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S T . J OHN THE A POSTLE
2. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS EARLY LIFE. His birthplace was probably Bethsaida, a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee, the native place also of Peter, Andrew, and Philip. This seems to be a natural inference from his intimate acquaintance with them, and from his being with them Mat_4:18-21; Joh_1:40). His parents could not have been altogether poor: Zebedee had “hired servants” (Mar_1:20); Salome was one of the women who provided for the Saviour’s wants (Mat_27:56), and who purchased spices to embalm him (Luk_23:55); and our Saviour, when He was dying, commended Mary to the care of John, and requested him to take her to his own house. That Zebedee was in good circumstances, and in a respectable social position, may perhaps also be inferred from the fact that John was known by the high priest (chap. 18:15). Under these circumstances, the supposition is natural that the Evangelist had received some education. He is, indeed, enumerated Act_4:13), among the “ignorant,” but the Pharisees regarded all persons as such who had not pursued the Rabbinic study of the law, all who were not pupils of the Rabbins. It is probable that from his earliest years he had a religious bent, His mother Salome appears to have been a woman of piety, such was the devotion with which she attached herself to Jesus; her mind, too, was probably occupied with the Messlanic hopes, as we infer from the narrative in Mat_20:20, from which we gather also her devoted love to her” children. Such a mother would be likely to exercise at an early period a hallowed influence on her children, and this would be fostered in John by his mode of life as a fisherman, which often led him to pass the quiet watches of the night on the waters, amid the enchantments of a region resembling that which encircles the Lake of Lucerne. (Tholuck.)
John inherited, no doubt, a good bodily organization. His parents were not doomed to breathe the impure air of a pent-up city. Their home was out in open nature, amidst the fresh breezes of the hills and of the sea. Their habits were not those of self-indulgence and indolence which generate disease, nor of hard brain work which tends to enervate the system. The work of the muscles and the limbs was their invigorating occupation. The child, thus inheriting a healthful frame, grew up amidst the same invigorating conditions. His early impressions from nature would be large and deep. Our greatness is determined by our ideas and our ideas by our impressions. Small ideas can never make a great man, nor can great ideas grow out of superficial impressions. Large plants must have a deep soil. Hence as a rule a man must be brought up amidst grand scenery to have a grand soul. To John’s young eye nature towered in some of her loveliest and most majestic aspects, and spoke, in the rustle of trees, the howl of winds, and the roar of billows, strange and stirring poetry to his soul. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
3. HIS HISTORY AS A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST. John first appears as a disciple of the Baptist. As such the visions which may have been awakened in his youthful fancy through the Suggestions of ancient prophecy must have become more fixed by the rigid tones of the great teacher. In such a state of mind, waiting for the hope of Israel, how welcome must have been the sight of the dove alighting on Christ’s head and the voice which proclaimed Him the well-beloved Son of God. But Jesus did not then begin His public ministry; He retired from the gaze of an expecting people to meet and subdue the chief adversary of His mission. To all who recognized Him as their long-looked-for Anointed, this must have been an interval of painful suspense. At length, however, as the Baptist and two of his disciples were standing together, Jesus drew near. A mere hint is sufficient to recall Him to their remembrance. The disciples overhear their master’s exclamation: “Lo, the Lamb of God!”--and immediately leaving him they follow Jesus. Nor are they willing to be separated from Him, till they have found out His abode and lived with Him. In this incident is contained the germ of that attachment between Christ and John which expanded with ever-increasing vigour and beauty on earth and is now perfected by the purity and ennobled by the higher association of heaven. In the next scene Jesus meets him on the shores of Tiberias, and calls him to be His constant follower. From this period to the end of the Saviour’s ministry all that is known of him is embraced in a few scattered incidents. With Peter and James he was present at the restoration of Jairus’s daughter. In the same company he was a witness of the transfiguration. At the last supper John reclined next to Christ, and was looked upon as His bosom friend. It was John’s sad privilege to behold the agony of Gethsemane. He fearlessly entered the hall of Pilate, and led in Peter who had been timidly loitering at the door. And how soothing, in the last dark hour of the crucifixion--like the mild beaming of the evening star on the edge of a retiring thundercloud--is that parting interchange of affection as the weeping eye of the beloved disciple meets the agonized yet tender look of the dying Saviour, and that simple charge is given, “Behold thy mother!” When the women reported that the stone had been rolled away from the sepulchre, Peter and John ran thither in company. After the resurrection John went into Galilee, and there meeting Jesus, according to appointment, he followed Him to receive his final instructions and promises. But soon the day of separation came, and Jesus ascended, leaving John and the other disciples to tarry at Jerusalem. (E. E. Salisbury.)
4. HIS LIFE SUBSEQUENT TO THE ASCENSION. After the ascension he continued in Jerusalem, at least for a time. Among the brethren at the election of Matthias, and on the Day of Pentecost, he accompanied Peter to the Temple, when the lame man was healed at the Gate Beautiful. Later in the day he was apprehended along with Peter and sent to prison; and on the morrow the two were cited before the Sanhedrim. With Peter he was afterwards despatched to Samaria (Act_8:14). It is probable that soon after he withdrew from the metropolis to Galilee with the Virgin, induced to do so, it may be supposed, by the dislike of the latter to remain where her Lord (as well as her son) had been crucified, and by the increasing hostility of the Jews.(Act_8:1). If this were so, it will explain how, three years after, on the occasion of Paul’s first visit, he did not meet with Gal_1:18), whom he first saw fourteen years after Gal_2:9). John, it is believed, had by this time returned to the head-quarters of the Church in Jerusalem, in consequence of the Virgin’s death in 48 A.D. Then, having resumed his natural position, he was recognized by St. Paul as one of the “pillars” of the Church. How long he abode hers is uncertain. Perhaps he accompanied the Church when it migrated to Pella, before the Roman war, about 67 A.D. In later years, though not till Paul’s death, possibly not till the deaths of Timothy and Titus had deprived the churches in Asia Minor of apostolic guidance, he settled at Ephesus. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
5. CLOSING YEARS. During the period of the labours of the Evangelist in these portions of0 Asia Minor, he was banished by one of the emperors to Patmos, where, according to Rev_1:9, he wrote the Apocalypse. If Irenaeus and Eusebius are to be credited, the banishment must have occurred under Domitian (died 96 A.D.). We find in addition in Tertullian, in Jerome, and other writers, an account of John’s being taken to Rome under Domitian, of his being cast into a vessel of boiling oil, of his miraculous deliverance from it, and of his being subsequently removed to Patmos. There is an independent testimony that John suffered for the faith, in the fact that Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus (about 200 A.D.), calls him ìá́ñôõò , “a martyr.” The return from exile is to be dated under Nerva. In the ecclesiastical tradition he appears as the centre of the Church-life in Asia Minor, insomuch, that in the controversies, as for example the one about Easter, and in the struggle with the Gnostics, he is referred to, and frequent mention is made of his disciples and hearers. When he had reached, as Jerome tells us, his extremest old age, he became too feeble to walk to the meetings, and was carried to them by young men. He could no longer say much, but he constantly repeated the words: “Little children, love one another!” When he was asked why he constantly repeated this expression, his answer was: “Because this is the command of the Lord, and because enough is done if but this one thing be done.” (Tholuck.)
