JESUS
CHRIST
III.
Reproduction
of
the
Biblical
account
in
general
agreement
with
the
faith
of
the
Church
—
Neander,
Das
LebenJesu
Christi,
1837
(Eng.
tr.
1848);
B.Weiss.Dos
Lebm
Jesu,
1882
(Eng.
tr.
1883)
;Edersheiin,
The
Life
and
Times
of
Jesiis
the
Messiah,
1884;
Didon,
Jesus
Christ,
1891;Sanday,
Outlines
of
the
Life
of
Christ,
1906.
The
books
of
this
group
have
a
second
common
feature
in
their
acceptance
of
the
Fourth
Gospel
as
a
valuable
history.
The
works
of
Weiss
and
Sanday
dispose
of
the
arrogant
assumption
of
Schweitzer
(op.
ci7.)that
competent
scholarship
now
regards
the
cardinal
questions
as
settled
in
a
negative
sense.
(For
a
full
bibliography
see
Schweitzer,
op.
cit.;
art.
'Jesus
Christ'
in
PRE^).
3.
The
Conditions
in
Palestine
(SchOrer,
GJ
V
[HJP
II.
i.
1
ff.l).
—
The
condition
of
the
Jews
at
the
birth
of
Christ
may
be
summarily
described
as
marked
by
political
impotence
and
religious
decadence.
(1)
The
political
situation.
—
From
the
age
of
the
Exile,
the
Jews
in
Palestine
were
subject
to
a
foreign
domina-tion
—
Persian,
Greek,
Egyptian,
Syrian,
in
rapid
succession.
Following
upon
a
century
of
independence
under
the
Maccabees,
the
country
was
incorporated
in
the
Roman
Empire
as
a
division
of
the
province
of
Syria.
In
certain
circumstances,
which
have
a
parallel
in
British
India,
the
Romans
recognized
a
feudatory
king,
and
it
was
with
this
status
that
Herod
the
Great
reigned
over
Palestine.
At
his
death
in
B.C.
4,
his
dominions
were
divided
among
his
three
sons;
but
on
the
deposition
of
Archelaus
in
6
a.d.,
Judaea
and
Samaria
were
placed
under
a
Roman
procurator.
Herod
Antipas
and
Phihp
continued
to
rule
as
vassal
princes,
with
the
title
of
tetrarchs,
over
Galilee
and
Ituraea
re-spectively.
The
pressure
of
the
Roman
rule
was
felt
in
the
stern
measures
which
were
taken
to
suppress
any
dangerous
expressions
of
national
feehng,
and
also
in
the
exactions
of
the
publicans
to
whom
the
taxes
were
farmed.
Internal
administration
was
largely
an
affair
of
the
Jewish
Church.
To
a
highly
spirited
people
Uke
the
Jews,
with
memories
of
former
freedom
and
power,
the
loss
of
national
independence
was
galUng;
and
their
natural
restlessness
under
the
foreign
yoke,
combined
as
it
was
with
the
Messianic
hopes
that
formed
a
most
vital
element
of
their
rehgion,
was
a
source
of
anxiety
not
only
to
the
Roman
authorities
but
to
their
own
leaders.
(2)
The
rdigious
situation.
—
From
the
religious
point
of
view
it
was
a
decadent
age.
No
doubt
there
is
a
tendency
to
exaggerate
the
degradation
of
the
world
at
our
Lord's
coming,
on
the
principle
that
the
darkest
hour
must
have
preceded
the
dawn;
and
in
fairness
the
indictment
should
be
restricted
to
the
statement
that
the
age
marked
a
serious
declension
from
the
highest
level
of
OT
rehgion.
It
had,
in
fact,
many
of
the
features
which
have
re-appeared
in
the
degenerate
periods
of
the
Christian
Church,
(a)
One
such
feature
was
the
disappearance
of
the
prophetic
man,
and
his
replacement
as
a
reUgious
authority
by
representatives
of
sacred
learning.
As
the
normal
condition
of
things
in
the
Christian
Church
has
been
similar,
it
cannot
in
itself
be
judged
to
be
symptomatic
of
anything
worse
than
a
silver
age
that
the
exponents
of
the
Scriptures
and
of
the
tradition
were
now
the
chief
religious
guides
of
the
people
(see
Schibes).
Moreover,
a
very
genuine
religious
originaUty
and
fervour
had
continued
to
find
expression
in
the
Apocalyptic
Uterature
of
later
Judaism
(see
Apocalyptic
Literatuhb).
(6)
A
more
decisive
proof
of
degradation
is
the
exaltation
of
the
ceremonial
and
formal
side
of
rehgion
as
a
sub-stitute
for
personal
piety
and
righteousness
of
life.
This
tendency
had
its
classic
representatives
in
the
Pharisees.
The
best
of
their
number
must
have
ex-hibited,
as
Josephus
shows,
a
zeal
tor
God
and
a
self-
denial
like
that
of
Roman
CathoUc
saints
—
otherwise
the
veneration
of
the
people,
which
Josephus
shared,
would
be
inexplicable
(Ant.
xvii.
ii.
4);
but
as
a
class
our
Lord
charges
them
with
sins
of
covetousness
and
inhumanity,
which
gave
the
colour
of
hypocrisy
to
JESUS
CHRIST
their
ritualistic
scruples
(Mt
24;
see
Pharisees).
