, Isaiah, Matthew,
etc., are named after their alleged authors. A few, like Ruth and
Esther, take their names from the leading characters of the books. The
Pauline Epistles bear the names of the churches, people, or persons
to whom they are addressed. The titles of Judges, Kings, Chronicles,
Psalms, Proverbs, and a few others, indicate the subjects of the books.
The division of the books of the Bible into chapters was made in
the thirteenth century; the division into verses, in the sixteenth
century. These divisions are to a great extent mechanical rather
than logical. Paragraphs are frequently divided in the formation of
chapters, and sentences in the formation of verses.
Canonical and Apocryphal Books of the Old and New Testaments.
In addition to the canonical books of the Bible, there are many Jewish
and Christian books known as the Apocryphal books of the Old and New
Testaments. A critical review of the Bible demands a consideration of
the apocryphal as well as the canonical books, and the subject will
be made more intelligible to the reader by giving a list of both. In
making a classification of them they will be divided into ten groups,
as follows:
1.
Books accepted as canonical and divine by all Jews and Christians.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
2.
Books accepted as canonical and divine by a part of the Jews and by
all Christians.
Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
3.
Books accepted by a part of the Jews as canonical, but not divine;
by most Christians as canonical and divine.
Ruth, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel.
4.
Books accepted as canonical by some Jews, and for most part by the
Greek and Roman Catholic churches, but rejected by the Protestants.
Baruch, Tobit, Judith, Book of Wisdom, Song of the Three Children,
History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh,
Ecclesiasticus, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3
Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 5 Maccabees.
5.
Lost books cited by writers of the Bible.
Book of the Wars of the Lord, Book of Jasher, Book of the Covenant,
Book of Nathan, Book of Gad, Book of Samuel, Prophecy of Ahijah,
Visions of Iddo, Acts of Uzziah, Acts of Solomon, Three Thousand
Proverbs of Solomon, A Thousand and Five Songs of Solomon, Chronicles
of the Kings of Judah, Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, Book of Jehu,
Book of Enoch.
6.
Books which formed the original canon of the New Testament and which
have always been accepted by Christians.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 1 John.
7.
Books which are now generally accepted by Christians, but which were
for a time rejected.
Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation.
8.
Books now excluded from the canon, but which are found in some of
the older manuscripts of the New Testament.
Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, 1 Clement, 2 Clement, Paul's
Epistle to Laodiceans, Apostolic Constitutions.
9.
Other Apocryphal books of the New Testament which are extant.
Gospel of the Infancy, Protevangelion of James, Acts of Pilate,
Nativity of Mary, Fifteen Epistles of Ignatius, Epistle of Polycarp,
Gospel of Marcion (in part), Clementine Recognitions, Clementine
Homilies.
10.
Apocryphal books of the New Testament which are lost.
Oracles of Christ, Gospel According to the Hebrews, Gospel According
to the Egyptians, Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Paul, Gospel of Philip,
Gospel of Matthias, Gospel of Andrew, Gospel of Perfection, Gospel of
Tatian, Gospel of Basilides, Gospel of Apelles, Gospel of Cerinthus,
Gospel of Bartholomew, Acts of Paul, Acts of Peter, Revelation of Paul,
Revelation of Peter, Preaching of Peter, Memoirs of the Apostles.
Here is a list of one hundred and fifty books. In the apocryphal
groups have been included only the most important of this class. To
these might be added at least one hundred other apocryphal books of
the Old and New Testaments. Of these two hundred and fifty Jewish and
Christian writings, sixty-six--about one-fourth--have been declared
canonical and divine by Protestants.
In the mind of the devout Protestant there is as great a difference
between the canonical and apocryphal books of the Old and New
Testaments as there is between light and darkness. The former he
regards as the work of a wise and good God, the latter, with a
few exceptions, as the work of ignorant and wicked men. And yet
there is no such difference. The two classes are of much the same
character. The worst canonical books are, perhaps, better than the
worst apocryphal books; while, on the other hand, the best apocryphal
books, if not equal to the best canonical books, are far superior to
a majority of them. Circumstances rather than merit determined the
fate of these books. Books of real merit and of high authority in some
of the early churches were cast aside because these churches either
ceased to exist or changed their creeds; while books of little merit
survived as authorities because their teachings supported the doctrines
which survived. The religion of the primitive churches underwent many
radical changes. The Christianity of the second century was not the
Christianity of the first. Books teaching the new theology superseded
those which taught the old; and thus the earlier writings became
obsolete. Of all the Christian books written prior to the middle of the
second century only a few epistles have been retained as authorities.
CHAPTER III.
FORMATION OF THE CANON.
Second in interest and importance only to the origin of the individual
books composing the Bible are the facts relating to the manner in
which these books were collected into one great volume and declared
canonical or authoritative. The formation of the canon required
centuries of time to complete.
The Jewish Canon.
The Jewish canon, it is claimed, was chiefly the work of Ezra,
completed by Nehemiah. "All antiquity," says Dr. Adam Clarke, "is
nearly unanimous in giving Ezra the honor of collecting the different
writings of Moses and the prophets and reducing them into the form
in which they are now found in the Bible."
This opinion, shared alike by Jews and Christians, is simply a
tradition. There is no conclusive evidence that Ezra founded the canon
of the Old Testament. Nehemiah could not have completed it, because
a part of the books were written after his time. There is no proof
that all the books of the Old Testament existed in a collected form
before the beginning of the Christian era. There is no proof that even
the Law and the Prophets existed in such a form before the Maccabean
period. The Rev. Frederick Myers, an able authority on the Bible,
makes this candid admission: "By whom the books of the Old Testament
were collected into one volume, and by what authority made canonical,
we do not know" ("Catholic Thoughts on the Bible," p. 56).
Another prevalent belief is that all of the Jewish scriptures were
lost during the captivity, and that Ezra was divinely inspired to
rewrite them. Irenæus says: "God ... inspired Esdras, the priest of
the tribe of Levi, to compose anew all the discourses of the ancient
prophets, and to restore to the people the laws given them by Moses"
("Ecclesiastical History," Book V., chap. viii).
This is a myth. The books of the Old Testament which were written
before the captivity were not lost. Many books, it is true, were
written after the captivity, but these books were not reproductions
of lost writings. They were original compositions, or compilations
of documents which had not been lost.
If Ezra was inspired, as claimed, to rewrite the Hebrew scriptures,
he did not complete his task, for the books that were really lost have
never been restored, and the Old Testament is but a part of the Hebrew
scriptures that once existed. St. Chrysostom says: "The Jews having
been at some time careless, and at others profane, they suffered some
of the sacred books to be lost through their carelessness, and have
burnt and destroyed others." The list of books given in the preceding
chapter, under the head of "Lost Books cited by writers of the Bible,"
would nearly all be deemed canonical were they extant. Referring to
these books, the Rev. Dr. Campbell, in his "Introduction to Matthew,"
says: "The Book of the Wars of the Lord, the Book of Jasher, the
Book of Nathan the Prophet, the Book of Gad the Seer, and several
others, are referred to in the Old Testament, manifestly as of
equal authority with the book which refers to them, and as fuller in
point of information. Yet these are to all appearances irrecoverably
lost." God's revelation in its entirety, then, no longer exists.
The ten Hebrew tribes which formed the kingdom of Israel, and whose
remnants were afterwards called Samaritans, accepted only the first
six books of the Old Testament. The other Jews generally accepted the
Pentateuch and the Prophets, and, in a less degree, the Hagiographa
as canonical. Some of them also attached more or less importance to
the Apocryphal books.
The Christian Canon.
Respecting the formation of the New Testament canon, the
Rev. Dr. Roswell D. Hitchcock says:
"The new book of records was, like the old, set down by eye-witnesses
of and actors in its scenes, closely after their occurrence;
its successive portions were cautiously scrutinized and clearly
distinguished as entitled to reception; when the record, properly
so-called, was completed, the new canon was closed" ("Analysis of
the Bible," p. 1149).
"This process was rapid and decisive; it had in all probability
become substantially complete before the death of John, the last of
the apostles" (Ibid, p. 1158).
That these statements, popularly supposed to be true, are wholly untrue
will be demonstrated by the facts presented in this and succeeding
chapters. The Christian canon was not completed before the death of
the last apostle. The New Testament did not exist in the time of the
apostles. It did not exist in the time of the Apostolic Fathers. It
was not in existence in the middle of the second century.
There was no New Testament in the time of Papias. Dr. Samuel Davidson,
the highest Christian authority on the canon, says: "Papias (150
A.D.) knew nothing, so far as we can learn, of a New Testament canon"
("Canon of the Bible," p. 123).
Justin Martyr knew nothing of a New Testament canon. I quote again
from Dr. Davidson: "Justin Martyr's canon (150 A.D.), so far as
divine authority and inspiration are concerned, was the Old Testament"
(Ibid, p. 129).
For nearly two centuries after the beginning of the Christian era,
the Old Testament--the Old Testament alone--constituted the Christian
canon. No other books were called scripture; no other books were
considered inspired; no other books were deemed canonical.
Founding of the Canon.
To Irenæus, more than to any other man, belongs the credit of founding
the Roman Catholic church; and to him also belongs the credit of
founding the New Testament canon, which is a Roman Catholic work. No
collection of books corresponding to our New Testament existed before
the time of Irenæus. He was the first to make such a collection,
and he was the first to claim inspiration and divine authority for
its books. Dr. Davidson says:
"The conception of canonicity and inspiration attaching to New
Testament books did not exist till the time of Irenæus" ("Canon,"
p. 163).
At the close of the second century the Christian world was divided
into a hundred different sects. Irenæus and others conceived the plan
of uniting these sects, or the more orthodox of them, into one great
Catholic church, with Rome at the head; for Rome was at this time the
largest and most influential of all the Christian churches. "It is a
matter of necessity," says Irenæus, "that every church should agree
with this church on account of its preeminent authority" ("Heresies,"
Book 3).
In connection with this work Irenæus made a collection of books for
use in the church. His collection comprised the following: Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians,
Second Thessalonians, First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon,
First John, and Revelation--twenty books in all.
In the work of establishing the Roman Catholic church and the New
Testament canon Irenæus was succeeded, early in the third century, by
Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. They adopted the list of books
made by him. The books adopted by these Fathers were selected from a
large number of Christian writings then extant--forty or more gospels,
nearly as many Acts of Apostles, a score of Revelations, and a hundred
epistles. Each church had one or more books which were used in that
church. No divine authority, however, was ascribed to any of them.
Why did the Fathers choose these particular books? Above all,
why did they choose four gospels instead of one? We never see four
biographies of Washington, of Cromwell, or of Napoleon, bound in
one volume; yet here we have four different biographies of Jesus in
one book. Irenæus says it is because "there are four quarters of
the earth in which we live, and four universal winds." Instead of
this artificial reason he could have given a natural, a rational,
and a truthful reason. While primitive Christians, as we have seen,
were divided into many sects, the principal sects may be grouped into
three divisions: 1. The Petrine churches, comprising the church of
Rome and other churches which recognized Peter as the chief of the
apostles and the visible head of the church on earth; 2. The Pauline
sects, which accepted Paul as the true exponent of Christianity;
3. The Johannine or Eastern churches, which regarded John as their
founder. A collection of books to be acceptable to all of these
churches must contain the favorite books of each. The First Gospel,
written about the time this church union movement was inaugurated,
was adopted by the Petrine churches. The Second Gospel was also
highly valued by the church of Rome. The Third Gospel, a revised and
enlarged edition of the Pauline Gospel of Marcion, had become the
standard authority of Pauline Christians. The Fourth Gospel, which
had superseded other and older gospels, was generally read in the
Johannine churches. The Acts of the Apostles, written for the purpose
of healing the dissensions that had arisen between the followers of
Peter and Paul, was acceptable to both Petrines and Paulines. The
Epistles of Paul were of course received by the Pauline churches,
while the First Epistle of John was generally received by the Eastern
churches. The collection would not be complete without a Revelation,
and the Revelation of John was selected.
The work instituted by Irenæus was successful. The three divisions of
Christendom were united, and the Catholic church was established. But
this cementing, although it held for centuries, did not last, as was
hoped, for all time. The seams gave way, the divisions separated,
and to-day stand out as distinctly as they did in the second century;
the Roman Catholic church representing the Petrine, the Greek church
the Johannine, and the Protestant churches to a great extent the
Pauline Christians of that early age. But while the church separated,
each retained all of the sixty-six canonical books, save Revelation,
which for a time was rejected by the Greek church.
The New Testament originally contained but twenty books. To First
Peter, Second John, and the Shepherd of Hermas Irenæus attached some
importance, but did not place them in his canon. Hebrews, James,
Second Peter, Third John, and Jude he ignored. Tertullian placed in an
appendix Hebrews, First Peter, Second John, Jude, and the Shepherd of
Hermas. Clement of Alexandria classed as having inferior authority,
Hebrews, Second John, Jude, First and Second Epistles of Clement
(of Rome), Epistle of Barnabas, Shepherd of Hermas, and Revelation
of Peter.
Regarding the competency of the founders of the New Testament canon,
Davidson says:
"Of the three fathers who contributed most to its early growth, Irenæus
was credulous and blundering, Tertullian passionate and one-sided,
and Clement of Alexandria, imbued with the treasures of Greek wisdom,
was mainly occupied with ecclesiastical ethics" (Canon, p. 155).
"The three Fathers of whom we are speaking had neither the ability nor
the inclination to examine the genesis of documents surrounded with
an apostolic halo. No analysis of their authenticity was seriously
contemplated" (Ibid, p. 156).
Completion of the Canon.
The Christian canon, including the New Testament canon, assumed
something like its present form under the labors of Augustine and
Jerome toward the close of the fourth century. St. Augustine's canon
contained all of the books now contained in the Old and New Testaments,
excepting Lamentations, which was excluded. It contained, in addition
to these, the apocryphal pieces belonging to Daniel, and the books of
Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and First and Second Maccabees.
St. Jerome's canon contained Lamentations, which Augustine's canon
excluded, and omitted Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and First
and Second Maccabees, which Augustine's included. Roman Catholics
accept the canon of Augustine, including Lamentations; Protestants,
generally, accept the canon of Jerome.
While Jerome included in his canon all the books of the New Testament,
he admitted that Philemon, Hebrews, Second Peter, Second and Third
John, Jude, and Revelation were of doubtful authority.
Referring to the work of Augustine and Jerome, Davidson, says:
"Both were unfitted for the critical examination of such a topic"
(Canon, p. 200).
Christian Councils.
Many believe that the Council of Nice, held in 325 A.D., determined
what books should constitute the Bible. This council did not determine
the canon. So far as is known, the first church council which acted
upon this question was the Synod of Laodicea which met in 365. This
council rejected the Apocryphal books contained in Augustine's
list, but admitted Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. It excluded
Revelation.
Various councils, following this, adopted canonical lists. One council
would admit certain books and the next council would reject them. The
third council of Carthage in 397 adopted the list of Augustine which
admitted the Apocryphal books and Revelation and rejected Lamentations.
The actions of none of these councils were unanimous or decisive. The
list of books adopted was adopted simply by a majority vote. A
large minority of every council refused to accept the list of the
majority. Some advocated the admission of books that were rejected;
others opposed the admission of books that were accepted. As late as
the seventh century (629), at the sixth Council of Constantinople,
many different canonical lists were presented for ratification.
The damaging facts that I have adduced concerning the formation of
the Christian canon are admitted in a large degree by one of the
most orthodox of authorities, McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopedia of
Biblical and Ecclesiastical Literature." Dr. McClintock says:
"The New Testament canon presents a remarkable analogy to the canon of
the Old Testament. The beginnings of both are obscure.... The history
of the canon may be divided into three periods. The first, extending
to 170, includes the era of circulation and gradual collection of
the apostolic writings. The second is closed in 303, separating the
sacred from other ecclesiastical writings. The third may be defined
by the third Council of Carthage, 397 A.D., in which a catalogue
of the books of the Scriptures was formally ratified by conciliar
authority. The first is characteristically a period of tradition, the
second of speculation, and the third of authority, and we may trace the
features of the successive ages in the course of the history of the
canon. But however all this may have been, the complete canon of the
New Testament, as we now have it, was ratified by the third Council
of Carthage, 397 A.D., from which time it was generally accepted by
the Latin church, some of the books remaining in doubt and disputed."
Concerning the work of these councils, William Penn writes as follows:
"I say how do they know that these men discerned true from
spurious? Now, sure it is, that some of the Scriptures taken in by
one council were rejected by another for apocryphal, and that which
was left out by the former for apocryphal was taken in by the latter
for canonical" (Penn's Works, Vol. I., p. 302).
In regard to the character of these councils, Dean Milman writes:
"It might have been supposed that nowhere would Christianity appear
in such commanding majesty as in a council.... History shows the
melancholy reverse. Nowhere is Christianity less attractive, and
if we look to the ordinary tone and character of the proceedings,
less authoritative, than in the councils of the church. It is in
general a fierce collision of two rival factions, neither of which
will yield, each of which is solemnly pledged against conviction"
(History of Latin Christianity, Vol. I., p. 226).
The Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Protestant canons, no two of
which are alike, were fixed by modern councils. The Council of Trent
(1545-1563) determined the Roman Catholic canon. While a majority
were in favor of the canon of Augustine they were not agreed in
regard to the character and classification of the books. There were
four parties. The first advocated two divisions of the books, one to
comprise the acknowledged books, the other the disputed books. The
second party proposed three divisions--the acknowledged books, the
disputed books of the New Testament, and the Apocryphal books of the
Old Testament. The third party desired the list of books to be named
without determining their authority. The fourth party demanded that
all the books, acknowledged, disputed, and apocryphal, be declared
canonical. This party triumphed.
At a council of the Greek church held in Jerusalem in 1672, this
church, which had always refused to accept Revelation, finally placed
it in the canon. The Greek canon contains several apocryphal books
not contained in the Roman Catholic canon.
Both divisions of the Protestant church, German and English, declared
against the authority of the Apocryphal books. The Westminster Assembly
(1647) formally adopted the list of books contained in our Authorized
Version of the Bible.
Ancient Christian Scholars.
Most Christians believe that all of the books of the Bible, and
only the books of the Bible, have been accepted as canonical by all
Christians. And yet, how far from this is the truth! In every age of
the church there have been Christians, eminent for their piety and
learning, who either rejected some of these books, or who accepted
as canonical books not contained in the Bible.
Not one of the five men who contributed most to form the canon,
Irenæus, Tertullian, Clement, Jerome, and Augustine, accepted all of
these books.
Late in the second century Melito, Bishop of Sardis, a contemporary
of Irenæus, was deputed to make a list of the books belonging to the
Old Testament. His list omitted Esther and Lamentations.