6. DEATH. We are ignorant of the time and circumstances of his death. Conjecture ranges from 89 A.D. to 120 A.D. Chrysostom affirms that he was a hundred years old when he wrote his Gospel, and that he lived full twenty years after. It does not appear that he died by violence, but peacefully upon his bed, most probably in Ephesus, amidst his “little children.” One likes to imagine the tranquility of the last scenes, in keeping with the tenor of his life. In all likelihood, his dust lies somewhere amidst the wild jungle that has overspread the neighbourhood. With the setting of “that last Resplendence” the age of common history begins. The churches found it difficult to believe that he had really passed away; the saying had gone abroad among them that he should not die, but should continue until the appearing of the Lord; and so in course of time the legend was framed--that he was not really dead, but only sleeping in his grave. It was notwholly an error; for “he lives and will ever live by his writings, and the future belongs to him even more than the past.” (J. Culross, D. D.)
7. TRADITIONS.
John and Cerinthus
One day as the Apostle was entering the public bath at Ephesus, the Apostle learned that the heretic was within. Immediately he sprang from the place, exclaiming, “Let us flee, lest the house fall upon us, since Cerinthus, the enemy of truth, is within.” Jeremy Taylor pronounces this a good precedent for us, when the case is equal. St. John could discern the spirit of Cerinthus, whose heresy was fundamental, and the Apostle was a person assisted up to infallibility. “And possibly,” he adds, “it was done by the whisper of a prophetic spirit and upon a miraculous design; for immediately upon his retreat the bath fell down, and crushed Cerinthus in the ruins.” More to the point is the bishop’s counsel, that we should not quickly, nor upon slight grounds, nor unworthy instances, call heretic. (J. Culross, D. D.)
The partridge and the hunter
In his old age the Apostle used to find pleasure in the attachment of a tamed partridge, One day, as he held it in his bosom and was gently stroking it, a huntsman suddenly approached, and wondering that one so illustrious should take to such a trivial amusement, he asked, “Art thou that John whose singular renown had inspired even me with a great desire to know thee? How then canst thou occupy thyself with an employment so humble?” The Apostle replied, “What is that in thy hand?” He answered, “A bow.” “And why dost thou not always carry it bent?” “Because,” he answered, “it would in that case lose its strength; and when it was necessary to shoot, it would fail from the too continuous strain.” “Then let not this slight and brief relaxation of mine perplex thee,” answered the Apostle; “since without it the spirit would flag from the un-remitted strain, and fail when the call of duty came.” (John Cassian.)
St. John and the bandit
Visiting a town not far from Ephesus, and assembling with the wheather, he saw in the audience a young man, tall of stature and of noble countenance and ardent spirit. Addressing the pastor of the church, he said: “I commit that young man to thy charge, and call Christ and the Church to witness that I do so.” The pastor of the church undertook, and for a time faithfully fulfilled, the charge. He instructed the young man in the faith, and by and by had the joy of receiving him into the church. Subsequently, however, he relaxed his watchfulness, and was led by idle and worthless acquaintances into temptation, and at length, believing salvation hopeless, he fully surrendered himself to evil, and became one of a company of brigands, of whom he was made the chief. Some time after this, John revisited the city, and addressing the pastor of the church, said, “Restore me now the pledge which I, with the Saviour, entrusted to your charge in the presence of the church.” And when he saw that his words were not understood, he added, “I reclaim the young man whose soul I entrusted to thee.” The pastor said, with tears, “He is dead.” “How?” asked the Apostle: “what death did he die?” “He is dead to God,” was the answer; “for he has become evil and reprobate; he was forced to flee for his crimes, and he is now a brigand among our mountains.” Immediately the Apostle, obtaining a horse and guide, rode off even as he was to the robber hold, and falling into the hands of the sentinels, required to be led at once to their chief. But when John was led into his presence, he at once fled, overwhelmed with shame. John, forgetting his years, ran after him, crying, “Why, my child, do you flee from me--from me, your father, an unarmed old man? Have compassion on me, my child; do not be afraid. You yet have a hope of life. I will yet give account to Christ for you. If needs be, I will gladly die for you, as Christ died for us. I will lay down my life for you. Stop! Believe, Christ hath sent me.” Hearing these words, he first stands still and casts his eyes upon the ground. He next throws away his arms, and commences trembling and weeping bitterly. When the old man approaches he clasps his knees, and with the most vehement agony pleads for forgiveness, baptizing himself anew as it were with his own tears: all this time, however, he conceals his right hand. But the Apostle, pledging himself, with an appeal to God for His truth, that he had obtained forgiveness from the Saviour for him, implores him even on his knees, and the hand he had held back he kisses as if it were cleansed again by his penitence. He finally led him back to the church. Here he pleaded with him earnestly, strove with him in fasting, urged him with monitions, until he was able to restore him to the church--an example of sincere repentance and genuine regeneration. (From Clement of Alexandria.)