(c)
A
further
characteristic
of
decadence
is
that
the
religious
organization
tends
to
come
in
the
place
of
God,
as
the
object
of
devotion,
and
there
appears
the
powerful
ecclesiastic
who,
though
he
may
be
worldly
and
even
sceptical,
is
indispensable
as
the
symbol
and
protector
of
the
sacred
institution.
This
type
was
repre-sented
by
the
Sadducees
—
in
their
general
outlook
men
of
the
world,
in
their
doctrine
sceptics
with
an
ostensible
basis
of
conservatism,
—
who
filled
the
priestly
ofBces,
controlled
the
Sanhedrin,
and
endeavoured
to
maintain
correct
relations
with
their
Roman
masters.
It
can
also
well
be
beUeved
that,
as
Josephus
tells
us,
they
professed
an
aristocratic
dislike
to
pubhc
business,
which
they
nevertheless
dominated;
and
that
they
humoured
the
multitude
by
an
occasional
show
of
reUgious
zeal
(see
Sadducees).
In
this
world
presided
over
by
pedants,
formalists,
and
pohtical
ecclesiastics,
the
common
people
receive
a
fairly
good
character.
Their
religion
was
the
best
that
then
had
a
footing
among
men,
and
they
were
in
earnest
about
it.
They
had
been
purified
by
the
providential
discipline
of
centuries
from
the
last
vestiges
of
idolatry.
It
is
noteworthy
that
Jesus
brings
against
them
no
such
sweeping
accusations
of
immorality
and
cruelty
as
are
met
with
in
Amos
and
Hosea.
Their
chief
fault
was
that
they
were
disposed
to
look
on
their
rehgion
as
a
means
of
procuring
them
worldly
good,
and
that
they
were
blind
and
unreceptive
in
regard
to
purely
spiritual
blessings.
The
influence
wtiich
the
Pharisees
had
over
them
shows
that
they
were
capable
of
reverencing,
and
eager
to
obey,
those
who
seemed
to
them
to
speak
for
God;
and
their
response
to
the
preaching
of
John
the
Baptist
was
still
more
to
their
honour.
There
is
evidence
of
a
contemporary
strain
of
self-renouncing
idealism
in
the
existence
of
communities
which
sought
deUverance
from
the
evil
of
the
world
in
the
austerities
of
an
ascetic
life
(Jos.
Ant.
xviii.
i.
5;
see
Esbenes).
The
Gospels
introduce
us
to
not
a
few
men
and
women
who
impress
us
as
exempUf3nng
a
simple
and
noble
type
of
piety
—
nourished
as
they
were
on
the
religion
of
the
OT,
and
waiting
patiently
for
the
salvation
of
God.
Into
a
circle
pervaded
by
this
atmosphere
Jesus
was
born.
4.
Date
of
Christ's
Birth
(ct.
art.
CHHONOLoaT,
p.
IBS'",
and
in
Hastings'
DB).
—
If
John
began
to
baptize
in
the
fifteenth
year
of
Tiberius
Csesar
(Lk
3')
—
being
A.D.
29
—
and
if
Jesus
was
thirty
years
of
age
when
He
was
baptized
(v.^^),
the
traditional
date
fixed
by
Dionysius
Exiguus
would
be
approximately
correct.
But
it
is
probable
that
the
reign
of
Tiberius
was
reckoned
by
Lk.
from
his
admission
to
joint-authority
with
Augustus
in
A.D.
11-12,
so
that
Jesus
would
be
thirty
in
A.D.
25-6,
and
would
be
born
about
B.C.
5.
This
agrees
with
the
representation
of
Mt.
that
He
was
born
under
Herod,
since
Herod
died
B.C.
4,
and
a
number
of
events
of
the
Infancy
are
mentioned
as
occurring
before
his
death.
A
reference
in
Jn
2™
to
the
forty-six
years
during
which
the
Temple
had
been
in
course
of
con-struction
leads
to
a
similar
result
—
viz.
a.d.
26
for
the
second
year
of
the
Ministry,
and
B.C.
5
for
the
Birth
of
Jesus.
5.
Birth
and
Infancy
(cf
.
Sweet,
The
Birth
and
Infancy
of
Jesus
Christ,
1907).
—
Mt.
and
Lk.
have
a
narrative
of
the
Infancy,
and
agree
in
the
following
points
—
that
Jesus
was
of
David's
line,
that
He
was
miraculously
conceived,
that
He
was
born
in
Bethlehem,
and
that
the
Holy
Family
permanently
settled
in
Nazareth.
The
additional
incidents
related
by
Mt.
are
the
appearance
of
the
angel
to
Joseph
(I's-a),
the
adoration
of
the
Magi
(2i-'2),
the
flight
into
Egypt
(w.''-"),
the
massacre
at
Bethlehem
(vv.'6-i«).
Lk.'s
supplementary
matter
includes
the
promise
of
the
birth
of
John
the
Baptist
(15-!»),
the
Annunciation
to
Mary
(w.^i-as),
the
visit
of
Mary
to
Elisabeth
(w.^'-^o),
the
birth
of
the
Baptist
(vv."-8»).
the
census
(2ia),
the
vision
