Chapter XIII.—Of the Hour of the Lord’s Passion, and of the Question Concerning the
Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Mark and John in the Article of the “Third” Hour
and the “Sixth.”
40. Matthew continues thus: “And they set up over His head His accusation written,
‘This is Jesus the King of the Jews.’”1385 Mark, on the other hand, before making any such
statement, inserts these words: “And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.”1386 For
he subjoins these terms immediately after he has told us about the parting of the garments.
This, then, is a matter which we must consider with special care, lest any serious error
emerge. For there are some who entertain the idea that the Lord was certainly crucified at
the third hour; and that thereafter, from the sixth hour on to the ninth, the darkness covered
the land. According to this theory, we should have to understand three hours to have passed
between the time when He was crucified and the time when the darkness occurred. And
this view might certainly be held with all due warrant, were it not that John has stated that
it was about the sixth hour when Pilate sat down on the judgment-seat, in a place that is
called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. For his version goes on in this manner: “And
as it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the
Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him! crucify him!
Pilate said unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no
king but Cæsar. Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified.”1387 If Jesus,
therefore, was delivered up to the Jews to be crucified when it was about the sixth hour, and
when Pilate was then sitting upon the judgment-seat, how could He have been crucified at
the third hour, as some have been led to suppose, in consequence of a misinterpretation of
the words of Mark?
41. First, then, let us consider what the hour really is at which He can have been crucified;
and then we shall see how it happens that Mark has reported Him to have been crucified at
the third hour. Now it was about the sixth hour when Pilate, who was sitting, as has been
stated, at the time upon the judgment-seat, delivered Him up to be crucified. The expression
is not that it was the sixth hour fully, but only that it was about the sixth hour; that is to say,
the fifth hour was entirely gone, and so much of the sixth hour had also been entered upon.
These writers, however, could not naturally use such phraseologies as the fifth hour and a
quarter, or the fifth hour and a third, or the fifth hour and a half or anything of that kind.
For the Scriptures have the well-known habit of dealing simply with the round numbers,
without mention of fractions, especially in matters of time. We have an example of this in
1385 Matt. xxvii. 37. [No notice is taken of the different forms the “title” on the cross, recorded by the evan-
gelists.—R.]
1386 Mark xv. 25.
1387 John xix. 13–16.
Of the Hour of the Lord’s Passion, and of the Question Concerning the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Mark and John in the Article of the ‘Third’ Hour and the ‘Sixth.’
444
Of the Hour of the Lord’s Passion, and of the Question Concerning the Absence…