The pupils of St. John
Three names are traditionally linked to John’s as those of pupils. The first is that of Ignatius--“the disciple of John the Apostle,” he is called in the “Martyrdom of Ignatius,” “and a man in all respects of apostolic character.” Tradition makes him out to have been the little child whom Jesus set as an example of humility amidst the twelve apostles. Hence he was supposed to derive his name of Theophorus--the “God-carried;” though he himself interprets it to mean one who carries God in his heart. He was overseer of the Church of Syrian Antioch, and is said to have suffered martyrdom under Trajan, at Rome, by being thrown to the lions. A large number of writings have been attributed to him, respecting which there has been more controversy than about any ancient Christian writings, if we except the New Testament itself. The second name is Polycarp. Irenaeus, who sat at his feet, informs us that he “was instructed by the apostles, and was brought into contact with many who had seen Christ.” We learn from Irenaeus further that Polycarp was an overseer in the Church at Smyrna by apostolic appointment. When called to swear by the fortune of Caesar and reproach Christ, that he might save his life, he replied, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me an injury: how can I blaspheme Him, my King and my Saviour?” From amidst the flames that consumed him he gave thanks, “because Thou hast counted me worthy to have a part in the number of Thy martyrs, in the cup of Thy Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, through the incorruption (imparted) by the Holy Ghost.” The third name is that of Papias, an overseer in the Church at Hierapolis, a city of Phrygia, the birthplace of Epictetus. Irenaeus speaks of him as an “ancient man,” “a hearer of John,” and “a companion of Polycarp.” He was on terms of intercourse with many who had known the Lord and His apostles From them he gathered information which he wove into five books, entitled an “Exposition of the Lord’s Sayings”--a work which has not come down to us, except some fragments. He seems to have been a man of small mind, a great reader, but a poor thinker. It is to him that the report is traced back that Matthew wrote in Hebrew, and that Mark, in his Gospel, was the mouthpiece of Peter. He too is said to have suffered martyrdom about the same time with Polycarp. (J. Culross, D. D.)
The “Account of the Decease of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist”
The “Account of the Decease of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist” (from the apocryphal Acts) tells us that on a Sunday after prayer and the Eucharist he said to Byrrhus, “Take with thee two brethren with baskets and spades and come after me.” John walked forth and came to the grave of a Christian brother, and said to the youths, “Dig, my sons, and let the trench be deep.” Then he went on conversing and edifying those present, speaking of the majesty of the Messiah, and praying over each of them. When the trench was finished, he suddenly disrobed and cast his garments like bedclothes in the trench; and, standing in his mantle only, he lifted up his hands and prayed to God, “Receive the soul of Thy John.” Then he turned to the East and glorified God, standing full in the light; and said, “Be Thou with me, Jesus the Messiah our Lord.” Then he went down into the trench, and saying, “Concord and peace be with you my brethren,” he rendered up his spirit rejoicing.
Posthumous legends
During his lifetime the saying went abroad that he was not to die, but to form one of the company who “are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” Even his actual passing away did not eradicate this belief. Wild assertions in the course of time were hazarded; such as, that his remains, though sought for, could not he found. Augustine tells of persons in his day who professed to have witnessed the gentle heaving of the turf where he lay, asleep, but not dead, at Ephesus. The notion that he was still alive became almost an article of popular faith in the Middle Ages (not unlike the legend of the Wandering Jew), and in some quarters lingered even later. The English sect of “Seekers,” under Cromwell, expected his reappearance as the forerunner of Christ’s glorious return. A trace of the notion is still partially visible in the Feast of the Translation of the Body of St. John, observed in the Greek Church. Beza tells of an impostor of his times, burned at Toulouse, who gave himself out to be the Apostle. A specimen of a different class of legends is found in the “Chronicle of John of Brompton.” King Edward the Confessor had, after Christ and the Virgin Mary, a special veneration for St. John. One day, returning from his church at Westminster, he was accosted by a pilgrim, who asked of him an alms for the love of God and St. John. The king, who was ever merciful to the poor, immediately drew from his finger a ring, and, unknown to any one, gave it to the beggar. When the king had reigned twenty-four years, it came to pass that two Englishmen, pilgrims, returning to their own country from the Holy Land, were met by one in the habit of a pilgrim, who asked of them concerning their country, and being told they were of England, he said unto them, “When ye shall have arrived in your own country, go to King Edward, and salute him in my name: say to him that I thank him for the alms which he bestowed on me in a certain street in Westminster; for there, on a certain day, as I begged of him an alms, he bestowed on me this ring, which till now I have preserved, and ye shall carry it back to him, saying that in six months from this time he shall quit the world and come and remain with me for ever.” The pilgrims, being astounded, said, “Who art thou? and where is thy dwelling?” And he answered, saying, “I am John the Evangelist. Edward your king is my friend, and for the sanctity of his life I hold him dear. Go now therefore, deliver to him this message and this ring, and I will pray to God for him.” The king received the tidings joyfully and feasted the messengers royally. Then he set himself to prepare for his departure out of this world. On the eve of the Nativity 1066, he fell sick, and on the eve of the Epiphany following he died. The ring he gave to the Abbot of Westminster to be for ever preserved among the relics there. (J. Culross, D. D.)
8. HIS CHARACTER.
As the disciple whom Jesus loved
The whole sum of his character is contained in the single fact that he was “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Once understand that, from whatever causes, no obstacle intervened between him and that one Divine object, which from the earliest dawn of youth to the last years of extreme old age was ever impressing itself deeper and deeper into his inmost soul, and his whole work on earth is at once accounted for. Whatever we can conceive of devoted tenderness, deep affection, intense admiration for goodness, we must conceive of him who, even in the palace of the high priest, and at the foot of the Cross, was the inseparable companion of his Lord; whatever we can conceive of a gentleness and holiness ever increasing in depth and purity, that we must conceive of the heart and mind which produced the Gospel and Epistle of St. John. (Dean Stanley.)
As the Son of Thunder
It was not as the Beloved Disciple, but as the Son of Thunder--not as the apostle who leaned upon his Master’s breast at supper, but as the apostle who called down fire from heaven, who forbade the man to cast out devils, who claimed with his brother the highest places in the kingdom of heaven--that he was known to the readers of the three Gospels. But it is natural that in such a character the more outward and superficial traits should have attracted attention before the complete perfection of that more inward and silent growth which was alone essential to it; and alien in some respects as the bursts of fiery passion may be from the usual terror of St. John’s later character, they fully agree with the anathema of the tenth verse of his Second Epistle and with the story of Cerinthus and the bath. It is not surprising that the deep stillness of such a character as this should, like the Oriental sky, break out from time to time into tempests of impassioned vehemence: still less that the character which was to excel all others in its devoted love of good should give indications--in its earlier stages even in excess--of that intense hatred of evil, without which love of good can hardly be said to exist. (Dean Stanley.)
