0. The testimonies available from Clemens RoMANUs and Barnabas are handicapped by their own antiquity. This is peculiarly the case with Barnabas, in the opinion of hostile critics. But Keim has urged that BarnaUas is saturated with the ideas of the Fourth Gospel.* If this can be sustaiiK'il it must share, with correspoudiui,' iiai- ures iu the writings of St. Paul, the author of lie ;uid others, the explanation tliat, pari ;ot.wk with the Synoi>tic tradition, there liad from the first been widely dillused a tradition of the teaching of the beloved disciple. Such dilfusion must have urged the apostle in his latest years to put into lixed form his undying memories, and greatly facili- tated its acceptance in the earliest years of the 2nd cent. There are, indeed, phrases which reflect the influence of Johannine teaching in the First Epistle of Clemens Komanus. Thus, among others, ch. 49, ' He that hath love in Christ, let him do the commandments of Christ' (cf. Jn H^"- ^, 1 Jn 5'""), and 'Jesus Christ our Lord g.ave His blood for us, by the « ill of God, and His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls' (Jn C' and 15'»).
The Second (so-called) Epi.itle of Clement, which may be accepted, with Li''htfoot, as 'an ancient homily of an unknown author,' say about A.D. 150, betrays no certain reference to either St. Paul or St. John. Still, note the tone of ch. 9 : ' If Christ the Lord, who saved us, being first spirit became flesh (iyiv(ro capi), and so called us, in like manner in this flesh, we shall receive our reward. Let \i3 then love one another.' We are certainly reminded here of Jn 1'* and the spirit of the first Ep., or, what seems more probable, we recognize the dif- fusion on all sides of those aspects of our Lord's teaching which we refer to Johannine memories.
(7) IdNATlUS. — The great controversy touching the genuineness of the Ignatian letters may bo regarded as having now terminated in favour of the Vossian Shorter Gr. Text, and the triumphant refutation by Lightfoot of the hyi>othe.^is of Cureton that the throe short forms of the Syr. V.S of the Epji. to the Uonians, to Polycarp, and to the Ephesians are the sole genuine nucleus of the entire literature. If these seven letters, vouched by the Ep. of Polycarp to the Philipjiians to be genuine, can be regarded as the writing of the Alartyr on his way to Home, certainly not later than A.I). 116, and more probably A.D. 109, we have indubit.ahle traces of the I'ourtli tJospel having alreadj' found its way from Ephesus to Antioch when the memory of St. John must have been fragrant througlumt .\sia Minor.
A strongly Johannine phrase, not without n siiecial dilliculty of its own, appears in the letter to the MaijnrMans, viii. 2 ; 'There is one Go<l, whc manifested Himself through Jesus Christ, His Son. who is His Logos, proceeding from ffi-i), who in nil
* CliArtchs, C'aiio/iiWrj/, quotwi twenty [muu^cs whicii hu. t^est some possible fcunitiartty nitli Jolmiitiini! phnuKology
700
JOHN, GOSPEL OF
JOHN, GOSPEL OF
respects was well pleasing to ITim that sent Him.' Lightfoot has shown how this ilillicult temi 0-171) was nseJ in the Ist cent., and thinks that Ignatius had a leaning to the early pre- Valentin. Gnosis of the period. Whatever be the text, whether we should read, 'proceeding from ffiTTj.'or 'not proceed- ing from aiyfi,' a reference to the Fourth Gospel is obWous. In the letter to the Ramans, vii. '2, we read, ' the living water speaking within me (or, probably truer text, 'flowing, bubbling up'). Bays, "Come to the Father"; I take not delight In the nourishment of corruption, nor the pleasures of this life : I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ (of the seed of David), and desire the drink of God, which is His blood, which is incorruptible love.' In this piussage we have reference to Jn 4" and B"-"-". In the letter to the Philadelphians, vii. I, ix. 1, there are further echoes, and Jn 10' is expressively referred to.
Before pa-ssing from this period, we may refer to the Acta Mnrtyrii Polycarjyi, the date of which shortly follows the martyrdom, and ' the letter of the Churches of Lugdunum and Vienne ' preserved by Eusebius, and presumably written by IrenjEus, Who was the bearer of it (HE v. I): 'Then were fulfilled the words spoken by the Lord, that "the period should come when he that killeth you will think that he oflers sen'ice to God,"' which is almost a verbal citation from Jn 16^.
(8) The. Epistle to Diognetus was once included among the writings of Justin. Whilst by some it has even been attributed to Scaliger, it is assigned by Nitzisch to A.D. 110-125, by Westcott to A.D. 117, by Bunsen to 135, and by Hilgenfeld to a much later period in the century. It does not therefore supply any valid evidence. Its early origin cannot, however, be disproved, and we find in it the remarkable phrase, apparently from Jn 17" ' They (Christians) are not of this world.' In ch. 10 there is a nearly accurate quotation of Jn 3'°, and a striking interpretation of Jn 1' etc. applied to the functions of the Christ. There is also a refer- ence to I Jn 4" in ch. 10.