[The Gospels in the Second Century by William Sanday]@TWC D-Link book
The Gospels in the Second Century

CHAPTER IV
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On the contrary, this very passage seems to suggest an opposite conclusion.

The quotation in Justin and the address in the Protevangelium both present a combination of narratives that are kept separate in the first and third Gospels.

But this very fact supplies a strong presumption that the version of those Gospels is the earliest.

It is unlikely that the first Evangelist, if he had found his text already existing as part of the speech of the angel to Mary, would have transferred it to an address to Joseph; and it is little less unlikely that the third Evangelist, finding the fuller version of Justin and the Protevangelium, should have omitted from it one of its most important features.

If a further link is necessary to connect Justin with the Protevangelium, that link comes into the chain after our Gospels and not before.


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