PARABLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. The Gospels contain a large number of parables, and these may be regarded as only a selection of those spoken by Jesus. Jesus seems to have employed this figurative style of speech as a means of enforcing and elucidating his lessons. The parables were not always understood by His disciples. An explanation had to be sought privately. As an excuse for their own dullness they seem to have cherished the thought that the Master •spoke in parables for the very purpose of disguising some of his message from the people. " In Mark iv. 10-12 = Matthew xiii. 10-15 = Luke viii. 9f. the idea of the Evangelists is that the Master specially favonirs the disciples by explaining to them figurative language which has been contrived in such a way as to disguise the truth from the people. As a matter of fact, the explanation was necessitated simply by their defective insight " (Arno Neumann). It is not likely that Jesus taught esoteric and exoteric doctrines. Some of the parables are cer tainly difficult for us to understand, but this is no doubt because they have not been preserved in quite their original forms. It is possible in some cases that two parables which were originally distinct have been made into one. There is another possibility with regard to
some of the narratives in the New Testament. It is that parables have been converted into history. The story of the miraculous feeding of five thousand or four thousand people has been explained in this way. The story is to the effect that a multitude was fed with a few loaves and fishes, and that after it had been satisfied, a large quantity of food remained. It is suggested that originally this was a parable with a deep spiritual meaning. " The following figure will make the meaning quite clear : When a mother divides a loaf of bread between twelve children, each one, of course, receives less than if there were only two children. But if she is able to share her love or her knowledge with twelve Instead of with two, love and truth do not decrease, but increase. An explanation like this has not been invented by perplexed scholars; it has been rediscovered " (Arno Neumann). The Fourth Gospel does not contain a single real parable. See O. Holtzmann, Life of Jesus, 1904; Arno Neumann, Jesus, 190G; Paul W. Schmiedel, The Johannine Writings, 1908.