EYE-WITNESSES (αὐτόπται, Luke 1:2; cf. ἐπόπται in 2 Peter 1:16).—We have the assurance of the Third Evangelist that the Gospels are founded not upon second-hand reports, but upon the direct testimony of those who were present. Similarly in John 19:35; John 21:24 (where the words μαρτυρεῖν and μαρτυρία are used), the record of the Fourth Gospel is certified to be reliable. (See Lightfoot on ‘The Internal Evidence for the Genuineness of the Gospel of John,’ in the Expositor for Jan.–Mar. 1890, pp. 1, 81, 176; and cf. art. Gospels).
T. Gregory.