Wissenschaft," VI. 40 and 54 sqq., and Geschichte Christus’, p. 288. We avail ourselves chiefly
of the collections of Hofmann, Westcott, Plumptre, and Nicholson.
(1) "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Quoted by Paul, Acts 20:35. Comp. Luke
6:30, 31; also Clement of Rome, Ad Cor. c. 2, ἤδιον διδόντες ἢ λαμβάνοντες, "more gladly giving
than receiving." This is unquestionably authentic, pregnant with rich meaning, and shining out like
a lone star all the more brilliantly. It is true in the highest sense of the love of God and Christ. The
somewhat similar sentences of Aristotle, Seneca, and Epicurus, as quoted by Plutarch (see the
passages in Wetstein on Acts 20:35), savor of aristocratic pride, and are neutralized by the opposite
heathen maxim of mean selfishness: "Foolish is the giver, happy the receiver." Shakespeare may
have had the sentence in his mind when he put into the mouth of Portia the golden words:
"The quality of mercy is not strained,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes;
’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown."
(2) "And on the same day Jesus saw a man working at his craft on the Sabbath-day, and He
said unto him, ’O man, if thou knowest what thou doest, then art thou blessed; but if thou knowest
not, then art thou accursed, and art a transgressor of the Law.’ " An addition to Luke 6:4, in Codex
D. or Bezae (in the University library at Cambridge), which contains several remarkable additions.
See Tischendorf’s apparatus in ed. VIII. Luc. 6:4, and Scrivener, lntrod. to Criticism of the N. T.
p. 8. ἐπικατάρατοςis used John 7:49 (text. rec.) by the Pharisees of the people who know not the
law (also Gal. 3:10, 13 in quotations from the O. T.); παραβάτης τοῦ νόμουby Paul (Rom. 2:25,
27; Gal. 2:18) and James (2:9, 11). Plumptre regards the narrative as authentic, and remarks that
"it brings out with a marvellous force the distinction between the conscious transgression of a law
recognized as still binding, and the assertion of a higher law as superseding the lower. Comp. also
the remarks of Hofmann, l.c. p. 318.
(3) "But ye seek (or, in the imperative, seek ye, ζητεῖτε) to increase from little, and (not)
from greater to be less." An addition in Codex D. to Matt 20:28. See Tischendorf. Comp. Luke
14:11; John 5:44. Westcott regards this as a genuine fragment. Nicholson inserts "not," with the
Curetonian Syriac, D; all other authorities omit it. Juvencus has incorporated the passage in his
poetic Hist. Evang. III. 613 sqq., quoted by Hofmann, p. 319.
(4) "Be ye trustworthy money-changers, or, proved bankers (τραπεζῖται δόκιμοι); i.e. expert
in distinguishing the genuine coin from the counterfeit. Quoted by Clement of Alexandria (several
times), Origen (in Joann, xix.), Eusebius, Epiphanius, Cyril of Alexandria, and many others. Comp.
1 Thess. 5:21: "Prove all things, hold fast the good," and the parable of the talents, Matt. 25:27.
Delitzsch, who with many others regards this maxim as genuine, gives it the meaning: Exchange
the less valuable for the more valuable, esteem sacred coin higher than common coin, and highest
of all the one precious pearl of the gospel.(Ein Tag in Capernaum, p. 136.) Renan likewise adopts
it as historical, but explains it in an Ebionite and monastic sense as an advice of voluntary poverty.
"Be ye good bankers (soyez de bons banquiers), that is to say: Make good investments for the
kingdom of God, by giving your goods to the poor, according to the ancient proverb (Prov. 19:17):
’He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth to the Lord’ " (Vie de Jésus, ch. XI. p. 180, 5th Par. ed.).A.D. 1-100.