(2) The Jeivish-Christinn clement. — Of course the wliole conception of the Kingdom of the heavens as sketched above is Jewish-Ciiristian in character. But there are other Jewish-Christian features in the Gospel, (a) One is the interest shown in St. Peter. He was one of the earliest of Christ's dis- ciples (4^8), and Christ had healed his wife's mother (8'^). He was in some sense ' first ' of the Twelve (10^), and it was he who walked on the waters at Christ's command (14-^''-). It was he who first con- fessed Christ's Messiahship (16^^), and received the promise of high rank in the Kingdom (v.^^). By inserting this passage the editor blunts the severity of the rebuke (v.^'*), which St. Luke altogether omits. It was Peter who was prominent amongst the three who were privileged to be on the Mount of Transfiguration (17'*), and it was he to whom the tax-gatherers came as to one who was the repre- sentative of the otlier disciples. It was Peter who acted as the spokesman of the rest (15'= IS^^ 26^^- ^^), or who was addressed as representing the others (v.'"'). It was he who penetrated into the palace, and there denied that he knew Christ (vv.^s-^S). if all the Apostles were to sit on thrones in the new age (19-**), Peter was to have administrative and legislative power in the Kingdom (IBi**).
(b) Another JeM'ish - Cliristian feature in the Gospel is tiie presence in it of sayings which seem to limit Christ's mission and doctrine to the Jewish nation. In His own lifetime He had expressly asserted this of His own activity. ' I was not sent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ' (IS-^^). On two occasions He had extended His mercy to pagans (8'-i=* IS-i-^S), but on the latter occasion He made it plain that the grace thus extended to a Gentile woman was only as it were a crumb which had dropped from the table of the Jews, to whom He was sent, and had been devoured by a Gentile dog. He bade His discij^les ' go not to the way of the Gentiles, nor to the cities of the Samaritans, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (10") ; and said they should not have exhausted the cities of Israel before His coming (v.^^). In the new age the Apostles were to rule over a new Israel (19^«). Of course, side by side with these sayings from his Palestinian sources, the editor has incorporated others from other sources, which prove tliat he himself was well aware tliat Christ had on other occasions foreseen and commanded the admission of Gentiles to the discipleship of the Kingdom. ' Many were to come from east and west' (8"), and the three parables in 2128-22i'» seem to convey the same trutii. Further, the good news was to be preached among all nations for a testimony (24'^), and the Apostles were to make disciples of all nations (28'«). But tiiere is nothing in any of these
passages to suggest that the editor anticipated the admission of Gentiles to discipleship save on terms similar to those on which proselytes had been admitted to the old Israel ; * and it is clear that he saw no difficulty in the preaching to all nations being accomplished within a generation, for the ' end ' (24^^) which was to close this preaching Mas the period of great tribulation accompanying the siege of the city, followed immediately by the coming of the Son of Man (v.-*").
{<■) A third Jewish - Christian feature is the insistence on the permanent obligations of the Mosaic Law ; see above, p. 144'\
Now all these characteristics of the Gospel point irresistibly to Palestine, and to Palestine in the period before or very soon after tlu, fall of Jeru- salem, as t!ie place and date of the composition of the Gospel. The mo.st obvious feature in this connexion is the belief that the coming of the Son of Man would immediately follow tlie period of tribulation accompanying the sie^e of the city. But the other features above me itioned point in the same direction. The prominence given to St. Peter is natural enough in traditions whicli had been collected and preserved in Palestine in the early days of the Church at Jerusalem. The limitation of Christianity to Jews or proselytes, and the insistence on the permanent validity of the Law, reflect the same primitive Christian atmosphere as we breathe in the first few chap- ters of the Acts, before the pressure of circum- stances had compelled the Apostles to recognize that St. Paul must be right, and that under Chris- tianity Jew and Gentile stood on the same plane in the sight of God.
Lastly, tiie anti-Pharisaic attitude of the editor would be natural in one who knew something of the difficulties of the Jewish-Christian Church in tiie early days when Pharisaic hatred pursued its members from city to city.
The date thus arrived at affects the wliole Gospel and not only portions of it. It is a liter- ary unity, and ajjart from a few possible later interpolations, e.g. 6'^ (the doxology) 22-'^ 23^^ ('son of Barachiah '), belongs to one editor, and to one period of fin.al composition. The attempts made to argue for a late date for the composition of the whole book from i.solated phrases, or to mark large sections as late additions, fail to ac- count for the unity of idea and conception that runs through the whole work, and neglect the cumulative evidence of the conceptions that char- acterize it for an early date.