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b

Jesus was risen appeared first to

32. ch. xiv.

28.

see him, as he said unto you. 8 And they went out b Matt. xxvi. [a quickly], and fled from the sepulchre; for aa they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid. [b 9 Now when early the first day of the week, he Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. c Luke viii. 2. 10 [d And] she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 12 After that he appeared in another form

d

e

unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the Luke xxiv.

a omit.

c render, he.

13.

e render, was manifested.

aa render, for trembling and amazement had possession of them. b this passage, ver. 16-end, is omitted in some of the oldest authorities, and in all probability formed no part of St. Mark's original Gospel. On its authenticity, see note. domit. message, though it is difficult not to connect the two in the mind. The mention of him here is probably merely official-as the first among equals.' We cannot say that others of the Apostles may not have denied their Master besides Peter.

It must not be concluded from this that we have a trace of Peter's hand in the narrative.

8.] The idea of our narrative here is, that the women fled in terror from the sepulchre, and did not deliver the message at the time, for they were afraid. All attempts to reconcile this with the other Gospels are futile. It is a manifest evidence that our narrative is here suddenly broken off, and (perhaps?) that no more information about the women was in the possession of its author. The subsequent verses are quite disconnected from this; and contain the substance of their writer's information respecting the other appearances of the Lord.

[9-20.] APPEARANCES OF JESUS AFTER HIS RESURRECTION: HIS ASCENSION. An addition to the narrative of a compendious and supplementary character, bearing traces of another hand from that which has shaped the diction and construction of the rest of the Gospel. The reasons for and against this inference will be found in the various readings in my Greek Testament, and in the course of this note; and a general statement of them at the end of it. I may here state, for the English reader, that the passage is omitted, -or marked as suspicious, as variously given, or asserted not to occur in the correct copies,-in many of our oldest authorities. It is quoted as early as Irenæus, in

-

This

the 2nd century: but Jerome in the 3rd says that nearly all the Greek MSS. in his time did not contain it. The legitimate inference is, that it was placed as a completion of the Gospel soon after the apostolic period,—the Gospel itself having been, for some reason unknown to us, left incomplete. 9.] the first day of the week is remarkable as occurring so soon after the mention of it, ver. 2 (see Luke xviii. 12). out of whom he had cast ...] This notice, coming so late, after the mention of Mary Magdalene in ver. 1., is remarkable. The instances quoted by De Wette to shew that the unexpected introduction of notices contained in the other Gospels is in St. Mark's manner, do not seem to me to apply here. verse agrees with John xx. 1 ff., but is unconnected with the former narrative in this chapter. 10. went and...] This idiom, never used by St. Mark, is three times contained in this passage (vv. 12, 15). them that had been with him, though found in the Acts (xx. 18), never occurs in the Gospels: nor does the word "disciples" in this passage. 11.] See John xx. 18: Luke xxiv. 11. had been seen of (by) her is a construction only found here in N. T., and the word here used for "seen" (which occurs again ver. believed 14) is not used by Mark. not (disbelieved) is only used in ver. 16 and Luke xxiv. 11, 41, throughout the Gospels. 12.] After that is not found

in Mark, though many opportunities occurred for using it. This verse epitomizes the events on the journey to Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 13-35. was manifested as they walked, though in general

...

36. John xx.

country. 13 And they went and told it unto the residue: e Luke xxiv. neither believed they them. 14 e Afterward he appeared 10. 1 Cor. xv. unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided [88 them with] their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they f John xv. 16. believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

5.

g Col. i. 23.

John iii. 18, 15 f And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and

36. Acts

38: xvi. 30

9. 1 Pet. iii.

32. Rom. 1. preach the gospel to h every creature. 16 h He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not

21.

i John xii. 48.

frender, they also.

88 omit not in the original.

h

8 render, the eleven themselves.

render, to the whole creation. The expression is the same as in Rom. viii. 22.

accord with St. Luke's narrative, is not accurate in detail. It was not as they walked, but as they sat at meat that he was manifested to them. in another form-a slight difference from Luke xxiv. 15, 16, which relates the reason why they did not know Him to be, that their eyes were holden, his being in his usual form being declared by Jesus himself: but see notes there. 13.] they also-as Mary Magdalene had done before. the residue-supply, of those that had been with Him. neither believed they them-not consistent with Luke xxiv. 33, 34. Here again the Harmonists have used every kind of distortion of the plain meaning of words to reconcile the two accounts; assuming that some believed and some doubted, that they first doubted and then believed; or, according to Bengel, first believed and then doubted.

14.] The following narrative, evidently intended by its author to represent what took place at one and the same time, joins together in one at least four appearances of the Lord: (1) that related in this verse and Luke xxiv. 36-49; (2) that on the mountain in Galilee (Matt. xxviii. 16-20), when the words in ver. 15 were spoken; (3) some unrecorded appearance when the rest of these words (vv. 16-18) were spoken,-unless we consider the whole to have been said on the mountain in Galilee; and (4) the appearance which terminated with the Ascension. latter part of this ver. 14 appears to be an epitome of what our Lord said to them on several occasions-see Luke xxiv. 25, 38; John xx. 27; Matt. xxviii. 17.

