SCRIPTURE READING EXERCISE.

BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Continued.)

SPECIAL TEXT: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made, that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. * * * * And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."—JOHN.

NOTES.

1. Authorship of the Gospel of St. John: "It is the almost unanimous tradition of the church that the Apostle John wrote this Gospel. Our earliest authorities for the fact are Theophilus of Antioch (A. D. 175), Irenaeus (A. D. 130-200), the Muratorian Fragment (A. D. 170-180), and Clement of Alexandria (A. D. 160-220). The accounts of these writers differ slightly from each other; but all agree in distinctly attributing our present Gospel to John; while the fourth, who is clearly independent of the other three, draws a remarkable distinction between it and the earlier Gospels, the later being spoken of as containing 'the bodily things,' the former as 'a spiritual Gospel.'" (International Commentary, Intro., p. xiv.)

2. The Apostle St. John: This Apostle was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and younger, as there seems every reason to think, than his brother James. Of Zebedee we know little. He was a fisherman upon the Sea of Galilee, who pursued his occupation in common with his sons, and who continued it even after they had obeyed the summons of their Lord to follow him (Matt. iv: 21). Of Salome we fortunately know more. From John xix: 25, it would seem probable that she was a sister of the Virgin Mary. (International Commentary, p. 8.)

"It is probable that he (John) was born at Bethsaida, on the lake of Galilee. His parents appear to have been in easy circumstances; at least, we find that Zebedee employed hired servants (Mark i: 20), and that Salome was among the number of those women who contributed to the maintenance of Jesus (Matt. xxvii: 56). We also find that John received Mary into his house after the death of Jesus. Since this house seems to have been situated at Jerusalem it would appear that he was the owner of two houses. John's acquaintance, also, with the high priest (xviii: 15) seems to indicate that he lived at Jerusalem, and belonged to the wealthier class." (Cycl. of Biblical Literature, Kitto, pp. 130, 131.)

3. The Pre-Ordained Mission of St. John: Of all the Apostles St. John is the most interesting to the Latter-day Saints, and this because of the light that is thrown upon his career and character by the Book of Mormon. In the great vision that was granted to the first Nephi concerning the birth, life and mission of Jesus, he comes to the point where he beheld a man dressed in a white robe:

"And the angel said unto me, Behold one of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb! Behold, he shall see and write the remainder of these things; yea, and also many things which have been; and he shall also write concerning the end of the world; wherefore the things which he shall write, are just and true; and behold they are written in the book which thou beheld [in previous part of vision] proceeding out of the mouth of the Jew; * * * * * And behold, the things which this Apostle of the Lamb shall write, are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see; but the things which thou shalt see hereafter, thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the Apostle of the Lamb of God, that he should write them. * * * * * And I, Nephi, heard and bear record, that the name of the Apostle of the Lamb was John, according to the word of the angel. And behold, I, Nephi, am forbidden that I should write the remainder of the things which I saw and heard." (I Nephi xiv.)

From the above, it appears that John, the beloved disciple, was foreordained to write the things we have in the Jewish Scripture from his pen. And so jealously guarded was the mission assigned to him in his pre-existent state, that a man living upon another continent and six centuries before John's time, was not permitted to trespass upon that divine appointment. And when the peculiar importance of the Gospel according to St. John is taken into account; how that Gospel more specifically than any of the others that have been written, testifies not only to the divinity of Jesus, but to the deeper fact that he is Deity in his own right and person; and how that same Gospel supplies so much in its account of the earth career of the Messiah that was omitted by the other evangelists, it must be conceded that the character of John's work bears out the idea of a specific appointment which the Book of Mormon declares was given to him before he was born in the flesh.

4. Date and Style of St. John: This Gospel would appear to have been written at Ephesus, at the instance, Jerome alleges, of the bishops of the Asiatic churches, with a view to confirm the faith of the Church in the divinity of Christ, of which he was the special witness. Its date must be long after the writing of the other Gospels and towards the end of the first century. It is one of the latest books of the New Testament—much later than the 'Revelation.' On this calculation, it must have been composed after the destruction of Jerusalem." (Bagster Bible Helps, p. 64.)

