THE GOSPEL ACCORDIG TO ST LUKE BY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D. ARCHDEACO OF WESTMISTER. PREFACE BY THE GEERAL EDITOR. The General Editor of The Cambridge Bible for Schools thinks it right to say that he does not hold himself responsible either for the interpretation of particular passages which the Editors of the several Books have adopted, or for any opinion on points of doctrine thai they may have expressed. In the ew Testament more especially questions arise of the deepest theological import, on which the ablest and most conscientious interpreters have differed and always will differ. His aim has been in all such cases to leave each Contributor to the unfettered exercise of his own judgment, only taking care that mere controversy should as far as possible be avoided. He has contented himself chiefly with a careful revision of the notes, with pointing out omissions, with 4. PREFACE. suggesting occasionally a reconsideration of some question, or a fuller treatment of ditificult passages, and the like. Beyond this he has not attempted to interfere, feeling it better that each Commentary should have its own individual character, and being convinced that freshness and variety of treatment are more than a compensation for any lack of uniformity in the Series. Deanery, Peterborough, £4^/4 Feb. 1880. COTETS. PAGES I. Introduction. Chapter I. The Gospels 7 — 17 Chapter II. Life of St Luke t8— 22 ' Chapter III. Authenticity of the Gospel 22 — 23 Chapter IV. Characteristics of the Gospel 23 — 30 Chapter V. Analysis of the Gospel 30 — 36 Chief Uncial MSS. of the Gospels 37—38 The Herods 39 II. Text and otes 41 — 367 III. Excursus I— VII 368—385 IV. Index 386 Map I. Environs of Jerusalem Frontispiece „ II. Palestine to face p. 65 „ III. Galilee » loi „ IV. Sea of Galilee » "2 ,* The Text adopted in this Edition is that of Dr Scrivener|s Cambridge Paragraph Bible. A few variations from the_ ordi- nary Text, chiefly in the spelling of certain words, and in the use of italics, will be noticed. For the principles adopted by Dr Scrivener as regards the printing of the Text see his Intro- duction to the Paragraph Bible, published by tht Cambridge University Press. "Luke the beloved, the sick soul's guide." Keble. Almighty God who calledst Luke the Physician, whose praise is in the Gospel, to be an Evangelist and Physician of the soul: May it please Thee that by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed ; through the merits of Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Collect for St Luke's Day, ITRODUCTIO. CHAPTER I. THE GOSPELS. The word Gospel 1 is the Saxon translation of the Greek Euangelion. In early Greek (e.g. in Homer) this word meant the reward given to one who brought good tidings. In Attic Greek it also meant a sacrifice for good tidings but was always used in the plural euangelia. In later Greek, as in Plutarch and Lucian, euangelion meant the good news actually delivered. Among all Greek-speaking Christians the word was naturally adopted to describe the best and gladdest tidings ever delivered to the human race, the good news of the Kingdom of God. In the address of the Angel to the shepherds we find the words "/ bring you good tidings of great joy," where the verb used is euangelisomai. From this Greek word are derived the French Evangile, the Italian Evangelio, the Portuguese Evangelho, &c. aturally the word which signified "good news" soon came to be used as the title of the books which contained the history of that good news. The existence of four separate, and mainly if not absolutely, independent Gospels, is a great blessing to the Church of Christ. It furnishes us with such a weight of contemporaneous testimony as is wanting to the vast majority of events in Ancient History. A fourfold cord is not easily broken. 1 By euphony for ^odspd, as gossip for godsib, and gossamer for god- summer. The word seems to have acquired its currency from Wychi s translation. On the title "ew Testament" see note on xxii. 10. 