Arthur Drews

“ There is none good but one, that is God.” How little such an expression could be invented by the followers of Jesus who wrote the gospels, says Schmiedel, we learn from Matthew. In his gospel (xix, 16) the rich man says: “Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why asketh thou me about the good? One is good.” [3] Logically, Jesus ought to have said: “One thing is the good.” But as Matthew had the words of Mark before him, and sought to avoid their offensiveness, he changed the words. ”

“ Clearly, the “pillar” is merely made up of these two passages, and therefore the saying of Jesus has no claim to historicity.
Of the rest of the “main pillars” it is better to say nothing. Those who are interested may consult Schmiedel and the works we have quoted. For my part, I have tried in vain to see in them any sort of argument for an historical Jesus. A man has to be a theologian to appreciate arguments of this kind. We may assume that real historians shrug their shoulders at Schmiedel's “nine main pillars,” if they have gone so far as to look into the matter. ”

“ The man who believes shall receive help (x, 52) . Shortly before, in the fifth chapter, the evangelist has described how the woman with an issue of blood was healed owing to her faith in Jesus; and Jesus said to Jairus, whose daughter had died: “Be not afraid, only believe.” As a complement to this we have the description of the unbelief of the people of Nazareth and the failure of the wished-for miracles. Can anyone seriously doubt that the story has been “invented” to illustrate the fundamental idea of the gospel, that faith is necessary for miracles? ”

“ That, in view of the undoubted influence of the Old Testament doctrine of the sufferings of the just one on the suffering figure of Jesus and of the central significance of the death of Jesus in the Pauline dogmatic, the later manipulations of the evangelical tradition would not be disposed to weaken the sufferings and death of Jesus, should not need emphasising. ”

“ Feigel, Der Einfluss des Weissagungsbeweises, u.s.w., 63-69.↑ See also Isaiah xlii, 7.↑ Die Person Jesu, p. 9.↑ Observe the play of colour in the phrase “a man in the full sense of the word,” in whom, nevertheless, “the divine is not denied,” though it “must be sought only as it can be found in a man.” ”