Weber, William

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THE AUTHOR OF JOHN XIX 32b-42.BY WILLIAM WEBERWE are fortunately in a position to prove not only the Gentileorigin of John xix. 32b-42, but to determine also the timewhen it first was published. The later additions to the FourthGospel proclaim Jesus the Lamb of God that taketh azi'ay the sin oftJie zi'orld and relates how the sin is washed off by the blood andthe water which flowed from the pierced side of Jesus. The Chris-tians among whom this conception of Jesus originated, regardedaccordingly the day on which Jesus died as the most holy day inhis human career and felt in duty bound to call the attention of theentire Roman world to that new discovery.The Jewish Christians, at least in Palestine, observed alwaysthe Passover as well as the other religious feasts of the Old Testa-ment including the Sabbath. They gathered at the temple threetimes every year until it was destroyed by Titus. For Jesus, ashe had warned them expressly, had not come to destroy, but tofulfil the law and the prophets. The Gentile Christians of theapostolic age however did not observe the 14th of Nisan nor anyother holy day of the Old Testament. They rather held their re-ligious meetings on Sunday very likely because their heathenneighbors did so.Polvcarp, a bishop of Smyrna and a Gentile Christian, intro-duced the celebration of the 14th of Nisan in his city. His teachingswere apparently by and by accepted by a small group of churchesnear the western coast of Asia Minor. But he made, even beforehe approached his neighbors, a serious attempt of winning theChristians of Rome for the teachings of the Fourth Gospel hebroitght to them. That book was unknown to the Christians atlarge who up to that time had become familiar only with the threeSynoptic Gospels. Otherwise the discrepancy between the Synoptic742 THE OPEN COURTand Johannine tradition as to the day on which Jesus was crucifiedwould have caused an earher discussion. On the other hand, ifthe last two chapters of the Fourth Gospel with the story of theresurrection had been a part of the book of Polycarp, he wouldhardly have called upon the Roman pontiff with the request to pro-claim the 14th of Nisan as the most holy day of the Christians. Asit was, Anicetus, the bishop of Rome, was just ready to announceEaster Sunday as the most holy day. Easter is the old spring holi-day of the Aryan nations of Europe and appealed as such to theGentile Christians. The outcome of the meeting of the two bishopswas according to Eusebius E. H. V 24:Neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe it,Neither did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it.Eusebius E. H. IV 19 enables us to fix within a year the timewhen these two rival sponsors of a new Gentile religion met atRome, the proper place for such an innovation. He writes : "It wasin the eighth year of Verus that Anicetus, who had held the episco-pate at Rome for eleven years, was succeeded by Soter." Verus asadopted brother of Marcus Aurelius shared with the latter the im-perial throne from 161-169. Anicetus therefore died either in 168or 169. But in the latter case, our authority would probably havesaid m the last year of Vcriis. Therefore Anicetus became bishopof Rome in the year 157 and Polycarp called on him very likely atonce. It was of vital importance for him to reach Anicetus beforehe had proclaimed ex cathedra the paramount holiness of EasterSunday. For the Gentile churches recognized even then the bishopof Rome as the superior and head of all provincial bishops. ForRome was not only the capital of the Empire and seat of theEmperor, but the very mother of the Roman world. The people ofRome were looked upon for that reason by all provincials as superiorbeings in every line of human activity. That becomes very clear inthe controversy with the Quartodecimans, the followers of Polycarp.Anicetus accepted gladly the new doctrine that Jesus had diedas the lamb of God because it removed in the eyes of the Gentilesthe stumbling block of the crucifixion of Jesus. But he rejected the14th of Nisan. He may have disliked the observance of a Jewishholiday. But he probably had made up his mind to proclaim EasterSunday as the most holy day before Polycarp called upon him.It seems to be clear however that the observance of the day ofTHE AUTHOR OF JOHN XlX 32b-42 743resurrection did not begin before the year 158. For if it had reachedback into the apostoUc age, Polycarp would never have thought otproposing the 14th of Nisan. The Christians of all the provinceswould have protested. As it was, even Anicetus treated Polycarpwith respect.But as fast as the celebration of the resurrection spread, opposi-tion against the Quartodecimans grew more and more bitter and de-termined under the leadership of Rome. About 