Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 23:91 (Jul 1866)
Article: The Origin Of The Gospels
Author: J. Isidor Mombert

BSac 23:91 (July 1866) p. 353

The Origin Of The Gospels

Rev. J. Isidor Mombert

The recent appearance of two notorious works, of unequal merit, directed against the authenticity of the evangelical record, induces us to subject the evidence for the genuineness of that record to a critical examination. We enter upon this task with no arbitrary prejudices or axioms, but look for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We do not begin our investigations with any petitio principii analogous to that of the romancing Rénan,1 “that the Gospels are in part legendary is evident, since they abound with miracles and the supernatural,” or to that of the finessing Strauss,2 who postulates criteria to determine the genuineness of a writing, which, applied to other writings than the Gospels, would sweep out of existence well nigh every monument of antiquity. Our object is simply to examine the evidence in our possession, to test it fairly, without any suppressio veri or suggestio falsi, and to see if it is sufficient to justify our reception of the evangelical record. In doing so we shall adhere to the order pursued by Strauss, whose work, in point of learning and scholarship, is incomparably superior to the superficial, fantastic, and flippant production of the author

BSac 23:91 (July 1866) p. 354

of the “Vie de Jésus.” We adopt the order of Strauss, not because it is the best, but because we are prepared to dispute with him every inch of ground, and because we write against him. His book is brimful of mischief; and, although as yet not before the public in English, it will doubtless be so before very long, “for Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.”3 A brief analysis of that work will not be deemed out of place here. It professes to be a life of Jesus, not a life of Christ. It eliminates the divine, the supernatural, and the miraculous from the life of Christ, and takes up the biography of Jesus. It proposes to deal with the Jesus of history, not with the Christ of faith. It affirms that “the conception of a life of Jesus is the snare in which the theology of our time had to be caught and to be ruined.” In a chapter entitled “The Different Works on the Life of Jesus “the author takes occasion to give pretty rough handling to all who differ from him, and to castigate particularly those who since the appearance of his first work have been his most successful opponents. As a specimen, we give his caustic treatment of Neander. “Neander’s Life of Jesus Christ has three mottoes, from Athanasius, Pascal, and Plato: all the good spirits of theology and philosop...