The Literature and History of New Testament Times

annot be said, for example, simply that the Synoptists present a human Jesus and John a divine Jesus. Whatever the differences among the four Gospels, al

He was subject to human parents and to the requirements of the Jewish law. Even after the inauguration of his ministry the human conditions of his life were not superseded. He was even tempted like other men. He grew weary and slept. He suffered hu

preme emphasis upon the majesty of Jesus, upon his "glory" as it was manifested in works of power and attested by God himself. But side by side with these features of the narrative, as though to prevent a possible misunderstanding, the author presents the humanity of Jesus with drastic touches that can scarcely be paralleled in the Synoptists themselves. It is John

ter is unmistakable. The very first verse reads: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus according to John was plainly no product of the world, but

s teaching, as the Synoptists report it, is largely concerned not directly with his own person, but with the kingdom that

n way in which he legislates for the kingdom of God, Matt. 5:17-48; his unearthly holiness and complete lack of any consciousness of sin; the boundlessness of his demand for obedience, Luke 9:57-62; his expected freedom from limitations of time and place, Matt. 28:20; the absolutely central place which he claims for himself as ruler and judge; the substantiation of all his lofty claims by wo

s explicit. The relation of perfect mutual knowledge that exists between Jesus and the Father, Matt. 11:27, reveals a p