The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 29

Eusebius (' Hist. Ecol.,' iii. 36) says, " Wbile Polycarp wa.s in Asia, and was Bishop of Smym&, Papias WM well known as Bishop of the Church in Hieropolis, a man well skilled in all manner of leamin!?, and well acquainted with • the Scriptures.'" Jn iii. 39 Eusebius a.gain speaks of him a.s u,pl,Spa. "l"Kp~s &,., ...~., """"• as being intellectually !'mall or weak. These apparently contradictory passages are not difficult to reconcile, Eusebius was a strenuous ante-millenarian, but Papias, according to certain extracts given by the historian from bis last work, entitled• An Exposition (or Expositions) of the Oracles of our Lord,' recorded some extreme chiliastic views based on the literal interpretation of some apocryphal sayings of Christ. These were enough to justify Eu~ebius's view of his int.cllect, while at the same time he might, after seeing the care displayed in his • Expositions,' and the reputation he had won, have ndmitted his learn- ing. Drs. Dryasdust and Syntax may be even at the present day small men. It would be a most wonderful e'\"ent if these 'Expositions' of Papias were discovered, as he was undoubtedly a link between the apostles and their immediate followers, and Irenmus. Now, Irenreus (' Adv. Hrer.' v. 33. 4) speaks of him as a man of the olden time, and a bearer ( d,covurl,s) of John and Poly carp. Later tro.dition makes Irenreus a" hearer " of Papias, as well as Polycarp; and it is more than probable that Irenmus, when in Lao- dicea, saw and conversed with the old man at Hierapolis. We do not know for certain when he died. The accounts differ as to the date of his martyrdom, and that of Poly. carp, between 155-6 and 165-7. There can be little doubt that, if he were an" ancient man " when Irenreus saw him, he must have lived between the last quarter of the first and the first two quarters of the second century-between A.D. 70 and 150, Moreover, Eusebius himself, in an earlier work, the 'Cbronicon,' does not scruple to say that Papias was a hearer of John the apostle 1-a statement undoubtedly confirmed by Ircnreus (' Adv. Her.' v. 33). The special and wonderful event which he recorded as having learned from the daughters of Philip the apostle (Eusebius, 'Hist. Eccl.,' iii. 39), shows that he must have lived contemporaneously with those who had known the apostles and their immediate associates and followers. One very important fragment of bis last work is preserved by Eusebius (iii. 39 or 40), which bas abundant bearing oa the authenticity of Matthew and Mark's Gospel, and also inferentially on that of the Fourth Gospel. The quotation is made by Euse- bins from the fourth book of Papias's 'Expositions,' on the authority of Irenmus that Papias wrote five books. Eusebins adds that Papias, in the preface to these books, does not claim to be a hearer or eye-witness of the holy apostles, but received the doc- trines of the faith from their intimate friends. "I shall not hesitate or scruple for your advantage to set down, side by side with my interpreta.tions, whatsoever things I at any time well (or rightly) learned or rightly or well recorded or remembered, solemnly affirming ('61a./J•/Ja.1ovµhos) the truth about them. For I was in the habit of taking delight (not as the. many) in those saying (11.ryavua,) many things, but in those teaching the truth, nor in those who remembered the teaching of strangers, but in those who remembered the commandments which were given by the Lord to our faith, and in those that proceeded 1rr,pa.rwaµ.lvo11 from the truth itself (cf. cb. xiv. 6, "I am the Trnth "). But also if at any time any one chanced to come who bad been a follower of (1ra.p711<0A.ov871,ccf,s; cf. Luke i. 3) the elders, I used te inquire about the discourses (or words) of the elders,1 what Andrew and what Peter said, ETwev, or what Philip or what Thomas or James, or what John or Matthew, or any one of the disciples (µ.a.871.,.ii,v) Faid, and what Aristion and the elder John, the disciples of the Lord, say (A.ryovu,). For I did not account myself so much indebted to what comes from books as to that which come! from the living and abiding voice." EW1ebiW1 then calls attention to the double reference to the elder John, and concludes from it that "Aristion and the elder John" were living in Papias's day, and that he, "the elder," WBB the probable author of the Apocalypse. He confirms this supposition by the eta.t.ement that some assert that there were two who bore this name; that there were "two tombs in Ephesus, and that both are called John's even to this day." 1 Eusebius, 'Chronicon ad Olymp.,' 220: •1.,&.i,v71v .,.i., 0,aA.,hov ,er,} bdtTToAov Elp71va.ios aa.l ltMo, ,u.,.opoiiu, -.a.pa.µ.,'ivr,, 'l'tp fJ{'f' ,.,s .,.;;,,, ,a,dve,,v Tpaia.vov' µ.,8' llv na,nrla:s 'hpa.-,,0A.l'l'71r ,ral D.DA./J1<r,pros %µ./Jp1171s l1rl<T1<rnros clKovu'l'al a.u'l'ov trvC<1pl(o11'To, • It is highly important to notice whom he meant by "the elders,'' bec11uso Eu_sebi"' 1111dervalues tbill testimon7, and contradicts the statements of Ireniell8,  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BT. JOHN. xxxiil