Part 3

Aorist. Dr. Weymouth's Pamphlet on the Rendering of the Greek Aorist and Perfect Tenses into English.

A.V. Authorised English Version, 1611.

Cp. Compare.

ED. Notes for which the Editor is responsible, wholly or in part.

I.E. That is.

Lit. Literally.

LXX. The Septuagint (Greek) Version of the Old Testament.

n. Note.

nn. Notes.

N.T. New Testament.

O.T. Old Testament.

R.V. Revised English Version, 1881-85.

S.H. Sanday and Headlam's Commentary on 'Romans.'

V.L. Varia Lectio. An alternative reading found in some Manuscripts of the New Testament.

V.V. Verses.

In accordance with modern English custom, ITALICS are used to indicate emphasis. [In the etext, surounded by **]

Old Testament quotations are printed in small capitals. [In the etext, surrounded by <>]

During Christ's earthly ministry even His disciples did not always recognize His super-human nature and dignity. Accordingly, in the Gospels of this Translation, it is only when the Evangelists themselves use of Him the words "He," "Him," "His," that these are spelt with capital initial letters.

The spelling of "me" and "my" with small initial letters, when used by Christ Himself in the Gospels, is explained by the fact that, before His Resurrection, He did not always emphasize His own super-human nature and dignity.

The Good News as Recorded by Matthew

There are ample reasons for accepting the uniform tradition which from earliest times has ascribed this Gospel to Levi the son of Alphaeus, who seems to have changed his name to 'Matthew' on becoming a disciple of Jesus. Our information as to his subsequent life is very scanty. After the feast which he made for his old friends (Lu 5:29) his name only appears in the New Testament in the list of the twelve Apostles. Early Christian writers add little to our knowledge of him, but his life seems to have been quiet and somewhat ascetic. He is also generally represented as having died a natural death. Where his Gospel was written, or where he himself laboured, we cannot say.

Not a little controversy has arisen as to the form in which this Gospel first appeared, that is, as to whether we have in the Greek MSS. an original document or a translation from an earlier Aramaic writing. Modern scholarship inclines to the view that the book is not a translation, but was probably written in Greek by Matthew himself, upon the basis of a previously issued collection of "Logia" or discourses, to the existence of which Papias, Irenaeus, Pantaenus, Origen, Eusebius and Jerome all testify.

The date of the Gospel, as we know it, is somewhat uncertain, but the best critical estimates are included between 70 and 90, A.D. Perhaps, with Harnack, we may adopt 75, A.D.

The book was evidently intended for Jewish converts, and exhibits Jesus as the God-appointed Messiah and King, the fulfiller of the Law and of the highest expectations of the Jewish nation. This speciality of aim rather enhances than diminishes its general value. Renan found reason for pronouncing it "the most important book of Christendom-- the most important book which has ever been written." Its aim is manifestly didactic rather than chronological.

The Good News as Recorded by Mark

This Gospel is at once the briefest and earliest of the four. Modern research confirms the ancient tradition that the author was Barnabas's cousin, "John, whose other name was Mark," who during Paul's first missionary tour "departed from them" at Pamphylia, "and returned to Jerusalem" (see Ac 12:12,25; 15:37,39; Co 4:1O; 2Ti 4:11; Phm 1:24; 1Pe 5:13). His defection appeared to Paul sufficiently serious to warrant an emphatic refusal to take him with him on a second tour, but in after years the breach was healed and we find Mark with Paul again when he writes to Colossae, and he is also mentioned approvingly in the second Letter to Timothy.

Scholars are now almost unanimous in fixing the date of this Gospel between 63 and 70, A. D. There is no valid reason for questioning the usual view that it was written in Rome. Clement, Eusebius, Jerome and Epiphanius, all assert that this was so. That the book was mainly intended for Gentiles, and especially Romans, seems probable from internal evidence. Latin forms not occurring in other Gospels, together with explanations of Jewish terms and customs, and the omission of all reference to the Jewish Law, point in this direction. Its vividness of narration and pictorial minuteness of observation bespeak the testimony of an eye-witness, and the assertion of Papias, quoted by Eusebius, that Mark was "the interpreter of Peter" is borne out by the Gospel itself no less than by what we otherwise know of Mark and Peter.

In a real though not mechanical sense, this is "the Gospel of Peter," and its admitted priority to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke affords substantial reason for the assumption that it is to some extent the source whence they derive their narratives, although Papias distinctly affirms that Mark made no attempt at giving a carefully arranged history such as that at which Luke confessedly aimed.