The Basis of the gospel is to be found in the life and teachings of the historical Son of God as he lived in Palestine during the first century, demonstrating the Father to those who were with him. Their response to his way of living was to follow him. As they listened they began to realise that Jesus had the words of eternal life. For the follower of Jesus today having not seen there is still the same response required: belief. The basis of that belief, however, is the real Jesus, and not some figment of man’s imagination. Recent attempts to destroy the evidence about the historical Jesus have only served to emphasise the emptiness of a faith which denies the historicity of the Gospel records and seeks to dilute the words of Jesus to fit some preconceived critical theory.
How refreshing, therefore, to read a book which goes a long way to bridging the gap of years, bringing Jesus into such sharp focus and his words so clearly to our ears. Studies in the Gospels is one of the best books the reviewer has read in the exciting exposition of the life of Christ recorded by all four Gospel writers. Above anything else, this book takes the reader right alongside the Lord, and with deceptively simple style we find ourselves going everywhere with the Master, listening so carefully to his every word. We learn to read his Bible, to share his feelings and, gradually, to “know what is in man”, and particularly ourselves.
This is also a very ambitious book. Brother Whittaker sets out to present a complete life of Jesus from the four Gospels, an approach which has required him to follow a very workable harmony, which in itself demonstrates the oversimplification of those who would suggest that there are contradictions between the Gospels. In addition, he seeks to comment on all the material found in all four Gospels, including differences in the synoptic accounts when they occur.
The book is conveniently divided into 237 chapters, most of which comment on the contents of the four Gospels in chronological order. This excellent device makes for easy references and manageable sections. The keen Bible student will find this a useful basis for a lot of Bible searching; a Gospel Parallels based on the AV would also be helpful in extracting all the worth from this book. In addition to well laid out contents, each chapter is clearly headed with title and verse references. In fact, the layout of the book and the style of print used are to be applauded; and, apart from a number of unfortunate proof-reading errors, the printers have done an excellent job. It would be a hard critic who would find fault with the overall presentation. If all else fails, there is a useful index to the main items discussed.
The balance of the chapters varies. Some are very pithy, whereas some are wordy. Brother Whittaker has introduced the rather arbitrary device of marking certain chapters with an asterisk, which he suggests would make easier reading. I found that this system was unnecessary, and felt that it could produce a disjointed reading of the book. A more substantial criticism is that the studies are, in fact, incomplete; as the author explains:
“It may seem strange to the reader that these Studies stop short at the burial of Jesus. But ‘He is risen indeed’ has already covered that part of the Gospel story, so there is no need to repeat what has been already published” (Foreword).
I not only find this strange, but also feel that it is a mistake. The book as it is contains much material which has already found its way into print but is now brought together in one volume. The first chapter of He is Risen Indeed does actually appear in this book as chapter 237, and a quick estimate of the amount of extra material would suggest that another 25 pages would be all that would have been required to make this present volume a complete Studies in the Gospels. It is to be hoped that any future editions will combine the two books.
The book is full of powerful exposition by a writer who has walked for many years with the Lord Jesus, the central character of the book. There are numerous examples of close detailed exposition which takes the reader step by step along the way with Christ (e.g. ch. 112: “The Great Disputation”; and ch. 211: “Gethsemane”). Here we find imaginative, but realistic, writing also (e.g. ch. 74: “Three Women”; ch. 75: “Baalzebub”; ch. 107: “At the Feast of Tabernacles”). Many of the pieces are written with such sensitivity of touch that they are very moving (e.g. all the chapters on the Beatitudes, chs. 43-51). There is a perceptivity in the writing which brings many passages alive (e.g. ch. 61:
“The Lord’s Prayer”; ch. 72: “The Vindication of John the Baptist” ; ch. 98: “Defilement”). The commentary on the record by John is particularly fine, and if any selection were to be made I would suggest that a study of John’s Gospel guided by Brother Whittaker’s expositions would repay many hours of spiritual exercise.
The bringing out of the Old Testament background to the Gospels is a strong point in the book. The Gospels are seen to be part—the high point—of God’s revelation, and as a result many of the Old Testament pictures, prophecies and allusions are shown to find their fulfilment in the Messiah. The handling of the Old Testament goes deeper than this, however. Brother Whittaker uses the Old Testament not only to show how it has been fulfilled but also to show how it helps to explain the New. The Scriptures are used to provide their own commentary, and the result is very satisfying. Many parallels are drawn between Old Testament incidents and whole sequences of events in the Gospels, for example:
- Chapter 14: John 1/Exodus
- Chapter 118: Luke/Elijah-Elisha
- Chapter 130: Luke 13/Isaiah 45
- Chapter 170: John 12/Isaiah
- Chapter 205: John 17 Jesus/Moses
The Old Testament, of course, also fmds its place as the basis of the teaching of Jesus, and it is these aspects which bring out the author’s skill as an expositor to the fullest effect. Many of the excellent footnotes to the chapters (again well presented and worth exploring) take the reader into the numerous Old Testament links, particularly through an impressive acquaintance with the Septuagint version (LXX).
The author’s masterly insights into the underlying course of events, and his ability to make assessments of the progress of the work of Jesus (e.g. ch. 94: “A Crisis in the Ministry of Jesus”) are very helpful and are just two more of the excellent features worthy of comment. In addition, the book contains a number of interesting and helpful explanations. With regard to the question of compilation in the writing of the Gospels, Brother Whittaker takes the credible stance of seeing a clear relationship between inspiration and the editing work of the Gospel writers (e.g. ch. 1: “The Foreword to Luke’s Gospel”). He has what I consider to be a sensible view of the obvious editing and selection that has taken place, and he is thus able to handle in a satisfying way the differences that occur in the reporting of the same incidents. On the question of ‘demons’ Brother Whittaker uses his previously proposed theory of angels of evil (acting on God’s behalf) as a Biblical explanation of ‘demons’ in the New Testament.
