s died between
A.D. 164 and 167, and that the disciples of Jesus were Jesus' own
contemporaries, any disciple that Papias heard, when a boy, would have
reached a portentous age, and, between the age of the disciple and the
youth of Papias, the reminiscences would probably be of a somewhat hazy
character. It is to Papias that we owe the wonderful account of the
vines (ante, p. 234) of the kingdom of God, given by Irenaeus, who states
that "these things are borne witness to in writing by Papias, the hearer
of John, and a companion of Polycarp.... And he says, in addition, 'Now
these things are credible to believers.' And he says that 'when the
traitor, Judas, did not give credit to them, and put the question, How
then can things about to bring forth so abundantly be wrought by the
Lord? the Lord declared, They who shall come to these (times) shall
see'" ("Irenaeus Against Heresies," bk. v., ch. 33, sec. 4). The
recollections of Papias scarcely seem valuable as to quality. Next we
note that Papias could scarcely put a very high value on the Apostolic
writings, since he states that "I do not think that I derived so much
benefit from books as from the living voice of those that are still
surviving" ("Eccles. Hist," bk. iii., ch. 39), i.e., of those who had
been followers of the Apostles. How this remark of Papias tallies with
the supposed respect shown to the Canonical Gospels by primitive
writers, it is for Christian apologists to explain. We then mark that we
have no writing of Papias to refer to that pretends to be original. We
have only passages, said to be taken from his writings, preserved in the
works of Irenaeus and Eusebius, and neither of these ecclesiastical
penmen inspire the student with full confidence; even Eusebius mentions
him in doubtful fashion; "there are said to be five books of Papias;" he
gives "certain strange parables of our Lord and of his doctrine, and
some other matters rather too fabulous;" "he was very limited in his
comprehension, as is evident from his discourses" ("Eccles. Hist.," bk.
iii., ch. 39). We thus see that the evidence of Papias is discredited at
the very outset, perhaps to the advantage of the Christians, however,
for his testimony is fatal to the Canonical Gospels. Papias is said to
have written: "And John the Presbyter also said this: Mark being the
interpreter of Peter, whatsoever he recorded he wrote with great
accuracy, but not, however, in the order in which it was spoken or do