170, Rome,Alexandria, and even churches of Asia Minor raised a protestagainst the observance of the 14th of Nisan by the Christians ofLaodicea. In the year 196, bishop Victor of Rome wanted to ex-communicate the followers of Polycarp in Asia Minor, especially atEphesus ; but the churches outside of Italy proved unwilling to gothat far. In the third century, the Quartodecimans were listed asheretics at Rome. At last, the General Council of Nicaea closed in325 that chapter by condemning the Quartodecimans.These heretics claimed John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, astheir authority. They even insisted that Polycarp was a personaldisciple of John. That is, however, excluded by the peculiar char-acter of his additions to the genuine parts of the Fourth Gospel.This fact brings us face to face with the question: When andwhy can John have visited the western districts of Asia Minor? Hewas not an apostle, although one of the three disciples who hadjoined Jesus as intimate companions. Jesus appointed only oneof them as apostle, namely Simon Peter.Later tradition has indeed surrounded Jesus with twelve apos-tles, one for each of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.But ever since 722 B. C. when Sargon, king of Ass}'ria, destroyedthe kingdom of Israel, and 586 B. C, when Nebuchadnezzar didthe same to the southern kingdom, the ten tribes of Israel and alarge number of the people of Judah and Benjamin lost their identityand religion in Mesopotamia where they were absorbed by a kindred,Semitic population. Ever since the return of 42,300 Jews from theBabylonian captivity, the worshippers at the temple of Jerusalemhave called themselves Jews. For the remnants of the Israelites inGalilee were adopted by the tribe of Judah because they were toofew to organize a tribe of their own.The second chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians states veryclearly that Peter and Paul were the only apostles at that time, the744 THE OPEN COURTfirst, the apostle of the Jews, the second, the apostle of the Gentiles.These two traveled over the whole empire, proclaiming the messageof Jesus.Chapter ii, 1-10 admits of no doubt as to that fact. As late asseventeen years after Paul's conversion, there were only twoapostles. Verse 9 mentions by name James, the brother of Jesus,Cephas, and John as present at Jerusalem and calls them pillars andverse 6 those mho were reputed to he somewhat as well as they zvhowere of repute. But the decisive statements are found in verse 9 f.where Paul declares: lllien they saw that I had been intrusted zviththe gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter zvith the gospel ofthe circumcision and when they perceived the grace that was givenunto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellow-ship, that we shoidd go to the Gentiles and they unto the circum-cision. To render it even more emphatic, verse 8 repeats verse 7,saying: He that wrought for Peter unto the apostleship of thecircumcision wrought for me also unto the Gentiles.Accordingly, more than seventeen years after the death of Jesus—how many years later, we do not know—there were only twoapostles, one for the Jews and another for the Gentiles. They wereaccompanied on their journeys by companions, as for instance Paulby Barnabas. But that did not make those companions apostles.The reason why may be learned from Acts xiv. 12, where thepeople of Lystra salute Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul as Mercurybecause he was the chief speaker. The same difference as far asthe gift of convincing speech is concerned must have existed be-tween Peter and his fellow pillars.Chapter i, 18-19 seems to contradict ii, 6-9. We read there:/ went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried zvith him fifteendays. But other of the apostles sazv I none, save James the Lord'sbrother.If it were not for what we have learned in chapter II, we shouldcome to the conclusion that James, the brother of Jesus, was oneof the twelve apostles to the Jews. That would be in harmony withthe generally accepted legend. But chapter ii forbids us to regardJames as an apostle. Therefore, i, 19 must have been altered bya transcriber who lived about 100 years after the apostolic age whenthe legend of the twelve apostles had been accepted as history. Hewas clearly unaware of what he did when he changed the genitiveTHE AUTHOR OF JOHN XlX 32b-42 745singular into the plural. Otherwise, he would have replaced alsoexeQOD by a?L?iOV- For ETEQOq means one of two whereas a^^ogis one of more than two. Paul himself wa'ote: AnotJier than theapostle I saw not except James, the Lord's brother.Under these circumstances, John was not an apostle. His taskwas not to carry the gospel of Jesus to his countrymen in Palestineand the Diaspora, but to stay in