8 ITRODUCTIO. Of these four Gospels the first three are often called the Synoptic Gospels. The Greek word Synopsis has the same meaning as the Latin Conspectus, and the first three Evangelists are called "Synoptists" because their Gospels can be arranged and harmonised, section by section, in a tabular form, since they are mainly based on a common outline. The term appears to be quite modern, but has been rapidly brought into general use, probably by Griesbach. It is intended to indicate the dif- ference of plan which marks these Gospels as compared with that of St John ^ In the Synoptic Gospels we find much that is common to all, and something which is peculiar to each. It has been ascer- tained by Stroud that "if the total contents of the several Gospels be represented by loo, the following table is obtained^: St Mark has 7 peculiarities, and 93 coincidences. St Matthew ,, 42 ,, ,, 58 ,, St Luke ,, 59 ,, ,, 41 ,, St John „ 92 „ „ 8 „ " Reuss has further calculated that the total number of verses Commo7i to all the Synoptists is about 350; that St Matthew has 350 verses peculiar to himself, St Mark 68, and St Luke 541. The coincidences are usually in the record of sayings: the peculiarities in the narrative portion. In St Matthew, the nar- rative occupies about one fourth; in St Mark one half; and in St Luke one third. Another important fact is that when St Matthew and St Luke verbally agree, St Mark always agrees with them; that the resemblances between St Luke and St Mark are much closer than those between St Luke and St Matthew 3; that where St Mark has additional touches St Luke usually has them also, ^ See Holtzmann in '&c\\^x^eS., Bibel-Lexicon, s. v. Evangelien; and Ebrard in Herzog, s. v. Harmonie. I am not aware of any earlier use of the -word " Synopsis," as applied to a tabular view of the first three Gospels, than Georgii Sigelii Synopsis historiae Jes. Christi quetnad- modum Malthaeus, Marcus, Lucas descripsere in forma tabulae proposita. oiibergae. 1585. Folio. " VVestcott, Introd. to the Study of the Gospels, p. 179. " Bp. Marsh, On Mic/iaelis, v. 317. ITRODUCTIO. but not when these additions are found only in St Matthew; and that where St Mark is silent, St Luke often differs from St Matthew 1. The dates at which the four Gospels were published cannot be ascertained with certainty ; but there are some reasons to believe that St Matthew's was written first, possibly in Aramaic, and about A.D. 64; that St Mark's and St Luke's were published within a few years of this date 2, and certainly before the de- struction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70; and that St John's was written in old age at Ephesus before the year A.D. 85. It is probable that most, if not all, of St Paul's Epistles had been written before the earliest Gospel was published in its present form. To what extent the Synoptists were influenced by written records of previous oral teaching is a difficult and complicated question about which there have been multitudes of theories, as also respecting the question whether any of the three used the Gospel of either of the others. That previous attempts to nar- rate the Life of Christ were in existence when St Luke wrote we know from his own testimony ; but it may be regarded as certain that among these "attempts" he did 7iot class the Gos- pels of St Matthew and St Mark. The inference that he was either unaware of the existence of those Gospels, or made no direct use of them, suggests itself with the utmost force when we place side by side any of the events which they narrate in common, and mark the minute and inexplicable differences which incessantly occur even amid general similarity. The language employed by the Evangelists is that dialect 1 Reuss To give the passages and details would occupy too much space. They are adduced in several critical editions, and are sometimes noticed in the notes. St Luke and St Matthew both eive but few passages omitted by St Mark (e.g. the Lost Slieep, Matt, xviii. 12-14; Lk. XV. 4-7. and compare Matt. vni. 5 sq., xxii. I sq. with Lk. vii. i sq., xiv. 15 sq.)- , ^ t , i' Some writers think that the Gospel of St Luke was written as early as A.D. 60, during St Paul's imprisonment at Caesarea. Ihe subject is not one on which positive certainty can be attained; but he absence of any direct reference to this Gospel in the Lpistles of the Captivity and the Pastoral Epistles, and the comparatively late date at which it is authoritatively recognised by name as canonical make it more Drobable that it was not published till after the death of bt laul. lo ITRODUCTIO. of Greek which was in their day generally current — the Mace- donian or Hellenistic Greek. It was a stage of the Greek language less perfect than that of the classical period, but ad- mirably plastic and forcible. St Matthew and St John were Apostles and eyewitnesses of the ministry of our Lord from the baptism of John until the Ascension. The other two Evangelists were as St Jerome says not Apostles but " Apostolic men." St Mark may have been a partial eyewitness of some of the later scenes of the life of Christ, and it is the unanimous tradition of the Early Church that his Gospel reflects for us the direct testimony of St Peter.