The Muratori canon, which is supposed to belong to the third century,
omitted Hebrews, James, First and Second Peter, and Third John. The
Apostolic canon omitted Revelation, and included First and Second
Clement and the Apostolic Constitutions.
Of Origen, the great Christian Father of the third century, "Chambers'
Encyclopedia" says: "Origen doubted the authority of the Epistle
to the Hebrews, of the Epistle of James, of Jude, of the Second of
Peter, and the Second and Third of John; while, at the same time, he
was disposed to recognize as canonical certain apocryphal scriptures,
such as those of Hermas and Barnabas." In addition to the apocryphal
books named, Origen also accepted as authoritative the Gospel of the
Hebrews, Gospel of the Egyptians, Acts of Paul, and Preaching of Peter.
The Rev. Jeremiah Jones, a leading authority on the canon, says:
"Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Tertullian, and the rest of
the primitive writers were wont to approve and cite books which now
all men know to be apocryphal" (Canon, p. 4).
Theodoret says that as late as the fifth century many churches used the
Gospel of Tatian instead of the canonical Gospels. Gregory the Great,
at the beginning of the seventh, and Alfric, at the close of the
tenth century, accepted as canonical Paul's Epistle to the Laodiceans.
Early in the fourth century the celebrated church historian,
Eusebius, gave a list of the acknowledged and disputed books of the
New Testament. The disputed books--books which some accepted and
others rejected--were Hebrews, James, Second and Third John, Jude,
Revelation, Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, Acts of Paul,
and Revelation of Peter.
Athanasius rejected Esther, and Epiphanius accepted the Epistle
of Jeremiah. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, and Gregory, Bishop of
Constantinople, both rejected Revelation.
Chrysostom, one of the greatest of church divines, and, who gave to
the sacred book of Christians its name, omitted ten books from his
canon--First and Second Chronicles, Esther, Job, and Lamentations,
five books in the Old Testament; and Second Peter, Second and Third
John, Jude, and Revelation, five books in the New Testament.
Protestant Scholars.
Many Protestant scholars have questioned or denied the correctness
of the Protestant canon. Calvin doubted Second and Third John
and Revelation. Erasmus doubted Hebrews, Second and Third John,
and Revelation. Zwingle and Beza rejected Revelation. Dr. Lardner
questioned the authority of Hebrews, James, Second Peter, Second
and Third John, Jude and Revelation. Evanson rejected Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and nearly half of the Epistles. Schleiermacher rejected First
Timothy. Scaliger rejected Second Peter. Davidson thinks that Esther
should be excluded from the canon. Eichorn rejected Daniel and Jonah
in the Old Testament, and Second Timothy and Titus in the New.
Dr. Whiston excluded the Song of Solomon, and accepted as canonical
more than twenty books not found in the Bible. He says: "Can anyone be
so weak as to imagine Mark, and Luke, and James, and Jude, who were
none of them more than companions of the Apostles, to be our sacred
and unerring guides, while Barnabas, Thaddeus, Clement, Timothy,
Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, who were equally companions of the
same Apostles, to be of no authority at all?" (Exact Time, p. 28).
The Rev. James Martineau, of England, says: "If we could recover
the Gospel of the Hebrews, and that of the Egyptians, it would be
difficult to give a reason why they should not form a part of the
New Testament; and an epistle by Clement, the fellow laborer of Paul,
which has as good a claim to stand there as the Epistle to the Hebrews,
or the Gospel of Luke" (Rationale of Religious Enquiry).
Archbishop Wake pronounces the writings of the Apostolic Fathers
"inspired," and says that they contain "an authoritative declaration
of the Gospel of Christ" (Apostolic Fathers).
The church of Latter Day Saints, numbering one half million adherents,
and including some able Bible scholars, believe that the modern Book
of Mormon is a part of God's Word, equal in authority and importance
to the Pentateuch or the Four Gospels.
Martin Luther.
The greatest name in the records of the Protestant church is Martin
Luther. He is generally recognized as its founder; he is considered
one of the highest authorities on the Bible; he devoted a large
portion of his life to its study; he made a translation of it for
his people, a work which is accepted as one of the classics of German
literature. With Luther the Bible superseded the church as a divine
authority. And yet this greatest of Protestants rejected no less than
six of the sixty-six books composing the Protestant Bible.
Luther rejected the book of Esther. He says: "I am such an enemy to
the book of Esther that I wish it did not exist." In his "Bondage of
the Will," he severely criticises the book.
He rejected the book of Jonah. He says: "The history of Jonah is
so monstrous as to be absolutely incredible" (Colloquia, Chap. LX.,
Sec. 10).
He rejected Hebrews: "The Epistle to the Hebrews is not by St. Paul;
nor, indeed, by any apostle" (Standing Preface to Luther's New
Testament).
He rejected the Epistle of James: "St. James' Epistle is truly an
epistle of straw" (Preface to Edition of 1524).
He rejected Jude. "The Epistle of Jude," he says, "allegeth stories
and sayings which have no place in Scripture" (Standing Preface).
He rejected Revelation. He says: "I can discover no trace that it is
established by the Holy Spirit" (Preface to Edition of 1522).
CHAPTER IV.
DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE.
The following is a brief description of the principal versions,
translations, and manuscripts of the Bible:
Versions of the Jewish Scriptures.
Hebrew.--The greater portion of the Jewish Scriptures was written in
the ancient Hebrew language, while a smaller portion was written in
the Aramaic or Chaldaic dialect of this language. The written language
of the Hebrew contained no vowels. The meaning of many words was mere
conjecture. About one thousand years ago Jewish scholars developed a
system of vowel points and made a revision of the Hebrew Scriptures
in what is known as the Masoretic text. The early Christian versions
of the Old Testament, including that of the Roman Catholic church,
are based upon the earlier or consonantal text; the Protestant
versions are based upon the later or Masoretic text. The accepted
Hebrew versions generally omitted the Apocryphal books.
Samaritan.--The Samaritan Bible, the canonical Scriptures of the
Samaritan Israelites, contained but six books--the Pentateuch and what
is styled a corrupt version of Joshua. Some scholars believe that the
Samaritan Pentateuch is the most correct version we have of this work.
Septuagint.--The Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Jewish
Scriptures, including the Apocryphal books. We are told that about
285 b. c. seventy scholars, each in a separate cell, translated all
of these books. The translations, it is stated, were exactly alike,
a proof of divine supervision. This story is a fiction. Instead of
seventy translations of fifty books, there was one translation of five
books. The Pentateuch alone was translated at this time. The Prophets,
the Hagiographa, and the Apocrypha were translated at various times
during the succeeding three hundred years. The Septuagint was the
version used by the Hellenistic Jews and by the primitive Christians.
Ancient Christian Versions.
Peshito.--The Peshito is probably the oldest version of the Christian
Bible. It is in Aramaic, and is the Bible of Syrian Christians. It
omits Second Peter, Second and Third John, Jude, and Revelation.
Egyptian.--There were two versions of the Egyptian Bible, the Thebaic,
written in the language of Upper Egypt, and the Memphitic or Coptic,
written in the language of Lower Egypt. These versions included the
Apocrypha and excluded Revelation.
Ethiopic.--This was the Bible of Ethiopian Christians. The Old
Testament contained four divisions: 1. The Law; 2. Kings; 3. Solomon;
4. The Prophets. It also contained the Book of Enoch, a book found in
no other version. The New Testament omitted Revelation and included
the Apostolic Constitutions.
Gothic.--This version was made by a Gothic bishop in the fourth
century. It omitted four of the principal books of the Old Testament,
First and Second Samuel, and First and Second Kings.
Italic.--The Italic version was one of the earliest Latin versions
of the Bible. The New Testament contained but twenty-four books. It
omitted Hebrews, James, and Second Peter.
Vulgate.--The Vulgate, one of the most important versions of the Bible,
is the Latin version made by Jerome about the beginning of the fifth
century. It is the standard version of the Roman Catholic church. It
has undergone many revisions and consequently many changes. It now
includes the Apocryphal books which Jerome did not accept as canonical.
Ancient Manuscripts.
The three most important Greek manuscripts, those which are recognized
as the highest authorities in determining the text of the Bible,
are the Sinaitic, the Vatican, and the Alexandrian.
Sinaitic.--The Sinaitic Manuscript, now preserved in St. Petersburg,
was discovered by Dr. Tischendorf at a convent near Mount Sinai. It
is believed by many to be the oldest manuscript of the New Testament
extant, dating back, it is supposed by some, to the fourth century. It
contains twenty-nine books--the twenty-seven canonical books, the
Epistle of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas.
Vatican.--This manuscript, now in the Vatican library at Rome, belongs,
it is claimed, to the fourth century. The Old Testament contains the
Apocrypha. The New Testament is a mutilated copy, containing only
the Four Gospels, Acts, and a part of the Epistles.
Alexandrian.--The Alexandrian Manuscript, now in the British Museum,
belongs, it is said, to the fifth or sixth century. The Old Testament
includes the Apocryphal books. The New Testament includes the canonical
books, and in addition to these the First and Second Epistles of
Clement.
Modern Versions.
Luther's.--The principal German version of the Bible was made by
the leader of the Protestant Reformation. On account of its superior
literary merits and its large circulation it is, next to our Authorized
Version, the most important of the Protestant versions. Luther placed
the Apocryphal books in an appendix at the end of the Old Testament,
and the books of the New Testament which he rejected in an appendix
at the end of the New.
Wicliffe's.--The translation of Wicliffe, which appeared in the latter
part of the fourteenth century, was the first English translation of
the Bible.
Tyndale's.--Tyndale commenced his English translation of the Bible
about the same time that Luther commenced his German translation. He
did not live to complete it, and a portion of the Old Testament was
translated by others.
King James.--The Authorized English Version, commonly called the
King James Bible, was published in 1611. It was made by forty-seven
English scholars, working in six companies--two at Oxford, two at
Cambridge, and two at Westminster. The basis of this version is
Tyndale's translation. The Apocryphal books, which were not accepted
as canonical by the English church, were placed in an appendix. They
are now generally omitted. The King James Bible is admittedly one
of the most incorrect versions; but dressed in the strong, quaint
English of Shakespeare's time it possesses considerable literary
merit. It has been translated into nearly every tongue, and has had
a larger circulation than all others combined.
New Version.--The new or Revised Version of the Bible is a revision
of the King James version. The revision was made by a Committee of
twenty-seven English scholars, whose work was revised by an American
committee. It was begun in 1870 and finished in 1882. In this version
the matter is divided into paragraphs instead of chapters and verses.
Douay.--The Douay Bible is an English translation of the Vulgate. It
is the standard English version of the Roman Catholic church.
The foregoing are but a few of the numerous versions of the Bible,
ancient and modern, that have appeared. Nearly every nation of Europe
has from one to a score. Luther's version is nearly 400 years old,
and yet Germany had seventeen translations, and consequently seventeen
versions, before Luther's was published. England had many versions
besides those named.
CHAPTER V.
AUTHORSHIP AND DATES.
Upon the authenticity of the books of the Bible depends in a large
measure their value as authorities. These books are filled with
strange and marvelous stories. Are these stories true or false? If
true, we should accept them; if false, reject them. From whence do
these writings come?
If you hear a startling statement on the street your disposition to
accept or reject it will depend largely upon the character of its
author. If he is a reputable person you will be disposed to accept
it; if it does not come from a reputable person, or if you are unable
to discover its author, you will be disposed to reject it. Christian
priests demand the acceptance of these books as infallible truth. What
evidence do they adduce to justify this demand? Where did they obtain
these books? When were they written? Who wrote them? What is the
reputation of their authors for intelligence and veracity? Were they
learned and astute men, or were they weak and credulous men? Were
they good men, or were they bad men? If able men wrote them, may they
not have been impostors? If good men wrote them, may they not have
been mistaken?
These priests claim to have a knowledge of the authorship of all,
or nearly all, the books of the Bible. With one or two exceptions,
they have assigned authors to all the books of the Old Testament, and
to these exceptions they have even assigned "probable" authors. They
also claim a great antiquity for them--claim that they were written
from four hundred to fifteen hundred years before the Christian
era. The books of the New Testament, they affirm, were all written
in the first century, and by those whose names they bear.
The following table gives the authorship and date of composition,
according to orthodox authorities, of the books composing the
Protestant canon. It is not claimed that every book was written in
the year assigned for its composition, but that it was written in or
prior to the year assigned.
Old Testament.
BOOK AUTHOR DATE
Genesis Moses B.C. 1451
Exodus ,, ,, ,,
Leviticus ,, ,, ,,
Numbers ,, ,, ,,
Deuteronomy ,, ,, ,,
Joshua Joshua ,, 1426
Judges Samuel ,, 1049
Ruth ,, (?) ,, ,,
1 Samuel ,, ,, ,,
2 Samuel Gad & Nathan B.C. 1016
1 Kings Jeremiah ,, 600
2 Kings ,, ,, ,,
1 Chronicles Ezra ,, 456
2 Chronicles ,, ,, ,,
Ezra ,, ,, ,,
Nehemiah Nehemiah ,, 433
Esther Mordecai (?) ,, 440
Job Job ,, 1520
Psalms David ,, 1020
Proverbs Solomon ,, 980
Ecclesiastes ,, ,, ,,
S. of Solomon ,, ,, 1016
Isaiah Isaiah ,, 700
Jeremiah Jeremiah ,, 585
Lamentations ,, ,, ,,
Ezekiel Ezekiel ,, 575
Daniel Daniel ,, 534
Hosea Hosea ,, 780
Joel Joel ,, 800
Amos Amos ,, 785
Obadiah Obadiah ,, 588
Jonah Jonah ,, 856
Micah Micah ,, 700
Nahum Nahum ,, 698
Habakkuk Habakkuk ,, 600
Zephaniah Zephaniah ,, 609
Haggai Haggai ,, 583
Zechariah Zechariah ,, 520
Malachi Malachi ,, 420
New Testament.
BOOK AUTHOR DATE
Matthew Matthew A.D. 40
Mark Mark ,, 63
Luke Luke ,, ,,
John John A.D. 97
Acts Luke ,, 63
Romans Paul ,, 57
1 Corinthians ,, ,, ,,
2 Corinthians ,, ,, ,,
Galatians ,, ,, 55
Ephesians ,, ,, 62
Philippians ,, ,, ,,
Colossians ,, ,, 61
1 Thessalonians ,, ,, 52
2 Thessalonians ,, ,, ,,
1 Timothy ,, ,, 64
2 Timothy ,, ,, 65
Titus ,, ,, ,,
Philemon ,, ,, 61
Hebrews ,, ,, 62
James James ,, ,,
1 Peter Peter ,, 64
2 Peter ,, ,, ,,
1 John John ,, 68
2 John ,, ,, ,,
3 John ,, ,, 69
Jude Jude ,, 64
Revelation John ,, 96
The names and dates given in the foregoing table are, with a few
exceptions, paraded as established facts. And yet the greater portion
of them are mere assumptions, without even the shadow of proof
upon which to base them. Many of them are self-evidently false--are
contradicted by the contents of the books themselves. The authorship
of at least fifty books of the Bible--thirty in the Old Testament
and twenty in the New--is unknown.
These books are not as old as claimed. The books of the Old Testament,
instead of having been written from 1520 to 420 B.C., were probably
written from 1000 to 100 B.C. The books of the New Testament, instead
of having all been written in the first century, were, many of them,
not written until the second century.
In regard to this subject, Prof. George T. Ladd of Yale College writes:
"The authorship and date of most of the Old Testament writings, and
of some of the New Testament, will never be known with certainty"
(What Is the Bible? p. 294).
The following six chapters will be devoted to an examination of the
question of the authenticity of the books of the Bible. I shall attempt
to show that the greater portion of these books, including the most
important ones, are not authentic--were not written by the authors
claimed, nor at the time claimed; that they are anonymous documents,
written or compiled for the most part at a later age than that in
which their reputed authors are supposed to have lived.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PENTATEUCH.
The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy--collectively called the Pentateuch--are the
most important books of the Old Testament. The three great Semitic
religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism, are all, to a
great extent, based upon them.
These books, orthodox Christians affirm, were written by Moses at least
1,450 years before the Christian era. "This sacred code," says Dr. Adam
Clarke, "Moses delivered complete to the Hebrews sometime before his
death." In modern versions of the Bible, Genesis is styled the First
Book of Moses; Exodus, the Second Book of Moses; Leviticus, the Third
Book of Moses; Numbers, the Fourth Book of Moses, and Deuteronomy,
the Fifth Book of Moses. Their very high authority rests upon the
supposed fact of their Mosaic authorship and great antiquity. To
disprove these--to show that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses,
nor at this early age, but centuries later by unknown writers--is to
largely impair, if not entirely destroy, its authority as a religious
oracle. And this is what modern criticism has done.
Arguments for Mosaic Authorship.
The following passage is the chief argument relied upon to prove the
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch:
"And it came to pass, that when Moses had made an end of writing the
words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that Moses
commanded the Levites, which bore the ark of the covenant of the
Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of
the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there
for a witness against thee" (Deut. xxxi, 24-26).
This was written for a purpose. Its sequel appears in 2 Kings. During
the reign of Josiah, Hilkiah the high priest discovered a "book of
the law" in the temple. "And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan
the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord"
(2 Kings xxii, 8).
This book was the book of Deuteronomy, written, not in the time
of Moses, but in the time of Josiah, more than eight centuries
later. Hilkiah needed the book and he "found" it. It was written by
him or for him. Holland's great critic, Dr. Kuenen, says: "There is
no room to doubt that the book was written with a view to the use
that Hilkiah made of it" (Kuenen's Hexateuch, p. 215).
Dr. Oort, another able Dutch scholar, professor of Oriental languages
at Amsterdam, says: "The book was certainly written about the time
of its discovery. It is true that it introduces Moses as uttering
the precepts and exhortations of which it consists, just before the
people enter Canaan. But this is no more than a literary fiction. The
position of affairs assumed throughout the book is that of Judah in
the time of Josiah" (Bible for Learners, vol. ii, p. 331).