his native land and take care as agood shepherd of the lambs of his master. If he ever went to Asia]\Iinor—and we possess in the Fourth Gospel the strongest evidenceof such a visit—he can have gone there only as a good shepherd,not as a hireling, who had to save the flocks entrusted to his care.Such an emergency arose as a result of the Jewish revolt againstthe Roman government which lasted from 66-70 and ended withthe destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.INIcGiffert in his Apostolic Age, p. 608 has come ver}- near tothat conclusion. Only he sends John to Ephesus as a fugitive, whowas unmindful of his master's warning: "He that is a hireling, andnot a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth. the wolfcoming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheththem and scattereth them."During those terrible years from 66-70, the Christians inPalestine must have sufl;ered incredibly from both warring parties.The Roman soldiers would maltreat them because they were Jews,and the Jewish rebels would handle them with even less mercybecause they refused to fight for their country and religion. Aslong as the war lasted, outside help could not reach them. For theRomans w'ould of course not permit anybody to send food, clothing,and other things to Jews in Palestine. That is not even done inmodern. Christian wars. As long as the war lasted, there was nohelp for those Christians. But as soon as peace was restored, those,still living could appeal to their brethren in Asia Minor and else-where. That some Gallilean Christians had survived the war isproved by the two grandsons of Judas, the brother of Jesus. Theywere summoned before the emperor Domitian to show that theywere poor, harmless farmers.Under such conditions, John not only may, but must have calledfor help upon the rich cities of the western shore of Asia ]\Iinor,especially Ephesus and Smyrna, but besides all other cities of thatregion where Paul had gathered believers, and Peter had possibly746 THE OPEN COURTpreached among the Jews. These and other Gentile Christians hadhelped their brethren in Palestine before as we learn from Galatiansii, 10. But in the year 70, conditions in Palestine must have beensimply terrible. The homes of the survivers were ruined, theircattle had been taken away, their fields lay fallow, their vineyardsand orchards had been cut down. They could not even cover theirnakedness. They were bound to perish together with their neigh-bors who did not believe in Jesus if quick and abundant help wasnot brought to both.To secure such help can have been the only reason that promptedJohn to visit Asia Minor. He cannot have deserted his friends andneighbors in Palestine to fatten himself at the flesh-pots of the richcities on the Aegaean Sea. His task must have been to obtainimmediate and sufficient assistance for the perishing victims of theterrible war.Such a mission required of course time. No single city containedChristians and Jews enough to supply alone the urgent wants ofthe Palestinians. He had to visit quite a number of cities beforehe could return to his native land. In each city, he had to lingerfor some time in order to meet all friends, Jews as well as Gentiles,and arrange with them what they would do and how they were todeliver their gifts.He must have celebrated at least one Passover feast in AsiaMinor and that in the city of Ephesus as we learn from EusebiusE. H. V 24. But that fact cannot mean that he was a Quartodeci-man. As a faithful Jew, he was undoubtedly invited by either Jewsor Jewish Christians to eat the Passover lamb with them, and hewas bound to accept such an invitation gladly. Even Gentile Chris-tians may have eaten the Passover at that occasion as guests ofJewish Christians. But that had as a matter of fact nothing to dowith the Ouartodeciman conception of the death of Jesus.During his stay in Asia Minor he wrote a short account of thedeath of Jesus and its cause, beginning with the cleansing of thetemple and ending with his interment. To that he added somereminiscences as for instance what Jesus had said of the GoodShepherd and of the other sheep not of the fold of Israel. Thesewritings were given possibly to a Gentile Christian and came after-wards into the possession of Polycarp. He incorporated them withTHE AUTHOR OF JOHN XIX 32b-42 747quite a number of legendary additions into the present FourthGospel with the exception of chapter xx and xxi. He is thus theauthor or rather the editor of this Gospel. It is our task, if possible,to separate the chaff of Polycarp from the wheat of John andrestore his genuine memoirs in their pristine truth and beauty.

The Author of John XIX, 32b-42.

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The Author of John XIX, 32b-42.

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