11 - The idea of witness elsewhere in the New Testament

Summary

The idea of witness is most fully developed in the Johannine and Lukan writings, but it is also present in other parts of the New Testament. It is, therefore, important to examine both the Synoptic Gospels and the New Testament Epistles to see where the idea of witness is used, for what reasons, and against what background.

THE IDEA OF WITNESS IN THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS

In a general sense, of course, the Gospels themselves are witnesses to Christ, and whole books have been devoted to treating them from that perspective. Redaction criticism in particular has given renewed impetus to the study of the unique witness which each of the Evangelists gives to Jesus. Our purpose here is not to repeat this procedure, but to look specifically at the places where witness themes and courtroom terminology are raised in the Synoptic Gospels.

The idea of witness is present in Mark's Gospel, but nothing like as prominent as it is in the Fourth Gospel. Many of the questions of the scribes and Pharisees look as if they may introduce controversies similar to those in the Old Testament and the Fourth Gospel, but instead they turn out to introduce various sayings of Jesus and the debate is cut short (e.g., Mk 2: 18–22 pars.; 11: 27–33 pars.; 12: 13–17 pars.; 12: 18–27 pars.; 12: 28–34 pars.). Debating is by no means an uncommon feature in the Synoptics (witness the use of OVJTITSTV in Mk 8: 11; 9: 14, 16; 12: 28 and quAoveuda in Lk. 22: 24).