In support of this unanimous conclusion of the critics, Dr. Briggs
presents the following long array of irrefutable arguments:
"The reasons for the composition of Deuteronomy in the time of Josiah
according to the later hypothesis are: (1) Expressions which indicate
a period subsequent to the Conquest (ii, 12; xix, 14); (2) the law
of the king, which implies the reign of Solomon (xvii, 14-20); (3)
the one supreme judicatory of the time of Jehoshaphat (xvii, 8); (4)
the one central altar of the times of Hezekiah (xii, 5 seq.); (5) the
return to Egypt in ships not conceivable before the time of Manasseh
(xxviii, 68); (6) the forms of idolatry of the middle period of the
monarchy (iv, 19; xvii, 3); (7) no trace of Deuteronomy in writings
prior to Jeremiah; (8) the point of view indicates an advanced style
of theological reflection; (9) the prohibition of Mazzebah (xvi,
22) regarded as lawful in Isaiah (xix, 19); (10) the style implies
a long development of the art of Hebrew oratory, and the language
is free from archaism, and suits the times preceding Jeremiah; (11)
the doctrine of the love of God and his faithfulness with the term
'Yahweh thy God' presuppose the experience of the prophet Hosea;
(12) the humanitarianism of Deuteronomy shows an ethical advance
beyond Amos and Isaiah and prepares the way for Jeremiah and Ezekiel;
(13) ancient laws embedded in the code account for the penalties
for their infraction in 2 Kings xxii; (14) ancient laws of war are
associated with laws which imply the wars of the monarchy, and have
been influenced by Amos" (The Hexateuch, p. 261).
No book had been deposited in the ark as the writer stated. At the
dedication of Solomon's temple the ark was opened, but it contained
no book. "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone,
which Moses put there at Horeb" (1 Kings viii, 5-9).
In the Pentateuch it is also stated that Moses, at the command of God,
wrote certain covenants (Ex. xxxiv, 27), recorded the curse of Amalek
(Ex. xvii, 14), and made a list of the stations between the Red Sea and
the Jordan (Num. xxxiii); likewise that he wrote a song (Deut. xxxi,
22). The absurdity of adducing these to prove that Moses wrote the
Pentateuch is thus exposed by Briggs:
"When the author of the Pentateuch says that Moses wrote one
or more codes of law, that he wrote a song, that he recorded a
certain memorandum, it would appear that having specified such of
his materials as were written by Moses, he would have us infer that
the other materials came from other sources of information. But it
has been urged the other way; namely, that, because it is said that
Moses wrote the codes of the covenant and the Deuteronomic code,
he also wrote all the laws of the Pentateuch; that because he wrote
the song Deut. xxxii, he wrote all the other pieces of poetry in the
Pentateuch, that because he recorded the list of stations and the
memorial against Amalek, he recorded all the other historical events
of the Pentateuch. It is probable that no one would so argue did he
not suppose it was necessary to maintain the Mosaic authorship of
the Pentateuch at every cost" (Hexateuch, pp. 10, 11).
Again, it has been argued that Christ and some of the writers of the
New Testament recognize Moses as the author of the Pentateuch. Such
expressions as "the law of Moses," "the book of Moses," "Moses said,"
etc., occur a few times. These expressions are explained and this
argument answered by the following: 1. It is not denied by critics
that Moses was the legislator of the Jews and promulgated certain
laws. 2. An anonymous book is usually called after the leading
character of the book. 3. At this time the traditional theory of the
Mosaic authorship was generally accepted. Of Christ's mention of Moses,
Dr. Davidson says: "The venerable authority of Christ himself has no
proper bearing on the question."
Arguments Against Mosaic Authorship.
That the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, that it is an anonymous
work belonging to a later age, is clearly proven by the following:
1. There is no proof that Moses ever claimed to be the author of the
Pentateuch. There is nothing in the work, neither is there anything
outside of it, to indicate that he was its author.
2. The ancient Hebrews did not believe that he wrote it. Renan says:
"The opinion which attributes the composition of the Pentateuch to
Moses seems quite modern; it is very certain that the ancient Hebrews
never dreamed of regarding their legislator as their historian. The
ancient documents appeared to them absolutely impersonal, and they
attached to them no author's name" (History of Semitic Languages,
Book II., chapter i).
3. The Pentateuch was written in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew of
the Bible did not exist in the time of Moses. Language is a growth. It
takes centuries to develop it. It took a thousand years to develop the
English language. The Hebrew of the Bible was not brought from Egypt,
but grew in Palestine. Referring to this language, De Wette says:
"Without doubt it originated in the land [Canaan] or was still further
developed therein after the Hebrew and other Canaanitish people had
migrated thither from the Northern country" (Old Testament, Part
II.). Gesenius says that the Hebrew language scarcely antedates the
time of David.
4. Not only is it true that the Hebrew language did not exist, but
it is urged by critics that no written language, as we understand it,
existed in Western Asia in the time of Moses. Prof. Andrew Norton says:
"For a long time after the supposed date of the Pentateuch we find
no proof of the existence of a book or even an inscription in proper
alphabetical characters among the nations by whom the Hebrews were
surrounded" (The Pentateuch, p. 44). Hieroglyphics were then in use,
and it is not to be supposed that a work as large as the Pentateuch
was written or engraved in hieroglyphics and carried about by this
wandering tribe of ignorant Israelites.
5. Much of the Pentateuch is devoted to the history of Moses; but
excepting a few brief compositions attributed to him and quoted by the
author he is always referred to in the third person. The Pentateuch
contains a biography, not an autobiography of Moses.
6. It contains an account of the death and burial of Moses which he
could not have written:
"So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of
Moab.... And he buried him in a valley of the land of Moab"
(Deut. xxxiv, 5, 6).
"And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab
thirty days" (8).
Orthodox commentators attempt to remove this difficulty by supposing
that the last chapter of Deuteronomy belongs to the book of Joshua,
and that Joshua recorded the death of Moses. The same writer,
referring to the appointment of Joshua as the successor of Moses,
says: "And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom"
(Deut. xxxiv, 9). If Joshua wrote this, however full of the spirit
of wisdom he may have been, he certainly was not full of the spirit
of modesty. Joshua did not write this chapter.
7. "No man knoweth of his [Moses'] sepulchre unto this day"
(Deut. xxxiv, 6).
That the authorship of this chapter should ever have been attributed
to either Moses or Joshua is incomprehensible. The language plainly
shows that not merely one but many generations had elapsed between
the time of Moses and the time that it was written.
8. While the advocates of the Mosaic authorship have, without proof,
asserted that Joshua wrote the book of Joshua and the conclusion
of Deuteronomy, the Higher Critics have demonstrated the common
authorship of Deuteronomy and a large portion of Joshua. As all the
events recorded in Joshua occurred after the death of Moses, he could
not have been the author of Deuteronomy.
9. "They [the Israelites] did eat manna until they came unto the
borders of Canaan" (Ex. xvi, 35).
This passage was written after the Israelites settled in Canaan and
ceased to subsist on manna. And this was not until after the death
of Moses.
10. "The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau
succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and
dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession,
which the Lord gave unto them" (Deut. ii, 12).
This refers to the conquest of Canaan and was written after that event.
11. "And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness they
found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day" (Num. xv, 32).
When this was written the children of Israel were no longer in the
wilderness. Their sojourn there is referred to as a past event. As
Moses died while they were still in the wilderness--that is, before
they had entered the promised land--it could not have been written
by him.
12. "Thou shalt eat it within thy gates" (Deut. xv, 22).
The phrase, "within thy gates," occurs in the Pentateuch about
twenty-five times. It refers to the gates of the cities of the
Israelites, which they did not inhabit until after the death of Moses.
13. "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, ... that
the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out
the nations that were before you" (Lev. xviii, 26, 28).
When Moses died the nations alluded to still occupied the land and
had not been expelled.
14. "And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh: as
it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen"
(Gen. xxii, 14).
This is one of the passages adduced by the critics of the seventeenth
century against the Mosaic authorship of these books. It implies the
conquest and a long occupancy of the land by the Israelites.
15. "And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of
Canaan" (Gen. xxiii, 2). "And Jacob came ... unto the city of Arbah,
which is Hebron" (xxxv, 27).
Moses' uncle was named Hebron, and from him the Hebronites were
descended. After the Conquest this family settled in Kirjath-arba
and changed the name of the city to Hebron.
16. "And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is
Bethlehem" (Gen. xxxv, 19).
The Hebrew name of Bethlehem was not given to this city until after
the Israelites had conquered and occupied it.
17. "For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of giants;
behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of
the children of Ammon?" (Deut. iii, 11.)
This is another passage relied upon by the early critics to disprove
the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. The writer's reference to
the bedstead of Og, which was still preserved as a relic at Rabbath,
indicates a time long subsequent to the conquest of Bashan.
18. "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of
old time have set in thine inheritance" (Deut. xix, 14).
This refers to the ancient landmarks set by the Israelites when
they obtained possession of Canaan, and was written centuries after
that time.
19. "And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the small towns
thereof, and called them Havoth-jair" (Num. xxxii, 41).
The above is evidently a misstatement of an event recorded in Judges:
"And after him [Tola] arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty
and two years. And he had thirty sons, ... and they had thirty cities,
which are called Havoth-jair unto this day" (Jud. x, 3, 4).
Jair was judge of Israel from 1210 to 1188 b.c., or from 241 to 263
years after the date assigned for the writing of the Pentateuch.
20. "And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and
called it Nobah, after his own name" (Num. xxxii, 42).
Referring to this and the preceding passage, Dr. Oort says: "It is
certain that Jair, the Gileadite, the conqueror of Bashan, after
whom thirty places were called Jair's villages, lived in the time of
the Judges, and that a part of Bashan was conquered at a still later
period by a certain Nobah" (Bible for Learners, vol. i, p. 329).
21. "Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the
coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name,
Bashan-havoth-jair, unto this day" (Deut. iii, 14).
Even if Jair had lived in the time of Moses, the phrase "unto this day"
shows that it was written long after the event described.
22. "And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he
armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and
eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan" (Gen. xiv, 14).
This passage could not have been written before Dan existed. In Judges
(xviii, 26-29) the following account of the origin of this place is
given: "And the children of Dan went their way; ... and came unto
Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure; and they smote
them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.... And
they built a city, and dwelt therein. And they called the name of the
city Dan." This is placed after the death of Samson, and Samson died,
according to Bible chronology, 1120 B.C.--331 years after Moses died.
23. "And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before
there reigned any king over the children of Israel" (Gen. xxxvi, 31).
This could not have been written before the kingdom of Israel was
established; for the writer is familiar with the fact that kings have
reigned in Israel. Saul, the first king of Israel, began to reign
356 years after Moses.
24. "And his [Israel's] king shall be higher than Agag" (Num. xxiv, 7).
This refers to Saul's defeat of Agag. "And he [Saul] took Agag the
king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people
with the edge of the sword" (1 Sam. xv, 8). The defeat of Agag is
placed in 1067 B.C., 384 years after Moses.
25. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, ... until Shiloh come"
(Gen. xlix, 10).
These words are ascribed to Jacob; but they could not have been written
before Judah received the sceptre, which was not until David ascended
the throne, 396 years after the death of Moses.
26. "And the Canaanite was then in the land" (Gen. xii, 6).
When this was written the Canaanite had ceased to be an inhabitant of
Palestine. As a remnant of the Canaanites inhabited this country up
to the time of David, it could not have been written prior to his time.
27. "The Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land"
(Gen. xiii, 7).
This, like the preceding passage, could not have been written before
the time of David. The Perizzites, also, inhabited Palestine for
a long period after the conquest. In the time of the Judges "the
children of Israel dwelt among the ... Perizzites" (Jud. iii, 5).
28. "The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into
the house of the Lord thy God" (Ex. xxiii, 19).
This was not written before the time of Solomon; for God had no
house prior to the erection of the temple, 1004 B.C., 447 years
after Moses. When David proposed to build him a house, he forbade it
and said:
"I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the
children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked
in a tent and in a tabernacle" (2 Sam. vii, 6).
The tabernacle itself was a tent (Tent of Meeting). During all this
time no house was ever used as a sanctuary.
29. "One from among the brethren shalt thou set king over thee.... But
he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return
to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses.... Neither shall
he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither
shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold" (Deut. xvii,
15-17).
"And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses" (1 Kings iv,
26). "And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt" (x, 28). "And he
had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines:
and his wives turned away his heart" (xi, 3). "The weight of gold
that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred three score and six
talents of gold" (x, 14). "And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem
as stones" (27).
Nothing can be plainer than that this statute in Deuteronomy was
written after Solomon's reign. The extravagance and debaucheries
of this monarch had greatly impoverished and corrupted the kingdom,
and to prevent a recurrence of such excesses this law was enacted.
30. "If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, ... thou
shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall
be in those days, and enquire; and they shall show thee the sentence
of judgment" (Deut. xvii, 8, 9).
This court was established by Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xix,
8-11). Jehoshaphat commenced his reign 914 B.C., 537 years after Moses.
31. "But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes,
there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there shalt thou do
all that I command thee" (Deut. xii, 14).
"Is it not he [the Lord] whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah
hath taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship
before this altar?" (Is. xxxvi, 7).
Up to the time of Hezekiah the Hebrews worshiped at many
altars. Hezekiah removed these altars and established the one central
altar at Jerusalem. This was in 726 B.C.--725 years after Moses.
32. "And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships"
(Deut. xxviii, 68).
This, critics affirm, was written when Psameticus was king of Egypt. He
reigned from 663 to 609 B.C.
33. "Neither shalt thou set thee up any image [pillar]" (Deut. xvi,
22).
This proves the late origin of the Pentateuch, or at least of
Deuteronomy. Isaiah (xix, 19) instructs them to do the very thing
which they are here forbidden to do, and as he would not have advised
a violation of the law it is evident that this statute could not have
existed in his time. Isaiah died about 750 years after Moses died.
34. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars by the Jews, is mentioned
and condemned (Deut. iv, 19; xvii, 3). This nature worship was adopted
by them in the reign of Manasseh, 800 years after Moses.
35. "Wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord, what
he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon" (Num. xxi, 14).
The author of the Pentateuch here cites a book older than the
Pentateuch, which gives an account of the journeyings of the Israelites
from Egypt to Moab--from the Exodus to the end of Moses' career.
36. "And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law
very plainly" (Deut. xxvii, 8).
"And he [Joshua] wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of
Moses" (Josh. viii, 32).
Christians affirm that the Law of Moses and the Pentateuch are
one. That this Law of Moses was not the one hundred and fifty thousand
words of the Pentateuch is shown by the fact that after the death of
Moses it was all engraved upon a stone altar.
37. "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were
upon the face of the earth" (Num. xii, 3).
No writer would bestow such fulsome praise upon himself. This was
written by a devout admirer of Moses, but it was not written by Moses.
38. "And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed
the children of Israel before his death" (Deut. xxxiii, 1).
There are three reasons for rejecting the Mosaic authorship of this:
Moses is spoken of in laudatory terms; he is spoken of in the third
person; his death is referred to as an event that is already past.
39. "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses"
(Deut. xxxiv, 10).
Not only is the highest praise bestowed upon Moses, a thing which
he would not have done, but the language clearly shows that it was
written centuries after the time he lived.
40. The religious history of the Hebrews embraces three periods of
time, each covering centuries. During the first period the worship of
Jehovah was confined to no particular place; during the second it was
confined to the holy city, Jerusalem; during the third it was confined,
not merely to Jerusalem, but to the temple itself. There are writings
in the Pentateuch belonging to each of these periods. The Encyclopedia
Britannica declares that this fact alone affords overwhelming disproof
of Mosaic authorship.
41. The religion of the Pentateuch was not a revelation, but an
evolution. The priestly offices, the feasts, the sacrifices, and
other religious observances underwent many changes, these changes
representing different stages of development in Israel's religion
and requiring centuries of time to effect.
42. The legislation of the Pentateuch was also the growth
of centuries. Some of the minor codes are much older than the
documents containing them. There is legislation older than David,
1055 B.C.--probably as old as Moses, 1451 B.C. There is legislation
belonging to the time of Josiah, 626 B.C., of Ezekiel, 575 B.C.,
of Ezra, 456 B.C. Would it not be absurd to claim that all the
laws of England from Alfred to Victoria were the work of one mind,
Alfred? And is it less absurd to claim that all the laws of the Jews
from Moses to Ezra were instituted by Moses?
43. The Pentateuch abounds with repetitions and contradictions. The
first two chapters of Genesis contain two accounts of the Creation
differing in every important particular. In the sixth, seventh, and
eighth chapters of Genesis two different and contradictory accounts
of the Deluge are intermingled. Exodus and Deuteronomy each contain a
copy of the Decalogue, the two differing as to the reason assigned for
the institution of the Sabbath. There are several different versions
of the call of Abraham; different and conflicting stories of the
Egyptian plagues; contradictory accounts of the conquest of Canaan.
The Work of Various Authors and Compilers.
44. The four preceding arguments suggest the concluding and most
important one. The character of the writings of the Pentateuch preclude
the possibility of unity of authorship, and consequently the Mosaic
authorship of the work as a whole. The books of the Pentateuch were
not all composed by one author. The book of Genesis is not the work
of one author. The first two chapters of Genesis were not written by
the same writer. The Pentateuch was written by various writers and
at various times.
The Pentateuch comprises four large documents known as the Elohistic
and Jehovistic documents, and the Deuteronomic and Priestly Codes. They
are distinguished by the initial letters E, J, D, and P. E and J
include the greater portion of Genesis and extend through the other
books of the Pentateuch, as well as through Joshua, Judges, Samuel,
and Kings. D includes the greater portion of Deuteronomy, fragments
of the preceding books, and a large portion of Joshua. P includes
the greater portion of the middle books of the Pentateuch and smaller
portions of the other books.
The author of each of these documents incorporated into his work one
or more older documents. These four works were afterwards united by
successive editors or redactors. E and J were first fused into one. A
subsequent redactor united D with this, and still later another united
this compilation with P.
In addition to these principal documents there are several minor
codes, chief of which is the Holiness Code comprising ten chapters of
Leviticus, xvii-xxvi. There are also several poems written by various
authors. Thus the Pentateuch instead of being the product of one mind
is the work of many writers and compilers, probably twenty or more.
These documents, especially the principal ones, notwithstanding
the intermingling of their contents, are easily distinguished and
separated from each other by Bible critics. The thoughts of the human
mind, like the features of the human face, controlled by the law of
variation, assume different forms. We who are familiar with faces
have no difficulty in distinguishing one face from another. No two
faces are alike. Critics who have devoted their lives to literature
can distinguish the writings of individuals almost as readily as
we distinguish the faces of individuals. There are certain idioms of
language, certain peculiarities of style, belonging to each writer. The
language and style of these documents are quite dissimilar. To quote
Dr. Briggs: "There is as great a difference in style between the
documents of the Hexateuch as there is between the Four Gospels." The
principal documents are thus described by this critic:
"E is brief, terse, and archaic; graphic, plastic, and realistic;
written in the theocratic interest of the kingdom of God. J is poetical
and descriptive, the best narrative in the Bible, giving us the history
of the kingdom of redemption. D is rhetorical and hortatory, practical
and earnest, written in the more theological interest of the training
of the nation in the fatherly instruction of God. P is annalistic
and diffuse, fond of names and dates, written in the interest of the
priestly order, and emphasizing the sovereignty of the Holy God and
the sanctity of the divine institutions" (Hexateuch, p. 265).
