Chapter I.—Of the Method in Which the Four Evangelists are Shown to Be at One in the Accounts Given of the Lord’s Supper and the Indication of His Betrayer.

2. Let us commence here, accordingly, with the notice presented by Matthew, [which runs thus]: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to His disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.”734    Rom. i. 3.    Matt. xxvi. 26. Both Mark and Luke also gave this section.735    Luke i. 5.    Mark xiv. 22; Luke xxii. 49. It is true that Luke has made mention of the cup twice over: first before He gave the bread; and, secondly, after the bread has been given. But the fact is, that what is stated in that earlier connection has been introduced, according to this writer’s habit, by anticipation, while the words which he has inserted here in their proper order are left unrecorded in those previous verses, and the two passages when put together make up exactly what stands expressed by those other evangelists.736    Luke i. 36.    [Luke’s first reference to the cup belongs to the passover celebration, in distinction from the Lord’s Supper.—R.] John, on the other hand, has said nothing about the body and blood of the Lord in this context; but he plainly certifies that the Lord spake to that effect on another occasion,737    John vi. 32–64. with much greater fulness than here. At present, however, after recording how the Lord rose from supper and washed the disciples’ feet, and after telling us also the reason why the Lord dealt thus with them, in expressing which He had intimated, although still obscurely, and by the use of a testimony of Scripture, the fact that He was being betrayed by the man who was to eat of His bread, at this point John comes to the section in question, which the other three evangelists also unite in introducing. He presents it thus: “When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, That one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked (as the same John subjoins) one on another, doubting of whom He spake.”738    John xiii. 21, 22. “And (as Matthew and Mark tell us) they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto Him, Is it I? And He answered and said (as Matthew proceeds to state), He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.” Matthew also goes on to make the following addition to the preceding: “The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of Him; but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.”739    Matt. xxvi. 22–25. Mark, too, is at one with him here as regards both the words themselves and the order of narration.740    Mark xiv. 19–21. Then Matthew continues thus: “Then Judas, which betrayed Him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.” Even these words did not say explicitly whether he was himself the man. For the sentence still admits of being understood as if its point was this, “I am not the person who has said so.”741    [This explanation seems altogether inadmissible, and is equally unnecessary.—R.] All this, too, may quite easily have been uttered by Judas and answered by the Lord without its being noticed by all the others.

3. After this, Matthew proceeds to insert the mystery of His body and blood, as it was committed then by the Lord to the disciples. Here Mark and Luke act correspondingly. But after He had handed the cup to them, [we find that] He spoke again concerning His betrayer, in terms which Luke recounts, when he says, “But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom He shall be betrayed.”742    Luke xxii. 21, 22. At this point we must now suppose that to come in which is narrated by John while these others omit it, just as John has also passed by certain matters which they have detailed. In accordance with this, after the giving of the cup, and after the Lord’s subsequent saying which has been brought in by Luke,—namely, “But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table,” etc.,—the statement made by John is [to be taken as immediately] subjoined. It is to the following effect: “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, and said unto him,743    Innuit ergo huic Simon Petrus et dixit ei. Who is he of whom He speaketh? He then, when he had laid himself on Jesus’ breast, saith unto Him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon [of] Scarioth. And after the sop Satan then entered into him.”744    John xiii. 23–27. [Whether this preceded or followed the giving of the cup is still in dispute.—R.]

4. Here we must take care not to let John underlie the appearance not only of standing in antagonism to Luke, who had stated before this, that Satan entered into the heart of Judas at the time when he made his bargain with the Jews to betray Him on receipt of a sum of money, but also of contradicting himself. For, at an earlier point, and previous to [his notice of] the receiving of this sop, he had made use of these terms: “And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas to betray Him.”745    John xiii. 2. And how does he enter into the heart, but by putting unrighteous persuasions into the thoughts of unrighteous men? The explanation, however, is this. We ought to suppose Judas to have been more fully taken possession of by the devil now, just as on the other hand, in the instance of the good, those who had already received the Holy Spirit on that occasion, subsequently to His resurrection, when He breathed upon them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” 746    John xx. 22. also obtained a fuller gift of that Spirit at a later time, namely, when He was sent down from above on the day of Pentecost. In like manner, Satan then entered into this man after the sop. And (as John himself mentions in the immediate context) “Jesus saith unto him, What thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent He spake this unto him; for some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. He then, having received the sop, went immediately out; and it was night. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus saith, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him: and if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him.”747    John xiii. 28–32.

CAPUT PRIMUM. De coena Domini et de expresso traditore ejus, quemadmodum inter se quatuor conveniant.