"The time and place of writing was at Ephesus, as is generally held, not long before the death of the Apostle, and probably at the request of Christians in that city, Ch. xxi: 24 ('And we know that this testimony is true') suggests that others desired to attest the truth of the record as coming from the Apostle. This late date, nearly a generation after the writing of the other Gospels, shows that the leading facts about Jesus were already known to Christians. This Gospel is therefore, in a certain sense, supplementary; but there is no evidence that it was intended to supply omissions in the other narratives. The design is stated in the book itself, and the many events and discourses found only in this Gospel are in accordance with it." (Bible Treasury, p. 129).

5. The Purpose of John's Gospel: Contradictory opinions obtain concerning the purpose for which the Apostle John wrote his account of the gospel. Eusebius quotes Clement of Alexandria as saying that John, perceiving that the bodily influence of Jesus had been made known in the Gospels, (i. e., supposedly Matthew, Mark and Luke), and being at the same time urged by his friends and borne along by the spirit, wrote a spiritual Gospel (third century). A still earlier authority, the unknown author of the so-called Muratorian Fragment (See Apostolic Fathers, Rev. George A. Jackson, p. 186), which most scholars agree belongs to the second century and probably not later than A. D. 170, so far agrees with the idea that John's Gospel was intended to supplement the other Gospels as to say, that when John's fellow-disciples and bishops exhorted him to write, he said: "Fast along with me three days from today, and let us relate the one to the other whatever has been revealed to us. The same night it was revealed to Andrew, the Apostle, that "John should in his own name, write down the whole, and that they all should revise" what he wrote. Another contention is, and this is based on the authority of Irenaeus (third century) that John wrote to controvert the errors of the Nicholaitanes and Cerinthus, in other words, that "his aim was not so much supplementary as polemical." In the midst of the conflicting theories it is just as well that we accept the simple and straight-forward statement of St. John himself in the last chapter but one of his famous Gospel as to the purpose for which he wrote his Gospel, namely, "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."

6. The Acts of the Apostles: "The Acts of the Apostles is an account of the conflicts and conquests of Christianity from the ascension of our Lord to the imprisonment of Paul in the city of Rome (33-63 A. D.) It is the earliest manual of Church History, and the only one treating of the age of the Apostles which has come down to us from the first century. Its loss would leave a wide chasm between the Gospels and the Epistles, and involve the student in great ignorance of the progress of events in the history of the Church during the period intervening between the close of our Lord's earthly activity and the destruction of Jerusalem (70 A. D.), which the direct statements and the implications of the Epistles of the New Testament and the Apocalypse would only partially illumine. He, in this case, would know nothing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the testimony and death of Stephen, the conversion of Cornelius, the miraculous manifestation making Saul a Christian, or the stages in the advance of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome and other occurrences hardly less important." (Acts of the Apostles, Intro., p. ix.)

7. Authorship of the Acts: "This book, according to internal and external evidence, was writen by Luke, and forms the sequel to his Gospel. It is the history of the foundation and spread of the Christian Church—the former under Peter (i-xii), the latter under Paul (vii-xxviii). It was founded on the Day of Pentecost; its first sons were Jews (hence it appeared only a Jewish sect in Judea), and the former part of the book is occupied with its establishment there, with arguments in its favor, and with challenges to disprove the fundamental fact of Christ's resurrection. Its first development into an organized community, with official staff, provoked the first persecution and martyrdom, which precipitated its extension to Samaria and Syria, caused a new and more independent center of operations to be planted at Antioch, whence under Paul (the first converted persecutor) it spread to Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and various parts of the Gentile world. The motive influence was the direct impulse of the Holy Spirit, not any preconceived plan of the Apostolic body (ii: 4; xv: 6, 7, 9)." (Oxford Bible Helps, p. 26.)

The Completeness of the Four Gospels: Much is made of the differences between John and the first three Gospels, not only as to the facts related, but also with reference to the style of Jesus' addresses. But the difficulty disappears when we remember that Matthew, Mark, and Luke present the scenes of Christ's Galilean ministry among the rude peasantry who were less acquainted with the law than their southern brethren, and who needed simple and direct teaching; on the other hand, John sets forth mainly Christ's Judean ministry among those who were conversant with the law and were accustomed to elaborate discussions. The ministry of one year implied by the Synoptists, considered by themselves, does not exclude the three years' ministry which is derived from John's Gospel, for the four taken together supplement each other. (Date of Our Gospels, p. 35-6.)