The

15. all the world] "all the nations," Matt. xxviii. 19: see note there. preach the Gospel, without the addition of "of the kingdom" (Matthew) or "of God" (Mark i. 14 only, Luke), is in St. Mark's manner (see ch. xiii. 10; xiv. 9). It only once occurs in Matthew, viz.

xxvi. 13.

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the whole creation] Not to men only, although men only can hear the preaching of the Gospel; all creation is redeemed by Christ-see Col. i. 15, 23; Rom. viii. 19-23. Men, primarily, ver. 16: the rest of the creatures secondarily. As wide as the curse extends, reaches the blessing. The creation by the Son, is the foundation of redemption and of the kingdom." Bengel. This word creation, or creature, appears never in the N. T. to be used of mankind alone. gel's "the rest of the creatures in the second place" may be illustrated in the blessings which Christianity confers on the inferior creatures and the face of the earth by bringing civilization in its wake. By these words the missionary office is bound upon the Church through all ages, till every part of the earth shall have been evangelized. 16.] These past

Ben

participles must be noticed, as carrying on the thought to a time beyond the work of the preacher: when saved and damned shall take place; and reserving the division of mankind into these two classes, till that day. On baptized, see note on Matt. xxviii. 19. There is no "and is not baptized" in the second clause here. Unbelief-by which is meant the rejection of the Gospel in heart and life, not weakness or doubt as in ver. 14-shall condemn a man, whether baptized or unbaptized. And, conversely, it follows that our Lord does not set forth here the absolute, but only the general necessity of Baptism to salvation; as the Church of England also teaches. But that general necessity extends to all to whom Baptism is accessible; and it was well said "not the privation, but the contempt of Baptism, condemns." These words cannot be taken, as those in Matt. xxviii. 19, 20, as setting forth the order in which faith and baptism must always come; belief and disbelief are in this verse the great leading

Acts v. 16: viii. xvi.

shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them j Luke x. 17. that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; * they shall speak with new tongues;

not hurt them;

m

18 1 they shall take

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k Acts ii. 4: x 16

xix. 6.

1 Cor. xii. 10,

1 Luke x. 19. Acts xxviii. 5.

m Acts v. 15,

up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall, 28, they shall lay hands on the sick, and 19 So then " after the Lord had spoken 16: ix. 17: received up into heaven, and P sat on God. 20 And they went forth, and o Luke xxiv. 51.

they shall recover. unto them, he was the right hand of

subjects, and believeth must on that account stand first. On he that believeth ... shall be saved, compare Acts xvi. 31. This is a solemn declaration of the doctrine of salvation by faith,' from the Lord Himself; but such a faith as is expanded, Matt. xxviii. 20, into teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; which is its proper fruits.

shall be damned, i. e. in the most solemn sense for the sin of unbelief:-for those are now spoken of who hear the Gospel preached, and reject it. 17.] This promise is generally made, without limitation to the first ages of the Church. Should occasion arise for its fulfilment, there can be no doubt that it will be made good in our own or any other time. But we must remember that signs are not needed where Christianity is professed: nor by missionaries who are backed by the influence of powerful Christian nations. There are credible testimonies of miraculous powers having been exercised in the Church considerably after the Apostles' time shall cast out devils] The Lord Himself has declared how weighty a sign this was, Matt. xii. 28. For fulfilments of the promise, see Acts v. 16; viii. 7; xvi. 18. shall speak with new tongues] See 1 Cor. xiv. 22: Acts ii. 4 al. On the gift of tongues, see notes at those places. 18.] shall take up serpentssee Acts xxviii. 3-5. if they drink &c.] We have no instance of this given in the Acts: but later, there are several stories which, if to be relied on, furnish examples of its fulfilment. Eusebius says that a wonderful thing was related of Justus, who was surnamed Barsabas,-that he drank deadly poison and felt no evil, through the grace of the Lord."

on

the sick] "to lay hands on" is in Mark's manner; see ch. viii. 25; x. 16. There is no mention of the anointing with oil here, as in James v. 14. 19.] The connecting particle, rendered so then, the Lord, and the Lord Jesus, which some MSS. read here, are alike foreign to the diction of Mark, in speaking of the Lord: we have VOL. I.

xxviii. 8. James v. 14,

15.

n Acts i. 2, 3.

p Ps. cx. 1. Acts vii. 55.

