This is a digital copy of a book that was preseived for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you. Usage guidelines Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. We also ask that you: + Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for personal, non-commercial purposes. + Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google 's system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. + Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. + Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web athttp://books.google.com/ ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF PROFESSOR F. GODET'S WORKS ( Oopyrighi,, by arrangement with the A utlwr) 1. DBFIINCE OF THI! CHRISTIAN FAITH. Second Edition, crown 8m, 6s. 2. COMlllJINTARY ON THI! GOSPIIL OF Sr. Luu. 2 vols. 8vo, 21s. 3. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. 3 vols. 8vo, 31s. 6d. 4. COMMENTARY ON ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE RO!UNS. 2 vols. 8vo, 21s. 5, COMMENTARY ON ST. PAUL'S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 2 vols., 21s. 6. INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT. [In course of publication.] I. ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES, Ready. 8vo, 12s. 6d. net. JI. THE GOSPEL COLLECTION, and ST. MATTHEW. Ready. Svo, 6s. net. The Gua1-dian says : ' For devotional warmth and practical application, Godet is perhaps unsurpassed by any modem commentator among foreign Protestants.' EDINBURGH: T. & 'l'. CLARK, 38 GEORGB STREET. INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT THE COLLECTION OF THE FOUR GOSPELS AND THB GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW NOTICE TO THE READER. IN the original, Professor Godet's lmroductioido the New Testanunt is to form Three large Volumes:- Vol. I. THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. The Translation of this Volume has alrea.dy been published by Messrs. Clark. [Demy 8vo (pp. 630), price 12s. 6d. net. Vol. II. THE GOSPELS, AND THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. This Volume is now in course of publication, but is not yet completed. In accordance, however, with the earnest wish of the venerable author, Messrs. Clark issue, herewith, the Divisions of it which Dr. Godet has completed, and which comprise "THE CoLLlllCTION OF THE FOUR O0BPIIL8, AND THE GOSPEL OF ST, MATTHEW," The succeeding Divisions of Vol. II. will be translated and publi.l<hed as soon as possible. Dr. Godet hopes to complete "St. Mark" and "St. Luke" by the end of this year. Vol. Ill. HEBREWS, CATHOLIC EPISTLES, AND THE APOCALYPSE. In preparation. INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT BY F. =GODET, D.D. PROl"llB!IOR IN TBII FACULTY OP TD INDJIPBNDJINT CHURCH OP NIWCHATJIL THE COLLECTION OF THE FOUR GOSPELS AND THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW ~horilllldl 'l'.:ntnlllliathm from th.e ,lr.rndt BY WILLIAM A_FFLECK, B.D. EDINBURGH T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET 1899 C PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, FOR T. & T. CLARK, EDI:SBURGH. LONDON! SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED, NEW YORK: CHARI.ES SCRIBNER'S SONS, TORONTO : FLEMING H, REVELL COMPANY. [The Tran.slatwn is copyright, by a,rrangemei!t with the Author] PREFACE --+- Tm: first and strictly preliminary chapter of this second volume will not deal with the composition of our gospels. I shall confine myself to inquire how and when the group, hitherto closed and inseparable, o.f these four writings was formed, which we shall have thereafter to study separately. In the first volume of this work I had not to strike out a new path, for studies pursued during a long series of years had· led me to convictions very much in accordance with the views generally admitted on the composition, the date, and the chronological order· of the thirteen epistles of St. Paul which I regard as authentic. It is otherwise with the subject treated in this second volume. I find myself obliged by my convictions here to defend a cause that may appear for the moment lost. The hypothesis of the two sources of our synoptic literature-the writing of Mark, for the naITative parts, and the Logia of Matthew for the teachings of Jesus-after having gained a footing in Germany, where it originated (H. Weisse, B. Weiss, H. Holtzmann, A. Ritschl, etc.), has everywhere found· eminent adherents, in England (Sanday), in France (Reuss, Sabatier), in Switzerland (Stockmeyer), so that it appears· hopeless to seek to. oppose another to it. And yet no one can claim that this theory has succeeded in solving all the difficulties of the problem, nor even that it does not raise new ones, not easy to explain. This is proved by the great differences existing among those that maintain it. What a distance, for example, between the way in which vii vili PRinl'ACE Reuss and B. Weiss, B. Weiss and Holtzmann present it, and even the Holtzmann of former years, when he wrote his remarkable work on this question, and the Holtzmann of to-day, who renounces the primitive Mark which he made the keystone of hie previous explanation, to adopt the use of Matthew by Luke,-a mode which, with Reuss, he formerly absolutely rejected, and which belongs to quite another system. If these circumstances be weighed, the attempt will not perhaps be found too bold to submit this hypothesis to a new examination, and even, if there be cause, to oppose another one to it. With this object, we shall begin by investigating the manner in which the collection of our canonical gospels was formed (Chap. I.). Properly speaking, this subject doubtless belongs to the history of the Canon. But I have preferred to prepare for the special study of the gospels by the study of this more general subject, which will prevent many repetitions in the sequel. Then we shall study each, of our tkree syrwptws in particular (Chaps. II., III., and IV.). There­ after we shall finally enter on the very difficult problem of the relation in origin between these three writings (Chap. V.). Indeed, I do not think that it is convenient to follow the opposite course, adopted in their Introductions by de W ette, Weiss, and Holtzmann, who begin with the problem of the relation between the three writings, before having studied them each by itself. I quite understand that in many cases the text of the one can only be completely appreciated by comparing it with that of the two others. But this com­ parison, when it is of importance, is not excluded by the method that we propose to follow; and experience appears to me to prove that the explanation of the differences between the texts is in general so much dominated by the idea that one has formed beforehand of the spirit of these three writings, that the conclusion finally turns in a vicious circle. I believe, then, that to grasp well the relation between the three Synoptics, we must begin by studying them each one by itself, so as to enter into their spirit and their PREFACE ix peculiar tendency. Only after this will one possess the indispensable elements for judging without partiality of their relation in oriQin, of which Chap. V. will treat. I speak here only of the Synoptics. This subject is indeed so vast that I find myself compelled to make of these five chapters the first division of the second volume, reserving for a second di'lJ'is,iqn the Fourth Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, the extra-canonical Gospels and Acts, and the words of Jesus absent from our gospels, called Agrapka.