Sir: If John's gospel is not the work of an
eye-witness, or is closely de- rived from one, I should like to know how the following 'undesign- ed coincidences' (clear marks of historical truth?) can be explained away. The throwaway phrase 'that dis- ciple was known unto the high priest' (John xviii 15) is generally regarded as referring to John him- self—it is in line with his typical modesty when referring to himself —and implies a relationship not shared by the other evangelists. Is this difference reflected in the gos- pels? Arthur Gook has pointed out that a careful comparison with the synoptic gospels reveals that John's shows in various particulars—ex- clusive to the fourth gospel—the Writer's intimacy with the high priest and his affairs.
1. He gives the high priest's name, Caiaphas. 2. He is familiar With his family relationships, evi- denced by his revealing that Annas Was Caiaphas's father-in-law, 3. He names the high priest's servant- Malchus—whose ear was cut off in Gethsemane. 4. While Peter is kept Waiting outside the door of the high Priest's palace, John goes straight in, later using his influence to get Peter past the doorkeeper. 5.,While all the evangelists record that Peter Was interrogated, only John says that the last questioner was a ser- vant of the high priest, and that he Was a relation of Malchus. John Was, therefore, acquainted even With the relationships of the high priest's servants. 6. John alone gives descriptions of the private meet- ings of the chief priests (vii 45-53 and xi 47-53). Many similar arguments are
available for the New Testament as a whole, particularly in the works of Professor J. J. Blunt and in Archdeacon William Paley's Horae Pauli:me: a penetrating cross-ex- amination of the epistles of Paul with the Acts. Such arguments from 'undesigned coincidences', un- like some of the more technical matters aired in this correspond- ence, can be verified by anyone who can read. To me, they are impres- sive evidence of historical truth.
Frank W. Lane Drummoyne, Southill Lane, Pinner, Middlesex
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