Each document abounds with characteristic words and phrases peculiar
to that document. Holzinger notes 108 belonging to E and 125 belonging
to J. Canon Driver gives 41 belonging to D and 50 belonging to P. One
of the chief distinguishing marks is the term used to designate the
Deity. In E it is Elohim, translated God; in J, Jehovah (Yahveh)
Elohim, translated Lord God. In D the writer continually uses the
phrase "The Lord thy God," this phrase occurring more than 200
times. "I am Jehovah" is a phrase used by P, including the Holiness
Code, 70 times. It is never used by E or D. "God of the Fathers"
is frequently used by E and D; never by P.
Bishop Colenso's analysis of Genesis is as follows: Elohist, 336
verses; Jehovist, 1,052 verses; Deuteronomist, 39 verses; Priestly
writer, 106 verses.
The Pentateuch was chiefly written and compiled from seven to ten
centuries after the time claimed. The Elohistic and Jehovistic
documents, the oldest of the four, were written at least 300 years
after the time of David and 700 years after the time of Moses. They
were probably written at about the same time. E belongs to the Northern
Kingdom of Israel, J to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The unanimous
verdict of critics is that Deuteronomy was written during the reign
of Josiah, about 626 B.C., 825 years after Moses died. The Holiness
Code belongs to the age of Ezekiel, about fifty years later. The
Priestly Code was written after the Exile, in the time of Ezra,
1,000 years after Moses. Important changes and additions were made
as late as the third century B.C., so that, excepting the variations
and interpolations of later times, the Pentateuch in something like
its present form appeared about 1,200 years after the time of Moses.
The higher Criticism--Its Triumph and Its Consequences.
The certainty and the consequences of the Higher Criticism of the
Pentateuch are thus expressed by Hupfeld:
"The discovery that the Pentateuch is put together out of various
sources, or original documents, is beyond all doubt not only one
of the most important and most pregnant with consequences for the
interpretation of the historical books of the Old Testament, or
rather for the whole of theology and history, but it is also one of
the most certain discoveries which have been made in the domain of
criticism and the history of literature. Whatever the anti-critical
party may bring forward to the contrary, it will maintain itself,
and not retrograde again through anything, so long as there exists
such a thing as criticism, and it will not be easy for a reader upon
the stage of culture on which we stand in the present day, if he
goes to the examination unprejudiced, and with an uncorrupted power
of appreciating the truth, to be able to ward off its influence."
The critical labors of Hobbes, Spinoza, Peyrerius, Simon, Astruc,
Eichorn, Paine, Bauer, (G. L.) De Wette, Ewald, Geddes, Vater, Reuss,
Graf, Davidson, Colenso, Hupfeld, Wellhausen, Kuenen, Briggs, and
others, have overthrown the old notions concerning the authenticity
of the Pentateuch. There is not one eminent Bible scholar in Europe,
and scarcely one in America, who any longer contends that Moses wrote
this work.
The pioneers in the field of the Higher Criticism were the Rationalists
Hobbes and Spinoza and the Catholics Peyrerius, Simon, and Astruc. More
than two hundred years ago Benedict Spinoza, the greatest of modern
Jews, with his own race and the entire Christian church against him,
made this declaration, which the scholarship of the whole world
now accepts:
"It is as clear as the noonday light that the Pentateuch was not
written by Moses" (Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, Chap, viii,
Sec. 20).
A century passed, and Thomas Paine in France, in the most potent
volume of Higher Criticism ever penned, exposed in all their nakedness
the wretched claims of the traditionalists. He read the Pentateuch
and wrote:
"Those books are spurious." "Moses is not the author of them." "The
style and manner in which those books are written give no room to
believe, or even to suppose, they were written by Moses." "They were
not written in the time of Moses, nor till several hundred years
afterwards" (Age of Reason).
About the same time German scholars, ever foremost in the domain of
critical analysis, took up the work. The writings of Eichorn, Bauer,
Vater, and De Wette, "swept the field in Germany." De Wette, one of her
greatest theologians, thus presents the conclusion of German critics:
"The opinion that Moses composed these books is not only opposed by all
the signs of a later date which occur in the work itself, but also by
the entire analogy of the history of Hebrew literature and language"
(Books of Moses, Sec. 163).
Fifty years or more elapsed and Davidson and Colenso studied and wrote,
and British scholarship was soon arrayed against the old in favor of
the new. Dr. Davidson, in the following words, voices the opinion of
England's learned:
"There is little external evidence for the Mosaic authorship, and what
little there is does not stand the test of criticism. The succeeding
writers of the Old Testament do not confirm it.... The objections
derived from internal structure are conclusive against the Mosaic
authorship" (Introduction to the Old Testament).
At last, in our own land and in our own time, Dr. Briggs and others
attack the Mosaic theories, and, in spite of the efforts of Princeton's
fossils, the intelligence of America acknowledges the force of their
reasoning and accepts their conclusions. The Higher Criticism has
triumphed. Spinoza's judgment is confirmed, and the American critic
pronounces the verdict of the intellectual world:
"In the field of scholarship the question is settled. It only remains
for the ministry and people to accept it and adapt themselves to it"
(Hexateuch, p. 144).
But this is not the end. A victory has been achieved, but its full
results remain to be realized. The clergy, against their will,
and the laity, who are subservient to the clergy's will, are yet to
be enlightened and convinced. Even then, when the facts disclosed
by the Higher Criticism have gained popular acceptance, another
task remains--the task of showing men the real significance of these
facts. The critics themselves, many of them, do not seem to realize the
consequences of their work. The Rationalistic critics, like Hobbes,
Spinoza, Paine, Reuss, Wellhausen, Kuenen and others, have measured
the consequences of their criticisms and accepted them. The orthodox
critics have not. Some of them, like Dr. Briggs, while denying
the Mosaic authorship and great antiquity of the Pentateuch, while
maintaining its anonymous and fragmentary character, and conceding its
contradictions and errors, are yet loath to reject its divinity and
authority. But these also must be given up. This work as a divine
revelation and authentic record must go. Its chief theological
doctrine, the Fall of Man, is a myth. With this doctrine falls the
Atonement, and with the Atonement orthodox Christianity. This is the
logical sequence of the Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch. To these
critics, and to all who are intelligent enough to discern the truth
and courageous enough to meet it, I would repeat and press home the
admonition of our critic, "to accept it and adapt themselves to it."
CHAPTER VII.
THE PROPHETS.
Next to the Pentateuch, the most important books of the Old Testament
are the Prophets. They are divided into two divisions, Earlier and
Later. The Earlier prophets comprise Joshua, Judges, First Samuel,
Second Samuel, First Kings, and Second Kings. The Later Prophets are
divided into Greater and Minor. The Greater Prophets are Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; the Minor Prophets, Hosea, Joel, Amos,
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi.
Joshua.
The book of Joshua, it is claimed, was written by Joshua just before
his death, which occurred, according to the accepted chronology, in
1426 B.C. This book for a time formed a part of the Pentateuch (or
Hexateuch). In later times, to increase its authority, the Pentateuch
was ascribed to Moses. A recognition of the fact that Moses could not
have written a history of the events that happened after his death
caused that portion now known as Joshua to be detached and credited
to Joshua.
Many of the arguments adduced against the Mosaic authorship of the
preceding books apply with equal force against the claim that Joshua
wrote the book which bears his name. The book contains no internal
evidence of his authorship; he does not claim to be its author; the
other writers of the Old Testament do not ascribe its authorship to
him; he is spoken of in the third person; it is clearly the work of
more than one writer; the language in which it was written was not in
existence when he lived; much of it relates to events that occurred
after his death.
"And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua, the son
of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten
years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in
Timnath-serah.... And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua,
and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua" (Josh. xxiv,
29-31).
As the Pentateuch gives an account of the death and burial of Moses, so
the book of Joshua gives an account of the death and burial of Joshua.
"And Eleazer the son of Aaron died" (xxiv, 33).
The death of Eleazer occurred six years after the death of Joshua.
"But the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto
this day" (xv, 63).
The children of Judah did not dwell in Jerusalem until nearly 400
years after Joshua. The phrase "unto this day" is frequently used in
the book, and this shows that it was written long after the events
it describes.
In his account of the miracle of Joshua causing the sun to stand still,
the writer appeals to the book of Jasher in support of his statement:
"Is not this written in the book of Jasher?" (x, 13.)
This could not have been written until after the book of Jasher
was written or compiled. When was Jasher written? We do not know,
but in his history of David the author of Samuel thus refers to it:
"He [David] bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow;
behold, it is written in the book of Jasher" (2 Sam. i, 18). This
proves that the book of Jasher was not written before the time of
David. If the book of Joshua was not written until after the book
of Jasher was written, then it could not have been written until the
time of David or later.
The book of Joshua consists of two parts. The first, which originally
formed a part of, or sequel to, Deuteronomy, was probably written
before the Captivity; the latter part was written after the
captivity--900 years after the time of Joshua.
Judges.
The authorship of this book has been ascribed to Samuel. In disproof
of this I quote the following:
"Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem and taken it"
(i, 8).
Jerusalem was taken by Judah 1048 B.C.; Samuel died 1060 B.C., twelve
years before it was taken.
"In those days there was no king in Israel" (xviii, 1; xix, 1;
xxi, 25).
This passage, which is repeated several times, was written after
Israel had become a kingdom, and evidently long subsequent to the
time of Saul and Samuel.
"And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth" (ii, 13).
This was probably written as late as the reign of Hoshea, 730 B.C.
The chapters relating to Samson indicate a date as late as Manasseh,
698 to 643 B.C. During the reign of this king the Hebrews became
sun-worshipers. Samson was a sun-god--the name signifies "sun-god." All
the stories related of him in Judges are solar myths.
"He and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of
the captivity of the land" (xviii, 30).
The above passage denotes a date as late as the Captivity.
Smith's "Bible Dictionary" says: "It is probable that the books
of Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and Kings originally formed one work"
(art. Ruth). If these books originally formed one work, Samuel was
not the author of any of them, for Kings, it is admitted, was written
as late as the time of Jeremiah, and possibly as late as the time of
Ezra, from 450 to 600 years after Samuel.
Judges, like the Pentateuch and Joshua, is the work of several
writers. It can scarcely be called even a compilation. It is a mere
collection of historical and mythological fragments, thrown together
without any regard to logical arrangement or chronological order.
First and Second Samuel.
It is popularly supposed, and many Christian teachers affirm, that
Samuel wrote the books which bear his name. And yet the writer says,
"Samuel died," and seven chapters of the first book follow this
announcement. The second book in no way pertains to him; his name
is not once mentioned; the events narrated occurred from four to
forty-four years after his death.
Others claim that the books were written by Samuel, Nathan, and Gad,
basing their claim on a passage in Chronicles, which says that the
acts of David "are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in
the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer"
(1 Chron. xxix, 29).
As Samuel died while David was yet a young man--four years before
he became king--he did not record the acts of David. Nathan and
Gad are referred to in the books, but in a manner that forbids the
supposition of their authorship. These books were not written by
Samuel; neither were they written by Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. Their
authorship is unknown.
Concerning the books of Samuel, Dr. Oort writes: "There is no book in
the Bible which shows so clearly that its contents are not all derived
from the same source.... Two conflicting traditions relating to the
same subject are constantly placed side by side in perfect simplicity,
and apparently with no idea that the one contradicts the other"
(Bible for Learners, vol. i, pp. 433, 434).
First and Second Kings.
In the Catholic version, and in the subtitles of our versions of
the Bible, First and Second Samuel and First and Second Kings are
called the First, Second, Third, and Fourth books of Kings. They are
properly one book. The division of the work into four books is not only
artificial, but illogical. Regarding the authorship of the last two,
Smith's "Bible Dictionary" says: "As regards the authorship of the
books, but little difficulty presents itself. The Jewish tradition,
which ascribes them to Jeremiah, is borne out by the strongest internal
evidence" (Kings).
Is this true? The date assigned for Jeremiah's composition of the books
is 600 B.C. And yet a considerable portion of the work is devoted to
a presentation of the forty years of Jewish history subsequent to this
date. It records the death of Jehoiakim, the first siege and taking of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the elevation of Zedekiah to the throne,
his eleven years' reign, the second siege and capture of Jerusalem,
and a long list of events that followed. It records the reign of
the Babylonian king, Evil-Merodach. This, according to the popular
chronology, and according to the "Bible Dictionary," was from 561
to 559 B.C.--forty years after the date assigned, and long after the
time of Jeremiah.
These books are a mixture of history and fiction. They profess to be a
history of the Hebrew kings; and yet a dozen chapters are devoted to
a fabulous account of the sayings and doings of two Hebrew prophets,
Elijah and Elisha. First and Second Chronicles, which give a history
of the same kings, refer to Elijah but once, and make no mention
of Elisha.
The confused character of their contents, especially their chronology,
has often been referred to. They are simply a compilation of ancient
documents, written at various times, and by various authors.
The Encyclopedia Britannica expresses the almost unanimous verdict of
critics respecting the authorship of the four principal historical
books of the Old Testament: "We cannot speak of the author of Kings
or Samuel, but only of an editor or successive editors whose main
work was to arrange in a continuous form extracts or abstracts from
earlier books."
Isaiah.
Isaiah, the chief of the prophetic books, and, next to the Pentateuch
and the Four Gospels, the most important book of the Bible, purports to
be a series of prophecies uttered during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Uzziah's reign began B.C. 810, and ended B.C. 758;
Hezekiah's reign began B.C. 726 and ended B.C. 698. Isaiah's ministry
is supposed to have extended from about 760 to 700 B.C., and toward
the close of this period, the book of Isaiah, as it now appears,
is said to have been written.
In support of Isaiah's authorship of the entire work the following
arguments have been advanced:
1. Its various prophecies exhibit a unity of design.
2. The style is the same throughout the work.
3. Messianic prophecies abound in both its parts.
4. No other writer claimed its authorship.
5. The ancient Jews all ascribe it to him.
The above arguments for the authenticity of the work are partly
true and partly untrue. So far as they conflict with the following
arguments against its authenticity as a whole they are untrue:
1. The work is fragmentary in character.
2. The style of its several parts is quite unlike.
3. Many of its events occurred after Isaiah's death.
4. Much of it relates to the Babylonian captivity.
5. It records both the name and the deeds of Cyrus.
Isaiah might very properly be divided into two books, the first
comprising the first thirty-nine chapters; the second, the concluding
twenty-seven chapters. Impartial critics agree that while Isaiah may
have written a portion of the first part he could not have written
all of it nor any of the second. This is the conclusion of Cheyne,
Davidson, De Wette, Eichorn, Ewald, Gesenius, and others.
That he wrote neither the first nor the second part of the book,
as it now exists, is proven by the following passages taken from both:
"Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (xxi, 9).
"Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defensed cities
of Judah, and took them" (xxxvi, 1).
"So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned and
dwelt in Nineveh.
"And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nishrock
his god, that Addrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the
sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia; and Esarhaddon his
son reigned in his stead" (xxxvii, 37, 38).
Sennacherib ascended the throne 702 B.C. and died 680 B.C. Isaiah
lived in the preceding century.
"That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my
pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the
temple, Thy foundation shall be laid" (xliv, 28).
"Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus" (xlv, 1). "He shall
build my city, and he shall let go my captives" (xlv, 13).
Cyrus conquered Babylon B.C. 538, and released the Jews from captivity
and permitted them to return and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple
B.C. 536, nearly two centuries after the time of Isaiah.
Regarding these passages, Dr. Lyman Abbott, in a sermon on "The
Scientific Conception of Revelation," says: "If you take up a history
and it refers to Abraham Lincoln, you are perfectly sure that it
was not written in the time of George Washington. Now, if you take
up the book of Isaiah and read in it about Cyrus the Great, you are
satisfied that the book was not written by Isaiah one hundred years
before Cyrus was born."
Prof. T. K. Cheyne of Oxford University, the leading modern authority
on Isaiah, says: "That portion of the Old Testament which is known as
the book of Isaiah was, in fact, written by at least three writers--and
possibly many more--who lived at different times and in different
places." Nearly all of the ninth chapter, which, on account of its
supposed Messianic prophecies, is, with Christians, one of the most
valued chapters of the Bible, Professor Cheyne declares to be an
interpolation.
That four of the middle chapters, the thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh,
thirty-eighth, and thirty-ninth, originally formed a separate document
is evident. Concerning these four chapters, Paine truthfully observes:
"This fragment of history begins and ends abruptly; it has not the
least connection with the chapter that precedes it, nor with that which
follows it, nor with any other in the book" (Age of Reason, p. 129).
If Isaiah wrote this book, and Jeremiah wrote the books of Kings,
as claimed; then either Isaiah or Jeremiah was a plagiarist; for the
language of the four chapters just mentioned is, with a few slight
alterations, identical with that of a portion of the second book
of Kings.
The integrity of this book cannot be maintained. It is not the product
of one writer, but of many. How many, critics may never be able to
determine; certainly not less than five, probably more than ten.
Jeremiah.
The prophecies of Jeremiah, it is affirmed, were delivered at various
times between 625 and 585 B.C., and a final redaction of them was made
by him about the latter date. The book, as it now appears, is in such
a disordered condition that Christian scholars have to separate it
into numerous parts and rearrange them in order to make a consecutive
and intelligible narrative. Dr. Hitchcock, in his "Analysis of the
Bible" (p 1,144), says: "So many changes have taken place, or else
so many irregularities were originally admitted in the arrangement
of the book, that Dr. Blayney, whose exposition we chiefly follow,
was obliged to make fourteen different portions of the whole before
he could throw it into consecutive order."
The following is Dr. Blayney's arrangement of the book: Chapters i-xii;
xiii-xx; xxii, xxiii; xxv, xxvi; xxxv, xxxvi; xlv-xlviii; xlix (1-33);
xxi; xxiv; xxvii-xxxiv; xxxvii-xxxix; xlix (34-39); l, li; xl-xliv.
This disordered condition of Jeremiah indicates one of two things:
a plurality of authors, or a negligence, if nothing worse, on the part
of the Bible's custodians that Christians will be loath to acknowledge.
The book, as a whole, was not written by Jeremiah. He did not write
the following:
"And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity
of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and
twentieth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in
the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king
of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison" (lii, 31).