The character of John the Apostle was that of John the man sanctified
In calling him to be a follower, the Lord did not suppress his individuality, but used it; as, if one should send a message by a lisping child, the lisp will be heard in the delivery of the message; or as, when Moses’ face shone, or Stephen wore as it had been the face of an angel, the men were still themselves. This is the Lord’s way with His own throughout. While they are all taken up with Him into heavenly places, there is no dead monotony of character produced; each wears a grace peculiar to himself; each is Christ-like after his own order. So with this man. The original texture of his nature abides. He has lost nothing; rather he is become more simply, truly, characteristically, profoundly, essentially himself--himself, purified and exalted. A traveller, giving an account of an ancient volcano which he visited, tells of a verdurous cup-like hollow on the mountain summit, and that, where the fierce heat had once burned, lay a still, clear pool of water, looking up like an eye to the beautiful heavens above. It is an apt parable of this man. Naturally and originally volcanic, capable of profoundest passion and daring, he is new-made by grace, till in his old age he stands out in calm grandeur of character, and depth, and largeness of soul, with all the gentlenesses and graces of Christ adorning him--a man, as I imagine him to myself, with a face so noble that kings might do him homage, and so sweet that children would run to him for his blessing. (J. Culross, D. D.)
He is not in the least sentimental
Nowhere does he exhibit trace or taint of that false “liberality” which bids truth and lie shake hands and be friends, or judicially binds them over to keep the peace; far less of that “philosophic breadth” which places Jesus Christ, Zoroaster, Sakya-Mouni, Mahomet (and why not, by and by, Joseph Smith?), in the same Pantheon. He is full of the grand intolerance of love; incapable of compromise or truce with falsehood, however mighty or loftily throned. If a man come and bring not the doctrine of Christ, whosoever biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds (2Jn_1:10-11). (J. Culross, D. D.)
His unobtrusive courage
He never puts himself forward in the sight of others, challenging observation, but yet is ever found by his Master’s side in the hour of danger, quietly, and as of course. Thus, on the night of betrayal, after the first alarm and forsaking, he closely follows Jesus from the garden, goes in along with Him to the place of trial and judgment, and never for a moment falls away from Him or flinches. Peter too follows, but afar off, and takes his place with the officers and servants, as if he belonged to their company; and in that “afar off” lay his weakness and danger. John goes in “with” Jesus, and in this lay his safety. Again, at the crucifixion, he held his station near the cross of his Master all day, a witness of His dreadful sufferings; exhibiting that rarest form of courage, which so few even of strong men arc capable of--the courage to stand still and look upon the sufferings of a beloved friend, protracted and intensifying from hour to hour, which we can do nothing whatever to relieve. Ah, it takes courage of the loftiest order for that! (J. Culross, D. D.)
His healthiness
Here is no invalid or valetudinarian, but a man of heathful, robust physique, capable of sustained energy and patience. There is the same healthfulness mentally: in his writings, with all their depth, we detect nothing hazy, vague, blurred; every chapter is like an engraving in which the nicest lines are distinctly seen. If Paul was characterized by a profound sense of “righteousness,” John is as notably characterized (if such an expression may be allowed) by a profound and vehement sense of “truth”--a man to whom “a lie” is intolerable. Naturally and originally bold, intense, capable of the most ardent passion and enthusiasm, with an all-daring imagination, with a capacious understanding, and wonderful receptivity both of brain and heart, he is one of the grandest captives that ever surrendered to Jesus Christ, and he becomes one of the noblest examples of his new-fashioning power, so as to alternately exhibit, beyond the rest, the perfect likeness of the Lamb. (J. Culross, D. D.)
9. HIS WRITINGS AND CHARACTER AS AUTHOR:--John stands entirely alone, without any of his fellow-witnesses having exerted on him any appreciable influence, such as, e.g., Paul did on Luke, or Peter on Mark. His theology bears the character less of a doctrinal development than of an animated witness. Not dialectics, but intuition; not the intellect, but the feelings; not the future with its lofty expectations, but the present with its priceless blessings, enters in the didactic writings of St. John ever anew into the foreground. Only on a single occasion (chap 1:17) is indicated the opposition between Law and Gospel which occupies so important a place in Paul; with John the Gospel stands not only in diametrical opposition to the law, but also immeasurably above it. The cause of this phenomenon is not difficult to discover. John probably never occupied so strictly legal a standpoint as, e.g., James, much less experienced such a sudden transition from darkness to light as Paul. As the sun causes the blossom to unfold, so had the interview with Christ and the continued contemplation of Him (chap. 1:40) awakened his spiritual life with silent but mighty power; and of this inner life his doctrine is at once the expression and the deciphering. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
The Johannine writings form a triology: the Gospel basis, the organic conformation, the final and eternal future of the Church. Christ who was, who is, and who is to come. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
There are three books which we attribute to St. John, besides the two short letters to Gaius and the Elect Lady. Of these, his Gospel is a perfect summary of Christian Theology, his First Epistle of Christian Ethics, his Apocalypse of Christian Politics. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)
10. HIS UNIQUE INFLUENCE. It is certainly a unique fact that a fisherman, simply relating what he saw and heard, in terms that a child may understand, should have brought the supremest claims of Jesus of Nazareth into view--beyond what even the imperial Paul has done--so as to compel the most profound and philosophic thinkers of every age to meet the problem, and so as to induce men, to whom sin and helplessness are realities and not names, to commit themselves into His hands for both worlds, believing them to be the hands of grace and almightiness. (J. Culross, D. D.)
II. ST. JOHN’S RELATIONS WITH HIS CONTEMPORARIES AS APOSTLE AND AUTHOR
1. AS APOSTLE WITH THE OTHER APOSTLES.
(1) With St. Peter and St. Paul
(a) Each has a distinct place in the first formation of the Church. Peter is the founder, Paul the propagator, John the finisher. Peter the apostle of the rising dawn; Paul of the noon in its heat and clearness; John the sunset--first in the stormy sunset of the Apocalypse, then in the calm brightness of the Gospel and Epistles of his old age.
