THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOURTH- GOSPEL
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In his letter in your issue of July 17th Mr. Fryer states that the meeting of the chief priests which decided the death of Christ took place " two days before the Passover." The reference is away from the Fourth Gospel to Matt. xxvi. 8, 4, but the consultation there at Caiaphas' palace has to do only with the method of the arrest of Jesus. All three Synoptics are at one with the Fourth Gospel in stating that His de- struction had been resolved on earlier. The Fourth Gospel gives the occasion, and puts the date still further back. That Caiaphas did not join in planning Lazarus's death is, I should suppose, plain from his own words : " It is expedient that one man should die for the people." He is represented in the Johannine narrative as unscrupulous and abrupt in speech, but with a certain statesmanship of purpose. It is to be noted that his counsel that " one man should die for the people " is again brought to remembrance in ch. xviii. 14. Whoever wrote the Gospel must have come to know of these secret de- liberations in after times.—I am, Sir, &c., YOUR REVIEWER.
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