A commentary on the Epistles of St. John - The Preterist Archive

INTRODUCTION. 29
the tradition that St. John did preach the gospel to
the Parthians were any thing more than a legend of
modern times, and not clearly arisen from the apo-
cryphal superscription of our epistle, the latter per-
haps ought not unconditionally to be rejected. But
since, in the most ancient and authentic tradition of
the church, no mention occurs of the Apostle's hav-
ing gone on a mission to the Parthians, and St. Je-
rome's notice too,^'^ which states that St. John preach-
ed in Judea, is without foundation, yet appears to be
connected with the tradition of St. John's mission
to the Parthians : Since, moreover, the much more
ancient tradition of the Apostle Thomas having con-
verted the Parthians, uncertain and improbable as
even that is,'*^ contradicts this tradition of St. John
and finally since (if we suppose that St. John did
convert the Parthians, or taught those who were pre-
viously converted by St. Thomas), he probably would
not have addressed to them a Greek epistle, but
much more probably one in Aramaic,'*'* the conclu-
sion must be, that criticism is fully warranted in re-
jecting St. Augustin's superscription unconditionally.
It is not probable that St. Augustin was the first who
*'- Catalog. Script. Cap. IX.
^^ See on this subject, " Thilo Acta Thomae," p. 87, sqq.
^"^ See Joseph, de B. Jud. Proem. Cap. I. and II. Joseph,
wrote his History of the Jewish War originally in Aramaic, for
the avu ßa^ßx^oi, by which expression he, according to chap. ii.
means Jews in Parthia, Babylonia, Arabia, &c. Confr. J. A.
Fabric. Bibl. Graeca, L. IV. c. 17, ij 2, and Haverkamp on the
above passage. Se also Michaelis, Introd. to the N. T. p.
1228.
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