(b) Each is the centre round which the floating elements of thought and action clustered and crystallized. The whole body of Jewish Christians leaned upon St. Peter, of Gentiles upon St. Paul, of mixed believers upon St. John.
(c) Each was connected with the sole authentic records of the life of Christ. There can be little doubt that it was St. Peter’s disciples who first received the representation which is preserved to us in the Prophet and Lawgiver according to St. Matthew, the human Friend according to St. Mark. We need not hesitate to recognize in the Gospel and Acts of St. Lake St. Paul’s view, first of the suffering victim, then of the invisible Guide of the universal Church. We at once acknowledge that we have in the Gospel of St. John the complete image of the Word made flesh.
(d) Each has borne his part in the unfolding of the Divine economy. Peter the apostle of courageous and confident hope; Paul of faith; John of love. Peter of power and action; Paul of thought and wisdom; John of feeling and of goodness. Peter clings to the recollection of the older world; Paul plunges into the conflict of the present; John, whether as prophet, evangelist, or teacher, fixes his gaze on the invisible and the future. Peter gave to Christianity its first outward historical form; Paul its inward and spiritual freedom; John that Divine end and object in which form and spirit harmonize. (Dean Stanley.)
(2) With St. Paul:--Between St. Paul and St. John how great is the contrast! In St. Paul we are struck mainly by the wealth of sacred thought; in St. John by its simplicity. St. Paul is versatile and discursive; St. John seems to be fixed in the entranced bliss of a perpetual intuition. St. Paul is a dialectician, who teaches as by reasoning; St. John speaks as if the highest life of his soul was the wondering study of one vast Apocalypse. St. Paul begins with anthropology; St. John with theology. St. Paul often appeals to theology that he may enforce truths of morals; St. John finds the highest moral truth in his most abstract theological contemplations. St. Paul usually describes the redemption gift of Christ as Righteousness; St. John more naturally contemplates it as Life. In St. Paul the ethical element predominates; in St. John the mystical. St. John is more especially the spiritual ancestor of such fathers as Gregory Nazianzen; St. Paul of such as Augustine. St. Paul is the typical apostle of Western, as St. John is of Eastern, Christendom; the contemplative side of the Christian life finds its pattern in St. John, the active in st. Paul. Yet, striking as are such differences of spiritual method and temper, they are found in these great apostles side by side with an entire unity of teaching as to the Person of our Lord. (Canon Liddon.)
As soon as we pass from the writings of Paul to those of John the difference shows itself in the great words that are used. Paul’s words are--sin, grace, righteousness, election, redemption, faith, reconciliation,salvation, the day of Christ; John’s words are such as these--life and death, light and darkness, love and hatred, truth and a He, the Son of God and the Wicked One. Were I to select characteristic and corresponding utterances they would be these from Paul--“Just and the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus”; from John--“This is the true God and eternal life.” The lines of thought pursued by the two apostles are parallel and harmonious, while yet they lie on different planes. (J. Culross, D. D.)
(3) St. John and St. Peter:--As Peter was the first of the apostles in their relation to the world, John was the first in their relation to Christ. The talent of Peter was ideally practical; that of John practically ideal. Peter is the chief of the working, upbuilding spirits of the Church; John the chief of the contemplative. In John, the basis of enthusiasm or devotion to Christ was not an inexhaustible impulse to do, but a deep wondering celebration of the perfection of Christ. The fundamental characteristic of Peter was energetic heart; that of John reposing heartiness. Peter sees the glory of Christ chiefly in the mighty unfolding of the glory of His kingdom; John sees all the glory of the kingdom of Christ comprised in the single glory of His personal exaltation and future appearing. (P. Schaff, D. D.)
2. AS AN EVANGELIST WITH THE SYNOPTISTS. The fathers of the Christian Church saw in the vision described in Rev_4:7, a faithful representation of the four Evangelists. They differ somewhat in their application of the figures; but the majority take the “lion” to represent Matthew, the “calf” or ox to represent Mark, the “man” to represent Luke, and the “eagle” to represent John. But whatever differences prevail in respect of the first three figures, all are agreed that the eagle is a symbol of the fourth Evangelist. “There be a thing too wonderful for me, the way of an eagle in the air.” (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
(1) St. John was acquainted with the Synoptists, and assumes that his readers were
(a) Many of the things which he supposes to be already known, and which, therefore, he does not repeat, are precisely such as are contained in the other gospels: e.g., the imprisonment of the Baptist (Joh_3:24), the manner in which Jesus procured a young ass (Joh_12:14-16), and the stone before the sepulchre, and the presence of other women (Joh_20:1-2).
(b) He omits some narratives which are contained in the other gospels, which would have been serviceable to his object: e.g., the explanation of Jesus to the disciples of Jn (Mat_11:28), the miracles at the death of Jesus (Mat_27:45-51), the supernatural conception, and the ascension, which, however, is alluded to in Joh_6:62; Joh_20:17. Amongst other omissions are the death of the Baptist, the election of the apostles, the transfiguration, and the institution of the last supper, the miraculous cure of the ear of Malchus (Luk_22:51, cf. Joh_18:10), the last exclamation of Jesus (Luk_23:16) and the loud voice in which it was uttered (Mar_15:37). In cases where the connection would not permit of an entire omission the narrative is briefly sketched (cf. Joh_18:39-40 and Luk_23:17-23; Mar_5:6-14)
.
(c) He contributes materials which complete the others: e.g., the name Malchus (Joh_18:10). (Storr and Flatt.)
(2) His representation of Christ and His work differs from theirs:--In one gospel Christ is the fulfiller of the Law, and withal, by a touching contrast, the Man of Sorrows. In another He is the Lord of Nature and the Leader of men. In a third He is active and all-embracing Compassion. Thus the obedience, the force, and the tenderness of His humanity are successively depicted; but room is left for another aspect of His life, differing from these and yet in harmony with them, If we may dare so to speak, the Synoptists approach their great subject from without, St. John unfolds it from within. He sets forth the life of cur Lord not in any one of the aspects which belong to it as human, but as being the consistent and adequate expression of the glory of a Divine Person, manifested to men under a visible form. (Canon Liddon.)
