Chapter IX.—Of the Question How It Can Be Shown that the Narrative of the Haul of Fishes Which Luke Has Given Us is Not to Be Identified with the Record of an Apparently Similar Incident Which John Has Reported Subsequently to the Lord’s Resurrection; And of the Fact that from This Point on to the Lord’s Supper, from Which Event Onwards to the End the Combined Accounts of All the Evangelists Have Been Examined, No Difficulty Calling for Special Consideration Emerges in the Gospel of Luke Any More Than in that of Mark.

10. Luke, then, commences his Gospel in the following fashion: “There was in the days of Herod the king of Judæa, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth;”and so on, down to the passage where it is said, “Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.”1127    Matt. xxvii. 11–26.    Luke i. 5-v. 4. In this whole section, there is nothing to stir any question as to discrepancies. It is true that John appears to relate something resembling the last passage. But what he gives is really something widely different. I refer to what took place by the sea of Tiberias after the Lord’s resurrection.1128    Mark xv. 9.    John xxi. 1–11. In that instance, not only is the particular time extremely different, but the circumstances themselves are of quite another character. For there the nets were cast on the right side, and a hundred and fifty and three fishes were caught. It is added, too, that they were great fishes. And the evangelist, therefore, has felt it necessary to state, that “for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken,” surely just because he had in view the previous case, which is recorded by Luke, and in connection with which the nets were broken1129    Or, Christs, Christos.    [Rumpebantur, “were breaking,” as in the Greek; comp. Revised Version.—R.] by reason of the multitude of fishes. As for the rest, Luke has not recounted things like those which John has narrated, except in relation to the Lord’s passion and resurrection. And this whole section, which comes in between the Lord’s Supper and the conclusion, has already been handled by us in a manner which has yielded, as the result of a comparison of the testimonies of all the evangelists conjointly, the demonstration of an entire absence of discrepancies between them.

CAPUT IX.

Quomodo ostendatur, quod de piscibus captis Lucas commemoravit non pertinere ad illud quod videtur simile Joannes narrasse post Domini resurrectionem, atque inde jam usque ad coenam Domini, unde omnium omnia usque in finem considerata sunt, nullam etiam ex Evangelio Lucae tractatam esse quaestionem.

10. Sic ergo narrare Lucas incipit Evangelium: Fuit in diebus Herodis, regis Judaeae, sacerdos quidam nomine Zacharias, de vice Abia; et uxor illi de filiabus 1223Aaron, et nomen ejus Elisabeth, etc., usque ad eum locum ubi ait, Ut cessavit autem loqui, dixit ad Simonem: Duc in altum, et laxate retia vestra in capturam (Luc. I, 5; V, 4). Hoc totum non habet ullam repugnantiae quaestionem. Joannes quidem videtur simile aliquid dicere, sed illud longe aliud est, quod factum est post resurrectionem Domini ad mare Tiberiadis (Joan. XXI, 1-11). Ibi enim non solum ipsum tempus valde diversum est, sed etiam res ipsa plurimum distat. Nam retia illic in dexteram partem missa, centum quinquaginta tres pisces ceperunt; magnos quidem: sed pertinuit ad Evangelistam dicere, quod cum tam magni essent, retia non sunt disrupta, respicientem scilicet ad hoc factum, quod Lucas commemorat, ubi prae multitudine piscium retia rumpebantur. Jam caetera similia Joanni Lucas non dixit, nisi circa Domini passionem et resurrectionem: qui totus locus a coena ipsius usque ad finem sic a nobis tractatus est, ut omnium collatis testimoniis nihil eos dissentire doceremus.