The release of Jehoiachin by Evil-Merodach occurred 562 or 561
B.C. Jeremiah had then been dead twenty years.
This book is not the work of one author. The thirty-seventh and
thirty-eighth chapters were not written by the same person. Much of
the thirty-eighth is a mere repetition of the thirty-seventh; and
yet the two are so filled with discrepancies that it is impossible
to accept both as the writings of the same author.
Jeremiah, it is declared, wrote both Kings and Jeremiah. He could
not have written the concluding portion of either. The last chapter
of 2 Kings and the last chapter of Jeremiah are the same, and were
written after the time of Jeremiah.
Ezekiel.
The period assigned for Ezekiel's prophecies is that beginning
B.C. 595 and ending B.C. 573. Christians assert that the first
twenty-four chapters of the work were written before the destruction
of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The whole work was undoubtedly written
after this event.
The Talmud credits its authorship to the Great Synagogue. If this be
correct, Ezekiel had nothing to do with its composition; for he was
not a member of the Great Synagogue. Ewald, while claiming for him
the utterance of its several prophecies, believes that the book in
its present form is not his work, but that of a later author.
Referring to Ezekiel, Dr. Oort says: "In his case, far more than in
Jeremiah's even, we must be on our guard against accepting the written
account of his prophecies as a simple record of what he actually said"
(Bible for Learners, vol. ii, p. 407).
Zunz, a German critic, not only contends that the book is not
authentic, but declares that no such prophet as Ezekiel ever existed.
While it must be admitted that the internal evidence against the
integrity and authenticity of Ezekiel is weaker than that of the
other books thus far examined, it can be confidently asserted that
Bible apologists have been unable to establish either. One damaging
fact they concede: no other writer of the Bible ever mentions the
book or its alleged author.
Minor Prophets.
The twelve Minor Prophets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah,
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi,
require but a passing notice. Compared with the other Prophets, or
even with the principal books of the Hagiographa, they are of little
importance. A part of them may be genuine--the writings of those to
whom their authorship has been ascribed--but there is no external
evidence, either in the Bible or elsewhere, to support the claim,
while the internal evidence of the books themselves is not convincing.
The date assigned for the composition of Jonah, the oldest of the
Later Prophets, is 856--according to some, 862 B.C. He is said to
have prophesied during the reign of one Pul, "king of Assyria." But
unfortunately Pul's reign is placed in 770 B.C., ninety years after
the date assigned for the book. Jonah is named in the Four Gospels,
named by Christ himself. This is adduced as proof of its authenticity
and in support of a literal instead of an allegorical interpretation of
its language. But Christ's language, even if his divinity be admitted,
proves neither the authenticity nor the historical character of the
book. He taught in parables, and certainly would have no hesitancy
in using an allegorical figure as a symbol. No scholar now contends
for its authenticity, and no sane person believes its stories to be
historical. Luther rejected the book.
Four other books, Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi, are quoted or
supposed to be quoted, by the Evangelists, and two, Joel and Amos,
are mentioned in Acts. This proves no more than that these books
were in existence when the New Testament was written--a fact which
none disputes.
Matthew (ii, 6) cites Micah (v, ii) as a Messianic prophecy. Micah
lived during the reign of Hezekiah and wrote, not of an event 700
years in the future, but of one near at hand, the expected invasions
of the Assyrians. The passage quoted by Matthew (ii, 15) from Hosea
(xi, 1) refers to the exodus of the Israelites which took place 700
years before the time of Hosea.
Zechariah is the work of at least three writers. Davidson says: "To
Zechariah's authentic oracles were attached chapters ix-xiv, themselves
made up of two parts (ix-xi, xii-xiv) belonging to different times
and authors" (Canon, p. 33). The passage quoted by Matthew (xxi, 5)
is not from the authentic portion of Zechariah, but from one of the
spurious chapters, ix, 9.
Mark (1, 2, 3) quotes a prophecy which he applies to John the
Baptist. The passage quoted contains two sentences, one of which
is found in Malachi (iii, 1), the other in Isaiah (xl, 3). Whiston
declares that both sentences originally belonged to Isaiah. If Whiston
is correct the Evangelist has not quoted Malachi. This, the last book
of the Old Testament, is an anonymous work, Malachi being the name
of the book and not of the author.
The period assigned for the prophecies of Amos is from 808 to 785
B.C. The book contains the following: "In that day will I raise up the
tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof;
and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of
old" (ix, 11).
"And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and
they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them" (14).
Amos was not written until after the captivity. This commenced 588
B.C. and continued fifty years.
Joel, it is asserted, was written 800 B.C. That this writer also
lived after the captivity is shown by the following:
"I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem" (iii, 1).
This passage, it is claimed, was a prediction made centuries before
the event occurred. Joel's ability to predict future events, however,
is negatived by his next effort: "But Judah shall dwell forever,
and Jerusalem from generation to generation" (20).
"Nineveh is laid waste: who shall bemoan her?" (Nahum iii, 7).
The composition of Nahum is placed between 720 and 698 B.C. Nineveh
was destroyed 606 B.C., a century later.
The first verse of Zephaniah declares that the book was written
"in the days of Josiah," in the seventh century B.C.; the last verse
shows that it was written in the days of Cyrus, in the sixth century
B.C. Every chapter of Habakkuk and Obadiah's single chapter show that
these books were written after the dates assigned.
The book of Haggai is ascribed to Haggai, the last person in the world
to whom it can reasonably be ascribed. It is not a book of Haggai,
but about Haggai. Excepting a few brief exhortations, of which it
gives an account, it does not purport to contain a word from his
tongue or pen. This argument applies with still greater force to Jonah.
The greater portion of the Minor Prophets are probably forgeries. The
names of their alleged authors are attached to them, but in most
cases in the form of a superscription only. Each book opens with a
brief introduction announcing the author. These introductions were not
written by the authors themselves, but by others. The only authority
for pronouncing the books authentic, then, is the assurance of some
unknown Jewish scribe or editor.
A damaging argument against the authority, if not against the
authenticity, of the Prophets is the fact that while the historical
records of the Old Testament cover the time during which all of them
are said to have flourished, only a few of them are deemed worthy
of mention.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE HAGIOGRAPHA.
The Hagiographa comprises the remaining thirteen books of the
Old Testament. It was divided into three divisions: 1. Psalms,
Proverbs, Job. 2. Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes,
Esther. 3. Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, First and Second Chronicles. The
Jews considered these books of less value than those of the Law and
the Prophets. The books belonging to the third division possess little
merit; but the first two divisions, omitting Esther, together with
a few poems in the Pentateuch and the Prophets, contain the cream of
Hebrew literature.
Psalms.
The collection of hymns and prayers used in public worship by Jews
and Christians, and called the Psalms, stands first in importance as a
religious book in the Hagiographa. Christians accept it not only as a
book of praise, but as a prophetic revelation and doctrinal authority.
It is popularly supposed that David wrote all, or nearly all, of
the Psalms. Many commentators attribute to him the authorship of one
hundred or more. He wrote, at the most, but a few of them.
The Jews divided them into five books: 1. Chapters i-xli; 2. xlii-lxii;
3. lxiii-lxxxix; 4. xc-cvi; 5. cvii-cl. Smith's "Bible Dictionary,"
a standard orthodox authority, claims for David the authorship of the
first book only. The second book, while including a few of his psalms,
was not compiled, it says, until the time of Hezekiah, three hundred
years after his reign. The psalms of the third book, it states, were
composed during Hezekiah's reign; those of the fourth book following
these, and prior to the Captivity; and those of the fifth book after
the return from Babylon, four hundred years after David's time.
There are psalms in the third, fourth, and fifth books ascribed
to David, but they are clearly of much later origin. The "Bible
Dictionary" admits that they were not composed by him, and attempts
to account for the Davidic superscription by assuming that they were
written by Hezekiah, Josiah, and others who were lineal descendants
and belonged to the house of David. But there is nothing to warrant
the assumption that they were written by these Jewish kings. They
were anonymous pieces to which the name of David was affixed to add
to their authority.
The second book concludes with these words: "The prayers of David,
the son of Jesse, are ended." This is accepted to mean that none of
the psalms following this book belong to David. The Korahite psalms,
assigned to David's reign, belong to a later age. Twelve psalms are
ascribed to Asaph, who lived in David's reign. This passage from one
of them was written at least 430 years after David's death:
"O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple
have they defiled: they have laid Jerusalem on heaps" (lxxix, 1).
In the second and third books the word God occurs 206 times, while
Jehovah, translated "Lord God," occurs but 44 times; in the remaining
three books, God occurs but 23 times, while Jehovah occurs 640 times.
Psalms xlii and xliii are merely parts of the same psalm. Psalm xix
consists of two distinct psalms, the first eleven verses constituting
one, the last three another. Psalms xiv and liii are the same; lx and
cviii, omitting the first four or five verses, are also the same. The
Septuagint version and the Alexandrian manuscript contain 151 psalms,
the last one being omitted from other versions.
Some of the more conservative German critics credit David with
as many as thirty psalms. Dr. Lyman Abbott contends that he did
not write more than fifteen. The Dutch scholars, Kuenen and Oort,
believe that he wrote none. And this is probably the truth. While
collections of these psalms doubtless existed at an earlier period,
the book, in its present form, was compiled during the Maccabean age,
about one hundred and fifty years before the Christian era.
Many of these psalms are fine poetical compositions; but the greater
portion of them are crude in construction, and some of them fiendish
in sentiment.
Proverbs.
The authorship of Proverbs has been ascribed to Solomon. He could have
written but few of these proverbs, and probably wrote none. It is a
compilation of maxims made many centuries after his time. Tradition
represented Solomon as the wisest of men, and every wise saying whose
origin was unknown was credited to him.
Dr. Oort says: "The history of Solomon's wisdom resembles that
of David's music. In either case the imagination of posterity has
given a thoroughly religious character to what was in reality purely
secular; and just as David was made the author of a number of psalms,
so various works of the so-called sages, or proverb-makers, were
ascribed to Solomon" (Bible for Learners, vol. ii, p. 75).
The book consists of seven different collections of proverbs, as
follows: 1. i, 7-ix; 2. x-xxii, 16; 3. xxii, 17-xxiv; 4. xxv-xxix;
5. xxx; 6. xxxi, 1-9; 7. xxxi, 10-31. The first six verses are
a preface.
The first collection, it is admitted, was not the work of
Solomon. These proverbs were composed as late as 600 B.C. The second
collection is presented as "The Proverbs of Solomon." If any of
Solomon's proverbs exist they are contained in this collection. The
third collection is anonymous. The fourth begins as follows: "These
are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah,
copied out" (700 B.C.). The fifth contains "The words of Agur the son
of Jakeh." The sixth, comprising the first nine verses of the last
chapter, are "The words of King Lemuel." The seventh, comprising the
remainder of the chapter, is a poem, written after the Captivity.
Job.
It is remarkable that the book which, from a literary point of view,
occupies the first place among the books of the Bible, should be the
only one in the collection that was not written by a believer in the
religion of the Bible. It is almost universally conceded that the
book of Job was not written by a Jew, but by a Gentile.
Most Christians ascribe its authorship to Job himself; but there
is no more authority for ascribing it to Job than there is for
ascribing the Pentateuch to Moses. Job is the name of the leading
character of the book, not the name of its author. Its authorship is
unknown. The Talmud asserts, and probably correctly, that Job was
not a real personage--that the book is an allegory. Luther says,
"It is merely the argument of a fable."
Regarding its antiquity, Dr. Hitchcock says: "The first written of
all the books in the Bible, and the oldest literary production in the
world, is the book of Job." The date assigned for its composition is
1520 B.C.
Had Job been written a thousand years before the time claimed, it
would not be the oldest literary production in the world. But it was
probably written a thousand years after the time claimed. Luther places
its composition 500 years after this time; Renan says that it was
written 800 years later, Ewald and Davidson 900 years later. Grotius
and De Wette believe that it was written 1000 years after the date
assigned, while Hartmann and others contend that it was written still
later. While its exact date cannot be determined, there is internal
evidence pointing to a much later age than that named.
"Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the
south" (ix, 9).
The use of these Greek astronomical names proves a later origin. So,
too, does the following passage:
"The Chaldeans made out three bands" (i, 17).
Of this people Chambers' Encyclopedia says: "The Chaldeans are first
heard of in the ninth century before Christ as a small Accadian tribe
on the Persian Gulf." This was seven centuries after the date assigned
for Job, while the same authority states that Chaldea did not exist
until a still later period.
The poem of Job, as originally composed, comprised the following:
Chapters i-xxvii, 10; xxviii-xxxi; xxviii-xli, 12; xlii, 1-6. All
the rest of the book, about eight chapters--nearly one fifth of
it--consists of clumsy forgeries. The poet is a radical thinker
who boldly questions the wisdom and justice of God. To counteract
the influence of his work these interpolations which controvert its
teachings were inserted.
Nor is this all. Our translators have still further mutilated the
work. Its most damaging lines they have mistranslated or glossed
over. Thus Job (xiii, 15) says: "He [God] will slay me; I have no
hope." Yet they make him say the very reverse of this: "Though he
slay me, yet will I trust in him."
The Five Rolls.
The second division of the Hagiographa, known as the Five Rolls,
or Megilloth, contains five small books--The Song of Solomon,
Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Ruth, and Esther.
The Song of Solomon, Song of Songs, or Canticles, as it is variously
called, and Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher, are said to be the works
of Solomon--the former a product of his youth, the latter of his old
age. It is quite certain that the same author did not write both,
and equally certain that Solomon wrote neither.
The Song of Solomon, Ewald affirms, is an anonymous poem, written
about the middle of the tenth century B.C..--after Solomon's time. It
is doubtless of much later origin. It belongs to Northern, and
not to Southern Palestine. This alone proves that Solomon did not
write it. The Talmud says, "Hezekiah and his company wrote Isaiah,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs." Hengstenberg, one of the
most orthodox of commentators, says that Ecclesiastes was written
centuries after the time of Solomon. Davidson believes that it was
written as late as 350 B.C.; while Hartmann and Hitzig, German critics,
contend that it was written still later.
Solomon's Song is an amorous poem, beautiful in its way. But when
we turn to it in the Christian Bible and find the running titles
of every page and the table of contents of every chapter filled
with sanctimonious drivel about Christ and his bride, the Church,
we are reminded of a lecherous parson masquerading under the cloak of
piety among his female parishioners. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes is
something of a Freethought preacher. He is a skeptic and a philosopher.
Lamentations, it is claimed, was composed by Jeremiah. There is little
evidence either for or against this claim. Oort affirms that its
ascription to Jeremiah is a "mistaken tradition," that its five poems
were written by five different authors and at different times. The
habit of ascribing anonymous writings to eminent men was prevalent
among the Jews. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Daniel, and
probably Jeremiah, have been declared the authors of books of which
they never heard.
Ruth is the only book of the Bible whose authorship is generally
conceded by Christians to be unknown. Dr. Hitchcock says: "There is
nothing whatever by which the authorship of it can be determined."
Many orthodox scholars admit that Esther's authorship, like that
of Ruth, is unknown. Some credit it to Mordecai. It was written
as late as 300 B.C., 150 years after Mordecai's time. The Vulgate
and modern Catholic versions include six chapters not found in our
authorized version. There are many books in the Bible devoid of truth,
but probably none so self-evidently false as Esther. It has been
described as "a tissue of glaring impossibilities from beginning to
end." Luther pronounces it a "heathenish extravagance."
Daniel.
Christians class Daniel with the Greater Prophets, and assign its
authorship to the sixth century B.C. It belongs to the Hagiographa
and was one of the last books of the Old Testament to be written.
A considerable portion of the book relates to Belshazzar. Twenty
times in one chapter is he referred to as the king of Babylon, and
five times is he called the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Yet Belshazzar was
not the son of Nebuchadnezzar, neither was he king of Babylon. Again
the author devotes several chapters to Darius "the Median," who,
he says, defeated the Chaldeans and conquered Babylon. Now, nearly
everybody, excepting this writer, supposed that it was Cyrus the
Persian who conquered Babylon. Darius "the Median" was never king of
Babylon. This book was written by one ignorant of Babylonian history,
and not by Daniel, who lived in Babylon, and who is said to have been
next to the king in authority.
Prof. A. H. Sayce, Professor of Assyriology in Oxford University,
considered by many the greatest of archæologists, a believer in
the divinity of the Bible and an opponent of Higher Criticism, is
compelled to reject Daniel. In a recent article, he says: "The old
view of the old Book is correct excepting the book of Daniel, which
is composed of legends.... The historical facts as we know them from
the contemporaneous records are irreconcilable with the statements
found in the historical portions of Daniel."
This statement, aside from its rejection of Daniel, is
significant. Here is a man whose life-long study and researches make
him preeminently qualified to judge of one book's authenticity and
credibility. This book he rejects. The books he accepts are those
concerning which he is not specially qualified to judge.
Dr. Arnold says: "I have long thought that the greater part of the
book of Daniel is most certainly a very late work, of the time of
the Maccabees" (Life and Correspondence, Vol. II., p. 188). This
conclusion of Dr. Arnold's, made seventy years ago, is confirmed by
the later critics who place its composition in the reign of Antiochus
Epiphanes, about 165 B.C.
A part, if not all of the book, was written in Aramaic. In the Greek
version the three small Apocryphal books, History of Susannah, Song
of the Three Holy Children, and Bel and the Dragon, are included in
it. The fact that the Jews placed Daniel in the Hagiographa, instead of
the Prophets, is fatal to the claims regarding its authorship and date.
Ezra and Nehemiah.
Ezra and Nehemiah for a time constituted one book, Ezra. This was
afterwards divided into two books and called The First and Second
books of Ezra. Both were ascribed to Ezra. Subsequently the names
were changed to those by which they are now known, and the authorship
assigned respectively to Ezra and Nehemiah. That both were not composed
by the same author is shown by the fact that each contains a copy of
the register of the Jews that returned from Babylon.
Critics agree that Ezra did not write all of the book which now bears
his name--that it is the work of various authors and was written,
for the most part, long after Ezra's time. A portion of it was written
in Hebrew and the remainder in Aramaic.
Nehemiah wrote, at the most, but a part of the book ascribed to
him. He did not write the following:
"The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua,
were recorded chief of the fathers; also the priests to the reign of
Darius the Persian" (xii, 22).
Darius the Persian began to reign 336 B.C.; Nehemiah wrote 433 B.C.
"There were in the days of ... Nehemiah the governor" (xii, 26). "In
the days of Nehemiah" (47).