Not only is the theatre upon which we here meet Christ, the form of His discourses, and the impression which is thereby made, different, but even the substance, compared with that of the Synoptists, offers important points of distinction. There the kingdom of heaven is presented, here it is the King Himself; there the human, here the Divine side of the Redeemer; there the blessedness of salvation on the other side the grave is brought into the foreground, here the blessedness on this side. Here the Evangelist begins with the Divine origin of our Lord, there the Synoptists begin with His human birth; there the words and discourses rise to the unveiling of His Divine dignity; in John they proceed from the assumption of this truth as a starting-point. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
The Synoptists pourtray Christ in His three several offices--St. Matthew especially in that of king; St. Mark, of God as man; St. Luke, of priest and victim; St. John speaks more particularly of His Divine and heavenly nature, of spiritual things, and of the higher mysteries of Christian rule and doctrine; in which he especially unfolds some of the chief types and ceremonies, which throughout the Old Testament prepare us for the highest and most sacred and mysterious truths, as by parables. (S. R.Bosanquet.)
The Synoptic narratives are implicit dogmas, St. John’s dogmas are concrete facts. (Canon Westcott.)
(3) This difference does not affect the perfect harmony of the four:--For
(a) The Johannine Christ is as truly human as is that of the Synoptists. The fourth gospel introduces Christ as claiming to have been born Joh_18:37), which the Synoptists never do; it represents Him as having a body that could walk (Joh_10:22), ride (Joh_12:15), thatcould be wearied (Joh_4:6), that could eat and drink (Joh_4:10; Joh_4:31), that could be bound (Joh_18:12), scourged (Joh_19:17), that could weep (Joh_11:35), thirst (Joh_19:28), be crucified (Joh_19:18), die (Joh_19:20), and be buried (Joh_19:42); of a mind that could know (Joh_2:24), learn by asking (Joh_11:34), and expressits thoughts (Joh_3:8); of a soul that could be troubled (Joh_12:27), and a spirit that could be moved with indignation (Joh_11:33). It depicts Him as undergoing experiences and performing actions of which only a real man is capable, as, e.g., sitting at a marriage feast (Joh_2:1-10), shedding tears at a friend’s grave (Joh_11:35), accepting hospitality (Joh_12:2), and doing the office of a menial (Joh_13:5); conversing with a rabbi (Joh_3:3), with a woman (Joh_4:7), with the people (Joh_7:28), with His disciples (Joh_14:1), With His captors (Joh_18:4), etc.; preaching (Joh_7:14; Joh_6:59; Joh_9:2-6); exposing Himself to the close and constant scrutiny of friends (Joh_11:1-5) and of enemies (Joh_8:48-59). In short, if John’s Christ was not a verus homo, it would be difficult to find one such on earth. Then
(b) The Synoptic Christ is as perfect as is that of John. If the latter came forth from a pre-existent state so did the former (Mat_1:18-25; Mar_1:11; Luk_1:32-36). If the latter was “perfectly developed” when He entered upon His public ministry so was the former, as His baptism secured (Mat_3:16-17) and the temptation attested Mat_4:11). Was John’s Christ saluted by Nathanael as Divine? So was Luke’s (Luk_5:8; Luk_4:34). Had John’s Christ the faculty of omniscience? So had the Christ of the Synoptists (Mat_9:15; Mat_12:15-25; Mar_2:20; Mar_12:15; Luk_5:35; Luk_6:3; Luk_6:8). Neither failed in any miracle He attempted, although in the absence of necessary moral conditions there were instances in which He did not attempt; nor even the miracles of the one greater than those of the other. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke He is under the constraint Of the same Divine imperative Mat_26:54; Mar_3:31; Luk_2:49; Luk_4:43; Luk_19:5) as in John Joh_3:14; Joh_4:4; Joh_9:4; Joh_10:16). That the Synoptic Christ did not know Himself to be the Messiah or the Divine Son until towards the end is absurd; for it was authoritatively proclaimed to Him at the baptism Mat_3:17), and the devils knew it (Mat_4:3-6; Mat_8:29). (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
(4) This difference is perfectly reasonable and intelligible:--One of Goethe’s biographers says of him that there were hidden in him ten different persons; we discover in Luther, Augustine, and Paul such a multiplicity and fulness of intellectual and spiritual life that it sometimes costs us an effort to discover in the very divergent exhibition of this life the same fundamental characteristics in the same person. In the polished and thousand-faced diamond there shines one and the same light in a multiform blending of colours; and should we expect the case to be different in an infinitely higher sphere--the spiritual and the Divine? (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
If a wise man who was merely human like Socrates, could present such a manifoldness in unity that two of his pupils could give such contrasted yet true pictures of his teaching, surely the same is possible in the case of Christ--in the case of Him whose office and work was to be the Redeemer of men of all shades of character and life. (Bleek.)
The same person may narrate the same thing on different occasions in a different way, and yet in each case with the fundamentals of truth. Compare Act_26:1-32. with each other, and of the same kind chap. 10. and 11. where the conversion of Paul and Cornelius is told twice. If a drawing is made of a city first from the east side, then from the west, though in both cases the tallest and most striking towers and edifices are presented, yet in all other respects the two sketches not on]y can, but must differ widely. And yet both are faithful copies of the original. (Bengel.)
Each of yourselves may be studied at the same time by the anatomist and by the psychologist. Certainly the aspect of your complex nature which the one study insists upon, is sufficiently remote from the aspect which presents itself to the other. In the eyes of one observer you are purely spirit: you are thought, affection, memory, will, imagination. But to the other observer your material body is everything. Its veins and muscles, its pores and nerves, its colour, proportions, functions, absorb his whole attention. Yet is there any ground for a petty jealousy between the one study of your nature and the other? May not each illustrate, supplement, and balance the other? These questions admit of an easy reply; each half of the truth is practically no less than speculatively necessary to the other.
Nor is it otherwise with the general relation of the first three gospels to the fourth. (Canon Liddon.)