the Lord in the message (common to all three Gospels) ch. xi. 3-but that manifestly is no example. after the Lord

had spoken can only in fairness mean, 'when He had spoken these words.' All endeavours of the Harmonists to include in them "not only these words, but all that He spake" (Euthymius) will have no weight with an honest reader, who looks to the evident sense of his author alone, and disregards other considerations. That other words were spoken, we know; but that this author intended us to infer that, surely is not deducible from the text, and is too often allowed in such cases to creep fallaciously in as an inference. We never shall read or comment on Scripture with full profit, till all such subterfuges are abandoned, and the Gospel evidence treated in the clear light of intelligent and honest faith. We have an example of this last in Theophylact's exposition, "when He had thus spoken.". was received up] I should hardly say that the author of this fragment necessarily implies an ascension from the place where they were then assembled. The whole of these two verses is of a compendious character, and as sat on the right hand of God must be understood as setting forth a fact not comprehended in the cycle of the writer's observation, but certain in the belief of all Christians, so this may very well speak of the fact as happening, not necessarily then and there, but (see remarks above) after these words were spoken; provided always that these words are recognized as the last in the view and information of our Evangelist. I say this not with any harmonistic view, but because the words themselves seem to require it. (See on the Ascension, notes on Luke xxiv. 51 ff.) 20.] went forth-not, from the chamber where they were assembled - which would not answer to preached every where, but would require some immediate action of that very day to correspond to it (see Matt. xii. 14); -but used in the more solemn sense of Rom. x. 18 (cited from Ps. xviii. 4 LXX). "their sound is gone forth into all lands :”

U

q v. 12:

Acts 1. preached every where, the Lord working with them, and 1.4.5. Heb. confirming the word with signs following.

4,

ii. 4.

see reff.

i render, the signs that

every where] No inference can be drawn from this word as to the date of the fragment. In Acts ix. 32 Peter is said to have " 'passed throughout all (quarters)...:” the expression being only a general one, indicating their performance, in their time and degree, of our Lord's words, into all the world.

the Lord, i. e. Jesus: see Matt. xxviii. 20: Heb. ii. 3, 4, which last passage some have absurdly supposed to have been seen and used by our Evangelist. The two words rendered following (here and in ver. 17) are compound verbs, and both foreign to the diction of St. Mark, often as he uses the simple verb.

A few concluding remarks may be added respecting vv. 9-20. (1) For the ex

i

followed.

[ Amen.]]

komit.

ternal evidence, see as above. As to its genuineness as a work of the Evangelist Mark, (2) internal evidence is, I think, very weighty against St. Mark's being the author. No less than twenty-one words and expressions occur in it (and some of them several times), which are never elsewhere used by St. Mark,-whose adherence to his own peculiar phrases is remarkable. (3) The inference therefore seems to me to be, that it is an authentic fragment, placed as a completion of the Gospel in very early times: by whom written, must of course remain wholly uncertain; but coming to us with very weighty sanction, and having strong claims on our reception and reverence.]

THE GOSPEL

ACCORDING TO

LUKE.

I. 1 FORASMUCH as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a a declaration of those things which are most

a render, narration concerning.

CHAP I. 1-4.] PREFACE ADDRESSED TO THEOPHILUS. The style of this preface is purer Greek than the contents of the Gospel, and also more laboured and formal.-This may be accounted for, partly because it is the composition of the Evangelist himself, and not translated from Hebrew sources like much of the rest, and partly because prefaces, especially when also dedicatory, are usually in a rounded and artificial style. 1. many] Much depends on the meaning of this word, as guiding, or modifying, our opinion on the relation and sources of our Gospel histories. (1) That the writers of our present Gospels exclusively cannot be meant, is evident; since, even supposing St. Luke to have seen all three Gospels, one (that of St. John) was wholly, and another (that of St. Matthew) was in greater part, the production of an eye-witness and minister of the word,-which would leave only one for the many. (2) Apocryphal Gospels exclusively cannot be meant: for they would not be narrations concerning matters fully believed among us,' nor delivered by eyewitnesses and ministers of the word,' a great part of their contents being excluded by this very author from his own narration. (3) A combination of these two may be intended-e. g. of the later sort, the Gospel according to the Hebrews,of the former, that according to St. Mark, but then also how shall we make out the many? Our present apocryphal Gospels arose far later than any likely date which can be assigned to St. Luke's Gospel: see

Introduction to Luke. (4) I believe the only probable interpretation of the words to be, that many persons, in charge of Churches, or otherwise induced, drew up, here and there, statements (narratives) of the testimony of eye-witnesses and ministers of the word (see below), so far as they themselves had been able to collect them. (I do not believe that either the Gospel of St. Matthew or that of St. Mark is to be reckoned among these; or if they are, that St. Luke had seen or used them.) That such narratives should not have come down to us, is no matter of surprise: for (1) they would be absorbed by the more complete and sanctioned accounts of our present Evangelists; and (2) Church tradition has preserved very few fragments of authentic information of the apostolic age. It is probable that in almost every Church where an eye-witness preached, his testimony would be taken down, and framed into some narrative, more or less complete, of the life and sayings of the Lord. have taken in hand] This does not necessarily imply the insufficiency of such narrations, as some have imagined. The fact of that failure is indeed implied in St. Luke's description of his own workbut that, more because it possessed completeness (whereas they were fragmentary) than from any difference in kind. to set forth in order] more properly, to draw up,-to arrange. a declaration] a setting forth and so if in relation to things past, a narration-history. surely believed] According to some, this

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