These passages show that the book, as a whole, was not only not written
by Nehemiah, but not until long after the time of Nehemiah. Spinoza
says that both Ezra and Nehemiah were written two or three hundred
years after the time claimed. The later critics are generally agreed
that neither Ezra nor Nehemiah had anything to do with the composition
of these books.
First and Second Chronicles.
The concluding books of the Hagiographa, and of the Old
Testament, if arranged in their proper order, are First and Second
Chronicles. Theologians tell us that they were written or compiled
by Ezra 456 B.C.
By carefully comparing the genealogy given in the third chapter of 1
Chronicles with that given in the first chapter of Matthew, it will
be seen that the records of Chronicles are brought down to within a
few generations of Jesus. These books are a compilation of documents
made centuries after the time that Ezra and Nehemiah are supposed to
have completed the canon of the Old Testament, and a hundred years
after the date assigned for the Septuagint translation.
The fragmentary character of many of the books of the Bible, and
particularly of Chronicles, is shown in the conclusion of the second
book. It closes with an unfinished sentence, as follows: "The Lord
his God is with him and let him go up--." The concluding words may
be found in another book of the Bible--Ezra (i, 3): "To Jerusalem,
which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel,"
etc. The first verses of Ezra are identical with the last verses of
Chronicles. The compiler of Chronicles had seemingly begun to copy
the document which now forms a part of the book of Ezra, and in the
middle of a sentence was suddenly called away from his work, never
to resume and complete it.
We have now reviewed the books of the Old Testament. We have seen
that the claims made in support of their authenticity are, for the
most part, either untrue or incapable of proof. When and by whom
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges,
Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, First and
Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel, Jonah, Haggai,
and Malachi were written is unknown. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and
Zechariah wrote, at the most, but portions of the books ascribed to
them. The few remaining books may have been written by those whose
names they bear, though even these are veiled in doubt. There is not
one book in the Old Testament whose authenticity, like that of many
ancient Greek and Roman books, is fully established.
CHAPTER IX.
THE FOUR GOSPELS.
The lesser in size but the greater in importance of the two divisions
of the Bible is the New Testament. The principal books of the New
Testament, and the most highly valued by Christians of all the books
of the Bible, are the Four Gospels. These books, it is affirmed,
were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in the first century;
Matthew between 37 and 50, Mark and Luke between 56 and 63, and John
between 78 and 97 A.D.
The orthodox claims regarding the origin of these books are thus
expressed by Dr. Hitchcock:
"The Four Gospels are the best authenticated ancient writings in the
world; so clear, weighty, and extensive is the mass of testimony in
favor of them" (Analysis of the Bible, p. 1149).
"These four books, together constituting the best attested piece of
history in the world, were written by four eye-witnesses of the facts
narrated" (Ibid, p. 1151).
"Matthew and John were Apostles and Mark and Luke were companions
and disciples of Apostles" (Ibid).
If these books are authentic and divinely inspired, as claimed,
Christianity is built upon a rock, and the floods and winds of
adverse criticism will beat against it in vain; but if they are not
authentic--if they were not written by the Evangelists named--if they
are merely anonymous books, written one hundred and fifty years after
the events they purport to record, as many contend, then it is built
upon the sand and must fall.
The Apostles.
Christians claim to have an "unbroken chain of testimony" to the
genuineness and credibility of the Four Gospels from the alleged
dates of their composition down to the present time. I shall endeavor
to show that they have no such chain of testimony--that the most
important part of it is wanting.
Twenty books--all of the remaining books of the New Testament but
three--are ascribed to the Apostles Paul, Peter, and John. All of
these books, it is affirmed, were written after Matthew was written,
and about one-half of them after Mark and Luke were written. If this
be true, some proofs of the existence of the Synoptic Gospels ought
to be found in these books.
Of the fourteen Epistles credited to Paul all have been assigned
later dates than Matthew, and a portion of them later dates than Mark
and Luke. But there is not a word to indicate that any one of these
Gospels was in existence when Paul wrote.
The two Epistles of Peter, it is claimed, were written after Matthew,
Mark, and Luke were written. But these Epistles contain no mention
of them.
The four remaining books, First, Second, and Third John and Revelation,
are said to have been written after these Gospels were composed. Their
reputed author, however, knows nothing of these gospels.
The three great Apostles are silent--three links at the very beginning
of this chain are missing.
The Apostolic Fathers.
After the Apostles, and contemporary with the oldest of them, come the
Apostolic Fathers, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, and Polycarp. Clement
wrote about the close of the first century. There are two Epistles
credited to him, but in these Epistles are to be found no evidences
of the existence of the Four Gospels.
Ignatius is said to have suffered martyrdom in the year 116. There
are fifteen Epistles which bear his name. A few of these are believed
to be genuine, while the remainder are conceded to be forgeries. But
in none of them, neither in the genuine nor in the spurious, is there
any evidence that the Gospels had appeared when they were written.
Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who is said to have been the companion of
John, died at a very advanced age, about the year 167. His Epistle to
the Philippians is extant, but it contains no reference to the Gospels.
Hermas and Barnabas are usually classed with the Apostolic Fathers. The
Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas make no mention of
the Evangelists.
That the writings of the Apostolic Fathers contain no proofs of
the existence of the Four Gospels is admitted even by Christian
writers. Dr. Westcott admits it:
"Reference in the sub-apostolic age to the discourses or actions of our
Lord, as we find them recorded in the Gospels, show, as far as they go,
that what the Gospels relate was then held to be true; but it does
not necessarily follow that they were already in use, and were the
actual source of the passages in question. On the contrary, the mode
in which Clement refers to our Lord's teaching--'the Lord said,' not
'saith'--seems to imply that he was indebted to tradition, and not to
any written accounts, for words most closely resembling those which
are still found in our Gospels. The main testimony of the Apostolic
Fathers is, therefore, to the substance, and not to the authenticity
of the Gospels" (On the Canon of the New Testament, p. 52).
Bishop Marsh makes the following admission: "From the Epistle of
Barnabas, no inference can be deduced that he had read any part
of the New Testament. From the genuine Epistle, as it is called,
of Clement of Rome, it may be inferred that Clement had read the
First Epistle to the Corinthians. From the Shepherd of Hermas no
inference whatsoever can be drawn. From the Epistles of Ignatius it
may be concluded that he had read St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians,
and that there existed in his time evangelical writings, though it
cannot be shown that he has quoted them. From Polycarp's Epistle to the
Philippians it appears that he had heard of St. Paul's Epistle to that
community, and he quotes a passage which is in the First Epistle to
the Corinthians and another which is in the Epistle to the Ephesians;
but no positive conclusion can be drawn with respect to any other
epistle, or any of the Four Gospels" (Michaelis, Vol. I., p. 354).
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 Irenæus).
Professor Norton says: "When we endeavor to strengthen this evidence by
appealing to the writings ascribed to Apostolic Fathers we, in fact,
weaken its force. At the very extremity of the chain of evidence,
where it ought to be strongest, we are attaching defective links which
will bear no weight" (Genuineness of the Gospels, Vol I., p. 357).
Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp, all refer to the Epistles of Paul,
showing that they were in existence when they wrote and that they were
acquainted with them. But they never mention the Four Gospels, and this
silence affords conclusive evidence that these books as authoritative
documents did not exist in their time; for it is unreasonable to
suppose that they would use the least important and make no use of
the most important books of the New Testament. Three additional and
three of the principal links in this "unbroken chain of testimony"
are wanting, and must be supplied before the authenticity of the Four
Gospels can be established.
The Christian Fathers.
The early Christian Fathers had no knowledge of the existence of the
Four Gospels. One of the earliest and one of the most eminent of the
Christian Fathers was Justin Martyr. He lived and wrote about the
middle of the second century. His writings are rather voluminous,
and are devoted to the task of proving to both Jews and Gentiles
the divinity of Christ and the divine origin of Christianity. If
a Christian writer were to attempt to demonstrate this now, where
would he go for his authority? To the Four Gospels. These would
constitute his chief--almost his entire authority. Now, had these
books been extant when Justin wrote, and valued as they are by
Christians to-day, he would have used them, he would have quoted
from them, he would have named them. But he makes no use of them,
he never mentions them. He makes more than three hundred quotations
from the Old Testament--Messianic prophecies, etc.--and in nearly two
hundred instances he names the books from which he quotes. He makes
nearly one hundred quotations from Christian writings that are now
considered apocryphal, but he makes none from the Four Gospels.
This silence of Justin is the most damaging argument that has been
adduced against the authenticity of the Gospels. This demonstrates
one of two things: that these books were not in existence when Justin
Martyr wrote, were not in existence at the middle of the second
century, or if they were, the foremost Christian scholar of his age
rejected them.
Recognizing the significance of this damaging fact, Christian
apologists have attempted to show that Justin was acquainted with
our Gospels by citing extracts from his writings similar to passages
found in them. Westcott adduces seven passages, but admits that two
only are wholly identical. He says:
"Of the seven, five agree verbally with the text of St. Matthew
or St. Luke, exhibiting, indeed, three slight various readings not
elsewhere found, but such as are easily explicable. The sixth is a
condensed summary of words related by St. Matthew; the seventh alone
presents an important variation in the text of a verse, which is,
however, otherwise very uncertain" (Canon of the New Testament,
p. 131).
Think of this renowned defender of Christianity, Justin Martyr,
attempting to establish the divinity of Christ by citing four hundred
texts from the Old Testament and apocryphal books and two only from
the Evangelists!
There is really but one passage in the Gospels to be found in
Justin. But if it could be shown that they contain many passages
similar to, or even identical with, passages found in his writings,
this would not prove that he has quoted from them. It is not claimed
that these Gospels are mere fabrications of their authors, or that
they are composed entirely of original matter. They consist largely
of traditions, and these traditions, many of them, were embodied in
other and older books which were used by the early Fathers. While the
Four Gospels were not extant in Justin's time, some of the documents
of which they are composed, particularly those containing the reputed
sayings of Jesus, had already appeared and were frequently cited by
the Fathers. These citations, Paley, Lardner, Westcott, and others,
in their evidences of Christianity, have adduced as proofs of the
early origin of the Four Gospels.
Justin's quotations are chiefly from what he calls the "Memoirs of
the Apostles." These, it is claimed, were the Four Gospels. If so,
then the gospels we have are not genuine, for the quotations from the
"Memoirs" are not to be found in our Gospels. Justin says that Mary
(not Joseph) was descended from David; that Jesus was born in a cave;
that the Magi came from Arabia; that Jesus made ploughs and yokes;
that a fire was kindled in the Jordan at his baptism; that he was
called a magician. The "Memoirs," or Gospels, from which Justin quotes
are not our Gospels.
The Rev. Dr. Giles repudiates the claim that Justin Martyr recognized
the Gospels. He says:
"The very names of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
are never mentioned by him--do not occur once in all his works. It
is, therefore, childish to say that he has quoted from our existing
Gospels" (Christian Records, p. 71).
Papias, a Christian bishop and a contemporary of Justin Martyr,
is cited as a witness for the Gospels. He is quoted by Eusebius as
referring to writings of Matthew and Mark. But the books he mentions
are plainly not the gospels of Matthew and Mark.
Of Matthew he says: "Matthew composed the oracles in the Hebrew
dialect, and every one interpreted them as he was able" (Eusebius'
Ecclesiastical History, book iii, p. 39).
This was not the biographical narrative known as "Matthew," but
probably an apocryphal book called the "Oracles of Christ," which
some ascribed to Matthew.
Mark is referred to as follows: "Mark having become the interpreter
of Peter, wrote accurately whatever he remembered, though he did
not arrange in order the things which were either said or done
by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord, nor followed him; but
afterwards, as I said, accompanied Peter, who adapted his teaching
to the occasion, and not as making a consecutive record of the Lord's
discourses" (Ecclesiastical History, book iii, p. 39).
This does not describe our Gospel of Mark, which, although
a compilation, is a consecutive narrative of events, and not a
collection of isolated fragments.
But even if Papias was acquainted with the Gospels, he is a poor
witness to their credibility, for he accepted the teachings of
tradition in preference to the books which he knew: "I held that what
was to be derived from books did not profit me as that from the living
and abiding voice [tradition]" (Ecclesiastical History, iii, 39).
Dr. Davidson admits that the books mentioned by Papias were not our
Gospels. He says:
"Papias speaks of Matthew and Mark, but it is most probable that he had
documents which either formed the basis of our present Matthew and Mark
or were taken into them and written over" (Canon of the Bible, p. 124).
"He neither felt the want nor knew the existence of inspired Gospels"
(Ibid, p. 123).
The writings of thirty Christian authors who wrote prior to 170 are
still extant. In all these writings there is to be found no mention
of the Four Gospels.
In the writings of Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, occurs the
following: "John says: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was God.'" This was written in 180, after the middle of the latter
half of the second century, and is the earliest proof of the existence
of any one of the Four Gospels.
Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, who wrote about 190, is the earliest
writer who mentions all of the Four Gospels. He names them; he
declares them to be inspired; he makes four hundred quotations from
them. The Four Gospels were in existence when Irenæus wrote, and they
were undoubtedly composed between the time of Justin Martyr and the
time of Irenæus--that is, some time during the latter half of the
second century.
Writers on the evidences of Christianity endeavor to establish the
genuineness of the Four Gospels by showing that the Fathers who lived
and wrote during the two centuries following the ministry and death
of Jesus accepted and quoted them as authorities. They credit these
Fathers with more than four thousand evangelical quotations. But where
are these quotations to be found? Nearly all of them in Irenæus,
Clemens of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Origen, while in Clement
of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr few or none are
claimed. The fact that the writings of the Fathers which appeared
immediately after 180 contain thousands of evangelical references,
while in all the writings which appeared before 170 the evangelists
are not even named, affords conclusive evidence that the Four Gospels
were composed during or near the decade that elapsed between 170 and
180 A.D.
Internal Evidence.
The Four Gospels do not claim to have been composed by Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. The titles are not "The Gospel of Matthew,"
"The Gospel of Mark," "The Gospel of Luke," and "The Gospel of John,"
but "The Gospel According to Matthew," "The Gospel According to Mark,"
"The Gospel According to Luke," and "The Gospel According to John." The
titles simply imply that they are according to the real or traditional
teachings of these Evangelists. So far as the textual authorship is
concerned, they are, and do not purport to be other than, anonymous
books. Omit these titles, and not one word remains to indicate their
authorship. Now, it is admitted that these books did not originally
bear these titles. St. Chrysostom, who believes that they are genuine,
says (Homilies i) that the authors did not place their names at
the head of their Gospels, but that this was afterward done by the
church. There is nothing in them to support the claim that they were
written by those whose names have been prefixed. On the contrary,
their contents furnish conclusive proofs that they were not written
by these supposed authors, nor in the apostolic age.
Matthew.
Christians believe that Matthew's Gospel was written in Hebrew. Our
Matthew was written in Greek. An attempt has been made to explain
the discrepancy by assuming that Matthew wrote his book in Hebrew,
and subsequently rewrote it in Greek, or translated it into this
language. But another difficulty remains. The quotations from the
Old Testament in Matthew, and there are many, are taken, not from the
Hebrew, but from the Septuagint (Greek) version. This proves that it
was originally written in Greek and not in Hebrew.
The Gospel According to the Hebrews, it is affirmed, was the Hebrew
form of Matthew. If this be true, then our Greek Matthew cannot be a
correct translation, for the passages from the Gospel of the Hebrews
which have been preserved are not to be found in Matthew. The following
quotations are from the Gospel of the Hebrews, this supposed original
Gospel of Matthew:
"He who wonders shall reign, and he who reigns shall rest."
"Then the rich man began to smite his head, and it pleased him not."
"The Holy Ghost, my mother, lately took me by one of my hairs, and
bore me to the great mountain Tabor."
"I am a mason, who get my livelihood by my hands; I beseech thee,
Jesus, that thou wouldst restore to me my strength, that I may no
longer thus scandalously beg my bread."
If these passages are from the original Gospel of Matthew, then the
accepted Gospel of Matthew is spurious.
This Hebrew Gospel was the Gospel of the Ebionites and
Nazarenes. Eusebius says: "They [the Ebionites] made use only of that
which is called the Gospel According to the Hebrews." Epiphanius says:
"They [the Nazarenes] have the Gospel of Matthew most entire in the
Hebrew language." St. Jerome refers to it as "the Gospel which the
Nazarenes and Ebionites use."
Referring to these sects, Dr. Hug, the eminent Catholic critic, says:
"The Ebionites denied the miraculous conception of Christ, and,
with the Nazarenes, looked upon him only as an ordinary man." The
Gospel which these sects accepted as their authority could not have
been our Gospel of Matthew, because the most important part of this
Gospel is the story of the miraculous conception.
While the claim that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew is vigorously
maintained, the claim that he afterwards translated it into Greek
himself is so manifestly untenable that many have conceded its
improbability. Jerome says: "Who afterwards translated it [Matthew]
into Greek is not sufficiently certain."
The consequences of this admission are thus reluctantly 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."
Two texts may be cited from Matthew which prove a later date for the
Gospel than that claimed. Jesus, in upbraiding the Jews, is reported
to have used the following language:
"Upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth,
from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of
Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar" (xxiii, 35).
Zacharias, the son of Baruch (Barouchos), who is undoubtedly meant,
was slain in the temple about 69 A.D. Thus Matthew makes Jesus refer
to an event that occurred forty years after his death and twenty or
thirty years after the Gospel of Matthew is said to have been written.
Dr. Hug admits that this is the Zacharias referred to. He says:
"There cannot be a doubt, if we attend to the name, the fact and its
circumstances, and the object of Jesus in citing it, that it was the
same Zacharias Barouchos, who, according to Josephus, a short time
before the destruction of Jerusalem, was unjustly slain in the temple."
Regarding this passage in Matthew, Professor Newman, of University
College, London, says: "There is no other man known in history to
whom this verse can allude. If so, it shows how late, how ignorant,
how rash, is the composer of a text passed off on us as sacred truth"
(Religion Not History, p. 46).
"Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee
the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven" (xvi, 18, 19).
This passage was written at the beginning of the establishment of the
Roman Catholic hierarchy, for the purpose of securing the recognition
of the Church of Rome (the founding of which tradition assigned to
Peter) as the church of Christ.
Bishop Marsh, in his Michaelis, says: "If the arguments in favor of
a late date for the composition of St. Matthew's Gospel be compared
with those in favor of an early date, it will be found that the former
greatly outweigh the latter."
Dr. Davidson admits that Matthew is an anonymous work. He says:
"The author, indeed, must ever remain unknown" (Introduction to the
New Testament, p. 72).
Mark.