(5) This difference has been no difficulty to the Church:--As far as the religious side of the contrast is concerned, it is remarkable that the conscience of the Church has never been perplexed by it, and that it is exclusively the learned who pronounce it insoluble. This fact proves, in any case, that for the pious and believing heart the Jesus of the Synoptics has never been, and will never be, anything else but that of John. The difference, therefore, does not reach the depths of the religious and moral life. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Christian piety is fed by our four canonical Gospels, and yet it knows but one Christ. In the people, as well as in a child, there is an instinct which surpasses any acuteness of the best criticism. We can say of the people what Jesus said of the sheep, “a stranger will they not follow.” If now the Jesus of John is totally different from that of the three, we must confess that Christendom has saluted a stranger by the name of Master for more than fifteen centuries without the slightest doubt; and has regarded both the stranger and the Master worthy of the same adoration. Such a misconception would not only be without parallel in history, but would even have history against itself. (Revue Chretienne.)
(6) This difference is an argument in favour of the authenticity of both representations:--Any one who in writing would smuggle in his own wares under the Johannean flag, would certainly have to be very careful never to come into even apparent contradiction to the first three Gospels. He who by crafty pre-meditation would invest himself with the appearance and manner of an apostle, must take the greatest pains to utter an echo of the apostolic witnesses, but never a note that is not in perfect harmony with them. If, therefore, the diversity of doctrinal ides and historical representation between the first three Gospels and the fourth still seems strange, then I may say that it is perfectly inexplicable if we are here dealing with an anonymous author. But all the difficulty will disappear if we accept the fact that this is the work of an apostle who occupies a perfectly independent position beside the other three Evangelists, yet whose testimony he continues, enlarges, and completes. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
(7) John’s style differs from that of the Synoptists:--We find in St. John’s Gospel something more than the artless and childish simplicity of St. Matthew’s narrative; more than the rapidity and terseness of St. Mark’s narrative; more than the calm and flowing history of St. Luke. With that artlessness, that terseness, and that calmness, there is mingled a higher and more elevated tone--a tone derived from the monuments of the remotest sacred antiquity, as well as from the hidden depths of the most profound theology; a tone reminding us sometimes of the Mosaic account of creation, sometimes of the wise sayings of Solomon, sometimes akin even to the theology of the later Jewish-Alexandrine philosophers. (Isaac da Costa.)
III. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN
1. HISTORY OF THE CONTROVERSY. From the disappearance of the Alogi in the later sub-Apostolic age until the end of the seventeenth century, the authenticity of St. John’s Gospel was not questioned. The earliest modern objections to it were raised in this country on the assumption of a discrepancy between St. John and the Synoptists. These were combatted by Le Clerc, and for well nigh a century the point was thought to have been decided, when in 1792 Evanson revived it, and was answered by Priestley. The brilliant reputation of Herder next secured attention for his theory that St. John describes not the historical but the ideal Christ, in which several German writers followed him. But these negative criticisms were met in turn by Roman Catholic divines like Hug, and liberal Lutherans such as Eichhorn and Koinel. By their labours the question was again held to have been set at rest. This second settlement was rudely disturbed by the famous “Probabilia” of Bretschneider in 1820. He exaggerated the contrast between the Christ of St. John and of the Synoptists into a positive contradiction. Protestant Germany was then fascinated by Schleier-macher, who not only accepted the fourth Gospel, but found in that Gospel the reason for his somewhat reckless estimate of the other three. The sharp controversy which followed resulted in Bretschneider’s retractation, which produced an impression which was not violently interfered with until 1835, when Strauss, in his first life of Jesus, denied that the Gospel was the work of the son of Zebedee. This was withdrawn in the third edition of 1838, but reaffirmed in the fourth of 1840; and in the popular edition of 1864 he extended a friendly hand to the Tubingen School, which had arisen in the meantime, and which aspired to supplement the negative criticism of Strauss by a positive hypothesis. St. John’s Gospel was held to represent a highly developed state of an orthodox gnosis, the growth of which presupposed the lapse of at least a century, and Baur, Schwegler, and Zeller decided that it was not composed till after A.D. 160, which general position is held by the disciples of that school as one of its very fundamental tenets. (Canon Liddon.)
2. THE REAL GROUND OF OPPOSITION. The question of the Johannine writing is determined by another graver still: that of the Johannine Christ; and most frequently it is the latter which sways the solution of the former. Nothing can prevent the critic, whose inward feeling, for one reason or another, is repugnant to the Christ of John, from resolving the question of the fourth Gospel in a way conformed to the secret wish of his antipathy; as, on the other hand, the author, whose deepest and holiest aspirations are awakened on meeting with the figure of that same Christ, “full of grace and truth,” will soon find in the lights proceeding from such profound sympathy the solution of critical difficulties which have been declared insurmountable. (F. Godet, D. D.)
3. THE VAST IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION. If St. John’s Gospel is not the historical account of an eyewitness, but only a myth, then there is no historical Christ; and without an historical Christ all the faith of the Christian Church is a delusion; all Christian confession, hypocrisy or deception; the Christian reverence for God an imposition; and the Reformation, finally, a crime or a madness. (Baron Bunsen.)
The writer of the Gospel certainly professes to have been an eye-witness of the things which he records, and as good as calls himself John. In addition, the same hand that wrote the Gospel unquestionably wrote also the First Epistle (as both external and internal evidence show), in which the distinctest possible assertion is made of the writer’s having been a personal witness of the manifestation. If then he was not a witness, I cannot acquit him of the worst kind of “lie,” all the more abominable that it is a lie against God, the effect of which is to represent a creature as His equal; and I cannot help quoting against him--shuddering as I do it--the words of that John whom he simulates, “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (J. Culross, D. D.)
4. WHO WAS THE AUTHOR IF NOT ST. JOHN? The “great unknown” who has been suggested would have been too great to have been concealed. He would have stood out a head taller than all the great men of the second century. There is no room in the second century for such a mind. Its literature has an utterly different stamp from the fourth Gospel. The writings of the apostolic fathers stand in dependence upon the apostolic literature. Simply read the letter of Polycarp, who was such an hououred chief in the Church of Asia Minor, and see what a great falling off there is. And the following literature begins, with Justin, the age of theological reflection and of scientific digestion, which presupposes an age of the original production of Christian thoughts, and therefore a book like John’s Gospel. Both the Gnosticism of the second century and the contest against it offer us an entirely different picture from the one the fourth Gospel presents. The Gospel points to an earlier stage, a stage of first productivity and of original grandeur. (C. E. Luthardt, D. D.)
