THE beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of A.D. 44. God. The place assigned in this arrangement to Mark i. 1. is sanctioned by the authorities of Dr. Campbell (a), Le Clerc (b), and Pilkington (c); the last of whom prefixes it to his harmony as an appropriate preface to the whole of the Evangelical narrative. The word evayyéλtov, in this passage, appears to bear the same signification as in another text of the same Evangelist, Mark xiv. 9. ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅπου ἂν κηρυχθῆ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον (α) τοῦτο εἰς ὅλον τὸν κόσμον, κ. τ. λ. In both these passages the more obvious sense of the word seems to be," the narrative, or record, of our Lord's life and actions," Mark i. 1. The beginning of the History of Jesus Christ, &c.—and in Mark xiv. 9. "Wherever the relation of my actions shall be told, through the whole world, there also," &c. &c. To this opinion, however, are opposed the eminent authorities of Michaelis (e), Bishop Marsh (ƒ), Archbishop Newcome (g), Lightfoot (h), Doddridge (i), Markland (k), Whitby (1), Grotius (m), Kuinoel (n), and many others, who consider the passage in question but the first phrase of a (a) Campbell on the Gospels, vol. ii. p. 463, note 4, edit. 1789, 4to. (b) Apud Elsley in loc. vol. ii. p. 2. (c) Evangelical History and Harmony, note, p. 1. (d) Vide Schleusner in voc. Evayyελov-4-metonymice designat singulas religionis Christianæ partes, v. c. historiam evangelicam de vita, factis, et fatis J. C. Matth. xxvi. 13. Marc. xiv. 9. Ita capitur quoque in inscriptionibus Matth. Marc. Luc. et Joh. pro libro de dictis, factis, et fatis J. C. per evangelistas conscripto. (e) Introduction to the New Testament, vol. iii. part i. p. 2. (f) Notes to Michaelis, vol. iii. part ii. p. 5. (g) Notes to the Harmony of New Testament, p. 1. (h) Works, fol. edit. 1684. vol. it. (i) Family Expositor, vol. i. p. 93. 8vo. 1810. (k) Apud Elsley in loc. (1) Commentary in loc. (m) Grotius-Annotationes in V. & N. T. in compendium deducta a Sam. Moody, 4to. 1727. (n) Comment in lib. N. T. historicos, vol. ii. p. 11. P. 331. Probablywritten at Jerusa lem. A.D. 64. Written in 2 LUKE i. 1-5. Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in long sentence, and consequently not to be separated from the context. They would render the passage thus-"The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was made by John, who baptized in the wilderness, and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; as it is written," &c. &c. It is thus translated in the German New Testament of Michaelis, and Bishop Marsh is of opinion that it is correct; " If the first sentence," he observes, "The beginning of the Gospel of,' &c. was used as a title only to the rest of the book, then St. Mark's Gospel would have begun with wç yέyparтaι, which would be an unsuitable commencement to any narrative." But to this it may be answered, that the commencement, which would be unsuitable to a profane writer, who carefully studied the arts of composition, and weighed his sentences, and balanced his periods, would be by no means so to the evangelical writers, who are careless on these points, and express themselves with that simplicity, which is the distinguishing characteristic of every composition solely aiming at the plain narration of facts. The sacred penmen expressed themselves in the common idiom of their country, and the commencement of a narrative with an appeal to their ancient prophets would not have appeared unnatural, or singular, to the persons to whom St. Mark's Gospel was addressed. Dr. Campbell very justly observes, that the expression ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελία ἐγένετο Ιωάννης Barrilov, &c. is in no wise agreeable to the style of the sacred writers, whereas ἐγένετο Ιωάννης βαπτίζων is quite in their idiom. The point itself, indeed, is comparatively unimportant; but, after an attentive perusal of the references, I cannot but decide in favour of one of these two readings.—"The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. John was baptizing in the wilderness, and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. As it is written in the prophets, behold I send my messenger before, &c. &c. the voice of one crying in the wilderness”—or, as Campbell renders it, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God-As it is written in the prophets→→ Behold I send mine angel before thee, who shall prepare thy way: the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, for thus came John baptizing." I deduce no argument from the superscriptions to the Gospels, εvayγέλιον κατὰ Ματθαῖον, εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Μάρκον, &c. because these superscriptions were not written by the Evangelists themselves, as Father Simon (0) shews from St. Chrysostom. They are however so ancient, that Tertullian reproves Marcion for having no title at the head of the copy of St. Luke's Gospel, which Marcion acknowledged to be genuine.-Vide the chapter of F. Simon, and Dr. Campbell's note on Matt. i. 1. vol. ii. p. 345, of his translation of the Gospels. "The Harmonists have generally agreed in placing the introduction to St. Luke's Gospel as the preface to their respective works; among whom are the five whose labours form unitedly the basis of the present arrangement-Lightfoot, Archbishop Newcome, Michaelis, Doddridge, and Pilkington. This preface of St. Luke may be considered as demonstrating to us the very great care with which the first disciples of Christ inquired into every circumstance of the (0) Critic. History of the Text of the N. T. part i. ch. ii. p. 12. |