As to where the Gospel of Mark was written, whether in Asia, in Africa,
or in Europe, is unknown. Some believe that it was written at Antioch;
Chrysostom states that it was written at Alexandria; Irenæus says
that it was written at Rome. If it was written at Rome it was probably
written in Latin instead of Greek. Smith's "Bible Dictionary" concedes
that "it abounds in Latin words." The following is an example:
"And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name
is Legion: for we are many" (v. 9).
Commenting on this passage, the Rev. Dr. Giles says: "The Four Gospels
are written in Greek, and the word 'legion' is Latin; but in Galilee
and Perea the people spoke neither Latin nor Greek, but Hebrew, or
a dialect of it. The word 'legion' would be perfectly unintelligible
to the disciples of Christ, and to almost everybody in the country"
(Christian Records, p. 197).
If it was written in Latin, then our Greek Mark, like Matthew, instead
of being an original Gospel, is simply an unauthenticated translation.
Mark has generally been considered a Petrine Gospel; orthodox
Christians claiming that Peter dictated the Gospel to Mark. Discussing
this claim, the author of "Supernatural Religion" says: "Throughout
the Gospel there is the total absence of anything which is specially
characteristic of Petrine influence and teaching" (Vol. I.,
p. 362). Volkmar and others declare it to be Pauline. One thing can
be affirmed with certainty; it was not written by John Mark, neither
was it dictated by Peter.
The last twelve verses of Mark, it is claimed, are an interpolation,
because they are not to be found in the older manuscripts of the
book. The Revision Committee which prepared the New Version of the
New Testament pronounced them spurious. If these verses are not
genuine, then it must be admitted that the second Gospel is either
an unfinished or a mutilated work; for with these verses omitted,
it ends abruptly with the visit of the women to the tomb, leaving the
most important events at the close of Christ's career, his appearance
and ascension--the proofs of his resurrection--unrecorded.
The greater portion of Mark is to be found in Matthew and Luke, and
much of it in the same or similar language. Judge Waite, in his review
of the Gospel, says: "Mark has almost a complete parallel in Luke and
Matthew taken together. There are but 24 verses which have no parallel
in either of the other synoptics" (History of Christianity, p. 350).
Regarding the origin of Mark, Strauss says: "Our second Gospel
cannot have originated from recollections of Peter's instructions,
i. e., from a source peculiar to itself, since it is evidently a
compilation, whether made from memory or otherwise, from the first
and third Gospels" (Life of Jesus, Vol. I., p. 51).
That neither Peter nor Mark had anything to do with the composition
of this book is admitted by Davidson. Referring to it he says: "It
has therefore no relation to the Apostle, and derives no sanction
from his name. The author is unknown" (Introduction to New Testament,
Vol. II, p. 84).
Luke.
In denying the authenticity of Mark and Luke, what I deny is that these
books were written by the traditional Mark and Luke, the companions
of Peter and Paul. I deny that they were written in the apostolic age
and by apostolic authority. As stated by "Chambers's Encyclopedia,"
"the question as to their genuineness is in the main question as
to the fact of their existence at this early period; the special
authorship of each Gospel is a comparatively less important question."
The book of Luke is anonymous; it does not claim to be written by
Luke. And yet the Fathers may have been correct in ascribing its
authorship to him. If so, who was this Luke? Where did he live? When
did he write his book? "Chambers's" says he "was born, according to
the accounts of the Church Fathers, at Antioch, in Syria." Smith's
"Bible Dictionary" says, "He was born at Antioch." The Gospel is
addressed to Theophilus. Who was Theophilus? The "Bible Dictionary"
says: "From the honorable epithet applied to him in Luke i, 3, it
has been argued with much probability that he was a person in high
official position." There is but one Theophilus known to history to
whom the writer can possibly refer, and this is Theophilus, Bishop
of Antioch, who lived in the latter part of the second century. Luke
and Theophilus, then, both belonged to Antioch, and it is undoubtedly
to this Theophilus that Luke's Gospel is addressed. This proves that
it was written more than one hundred years after the date assigned
for its composition. When Luke assumed the task of writing a Gospel,
Matthew, it has been claimed, was the only Gospel extant. And yet
Luke in his introduction declares that many had been written; all of
which he admits were genuine. Jerome says that one of the Gospels
which Luke refers to was the Gospel of Appelles: "The Evangelist,
Luke, declares that there were many who wrote Gospels.... They were
such as that according to the Egyptians, and Thomas, and Matthias,
and Bartholomew, that of the Twelve Apostles, and Basilides, and
Appelles, and others." The Gospel of Appelles was written about
60 A.D. If Luke's Gospel was written after the Gospel of Appelles,
it was written after the middle of the second century.
Dr. Schleiermacher, one of the greatest of modern theologians,
maintains that Luke is a compilation of thirty-three different
manuscripts; as follows: Chapter i, 1-4; i, 5-80; ii, 1-20; ii, 21;
ii, 22-40; ii, 41-52; iii, iv, 1-15; iv, 16-30; iv, 31-44; v, 1-11;
v, 12-16; v, 17-26; v, 27-39, vi, 1-11; vi, 12-49; vii, 1-10; vii,
11-50; viii, 1-21; viii, 22-56; ix, 1-45; ix, 46-50; ix, 51-62; x,
1-24; x, 25-37; x, 38-42; xi, 1-13; xi, 14-54; xii, xiii, 1-9; xiii,
10-22; xiii, 23-35; xiv, 1-24; xiv, 25-35; xv, xvi, xvii, 1-19; xvii,
20-37; xviii, xix, xx; xxi; xxii, xxiii, 1-49; xxiii, 50-56; xxiv.
Bishop Thirlwall's Schleiermacher contains the following in regard to
the composition of Luke: "The main position is firmly established that
Luke is neither an independent writer, nor has made a compilation from
works which extended over the whole course of the life of Jesus. He
is from beginning to end no more than the compiler and arranger of
documents which he found in existence, and which he allows to pass
unaltered through his hands" (p. 313).
The immediate source of Luke's Gospel was undoubtedly the Gospel
of Marcion, itself a compilation of older documents. Referring to
this Gospel, the Rev. S. Baring-Gould 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" (Lost and Hostile
Gospels).
The Synoptics.
The Synoptics Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it is claimed, are original
and independent compositions, and the oldest of all the Gospels,
both canonical and apocryphal. This claim is disproved by the
form and character of their contents. One of two things is certain:
either these writers copied from each other, or all copied from older
documents. The following, which are but a few of the many passages
that might be adduced, afford unmistakable evidence of this:
Matthew--"They were astonished at his doctrine" (xxii, 33).
Mark--"They were astonished at his doctrine" (i, 22).
Luke--"They were astonished at his doctrine" (iv, 32).
Matthew--"For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the
scribes" (vii, 29).
Mark--"For he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the
scribes" (i, 22).
Matthew--"While he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came,
and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves, from the
chief priests," etc. (xxvi, 47).
Mark--"While he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with
him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests,"
etc. (xiv, 43).
Matthew--"And without a parable spake he not unto them" (xiii, 34).
Mark--"But without a parable spake he not unto them" (iv, 34).
Matthew--"Sought opportunity to betray him" (xxvi, 16).
Luke--"Sought opportunity to betray him" (xxii, 6).
Mark--"But they understood not that saying" (ix, 32).
Luke--"But they understood not this saying" (ix, 45).
The theory that the Synoptics borrowed from each other will account
for the agreements in their books; but it will not account for the
disagreements, and these are quite as numerous as the agreements. The
following hypothesis, however, will account for both. When the
Synoptics were composed probably fifty gospels, some of recent and
others of early origin, were already in existence. In addition to
these were a hundred other documents pertaining to Christ and his
teachings. From this mass of Gospel literature the Synoptics were
compiled. Those portions that agree were taken from a common source;
those that do not agree were taken from different documents.
Dean Alford believes that in the early ages of the church there
existed what he terms a "common substratum of apostolic teachings,"
"oral or partially documentary." This, he says, "I believe to have been
the original source of the common part of our three Gospels." Canon
Westcott admits that "their substance is evidently much older than
their form."
Professor Ladd, of Yale College, says: "In some respects each of the
first three Gospels must be regarded as a compilation; it consists
of material which the others have in common with it, and which was
of a traditional kind more or less prepared before the author of
the particular Gospel took it in hand to modify and rearrange it"
(What Is the Bible? p. 295).
Bishop Marsh, in his Michaelis, says: "The notion of an absolute
independence, in respect to the composition of our three first Gospels,
is no longer tenable" (Vol. III, part 2, p. 170).
Prof. Robertson Smith, of Scotland, pronounces them "unapostolic
digests of the second century." Evanson goes further and declares
them to be "spurious fictions of the second century."
The Encyclopedia Britannica concedes the fact that Protestant
scholarship in Europe has virtually abandoned the popular orthodox
position regarding the origin of these books. It says:
"It is certain that the Synoptic Gospels took their present form only
by degrees, and that while they have their root in the apostolic age,
they are fashioned by later influences and adapted to special wants
in the early church. They are the deposits, in short, of Christian
traditions handed down first of all in an oral form, before being
committed to writing in such a form as we have them; and this is now
an accepted conclusion of every historical school of theologians in
England no less than in Germany, conservative no less than radical."
John.
In addition to what has already been adduced against the Johannine
authorship of the Fourth Gospel, I submit the following:
1. John, the disciple of Jesus, was an unlettered fisherman. The
author of the Fourth Gospel was an accomplished scholar and a polished
writer. His book is one of the classics of Christian literature.
2. The Apostle John was born at Bethsaida. The author of John says
that Bethsaida was in Galilee (xii, 21). Bethsaida was not in Galilee,
but in Perea, and to assert that John wrote this Gospel is to assert
that he was ignorant of the location of his own town.
3. "In Bethany beyond Jordan" (New Ver. i, 28). "In Enon near to Salim"
(iii, 23). "A city of Samaria, called Sychar" (iv, 5). These passages
were written by one little acquainted with the geography of Palestine
and unfamiliar with the scenes he attempts to describe.
4. John, the son of Zebedee, was a Jew. The manner in which the author
of the Fourth Gospel always refers to the Jews is conclusive evidence
that he was not a Jew.
5. The Synoptics state that Jesus celebrated the Passover with his
disciples, and was crucified on the following day. The author of
John states that he was crucified on the previous day, and therefore
did not partake of the Paschal supper. In the second century a great
controversy arose in the church regarding this. Those who accepted
the account given in the Synoptics observed the feast, while those
who accepted the account given in the Fourth Gospel rejected it. Now,
we have the testimony of Irenæus that John himself observed this
feast. "For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe it,
because he had ever observed it with John, the disciple of our Lord"
(Against Heresies, iii, 3). As John accepted the account which appears
in the Synoptics and rejected that which appears in the Gospel of John,
he could not have written the Fourth Gospel.
6. The disciple John is represented as standing at the cross and
witnessing the crucifixion. The author of John does not claim to
have been present, but appeals to the testimony of an eye-witness in
support of his statements: "And he that saw it bare record, and his
record is true" (xix, 35).
7. "Now, there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom
he loved" (xiii, 23). "The disciple standing by, whom he loved" (xix,
26). "To Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved"
(xx, 2). This beloved disciple is said to be John. The Synoptics,
however, do not represent John as the favorite disciple. If there was
one disciple whom Jesus loved more than the others, it was Peter. To
ascribe to John the authorship of the Fourth Gospel is to ascribe to
him a spirit of self-glorification that is simply disgusting.
8. "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written,
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God:
and that believing ye might have life through his name" (xx, 30,
31). Thus concludes the original Gospel According to St. John. This
book was not written by John, but it was written by a disciple of
John for Johannine Christians. When the Roman Catholic hierarchy
was formed and the Gospel of John was admitted to the New Testament
canon, there was appended another chapter--a forgery. The hero of
this chapter is Peter. A dozen times Jesus calls him by name. To him
Jesus gives the oft repeated injunction, "Feed my lambs;" "feed my
sheep." This chapter was added to counteract the Johannine influence
and exalt the Petrine teachings so dear to Rome. To give an appearance
of genuineness to this forgery, "the disciple whom Jesus loved" is
again introduced and declared the author of the Gospel, thus making
John himself a supporter of Petrine supremacy.
9. Some of the most important events in the life of Jesus, the
Synoptics state, were witnessed by John. The author of the Fourth
Gospel knows nothing about them. "All the events said to have been
witnessed by John alone are omitted by John alone. This fact seems
fatal either to the reality of the events in question or to the
genuineness of the Fourth Gospel" (Greg).
10. Even Christians have tacitly admitted the hopelessness of
maintaining the authenticity of both the Fourth Gospel and the
Synoptics. If the Synoptics are authentic, the Fourth Gospel cannot
be. Smith's "Bible Dictionary" says: "In the Fourth Gospel the
narrative coincides with that of the other three in a few passages
only. Putting aside the account of the Passion, there are only
three facts which John relates in common with the other Evangelists"
(Art. Gospels).
11. The author of John declares Jesus to be God. The complete
deification of Jesus was the growth of generations. The early
Christians, including the Apostles, believed him to be a man. Later, he
became a demi-god, and the writings and traditions which represented
him as such formed the materials from which the Synoptics were
compiled. Not until the latter part of the second century was Jesus
placed among the gods, and not until this time was the Fourth Gospel
written.
Alluding to the Fourth Gospel, Canon Westcott says: "The earliest
account of the origin of the Gospel is already legendary."
Professor 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).
From a work entitled "The New Bible and Its Uses" Prof. Andrew
D. White, our present minister to Germany, in his "Warfare of Science"
(vol. ii, p. 306), quotes the following in relation to John, which
shows how rapidly the supposed authenticity of Bible books is
disappearing before the investigations of the Higher Critics:
"In the period of thirty years ending in 1860, of the fifty great
authorities in this line, four to one were in favor of the Johannine
authorship.... Of those who have contributed important articles
to the discussion from 1880 to 1890, about two to one reject the
Johannine authorship of the Gospel in its present shape--that is to
say, while forty years ago great scholars were four to one in favor
of, they are now two to one against, the claim that the Apostle John
wrote the Gospel as we have it."
The Four Gospels.
The principal reason for rejecting both the reputed authorship and the
credibility of the Four Gospels is the contradictory character of their
contents. If Jesus Christ was a historical personage, as Christians
believe, these alleged biographies were not written by his Apostles and
their companions; neither were they compiled from authentic records.
The Greek text of the Gospels disproves their authenticity. Their
assigned authors, or two of them at least, were unlearned Jews. Their
work was confined chiefly to the lower classes of their countrymen,
in a land where Greek was almost unknown. The absurdity of this is
shown by Mrs. Besant: "The only parallel for so curious a phenomenon
as these Greek Gospels, written by ignorant Jews, would be if a Cornish
fisherman and a low London attorney, both perfectly ignorant of German,
wrote in German the sayings and doings of a Middlesex carpenter, and as
their work was entirely confined to the lower classes of the people,
who knew nothing of German, and they desired to place within their
reach full knowledge of the carpenter's life, they circulated it among
them in German only, and never wrote anything about him in English."
The doctrines of the immaculate conception and of a material
resurrection, so prominent in the Four Gospels, are proofs of their
late origin. These doctrines are not taught in the older books of the
New Testament, and were unknown to the Christians of the first century.
The scholarly author of "Supernatural Religion," after a patient and
exhaustive examination of every accessible document relating to the
subject, writes as follows:
"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"
(Vol. II., p. 248).
Bishop Faustus, a heretical theologian of the fifth century, referring
to this so so-called Gospel history, says:
"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."
Regarding these four books and their sequel, Acts, Rev. Dr. Hooykaas,
the noted theologian and critic of Holland, voices the opinion of
himself and his renowned associates, Dr. Kuenen and Dr. Oort, in the
following words:
"Our interest is more especially excited by the five historical
books of the New Testament. If we might really suppose them to have
been written by the men whose names they bear, we could never be
thankful enough for such precious authorities.... But, alas! not
one of these five books was really written by the person whose name
it bears--though for the sake of brevity we shall still call the
writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--and they are all of more
recent date than their headings would lead us to suppose.... We
cannot say that the Gospels and the book of Acts are unauthentic,
for not one of them professes to give the name of its author. 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).
The Pentateuch was not written by Moses, nor the Four Gospels by
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The authenticity of the chief books of
the New Testament, like that of the chief books of the Old, must be
given up. The results of our review of them may be summed up in the
words of the great German, Ferdinand Christian Baur: "These Gospels
are spurious, and were written in the second century."
CHAPTER X.
ACTS, CATHOLIC EPISTLES, REVELATION.
In this chapter will be reviewed the so-called historical book of
Acts, the Catholic Epistles, and Revelation. In some versions of the
New Testament the Catholic Epistles come immediately after Acts.
Acts of the Apostles.
The Acts of the Apostles is one of many books bearing this name which
appeared during the early centuries of the church. Concerning the
origin of our canonical Acts, Dr. Hitchcock says: "It was written
by Luke, in considerable part from his own observations of the facts
narrated, and about A.D. 63, and at Rome, during Paul's stay there."
The Gospel of Luke is addressed to Theophilus; the book of Acts is
addressed to the same person, and as the author states that he has
addressed a former work to him, it is inferred that both works were
written by the same person. It has been shown that Theophilus lived
in the latter part of the second century, and that the Gospel of Luke
was written at this time. If Luke and Acts, then, were written by
the same person, and Acts was written after Luke, it also must have
been written late in the second century, and consequently could not
have been written by Luke, the companion of Paul.
It is asserted that Luke was the associate of Paul, and that he was
in Rome with Paul when his book was written. This implies Paul's
sanction of the book. But if the Epistles of Paul are genuine, and
it is generally agreed that those bearing upon this question are,
this can not be true; for the Paul of these epistles and the Paul of
Acts are two entirely different characters.
The book is entitled the Acts of the Apostles; and yet the acts of
Peter and Paul are almost the only apostolic acts recorded. Besides
the narrative of the author, the book consists largely of discourses
attributed to Peter and Paul. But the style of the "unlearned and
ignorant" (iv, 13) Peter is so similar to that of Paul with his "much
learning" (xxvi, 24), and both so closely resemble the style of the
author, that one not strongly imbued with faith must conclude that
the whole is the product of one mind.
The author cites a speech made by Gamaliel before the Jewish council,
in which he uses the following language: "For before these days rose
up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men,
almost four hundred, joined themselves, who were slain," etc. (v, 36).
Josephus, who gives an account of this event (Antiq. Bk. xx,
ch. v, sec. 1), says that it happened "while Fadus was Procurator
of Judea." This was 45 or 46 A.D. Gamaliel's speech was delivered,
according to the accepted chronology, 29 A.D. Thus the author of Acts
makes Gamaliel refer to an event as long past which in reality did
not happen until sixteen years after that time.
