SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Summary

The above argument has led to the conclusion that behind the Fourth Gospel lies an ancient tradition independent of the other gospels, and meriting serious consideration as a contribution to our knowledge of the historical facts concerning Jesus Christ. For this conclusion I should claim a high degree of probability–certainty in such matters is seldom to be attained. In assessing the evidence at various points I have tried to estimate varying degrees of probability. But it should be observed that the argument is cumulative, and interlocking. No accumulation of bare possibilities, of course, could amount to more than a possibility in the end, and an accumulation of marginal probabilities is not worth much more. But where in one place phenomena pointing to a comparatively modest degree of probability can be shown to be closely related, or significantly analogous, to phenomena in other places where the degree of probability is high, the resultant level of probability is raised; and within such an interlocking structure even mere possibilities may (sometimes) come to wear a different aspect. I have aimed at building up such a structure, sustained at some crucial points by evidence which seems to me to yield conclusions of the highest degree of probability attainable in this field, and bonded together by cross-correspondences. No doubt the argument may be weakened at this point or that, but I believe the total structure to constitute a formidable case for the conclusion I have put forward.