28.12-15.] The Jews spread a story that the disciples stole the body of Jesus from the grave and so deceived men by asserting that He was risen from the dead and ascended into heaven.
There is nothing in Justin (as in Luke xxiv, but cp.

Acts i.

3) to show that the Ascension did not take place _on the same day_ as the Resurrection.
I have taken especial pains in the above summary to bring out the points in which Justin way seem to differ from or add to the canonical narratives.

But, without stopping at present to consider the bearing of these upon Justin's relation to the Gospels, I will at once proceed to make some general remarks which the summary seems to suggest.
(1) If such is the outline of Justin's Gospel, it appears to be really a question of comparatively small importance whether or not he made use of our present Gospels in their present form.

If he did not use these Gospels he used other documents which contained substantially the same matter.