He does not fall into the usual trap of repeating an explanation which relies on the so-called religious beliefs of the Jews in the days of Jesus. This latter view is difficult to substantiate from material relating to Judaism of the first century and finds no hint in the pages of the Bible. Similarly, the theory that Jesus accepted the faulty explanations of his day on this (and other) matters has always seemed to me to be very poor, especially when Jesus is clearly at pains on other occasions to correct false ideas the cause of suffering, for example, in John 9:3. And whatever the true explanation, Brother Whittaker certainly goes a long way towards providing an acceptable Biblical answer which repays careful thought.
From time to time I was struck by some unusual reasoning which produced startling results. The temptation at first is to reject this material; but respect for the very careful scholarship of the author made me suspend judgement and dig a little deeper. Who, for example, would suspect that Judas was to receive two payments for his betrayal of Jesus? that Jesus’s face shone with glory at his arrest and so caused his captors to fall back? that the transfiguration took place on Mount Nebo? that Satan in the Gospels is nearly always a human figure? that Paraclete could be a term for an angel? and that agape (“love”) often has reference to the Breaking of Bread (the ‘love-feast’)? Fascinating indeed and all well-documented with Biblical evidence.
Not all the features of the book, however, can be commended, and there are a number of issues which distracted me as I worked through the chapters. For example, Brother Whittaker makes frequent comments about the meaning of the text. In the main he follows the AV/RV; but from time to time we meet such words and phrases as “more accurately, this is”, “literally”, “But in the Greek”, “the framing of the Greek verbs”, and “the Greek of this phrase”.
So often do these phrases occur that one begins to suspect the straightforward reading as we have it, and it becomes difficult at times to avoid the impression that the text is being presented in such a way as to support the argument being advanced. I am not qualified to assess this approach, but I am sufficiently aware that other commentators do not see the same emphasis at times, and this can tend to be confusing for the simple Bible reader. For example, the suggestion, on page 128, that the “house” in Mark 2:1 was really a synagogue may be attractive, but this seems to be an unusual reading of the Greek not supported by my own Greek commentaries.
Thankfully, Brother Whittaker has not thought it necessary to introduce much extra-Biblical material into his expositions, thus demonstrating admirably that the Bible is quite sufficient in itself. The unhelpful excursions into Gnosticism, thought by many to lie behind some of the records, in particular John’s Gospel, are dealt with in a summary fashion:
“There is certainly no reference to Greek philosophy or any form of Gnosticism. Such is unthinkable in the writings of a man like John” ( p. 49).
It is surprising, therefore, to find the occasional lapse, when Brother Whittaker appears to find some historical knowledge from outside the Bible useful in explaining the message of the Bible. For example, “The Rich Man and Lazarus” (ch. 139) and “Pounds and Talents” (ch. 154). On the whole, however, this book is an excellent example of what can be done if the Bible alone is adopted as its own interpreter and all so-called ‘helps’ (apart from this book!) are left on one side.
One annoying feature of the book is the lack of proper referencing. There are numerous references, but these are not explained.’ Who or what are all these, for example ? Bengel, Plummer, Edersheim, Farrar, Francis Bacon, Philo, Thomas Fuller, Hoskins, Warren, Wordsworth, Midrash, and so on. Many of these seem to be writers of another age, so there is little chance of easy recourse to their books. Equally annoying are references to works by Brother Whittaker that are either not in print or have never, as yet, been published at all (e.g. numerous references to “Acts”, the “Stone of stumbling”, “Genesis 14”, “Job’s Satan”, and “Faithful sayings”).2
A further criticism is that, despite the eminent readability of the book, from time to time some very obscure words appear which may make some reach for the dictionary and which cloud the writer’s meaning. Here is a simple test: What do you understand by: “swithering” (p. 24), “arrière pensée” (p. 123), “ineluctable” (p.565), “cabal” (p. 627), “traducer” (p. 708), and “pileus” (p. 751) ? On occasions also, admittedly not very often, the author’s notes seem to have slipped in without careful editing. For example (p. 31): “Ginsberg is surely in error when he says that the payment was thirty shekels”. (Who is this Ginsberg, and what is the point of this comment?) Another example, even more cryptic, is: “So A. B. Bruce” (p. 526). So what? By contrast, he does not appear to have read many modem books on the Gospels—not even those written by brethren, since there is only the occasional reference to L. G. S(argent) and John Carter.
In conclusion I would like to make the following recommendations. The style of writing makes this a very readable book, and I would suggest that finding time to read a chapter a day would stimulate the faith of many without digging too deeply or following up all the many references. As already suggested, if time is limited, then selecting the material relating to John would provide the basis of a valuable spiritual exercise for private devotions. Brother Whittaker himself recommends the Gospels as the foundation of study for all believers. This is sound advice for personal Bible study and for home or ecclesial Bible study groups.
A deliberate course could be set which is determined to check everything before accepting or rejecting what is written. (He does not use ‘filler’ material, and even his most ‘way-out’ suggestions have a mass of Biblical material to support them all of it carefully checked.) Teachers in Sunday School and Youth Group leaders will find this book a mine of “treasures old and new”, and I would recommend that all Sunday School teachers take into account all that is written here during their personal preparation of lessons on the Gospels. Teachers could do no better than to reflect the enthusiasm displayed by the writer as they turn the hearts of their young people to Jesus as Lord and Master.
1 But to be fair to the author, this ‘lack’ is justified in the foreword.—R.P.C.
2 Brother Whittaker promises to ensure, God willing, that these items will appear in print “in the next year or two”!—R.P.C.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)