Continuing his speech, Gamaliel refers to another event, as follows:
"After this man [Theudas] rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the
taxing, and drew away much people after him; he also perished" (37).
Here the author makes Gamaliel state that the sedition of Judas of
Galilee occurred after that of Theudas, when in fact it occurred in
6 A.D.--forty years before. Such grave discrepancies could have been
made only by one writing long after the date claimed.
Holtzmann, a German critic, has shown that the author of Acts
borrowed from the Antiquities of Josephus. The Antiquities appeared
93 A.D.--just thirty years after the date assigned to Acts.
This book will not be given up by orthodox Christians without a
struggle. The authenticity of primitive Christianity depends largely
upon the authenticity of this book. Renan who was a Rationalist, and,
at the same time something of an apologist for Christianity, affirms
that the last pages of Acts, which are devoted almost entirely to
Paul's missionary labors constitute the only historical record of
the early church. At the same time, he admits that it is the most
faulty book in the New Testament. The Rev. Dr. Hooykaas concedes the
same. He says:
"Of the earliest fortunes of the community of Jesus, the primitive
history of the Christian church and the whole of the apostolic age,
we should know as good as nothing if we had not the book of Acts. If
only we could trust the writer fully! But we soon see that the utmost
caution is necessary. For we have another account of some of the
things about which this writer tells us--an account written by the
very man to whom they refer, the best possible authority, therefore,
as to what really took place. This man is Paul himself. In the first
two chapters of the epistle to the Galatians he 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, an
attempt--conceived no doubt with the best intentions--to hide in some
degree the actual course of events" (Bible for Learners, Vol. III.,
p. 25).
The dissensions which arose in the first century between the Jewish
Christians and the Gentile Christians had only increased with time,
and these were among the chief obstacles in the way of uniting
Christians and establishing the Catholic church. The composition
of Acts was one of the many attempts made toward the close of the
second century to heal these dissensions. The author was a man who
cared little for either Petrine or Pauline Christianity--little for
the so-called truths of Christianity in any form--but a man who cared
much for church unity and church power.
The book of Acts was little known at first. St. Chrysostom, writing
in the fifth century, says: "This book is not so much as known to
many. They know neither the book nor by whom it was written."
James and Jude.
The seven Catholic Epistles, James, First and Second Peter, First,
Second, and Third John, and Jude, have been declared spurious or
doubtful by eminent Christian scholars in every age of the church. The
Fathers were loath to admit them into the Bible, and their right to
a place there has always been disputed.
James and Jude, the first and the last of these epistles, orthodox
Christians believe, were written by James and Jude, the brothers of
Jesus, in 62 and 64 A.D.
Three leading orthodox authorities, representing the three great
divisions of the Christian church, Cajetan of the Roman Catholic
church; Lucar of the Greek Catholic church, and Erasmus of the
Protestant church, have denied the authenticity of James. Luther
himself refused to accept it. He says: "The Epistle of James I account
the writing of no apostle."
The composition of Jude and Second Peter are both placed
in A.D. 64. There is no proof that either was in existence in
A.D. 164. It is only necessary to read Jude and the second chapter
of Second Peter to see that one borrowed from the other. While most
believe that the author of Second Peter used Jude in the construction
of his epistle, Luther contends that Jude is the plagiarist. He says:
"The epistle of Jude is an abstract or copy of St. Peter's Second"
(Preface to Luther's Version).
Jude cites as authentic the apocryphal book of Enoch, and the
apocryphal story of Michael the archangel contending with Satan
for the body of Moses. Origen, Jerome, and others in ancient,
and Calvin, Grotius and others in modern times, have doubted its
authenticity. Mayerhoff says it was written in the second century to
combat the heresies of the Carpocratians.
Epistles of Peter.
Most Christians contend that the First Epistle of Peter is
genuine. Some of the early Christian Fathers, however, rejected
it. Irenæus did not place it in his canon. Not until the third century
was it accepted as the writing of Peter.
The celebrated Tubingen school of critics rejects the authenticity
of the book. Baur and Zeller believe it to be a Pauline
document. Schwegler believes that it was written to reconcile the
Pauline and Petrine doctrines. The Dutch critics say that it was
borrowed largely from Paul and James, and that it was probably written
early in the second century. Regarding its authorship, Jules Soury,
of the University of France, says:
"Nobody, however, knows better than he [Renan] that the so-called
First Epistle of Peter, full of allusions to Paul's writings, as well
as the epistle to the Hebrews and the epistle of James, dates in all
probability from the year 130 A.D., at the earliest, thus placing
two generations between the time of its composition and the latter
years of the reign of Nero, when Peter is fabled to have been in Rome"
(Jesus and the Gospels, p. 32).
All critics pronounce Second Peter a forgery. Chambers's Encyclopedia
says: "So far as external authority is concerned, it has hardly
any. The most critical and competent of the Fathers were suspicious of
its authenticity; it was rarely if ever quoted, and was not formally
admitted into the canon till the Council of Hippo, 393 A.D. The
internal evidence is just as unsatisfactory."
Smith's "Bible Dictionary" contains the following relative to its
authenticity: "We have few references to it in the writings of the
early Fathers; the style differs materially from that of the First
Epistle, and the resemblance amounting to a studied imitation between
this epistle and that of Jude, seems scarcely reconcilable with the
position of Peter.... Many reject the epistle altogether as spurious."
It is believed by some that the original title of Second Peter was
the Epistle of Simeon. Grotius argues that it is a compilation from
two older epistles. The third chapter begins as follows: "This second
epistle, beloved, I now write unto you." These words clearly denote the
beginning of a document. Those who affirm its genuineness consider the
second chapter an interpolation. Westcott says there is no evidence of
the existence of this epistle prior to 170 A.D. Scaliger declares it to
be a "fiction of some ancient Christian misemploying his leisure time."
Epistles of John.
The so-called Epistles of John, so far as the books themselves are
concerned, are anonymous. They do not purport to have been written
by the Apostle John, nor by anyone bearing the name of John.
Of First John, "Chambers's Encyclopedia" says: "Of the epistles
it is almost certain that the First proceeded from the same writer
who composed the [Fourth] Gospel. In style, language, and doctrine,
it is identical with it." If John did not write the Fourth Gospel,
and it is conceded by most writers that he did not, then he did not
write this epistle.
Referring to the Gospel of John, whose authenticity he denies and
whose composition he assigns to the second century, Dr. Hooykaas
says: "The First Epistle of John soon issued from the same school in
imitation of the Gospel" (Bible for Learners, Vol. III, p. 692).
Of two passages in the First Epistle, ii, 23, and v, 7, which teach
the doctrine of the Trinity, the "Bible Dictionary" says: "It would
appear without doubt that they are not genuine." The Revisers of the
King James version pronounced them spurious.
The second and third epistles were not written by the writer of
the first. The early Fathers rejected them. Eusebius in the fourth
century classed them with the doubtful books. It has been claimed that
the second epistle was written for the purpose of counteracting the
heretical teachings of Basilides and his followers. Basilides was a
famous writer of the second century.
These epistles have the following superscriptions: "The elder
[presbyter] unto the elect lady" to the first, and "The elder unto
the well-beloved Gaius" to the second. The declaration that they are
from an elder or presbyter proves that they are not from an apostle,
and consequently not from the Apostle John. If they were written by a
writer named John, it was probably John the Presbyter, who lived in
the second century. Jerome states that they were generally credited
to him. In his account of John the Presbyter, Judge Waite says:
"He is also, not without reason, believed to have been the author of
the Epistles of John" (History of the Christian Religion, p. 228).
Revelation.
Revelation is the last book of the Bible, and the one least
understood. Christians themselves are not agreed as to its
meaning. Some believe it to be a series of prophecies which have had
their fulfilment in the struggles between Christianity and Paganism;
others believe that its prophecies are yet to be fulfilled; still
others pronounce it a symbolical poem, representing the conflict
between truth and error, while not a few consider it the recorded
fancies of a diseased imagination.
The book purports to be from "John to the seven churches of Asia" (i,
4). This John is declared to be the Apostle John and its authority is
based upon this claim. Smith's "Bible Dictionary" says: "The question
as to the canonical authority of the Revelation resolves itself into
a question of authorship. Was St. John the Apostle and Evangelist
the writer of the Revelation?" If John the Apostle and the author
of the Fourth Gospel were one, as assumed by the "Bible Dictionary,"
then the question of its authenticity and canonical authority must be
abandoned, for the author of the Fourth Gospel did not write it. There
is nothing in common between them. The German theologian, Lucke, says:
"If all critical experience and rules in such literary questions
do not deceive, it is certain that the Evangelist and Apocalyptist
are two different persons." De Wette says: "The Apostle John, if he
be the author of the Fourth Gospel and of the Johannine epistles,
did not write the Apocalypse." Regarding this conclusion, Ewald says:
"All men capable of forming a judgment are of the same opinion." Among
the eminent critics and commentators who take this position are Luther,
Erasmus, Michaelis, Schleiermacher, Credner, Zeller, Evanson, Baur,
Renan, and Davidson.
The Apostle John wrote neither the Fourth Gospel, the so-called
Epistles of John, nor Revelation. That he did not write Revelation
is shown by the following:
1. The author does not claim to be an apostle.
2. He refers to the Twelve Apostles (xxi, 14) in a way that forbids
the supposition that he was one of them.
3. The Apostle John is declared to have been illiterate and incapable
of writing a book.
4. It is addressed to the seven churches of Asia, and yet the seven
churches of Asia, to which it is addressed, rejected it.
The Alogi maintained that it was a forgery which came from
Corinth. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, writing in the third century,
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."
Concerning its rejection by modern churchmen, the Edinburgh Review
(No. 131) says: "The most learned and intelligent of Protestant
divines here almost all doubted or denied the canonicity of the book
of Revelation. Calvin and Beza pronounced the book unintelligible,
and prohibited the pastors of Geneva from all attempts at
interpretation." Dr. South described it as "a book that either found
a man mad or left him so."
Luther, in the Preface to his New Testament (Ed. of 1522) writes:
"In the Revelation of John much is wanting to let me deem it either
prophetic or apostolical."
CHAPTER XI.
PAULINE EPISTLES.
Fourteen books--Romans, First and Second Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians,
First and Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews--are ascribed,
some correctly, some doubtfully, and others falsely, to Paul. They
were all written, it is claimed, between 52 and 65 A.D.
Genuine Epistles.
The genuine Epistles of Paul, those whose authenticity is conceded
by nearly all critics, are Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and
Galatians. The term "genuine" is applied to the books as originally
written, and not to the text as it now exists. It is probable that they
have undergone various changes since they left Paul's hand. The last
two chapters of Romans are believed to be interpolations. The fifteenth
consists chiefly of irrelevant matter which detracts from the symmetry
of the work. The sixteenth is mostly filled with salutations. In these
several women are given a prominence in church affairs that is wholly
at variance with Paul's attitude toward woman. The subscription to
the First Epistle to the Corinthians states that it "was written from
Philippi." The 19th verse of the last chapter shows that Paul was in
Asia instead of Europe, while the 8th verse expressly declares that
he was at Ephesus. The Second Epistle to Corinthians, it is declared,
"was written from Philippi" also. That this is doubtful is admitted
even by the most orthodox authorities. The subscription to Galatians
reads as follows: "Unto the Galatians, written from Rome." This book
was written between 52 and 55 A.D.; Paul did not go to Rome until 61
A.D. This epistle was written from Ephesus.
While critics are nearly unanimous in acknowledging the genuineness
of these books, a few, including Professor Thudichum of Germany,
Prof. Edwin Johnson of England, and W. H. Burr of this country,
pronounce them forgeries, and contend that the Paul of the New
Testament is a myth.
Doubtful Epistles.
The doubtful Epistles, those whose authenticity is accepted by some
critics and rejected by others, are Philippians, First Thessalonians,
and Philemon. Sixty years ago to this list of doubtful books critics
would have added three others--Ephesians, Colossians, and Second
Thessalonians; but the critical labors of the Tubingen school and
others have relegated these to the already burdened shelf of spurious
Bible books.
In regard to Philippians, Ferdinand Baur, for thirty years head of
the Tubingen school and unquestionably the greatest of Bible critics,
says: "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 Gentile
factions" (Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ).
Baur also rejects First Thessalonians. He contends that this, as well
as the Second Epistle, contains teachings quite at variance with the
teachings of Paul. The German critic Schrader is confident that Paul
did not write First Thessalonians.
Respecting Philemon, Dr. Hitchcock says: "This brief Epistle was
written at the same time with those to the Colossians and Ephesians,
and was sent along with them by Tychicus and Onesimus." As Colossians
and Ephesians have both been declared spurious by the ablest Christian
scholars, Philemon, to say the least, is placed in bad company. This
Epistle was written in behalf of one Onesimus, a zealous Christian,
who is also mentioned in Colossians. There was an Onesimus, a zealous
church worker, living in 175 A.D.
Holland's critics, Dr. Kuenen, Dr. Oort, and Dr. Hooykaas, are disposed
to accept Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon, but admit
that there are grave doubts concerning the authenticity of each.
Spurious Epistles.
The spurious Epistles, those whose authenticity is generally denied
by the critics, are Ephesians, Colossians, Second Thessalonians,
First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews.
Ewald and De Wette both admit that Ephesians was not written by
St. Paul. De Wette thinks it was compiled from Colossians. Davidson and
Mayerhoff believe that neither Ephesians nor Colossians is genuine. I
have quoted Baur's rejection of Colossians. The Encyclopedia Britannica
says: "It is undeniable that the Epistle to the Colossians and the
so-called Epistle to the Ephesians differ considerably in language
and thought from other Pauline Epistles and that their relation to
one another demands explanation."
First and Second Thessalonians are pronounced the oldest of Paul's
writings, both belonging, it is claimed, to 52 A.D. The author of the
Second Epistle is very desirous of having his writing accepted as
a genuine Epistle of Paul. Several times he declares himself to be
Paul. He warns them not to be deceived "by letter as from us" (ii,
2), and concludes with "the salutation of Paul with mine own hand,
which is the token in every Epistle." This Epistle affirms the first
to be a forgery. The first was probably written at an early date, and,
whether genuine or spurious, was accepted as a Pauline Epistle. In it
the early advent of Christ--during Paul's lifetime--is predicted. "We,
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep" (iv, 15). "Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds"
(17). Generations passed, Christ did not come, and the church
was losing faith in Paul and Christianity. To restore confidence,
another letter from Paul to the Thessalonians was "found," and this
repudiates the first. He exhorts them not to be troubled, "neither
by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of
Christ is at hand" (ii, 2). It teaches the second coming of Christ,
but carefully leaves the time indefinite. Whatever may be said of
the First Epistle, the Second is clearly a forgery.
With respect to these Epistles, the Britannica says: "The predominant
opinion of modern criticism at present is that the genuineness of the
First Epistle is certain, while that of the Second must be given up."
First and Second Timothy and Titus, known as the Pastoral Epistles, and
Hebrews were not written by Paul. The Pastoral Epistles are forgeries,
while Hebrews is an anonymous work. The contents of these books betray
a later date. Their teachings are not the teachings of Paul. Their
language is utterly unlike that of the genuine Epistles. They contain
two hundred words never used by Paul. Marcion, the most noted Pauline
Christian of the second century, who made a collection of Paul's
Epistles, excluded them. Tatian and Basilides also rejected them.
Against the authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles may be cited
nearly every modern critic, including the four great names of Baur,
Eichorn, De Wette, and Davidson. Baur says they were written in the
second century.
While thirteen of the so-called Pauline Epistles claim to have
been written by Paul, Hebrews alone is silent regarding its
authorship. Tertullian classed it with the apocryphal books, but
thought it might have been written by Barnabas. In the Clermont codex
it is called the Epistle of Barnabas. According to Origen, some ascribe
it to Luke, others to Clement of Rome. Origen himself says: "Who it was
that really wrote the Epistle, God only knows." Dr. Westcott admits
that there is no evidence that Paul wrote it. Grotius attributes it
to Luke, Luther to Apollos. Luther says: "That the Epistle to the
Hebrews is not by St. Paul, nor, indeed, by any apostle, is shown by
chapter ii, 3" (Preface to Luther's N. T.).
Concerning the seven books that we have been considering, Dr. Hooykaas
says:
"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
probable 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 Rev. John W. Chadwick, in his "Bible of To-day," says that the
first four Epistles "are his [Paul's] with absolute certainty." Four
others, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon,
he is disposed to accept, but admits that their authenticity is
doubtful. The remaining books he pronounces spurious.
Persons in this age have little conception of the prevalence
of literary forgeries in the early centuries of the church. Now,
when books are printed in editions of 1,000 or more, such forgeries
are nearly impossible and consequently rare. When books existed in
manuscript only, they were neither difficult nor uncommon. Books
and letters purporting to have been written by Paul, Peter, John,
and other Apostles were readily "discovered" when wanted. Of these
Apostolic forgeries Prof. John Tyndall says: "When arguments or proofs
were needed, whether on the side of the Jewish Christians or of the
Gentile Christians, a document was discovered which met the case, and
on which the name of an Apostle or of some authoritative contemporary
of the Apostles was boldly inscribed. The end being held to justify
the means, there was no lack of manufactured testimony."
Conclusion.
Of these fourteen Epistles ascribed to Paul, four, then, Romans,
First and Second Corinthians, and Galatians, are pronounced genuine;
three, Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon, are of doubtful
authenticity; while seven, Ephesians, Colossians, Second Thessalonians,
First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews, are spurious.
The genuine writings of Paul are probably the oldest Christian writings
extant. Admitting the authenticity of these four books, of course,
is not admitting the authenticity of Christianity. Paul was not a
witness of the alleged events upon which historical Christianity
rests. He was not a convert to Christianity until many years after
Christ's death. 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 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" 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."
We have now reviewed the books of the Bible and presented some of the
historical and internal evidences bearing upon the question of their
authenticity. The authenticity of the books of the New Testament,
we have seen, is but little better attested than that of the Old. The
authors of twenty books--Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Ephesians,
Colossians, Second Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy, Titus,
Hebrews, James, First and Second Peter, First, Second, and Third John,
Jude, and Revelation--are unknown. Three books--Philippians, First
Thessalonians, and Philemon--are of questionable authenticity. Four
books only--Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and Galatians--are
generally admitted to be authentic.
Of the sixty-six books of the Bible at least fifty are anonymous
works or forgeries. To teach that these books are divine, and to
accept them as such, denotes a degree of depravity on the one hand,
and an amount of credulity on the other, that are not creditable to
a moral and enlightened people.
PART II.
CREDIBILITY.