1) A DIRECT RESPONSE TO PASSION NARRATIVES IS GIVEN HERE BY DAVID WOOD:
| barker.docx |
2) AN INDIRECT RESPONSE WOULD BE THE FOLLOWING: The premise of this question is incorrect. John’s Gospel, generally held to be the latest, actually records the fewest miracles of the four canonical gospels.
It depends on how you count, but the number of miracles in Matthew, Mark and Luke are pretty close. One helpful chart:
It depends on how you count, but the number of miracles in Matthew, Mark and Luke are pretty close. One helpful chart:
| miracles_of_jesus.pdf |
lists 23 miracles each in Mark and Luke, and 29 in Matthew. Again, John is the outlier with only 10 miracles. By these counts, Mark has the most “miracles per page” of the four (and none of those occur in the disputed verses of chapter 16).
There are many reasons for the differing counts of miracles in the four Gospels. No Gospel author claims to give us a final and exhaustive list. There is considerable overlap between Matthew, Mark and Luke, but each of these authors include miracles that illustrate the themes they bring out from Jesus’ life and ministry. John narrates fewer miracles than any other author, but generally goes into greater detail on each one.
So even if the miracle count did increase in subsequent Gospels (and the order in which they were written is by no means certain), there could be lots of good reasons. As it happens, though, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Jake Hunt, MDiv Reformed Theological Seminary
3) Even if an increase in miracles supports the 'legend hypothesis,' it needs to be clearly said that according to A.N. Sherwin White, two generations is too short a time span for the historical hard core of a historical source to be replaced by legend. Since all of the gospels were written between 1-1.5 generations after the death of Jesus, the hard core of the narrative in the Gospels would not be wiped out (although various secondary details might). In practical terms, what this would mean is that the crucifixion, burial, empty tomb, post-mortem appearances, and origin of the disciples belief in a bodily resurrected Jesus would be maintained as part of the hard core of what would be retained as historical in the Gospels whereas various secondary details like the number of angels, the various locales and sequence of appearances, whether there was a guard or two at the tomb, and the like may plausibly be excised as legend if one were so persuaded.
There are many reasons for the differing counts of miracles in the four Gospels. No Gospel author claims to give us a final and exhaustive list. There is considerable overlap between Matthew, Mark and Luke, but each of these authors include miracles that illustrate the themes they bring out from Jesus’ life and ministry. John narrates fewer miracles than any other author, but generally goes into greater detail on each one.
So even if the miracle count did increase in subsequent Gospels (and the order in which they were written is by no means certain), there could be lots of good reasons. As it happens, though, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Jake Hunt, MDiv Reformed Theological Seminary
3) Even if an increase in miracles supports the 'legend hypothesis,' it needs to be clearly said that according to A.N. Sherwin White, two generations is too short a time span for the historical hard core of a historical source to be replaced by legend. Since all of the gospels were written between 1-1.5 generations after the death of Jesus, the hard core of the narrative in the Gospels would not be wiped out (although various secondary details might). In practical terms, what this would mean is that the crucifixion, burial, empty tomb, post-mortem appearances, and origin of the disciples belief in a bodily resurrected Jesus would be maintained as part of the hard core of what would be retained as historical in the Gospels whereas various secondary details like the number of angels, the various locales and sequence of appearances, whether there was a guard or two at the tomb, and the like may plausibly be excised as legend if one were so persuaded.
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