2. Hinc igitur incipiamus secundum Matthaeum: Coenantibus autem eis, accepit Jesus panem, et benedixit, ac fregit, deditque discipulis suis, et ait: Accipite, et comedite; hoc est corpus meum (Matth. XXVI, 20-26). Haec et Marcus Lucasque commemorant (Marc. XIV, 17-22, et Luc. XXII, 14-23). Quod enim Lucas de calice bis commemoravit, prius antequam panem daret, deinde posteaquam panem dedit; illud quod superius dixit, praeoccupavit ut solet; illud vero quod ordine suo posuit, non commemoraverat superius: utrumque autem conjunctum hanc sententiam 1158 facit, quae et illorum est. Joannes autem de corpore et sanguine Domini hoc loco nihil dixit, sed plane alibi multo uberius hinc Dominum locutum esse testatur (Joan. VI, 32-64). Nunc vero cum Dominum a coena surrexisse et pedes discipulorum lavisse commemorasset, reddita etiam ratione cur eis hoc fecerit, in qua Dominus adhuc clause significaverat per testimonium Scripturae, ab eo se tradi qui manducaret ejus panem; venit ad hunc locum, quem tres caeteri pariter insinuant: Cum haec dixisset, inquit, Jesus, turbatus est spiritu, et protestatus est, et dixit: Amen, amen dico vobis, quia unus ex vobis tradet me. Aspiciebant ergo, sicut idem ipse Joannes subnectit, ad invicem discipuli, haesitantes de quo diceret (Id. XIII, 2-32). Et contristati, sicut Matthaeus et Marcus dicunt, coeperunt ei singillatim dicere: Numquid ego sum? At ipse respondens ait, sicut Matthaeus sequitur, Qui intingit mecum manum in paropside, hic me tradet. Et sequitur idem Matthaeus ita subnectens: Filius quidem hominis vadit, sicut scriptum est de illo: vae autem homini illi, per quem Filius hominis tradetur! bonum erat ei si natus non fuisset homo ille: in his et Marcus hoc etiam ordine consonat. Deinde Matthaeus subjungit: Respondens autem Judas, qui tradidit eum, dixit: Numquid ego sum, Rabbi? Ait illi: Tu dixisti. Etiam hic non expressum est, utrum ipse esset. Potest enim adhuc intelligi, tanquam, Non ego dixi: potuit etiam hoc sic dici a Juda et a Domino responderi, ut non omnes adverterent.

1159 3. Deinde sequitur Matthaeus et inserit mysterium corporis et sanguinis a Domino discipulis datum, sicut et Marcus et Lucas. Sed cum tradidisset calicem, rursus de traditore suo locutus est, quod Lucas persequitur dicens: Verumtamen ecce manus tradentis me, mecum est in mensa: et quidem Filius hominis secundum quod definitum est vadit; verumtamen vae homini illi per quem tradetur! Hic jam intelligendum est illud consequi quod Joannes narrat, isti autem praetermiserunt; sicut Joannes quaedam praetermisit quae illi dixerunt. Cum ergo post traditum calicem dixisset Dominus, quod a Luca positum est, Verumtamen ecce manus tradentis me mecum est in mensa, etc., conjungitur illud secundum Joannem: «Erat ergo recumbens unus ex discipulis ejus in sinu Jesu, quem diligebat Jesus: innuit ergo huic Simon Petrus, et dixit ei: Quis est de quo dicit? Itaque cum recubuisset ille supra pectus Jesu, dicit ei: Domine, quis est? Respondit Jesus: Ille cui ego intinctum panem porrexero. Et cum intinxisset panem, dedit Judae Simonis Scarioth. Et post buccellam, tunc introiit in illum satanas.»

4. Hic videndum est, ne non solum Lucae, qui jam dixerat intrasse satanam in cor Judae, quando pactus est tunc cum Judaeis, ut eum accepta pecunia traderet, sed etiam sibi ipse Joannes repugnare videatur, qui jam dixerat superius, antequam istam buccellam acciperet. Et coena facta cum jam diabolus immisisset in cor ut traderet eum Judas. Quomodo enim intrat in cor, nisi immittendo iniquas persuasiones cogitationibus iniquorum ? Sed nunc intelligere debemus a diabolo Judam plenius esse possessum: sicut contra in bono, illi qui jam acceperant Spiritum sanctum, quando eis post resurrectionem insufflavit dicens, Accipite Spiritum sanctum (Joan. XX, 22); postea eum, cum desuper missus esset die Pentecostes, utique plenius acceperunt. Post buccellam ergo tunc introiit in eum satanas: «Et,» sicut contextim Joannes ipse commemorat, «dicit ei Jesus: Quod facis, fac citius. Hoc autem nemo scivit discumbentium ad quid dixerit ei. Quidam enim putabant, quia loculos habebat Judas, quia dixit ei Jesus , Eme ea quae opus sunt nobis ad diem festum; aut egenis ut aliquid daret. Cum ergo accepisset ille buccellam, exiit continuo. Erat autem nox. Cum ergo exisset, dicit Jesus: Nunc clarificatus est Filius hominis, et Deus clarificatus est in eo: et si Deus clarificatus est in eo, et Deus clarificabit eum in semetipso, et continuo clarificabit eum.»