That any writer of the second century should be able to give with perfect accuracy a large number of particulars respecting a former age and a different people is one improbability. Then that he should avoid all indications of his own age is another. The second century was distinguished from the first by metaphysical discussions respecting the nature of Christ, by the unsettled claims of Church officers, and by the peculiar efficacy attributed to the sacraments. Of these controversies there is in this Gospel no sign. Then again, that being a truthful Christian, the author should wish to conceal his distance from the events related, and to represent himself as an eye-witness, even the Apostle John, is another separate improbability. That he should give a view of the person of Christ, surpassing in human tenderness and Divine dignity that of the other Evangelists, and more conducive to Christian comfort and improvement than any other book, this is another improbability. That it should differ from the other Gospels and agree so well is another. But all these combined improbabilities must be accepted, if we take this Gospel to be the composition, honest or dishonest, of any one but the apostle. To all this must be added that the writer of such a work should be always in what is called miraculous concealment; and that within thirty or forty years of its composition it should be received by Christians of distant countries and conflicting parties as of apostolical authority, a work the genuineness of which was above controversy. (Prof. J. H. Godwin.)
5. ST. JOHN DID WRITE IT.
(1) Internal evidence.
(a) The author was a Jew:--We find ourselves so completely transported to the Jewish circle of ideas, and to Jewish life, that we must recognize not only the design of portraying these matters thoroughly, but also the peculiar memory which furnishes the material for such portrayal. (Weizsacker.)
Although he nowhere indicates his purpose to write for Jews, he, not less than Matthew, continually cites the Old Testament, and shows that he was acquainted with the Hebrew text, and on the smallest points shows an extensive knowledge of Jewish manners and customs. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
The vocabulary, the structure of the sentences, the symmetry and numerical symbolism of the composition, the expression and the arrangement of the thoughts, are essentially Hebrew.
(b) The author was a Jew of Palestine in the time of our Lord:--He knew the minutest details of the different localities of the Holy land, e.g., the size of the Lake of Tiberias, and the distance of Bethany from Jerusalem. He described the country about Jacob’s Well as, according to Renan, only a man could do who had frequently passed it. He is as fair as to the relationship between Annas and Caiaphas. He knows exactly how many years they have been rebuilding the temple, and that the Romans had taken away from the Jews the right of capital punishment. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Writing after the destruction of Jerusalem, he paints the Holy City with its inhabitants and localities in such living colours, that it appears to us sometimes as if the city and temple stood before us. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
It is inconceivable that a Gentile living at a distance from the scene of religious and political controversy which he paints could have realized, as the Evangelist has done, with vivid and unerring accuracy the relations of parties and interests which ceased to exist after the fall of Jerusalem, that he could have marked distinctly the part which the hierarchical class--the unnamed Sadducees--took in the crisis of the Passion; that he could have caught the real points at issue between true and false Judaism, which in their first form had passed away when the Christian Society was firmly established: that he could have portrayed the growth and conflict of opinion as to the national hopes of the Messiah side by side with the progress of the Lord’s ministry. All this was foreign to the experience of an Alexandrine or an Asiatic of the second century. (Bp. Westcott.)
(c) The author was an eye-witness:--Such he claimed to be, and the frequent and graphic mention of incidents likely to be retained in the memory, but improbable as the result of any other cause, fully confirm the claim. He is more explicit in his chronology than the others. It is through him that we learn of Christ’s four visits to Jerusalem. He fixes the day of Christ’s baptism, and hour of His calling the two disciples; mentions the grass on which the multitudes sat down; describes the position and gestures of the disciples at the Last Supper; recalls the darkness into which Judas went out; and the lanterns and torches carried by those who arrested Jesus; and relates the changing positions of Peter at the time of his denial, and the means by which he obtained access to the hall. (G. F. Wright.)
St. John’s account may be likened to a freshly plucked cluster of grapes, on which the morning dew still glistens; and I deeply pity him who does not receive this impression, but can think only of the artistic creation of an anonymous compositor who (unheard-of connection!) combines such incomparable talents with such un-skilful simplicity. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
(d) This Palestinian contemporary of Jesus was a member of the intimate circle of friends, formed around the person of our Lord. He knew personally Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Peter, etc., and the kind of relation that Jesus had to each. The naive replied to Philip, the spiteful remarks of Judas, the cry of devotion mingled with the unbelief of Thomas, are all known to Him. He knew who were the four disciples who by their questions drew forth the instructions of Jesus at that intimate conversation they had with Him on the eve of His death. He recalls the smallest details of the course of the two disciples at the grave of Jesus. All that would have been disgusting charlatanism on the part of a man who had not lived in close intimacy with the apostles, and Would consequently only treat the disciples as characters in a romance. This companion of Jesus could only have been an apostle. He completes and presents in quite a new light the tradition received in the Church, as we find it recorded in the Synoptics. The narrative is equivalent to a complete renovation of the history.of Jesus transmitted, the Synoptics by harmonizing very well with them, but remaining absolutely independent. Only an apostle, who felt perfectly sure of his authority, could stand face to face with the most ancient Gospels already received in the Churches, and maintain such a position. (F. Godet, D. D.)
(e) This apostle was John. His language betrays him. While other Evangelists speak of the precursor as John the Baptist, and very naturally to distinguish him from the apostle, the writer nowhere thinks it necessary to add this surname, although he speaks of Thomas called Didymus, of Judas not Iscariot, and Simon Peter. The only conceivable reason for this is that he himself was John and was known as such, there being no other but the Baptist. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
(f) This John was the disciple whom Jesus loved. The other disciples are mentioned by their names, Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Nathaniel, etc., while the names of John and his brother James nowhere appear. In chap. 21:2, the two sons of Zebedee, who in all the lists of the apostles are at the head, are placed the last. Now the disciple whom Jesus loved, who takes part in this scene (verses 20, 21) cannot have been James, for he was dead at an early date (Act_12:2). It can only have been John, his brother. Lastly, this disciple must have been among the favoured three. But he could not have been Peter, who is distinguished from him, nor James who died first, while he (chap. 21:23) survived all the others. Could there be no other than John. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Why, then, does he not mention his own name