martyrdom in the year Α.Ρ. 149, and his writings may, with Lightfoot, be dated in the fifth decade of the century. That he made use of the Fourth Gospel, although hotly contested a few years ago, is now, since the investigations of Drummond and Abbot, scarcely denied.} And indeed several passages in Justin’s writings are indisputable echoes of the Gospel. In the Dialogue with Trypho (c. 105) he expressly states that his knowledge of Jesus as the only begotten of the Father and as the Logos was derived from the Gospels, that is, from the Fourth Gospel, for none of the synoptics speak of the Logos. In his First Apology (ο. 63) he says of the Jews: ‘They are justly upbraided by Christ Himself as knowing neither the Father nor the Son”. Inthe same Apology (ο. 61), in explaining baptism, he says: “ Ror Christ also said, Except ye be born again ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”. Other passages have a similar bearing.
In the Apostolic Fathers we find no express references to the Fourth Gospel, but there are not wanting echoes which indicate a familiarity with its teaching. Thus in the epistles of Ignatius written in the year Α.Ρ. 110 while the writer was on his way to martyrdom, are found such expressions as “the Spirit . . . knoweth whence it cometh and whither it goeth,”’ an obvious reminiscence of our Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus. And when we find Ignatius speaking of Jesus as “the door of the Father,” “the Shepherd,” “ the Son who is His Word,” the probability is that these expressions were derived from the Gospel.
Polycarp’s one epistle dates from the same year Α.Ρ. 110. Itisa brief letter, and no reference to the Fourth Gospel occurs in it. But he quotes from the First Epistle of John, and as no one doubts that the Gospel and the Epistle are from the same hand, it can at any rate be concluded that the writer of the Gospel “ flourished before Polycarp wrote ”’.
Papias of Hierapolis, although not usually numbered among the Apostolic Fathers, was a contemporary of Polycarp, and his life overlapped that of the Apostle John by about twenty-five years. He wrote the earliest known commentary, entitled An Exposition of our Lord’s Oracles. Most unfortunately this book is lost, and among the many rich discoveries which modern research is making none could be more valuable than the discovery of this work of Papias. The fact remains that he did write it, and therefore had some written material to proceed upon. And significant allusion is
1 See Abbot’s Critical Essays; Purves, Test. of ¥ustin; Norton, Genusneness of the Gospels.